The Deadeye Kid

"The Deadeye Kid" is the 20th episode of The Rifleman Season One and the 20th episode overall. Directed by Jerry Hopper and written by Palmer Thompson, it aired on February 10, 1959.
==Summary==
Mark befriends a teenager from Brooklyn and tries to help him when he gets wrongfully accused of murder.
==Watch==
==Plot==
A young man from Brooklyn named Donnel O'Mahoney tries hitching a free ride on the back of the stagecoach heading west. The drivers pretend to not notice and let him ride for a bit until they get to the middle of nowhere, where they dump off and leave him.
Lucas and Mark are riding along when they come across Donnel stumbling along the road very dehydrated. They take him to the ranch where he and Mark become friends and Donnel tells Mark all about New York.
Later that day, Lucas, Mark, and Donnel swing by the north road where two men, Jackson and Cramer, should be passing by with their company's freight wagon, so that Donnel can hitch a ride to North Fork with them. When they get there, they find that only Jackson is driving it; Donnel says goodbye to Mark and Lucas and sets off with him.
Jackson and Donnel stop at the freight company's office, where Cramer is inside counting money. As Donnel awkwardly stands by, Cramer confronts Jackson for embezzling thousands of dollars from the company, and tells him he will be turning him in to the Marshal. When Cramer tries to leave, Jackson fatally shoots him. Donnel makes an escape and flees on one of the company's buckboard wagons.
Mark is alone on the pasture and spots Donnel riding, when the buckboard goes over a bump and he wipes out. He gets up and runs off on foot. Mark catches up with him when Donnel is about to pass out from exhaustion. Donnel tells Mark that he saw Jackson kill a man and now Jackson is after him, and begs Mark for help. Mark and Donnel set off together, with Mark covering their tracks.
Micah, Jackson, and a posse of men all on horseback come up on Lucas on the pasture. Jackson tells Lucas that Donnel killed Cramer, and asks if Lucas saw him. Jackson tells everyone that he's offering $300 to whoever kills Donnel, but Micah urges his orders to take him in alive unless Donnel forces their hand. Lucas joins Micah and the posse, telling Jackson that he's joining to bring Donnel in alive.
Mark and Donnel continue fleeing, with Mark employing several tricks to cover their trail and make them harder to track down. Micah and Lucas split off from the rest of the group to search, with Jackson covertly following. Lucas starts to deduce that Mark may be helping Donnel flee.
Lucas and Micah split up from each other. Lucas finds Mark, who tells him that Donnel said Mr. Jackson killed Cramer. Mark refuses to tell Lucas where Donnel is hiding in order to protect his friend, but Lucas convinces him to tell him based on the fact that if the posse finds Donnel before he and Micah they'll likely kill him. With Jackson covertly listening, Mark tells Lucas that Donnel is hiding in a cave near the canyon.
Lucas and Mark travel to the cave, where they find Jackson shooting his gun into it. After a confrontation, Jackson draws on Lucas and Lucas shoots him dead. Donnel emerges from the cave unharmed.
In the closing scene of the episode, Lucas tells Donnel that he figured he would need a job and found a job opening as a ranchhand, and Donnel happily agrees to take it.
==Cast==
===Main===
*Lucas McCain - Chuck Connors
*Mark McCain - Johnny Crawford
*Micah Torrance - Paul Fix
===Guests===
*Donnel O'Mahoney - Kip King
*Jackson - Douglas Spencer
*Man (Driver) - Glenn Strange
*Cramer - Jason Johnson
Category:Episodes
Category:Season One episodes
Category:Episode pages with completed plot sections
Category:Episodes where Lucas kills someone
Category:Episode pages with overly long plot summaries