The Fighting Stallion

[first lines]

[after gloomily reading Lon's medical report]

Commander Patrick:
Have him come in.

Commander Patrick:
Understand you're leaving us.

Lon Evans:
Yes sir. I finally got my papers and I'm goin' home - good old Wyoming.

Commander Patrick:
Little better than Tarawa, huh?

Lon Evans:
And the jungles of the Phillipines. That was the longest three years of my life, but it would have been a lot workse if I hadn't had the memory of the most wonderful country in the world to think about.

Commander Patrick:
Evans, I'm going to give it to you straight. That occasional blurring you've been complaining of - I'm afraid there's nothing that we can do for you. You're gradually losing your sight. In time, months, a year, perhaps sooner, you'll be blind. By comparison, you're more fortunate that some of the others. At least you can prepare for it.

Lon Evans:
Braille? Training the blind? A seeing-eye dog? What use would a seeing-eye dog be in a country where a man judges distance by the horizon; where a man can ride all day without seeing another soul; where the only creatures that live inside are caged birds? What good would a seeing-eye dog be on a branding job or a cattle round-up? No thanks, Doc.

Lon Evans:
Hello. You must be from the Indian Head Dude Ranch.

Jeanne Barton:
Are you one of those fortune tellers who knows all and tells all?

Lon Evans:
Nope, that one was easy. I could tell by the brand on your horse where you're from and judging from the distance to there you must be lost.

Jeanne Barton:
Your calculations are quire correct, my dear Watson. I'm a tenderfoot as green as they come and I am lost.

Lon Evans:
I'm not one of your patients. I don't want your pity.

Jeanne Barton:
Pity? I don't pity you! I don't even feel sorry for you. I'll reserve that for the boys who really need it, the ones who are a lot worse off than you - the men who can't take a girl in their arms because they haven't any arms!

Jeanne Barton:
I've shown all the initiative in first round; I'll be waiting to see what you do in the second.

Lon Evans:
Now you know why I trained Starlight. He's to be my eyes.

Yancy:
You know, folks all over Wyoming are talkin' about the seeing-eye horse, Starlight.

[last lines]

Jeanne Barton:
[reading a letter] Oh, this is wonderful news! You remember that doctor I worked with in the service - you know, the one who performed that incredible eye operation?

Lon Evans:
Yes, you told me about him.

Jeanne Barton:
Well, by a very strange coincidence, he wrote me that he's going to spend his vacation here in Wyoming. He feels sure he can restore your sight.

Lon Evans:
That is good news!

Jeanne Barton:
I know this doctor can't miss.

Lon Evans:
And if he does, I still have Starlight... and you.