| Bonanza episode | |
|---|---|
| “All Ye His Saints” | |
| Season 7, Episode 14 #216 in Series | |
 | |
| Air date | December 19, 1965 |
| Production code | |
| Guest starring: | |
| Written by | William Blinn |
| Directed by | William F. Claxton |
| Episode Guide | |
| Previous Episode: A Natural Wizard |
Next Episode: A Dublin Lad |
| External links | |
 IMDbAll Ye His Saints on IMDb | |
Summary[]
When Evan Thorpe suffers a serious injury, ranch hand Lijah declares that "only God" can save his life.
Evan's impressionable son Michael takes the words literally and heads to the mountains to search for God. The young man thinks he's met Him when he encounters mountaineer Tom Caine.
Plot[]
Joe and Hoss arrive at Evan Thorpe's ranch with a mare, they’re greeted by his small son Michael, Joe gives him a piggy back to the barn. Thorpe is in the barn with his hand Lijah, they’re looking for stray owls in the barn. He calls it time and wants to make some coffee and look at the mare Joe and Hoss have brought. Thorpe jumps down and rests his gun against the stall but it falls over, fires, and shoots Thorpe in the back and he falls down, Joe in shock can only stare while Michael runs to his dad.
The Doctor has seen to Thorpe’s injury and Ben is there as well. The Doctor tells Ben he hates what he calls the death watch since the wound is serious and doesn’t know what to tell Thorpe’s son. Ben asks the Doctor if there is anything more that can be done, but the Doctor tells Ben he believes in miracles but doesn’t count on them. Thorpe stirs and knows he’s fading, the Doctor tells him he’s not sure but he knows he’s lying; Thorpe asks Ben to let him see Michael.
Michael goes to his dad but his dad can’t see him clearly and asks him to get closer. Michael starts crying and asks his dad not to die but while he’s talking he stops mid-sentence. Michael begs his dad not to die and Ben tells Lijah to put Michael to bed, the Doctor tells Ben that he’s in a coma and only God can save him now.
Lijah checks up on Michael and Michael asks Lijah who God is since he’s the only one who can save his dad. Lijah tells Michael about God, but Michael hates him because he wants to hurt his dad. Lijah tells Michael that God lives high in the mountains all alone so Michael asks him what he looks like so Lijah tells him he’s a strong man, with a tired face and has eyes like a cold fire to see into your soul. He hugs Michael.
Ben asks the Doctor what his son’s should do if Thorpe wakes up, but the Doctor is doubtful he will but if in the event he does he tells them to get him. Ben leaves and tells Hoss he’ll see him in the morning. Joe is outside and Ben tells him that he will see him in the morning but Joe doesn’t respond and his mind is elsewhere. Ben softly calls to Joe again and Joe apologises telling him he was thinking about Michael. Joe recounts when he was little he realised that all his friends had two parents and he only had one, and when Ben would go away on trips for a few days he would wonder what it would be like for him not to come back. He tells him it frightened him, but he never had to face it but the thought of it scared him. Joe wonders what Michael is going through and tells Ben it was a pointless story. Joe gets upset and Ben tells Joe there’s never a need to apologise for compassion and then leaves.
Michael comes out of the house and Joe tells him its late to be up and Michael tells him he can’t sleep. Michael looks at the mountains and asks Joe how far they are and he tells him that it’s far away. Michael tells Joe that Lijah told him that God lives there and Joe tells him it’s an old Indian legend. He tells Joe that Lijah told him that God can help his father Joe doesn’t want to lie to him but tells him Lijah is right for his sake. Michael goes back to sleep.
Michael sneaks out when Joe and Hoss fall asleep; he takes a mule from the barn.
In the morning Hoss can’t believe he would run away just like that. Lijah tells them that he believes Michael went to see God because he lives in the mountains. Lijah believes that Michael believes it and Joe believes it too since he was asking about how far it was. Since they can’t leave Thorpe alone and they need people to look for Michael, Joe starts the search and tells Hoss to go to town to get the Doctor while Lijah looks after Thorpe.
There’s something wrong with Michael’s mule but he can’t see what the problem is. He won’t ride his mule while it’s lame and since he can’t ride it he can’t take it with him and tells it to go home. Michael shouts in the open and introduces himself to God, he tells him that he wants to speak to him and continues his trek upwards.
Joe finds Michael’s lame mule and shouts for him but there’s no response, he continues to track him.
Michael is climbing and as he looks up he sees a man and climbs down.
Joe passes a drink to Michael at camp, it appears he fell and hit his head and Joe found him. Joe wants to take him to the Doctor but Michael won’t go since he’s seen God. Joe asks him what he looked like and he tells Joe the same description Lijah gave him. Joe believes Michael is lying and is perhaps seeing things because he wants it. Michael tells Joe he has to stay to ask him to help his dad. Joe tells him that sometimes God says no and what would he do if he does say no, so Michael tells him he’d give him a licking. Joe tells Michael that God is in everyone including himself and he’s not a man who lives on a mountain. Michael tells Joe that there’s a man living on the mountains right now and seems to be looking at something. Joe turns around and is surprised to see a man there holding a shotgun at him.
Hoss has joined the search and has brought with him a couple of his deputies and Lijah.
The man is taking Joe and Michael to his place and Michael tells him it looks like an eagles place. Joe stares at the man and the man knows that Joe knows who he is. He tells Joe his name is Tom Caine and Joe remembers that he’s from the summit ridge massacre and thought he was dead. He tells Joe is he or was till he came along. Michael wants to know why he hurt his dad, but Caine doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Joe tells Michael to get the water from the creek.
