Another Garner episode; they've skipped a few of the Jack Kelly episodes,
including one with Robert Conrad, oh well.

Waco is man who obeys the Code of the West, the Hollywood stereotype that is
the antithesis of the Maverick brothers. Waco is a man of few words and
never backs down from a fight. He's a quick draw and a deadly shot.

Waco is played by Wade Preston, star of "Colt 45", a tv western that lasted
for three season. He'd work steadily until 1971, and make only a handful of
appearances till 1990. He died in 1992. He'd appear on another "Maverick"
and also make another appearance with Garner in "Man Called Sledge".

Bret tags along with Waco from the trail, following him into town where
Waco has an appointment. For mercenary reasons (what else?), Bret finds it
his duty to try to keep Waco alive, even though Waco constantly puts himself
into harms way and manages to irritate the leading family in town.

The town is suffering the effects of a range war. The leading family has the
largest cattle ranch, but other ranchers are fighting it out with
homesteaders who are farming on what had been range land, so the town is
trying to run both new cattlemen and farmers out of town.

The girl is the daughter of the leading family, played by Louise Fletcher.
Waco laconically observes to Maverick that she's pretty. Her brother is a
louse, a bad gambler who loses to Bret and accuses him of cheating. The
first bad fight occurs when Bret, who has already backed down when the
brother draws a gun, steps in to take the gun away.

Everybody assumes Waco is a hired gun of the farmers, so the father of the
leading family, Col. Bent, tries to have his son bushwack him (the son guns
down an innocent bystander instead, then denies it), then tries to run him
out of town with his ranch hands, and finally hires a killer. The colonel is
played by R.G. Armstrong, usually cast as a rancher or a sheriff, usually a
sinister character. In his 90s now and still alive, he made regular tv
appearances until 1999.

In the fight with the colonel, his son, and the ranch hands, Waco seriously
injures the colonel and shoots the son dead.

When confronted by the ranch hands, Bret, seemingly out of character, backs
up Waco in the gun fight and gets a flesh wound for his troubles. As he
explains to Waco, he figured the odds were good, expecting the horses to
rear at the sound of gunfire. "Who can shoot straight from a rearing horse?"
asks Bret.

Waco: Maverick, I guess you're the only person in the world who would be
insulted if someone called him a good man.

Bret: Not insulted. Embarassed.

Bret, hearing about the hired gun from the daughter, ambushes a stranger on
the train, ties him up, and hides him in the baggage car. Bret decides his
troubles trying to keep Waco alive are over.

The next morning, Bret spots the bad news in Waco's paper. The man Bret tied
up was the man Waco had arranged to meet, not the hired gun. Bret sits down
to breakfast with an sick expression on his face. The baggage man on the
train discovers the man and turns him in, collecting the reward for his
capture. Bret confesses to Waco that he was sticking with Waco to meet this
man, to turn him in for the reward. Waco tells Bret the man once did him a
good turn, and Waco felt he owed him and intended to talk him into turning
himself in.

Later, the hired gun shows up and Waco bests him, of course.

At last, the colonel comes to his senses and realizes that Waco is a fine
man, good enough for his daughter, and tells her so. Waco gets the girl and
will marry her.

Bret rides out of town alone, unobserved, defeated, broke, observing that
Waco made all the wrong moves but came out of it all wealthy and popular and
likely to get elected sheriff. Bret asks where he went wrong.

Written by Gene Coon, well known for writing episodes for the original "Star
Trek" and numerous other tv shows. He'd even write an episode of "Nichols".