Star Light, Star Bright
THE RIDERS LEARN THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS FROM AN AGING YET EXTREMELY RESOURCEFUL CON MAN...
While on a run, Jimmy saves an older man who is being attacked by a group of men. In gratitude, the man -- who introduces himself as Cyrus -- gives Jimmy a gold nugget and tells him that he's got half a stake in a gold mine. Delighted, Jimmy tells his fellow riders about the news. Envious of their friend's good fortune, the riders begin to argue about who was really supposed to take that run. To avoid trouble, Jimmy offers to divide the stake among the riders.
In
town, Tompkins finds it hard to get into the spirit of Christmas and refuses
to extend one family's credit. The father messes Tompkins' store and is
carted off to jail. Later, he is released by Teaspoon with the promise
that he will behave. Meanwhile, an unscrupulous businessman wins the deed
to Tompkins' store in card game. He orders Tompkins to pay his debts or
his store will be forfeited.
At Cyrus's instructions, the riders begin to buy supplies for "their" goldmine. The next day, they find Cyrus -- an inveterate card cheat and a con man -- gone along with their money. Kid, Buck, Jimmy and Cody manage to track Cyrus. He nearly slips away from them again after pretending to have a heart attack. But Buck -- identifying a powerful herb -- caught on to his game. The riders bring the wily old man back to Sweetwater. On the way to jail, Cyrus recognizes the businessman and tells the boys that he has formulated a plan where the riders can get their money back and save Tompkins' store at the same time.
The plan calls for some playacting on the part of Rachel and the boys. They invite the businessman into a card game and raise the stakes so high the man is forced to use Tompkins' store as a bet.
Teaspoon
interrupts the card game, accuses Cyrus of being a cheat and shoots him.
Seeing Cyrus dead, McPhalen (the businessman) declares himself the winner
of the game, but Kid stops him and shows the winning hand. True to Cyrus's
words, the riders got their money and Tompkins' got his store back.
Though flushed with the success of the plan, the riders are still sad because Cyrus had to die. Teaspoon, however, pulls one on them and shows them a very much alive Cyrus Happy. He and Teaspoon were friends from way back and they decided that the only way to cover Cyrus's tracks was to "kill" him.
Tompkins' shows his gratitude by bringing the poor family Christmas food and presents. The riders spend the Christmas there, listening to Teaspoon retell the story of the Nativity.
Previous || Next || Days Of Our Lives || Feedback