Caine asks why Joe brought the kid along for his bounty hunting Joe tells him he’s not, Caine says he was looking for him though. Joe tells him why he’s on the mountain with Michael, he tells Caine the boy believes he’s God. Caine proclaims he is technically God since their lives are in his hands and he has the power to give life or to take it, he tells Joe to sit down and put his hands behind his head.
Joe reaches for something on the table but Caine has already noticed and tells him to go ahead and make it easy for him since he’s going to kill him anyway.
Hoss is at Joe’s campsite and the fire embers are still warm to touch, he knows Joe was there since his bedroll is still there. Two deputies come to Hoss and tell him he found tracks but there’s something strange about them since there’s another set of tracks.
Michael is staring at Caine and wants to speak to him about his father but he doesn’t want to until he’s ready, he tells Michael to gather some wood. He tells Joe he hates kids and Joe tells him he’s heard. Caine recounts that he rode into summit ridge and killed a lot of Indian kids and figured that if they killed them as kids then they couldn’t take your scalps when they were older so he was doing everyone a favour. He tells Joe the Government put a price on their heads but can’t understand why since he equates the massacre to killing young wolves. Joe wonders why he’s telling him the story because he won’t feel sorry for him since he lost everything afterwards. Michael comes back with logs for the fire. Joe moves and Caine asks him what he’s doing so Joe tells him he wants a drink. Caine pours Joe some of his liquor and fills the cup to the brim, he asks Michael to take the cup over to Joe and if he doesn’t spill any then his father will be ok. Joe wants Caine to tell Michael he’s lying, Caine tells Michael he’s not strictly lying moreover he’s testing him. Hoss shouts for Joe and still not getting any response so he fires his gun.
In the hut Caine has heard the shot and sees Joe getting up so he clobbers Joe over the head with the barrel of his shotgun, Joe goes down fast. Caine gets up and points his shotgun at Joe and is preparing to fire when Michael tells him not to, Caine doesn’t and tells the boy to look after Joe, Michael attempts to stop Caine from leaving and is pushed aside.
Caine releases Joe’s horse and runs of up the mountain, he turns to see Michael following him. Joe exits the hut showing signs of distress, he notices Hoss from afar and shouts for him, he shouts again to Hoss but collapses at the same time. Hoss has spotted him and rides towards him.
Joe is in the hut and Hoss is giving him a drink, Joe is worried about Michael and knows Caine might kill him. One of the deputies comes in and tells Hoss that Lijah has gone to look for Michael. Hoss leaves and tells Joe to stay put. Michael is still following Caine up the mountain. Michael eventually catches up to Caine and asks him if he passed the test. Caine wonders what he’s talking about so Michael tells him that his dad told him God tests people to see if they’re worthy.
Caine reaches a small hut, he brings out more rifles and starts loading them. Michael starts praying and Caine asks him what he’s doing, so Michael tells him he prayed for a miracle to save his fathers life. Caine tells Michael he’s not who he thinks he is and that he’s just a guy on the run and he’s the guy people talk about in sermons, the lost sheep. Michael tells him that Lijah wouldn’t lie to him that that he’s being tested again and just wants Caine to tell him his dad will get better.
Hoss arrives nearby and Caine hides. Caine fires some shots when he sees them coming his direction. Michael tells him not to fire and won’t hurt him if he tells them who he is.
Joe stumbles up to the mountain.
Hoss attempts to outflank Caine but is spotted.
Joe gets up and continues to run up the mountain, he runs without due care to himself to get to Michael. Caine fires at Joe but misses him. Michael tells Joe to go back, Caine grabs Michael worried that he’ll get killed he goes to grab Michael but something hits his band and he falls forwards, there’s a knife in his back, Lijah has thrown it. Joe catches up to Michael and tells him to go to Lijah. Michael goes to Lijah and is upset with him for killing God. In his dying breath Caine tells Michael that he didn’t and he’s not testing him anymore and he’s not God and he can’t save his father. He tells him if there is a God and he believes in someone like Michael no matter how tough things get then his dad will be alright. Michael cries because he couldn’t save his father, Joe tells him that maybe he saved himself. Joe carries Michael away.
Back at Thorpe’s ranch Ben is waiting there, he takes Michael and tells him that his dad wants to see him. Ben tells Joe that he came out of his coma three hours ago and the Doctor had given him up and calls it a miracle. Joe agrees and Lijah looks out over at the mountain.
Cast and Characters[]
The Cartwrights[]
Other[]
- Bob Miles: Deputy
- Charlie Briggs: Deputy
- Clint Howard: Michael Thorpe
- Harvey Stephens: Dr. Randall
- Leif Erickson: Tom Caine
- Rodolfo Acosta: Lijah
- Simon Scott: Evan Thorpe
Notes[]
Did you know?[]
- The German episode title is: "Gott lebt in den Bergen", meaning "God Lives In The Mountains".
- This episode was originally written with Pernell Roberts as the star, but due to winter weather at Tahoe Meadows at Lake Tahoe, it was postponed until warmer weather. By this time, Roberts had left, so the script was reworked to star Michael Landon.
Goofs[]
- The knife Lijah threw into Caine's back disappears after we see it embedded in his back.
Quotes[]
Little Joe: "I remember when I was little, I realised one day that all my friends had two parents and I just had one. And sometimes when you used to go away on trips for a few days, I used to wonder what it would be like if you didn’t come back. Pa, it used to frighten me. Course I never had to face that, but if just the thought of it scared me that way, I just wonder what that little fella must be going through. That’s a pointless story I guess."
