Cimarron Strip/Sound of a Drum

Sound of a Drum
Season 1, Episode 19
Airdate	February 1, 1968
Production Number	0720
Written by	Victor Leslie Tracy and A.L. Christopher. story by Victor Leslie Tracy.
Directed by	Gerald Mayer
← 1x18 Knife in the Darkness	1x20 → Big Jessie
Cimarron Strip — Season One

Special Guest Star: Steve Forrest (Sgt. Clayton Tyce)

Guest Starring: Gerald S. O'Loughlin (Sgt.Maj. Chambers)

Co-Starring: John Milford (Corp. Watkins), Rayford Barnes (Bains), Harry Carey (Riley), Lloyd Gough Capt. Bragg), David Renard (Pedro), Davy Kurzon (Jackson), George Buchanan (Blacksmith), Robert J. Folkerson (Corporal)

Plot Overview

Rustlers are stealing cattle and the army and Marshal Crown can not find them despite patrolling extensively. Sergeant Tyce one of the cavalry's most popular men seems not interested in indians led by a Comanchero as too poor to worry about. This puts him in conflict with his Sergeant Major, Chambers, new to his post.

Then Tyce finds himself in trouble with Sergeant Major Chambers, who insists on following Army Regulations to the letter. finds Tyce in Cimarron City when he was supposed to be in charge of a patrol, Tyce is given the choice of accepting a discharge from the Army, or facing a court-martial. He takes the discharge.

Tyce, a 20-year cavalry veteran, blames all of his troubles on Chambers, and sets up a mock trial for the Sergeant Major. He releases his old men from an Army guardroom and uses them as the jury, holding court in the Wayfarer's Inn while Crown, MacGregor, and Francis are away, searching for the rustlers. Dulcey realizes that Tyce's hatred for Chambers has gotten out of hand, as Tyce is determined to hang chambers and she attempts to defend Chambers who refuses to run when she gives him the chance to escape.

Crown comes across the Comanchero at Indian Wells waiting to pay off someone.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

The price for cattle was $30 a head and over 100 had been rustled, and Crown was under a time limit from the ranchers before they took matters in hand.

Characters

Pedro was a Comanchero, a crossbreed Mexican/Apache.

Clayton Tyce was a frontline 20 year cavalry veteran who only knows the army life.

Chambers was a 30 year veteran but had been never on the frontline.

Quotes

• Francis about Tyce "Well I will say for a man thats looking for trouble, he sure does it with a flourish".

• Tyce "Ever since I was a little shaver, trooper that's all I ever dreamed of, it's all I ever wanted in life, bugles and the sound of the drum, stand tall and be counted as a man. I'm just not fit for anything else".