Israel Boone (Darby Hinton) is the victim of a reckless wagon driver and left clinging for life on a cliffside; by happenstance he is saved by the warrior Red Sky (Michael Ansara) - of Boonesborough's arch-rivals, the Shawnee. Arriving a few moments too late to help effect the rescue, Daniel expresses his gratitude, and Red Sky is quick to take advantage by demanding the custom-made Pennsylvania rifle ("Tick-Licker") Boone acquired several episodes ago. Red Sky promptly uses his new status symbol to dispatch a tribal rival, and we get another round of the overconfident kid (adult here) with a gun story.
The episode is a showcase for Michael Ansara, who deployed villain and heavy portrayals all the way from "The Lone Ranger" (1951) to "Star Trek: DS9" (1996). NBC and other producers of the era decided a Syrian-American raised in New England was OK for Native American roles. But that aside, Ansara provided effective small-screen menace that enhanced many stories, though his style would likely be viewed as one-dimensional today.
The story takes the familiar route of many DB adventures, as Boone attempts to prevent the eruption of frontier conflict by interposing himself between rapacious settlers and angry tribespeople. A bit more might have been done with the Mingo (Ed Ames) character here, given the possible conflict of ethnic and tribal loyalties, but he's content to handle sidekick duties for the hour. As usual the tribespeople look like they rode in from the Dakotas that morning, but a couple are wearing trade-blanket shirts that could reasonably be found in the Ohio Valley, so, small victories. Less forgivable is the fast depiction of a settler being tried for the murder of Native Americans, a happening that clocked in as rare to nonexistent in the 18th and 19th centuries.
A reasonable amount of flintlock action is delivered, and the staging of a runaway wagon wreck always gives a shot of adrenaline to a Western production. Cincinattus is still on extended vacation; fort storekeeper duties this week are handled by
B-Western journeyman Roy Barcroft.
A formula Boone adventure, but one given an extra spark by Ansara's presence.