Home Ranch

"Home Ranch" is the second episode of The Rifleman Season One. Directed by Arnold Laven and written by Sam Peckinpah, it aired on October 7, 1958.
==Synopsis==
Two ruthless hired hands of a wealthy cattleman, who has been using the ranch for grazing his cattle, demand that Lucas move out.
==Watch==
==Plot==
As Lucas and Mark are herding cattle and working on their new ranch, two men on horseback ride up and introduce themselves as Sam Montgomery and Billy Lehi. They inform Lucas that they work for the Sands Sable Cattle Corporation, owned by Oat Jackford, and that Mr. Jackford had a "working arrangement" with the previous owner of the ranch (Old Man Dunlap) to allow the land to be used as winter grazing ground for their cattle herd. They threaten Lucas with a gun to get off the land and give the land back. When Lucas still refuses and tries to set off to talk to Jackford himself, they set fire to the house and take Lucas's gun before leaving. The house burns to the ground.
Lucas covertly follows Sam and Billy as Lucas stays behind and makes camp. Sam and Billy meet up with another one of Jackford's men, Pablo, and make camp. While Pablo is away managing Mr. Jackford's cattle herd, Lucas manages to secretly steal back his own rifle; when Pablo returns, he finds Sam and Billy tied and bound, and Lucas takes him captive as well.
Mr. Jackford and his partner Clyde find Jackford's cattle herd roaming without a rider, and travel back to the men's camp to see what happened, only to find the three men all tied and Lucas waiting for him with his rifle. Lucas confronts Jackford to tell him he won't leave his ranch. He tells him that Billy and Sam burnt down his house, and Jackford says he'll repay Lucas for the loss, but he still intends to keep the land. The two get in a brawl, and Jackford ends up conceding and telling Lucas they'll rebuild their house.
The next morning, Billy, Clyde, and Sam arrive at the site of the burned-down ranch with building materials to help rebuild the house.
==Cast==
===Main===
*Lucas McCain - Chuck Connors
*Mark McCain - Johnny Crawford
===Guests===
*Oat Jackford - Harold J. Stone
*Sam Montgomery - Lee Farr
*Billy Lehi - Steve Rowland
*Clyde - Don Kennedy
*Pablo - Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. (credited as Rodolfo Hoyos)
*Jack N. Young (uncredited)
*Bobby Somers (uncredited)
Category:Episodes
Category:Season One episodes
Category:Episodes with no fatalities
Category:Episode pages with completed plot sections