
The Lost Full Episode – Gunsmoke, Season #17, Episode#01
Disoriented and alone in the countryside, Kitty crosses paths with a young girl who has adapted to the wild as a jungle dweller for years. However, their encounter takes a sinister turn when the girl is abducted by a family intent on exploiting her in a freak show. Gunsmoke The Lost originally aired on September 13, 1971.
Explore the plot and interesting facts about “The Lost,” or watch the episode below.
Table of Contents
Watch the Full Episode of Gunsmoke The Lost
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Gunsmoke The Lost Cast
The actors listed below performed in the Gunsmoke episode titled “The Lost”:
- James Arness as Matt Dillon
- Milburn Stone as Doc (credit only)
- Amanda Blake as Kitty
- Ken Curtis as Festus
- Buck Taylor as Newly
- Mercedes McCambridge as Rubilee Mather
- Royal Dano as Henry Mather
- Laurie Prange as Wild Child
- Link Wyler as Lamond Mather
- Charles Kuenstle as Valjean Mather
- Dee Carroll as Mrs. Grayson
- Jerry Brown as Abel Grayson
- Peggy Rea as Bess Roniger
- Maria Mantley Marill as Maria Roniger (as Maria Mantley)
- Jon Jason Mantley as Jon Roniger
- Terri Lynn Wood as Elsie Roniger
Full Story Line for The Lost
When the stagecoach carrying Kitty crashes in a remote desert area, she finds herself stranded and desperate for help. Wandering through the barren landscape, she encounters a feral child who approaches her cautiously. Through gentle gestures, Kitty gains the child’s trust, proving herself as a friend.
Their journey leads them to a cabin inhabited by a family who reveals that the feral girl is considered an “animal” with a bounty on her head for stealing chickens. Shocked by this revelation, the family captures the girl, intending to exploit her for profit by displaying her as a wild creature. Eventually, Matt and his companions locate Kitty and the feral girl, ending their ordeal.
Full Script and Dialogue of The Lost
Better drop down them curtains, Miss. Keep out some of the dust. Whoa! Whoa! ♪♪ ♪♪ Who's out there? Who are ya? Please come out and let me see ya. Just wasn't no sign of her. Nothing but a bunch of dress boxes strewed around. Got 'em down at the house if you want 'em. Well, no, thanks. Maybe later. Where can we find the wreck? About 18 miles. That way. There's a fallen tree across the road. Coach is down in the gulley. You can't miss it. Thanks for your help, ma'am. - Thank you, ma'am. - Mrs. Grayson. Sorry about your friend. Thank you, ma'am. Now, just a minute. I don't wanna hurt you. But if you don't quit fighting, I'm gonna have to. Now, please, you've gotta help me. You've gotta tell me where we are and how we can get out of here. Look, I'll... I'll tell you what. I'll turn you loose, and then we can talk. All right? Wait a minute! Come back here! You've gotta help me! Please! All right, all right. This is where you live, huh? I wonder how many years you've been like this? Hey, uh, I'm lost. You can get me out of here. Oh, please help me. I know you can hear me. But you won't talk. Or you can't. You just stay right here. I can't do anything about that. You just go ahead and be a dog in the manger. Eat your... your berries. I hope you'll be very happy. Real happy. Marshal, there's some blood on the seat. Festus: Matthew! Matthew! There's a whole mess of tracks back yonder heading off into that... Why you reckon she'd want to go thataway? I don't know, but it's a good thing she's walking anyway. Come on, Newly. Festus: Come on, Ruth. Hyah! Ruth, hyah! Curious about what I'm doing? This is a fire. I'm gonna try and catch some fish and get something to eat. Smells good, doesn't it? Come on. Here. You are wild. I don't suppose I'll... I'll ever know how you got this way. Festus: Matthew? Young'un's tracks here. Looks like she's barefooted. Made about the same time Miss Kitty's was. Sometime yesterday. Newly: Well, what's a little kid doing out here anyway? Miss Kitty was all alone before this. Matt: Well, there may be a ranch around here. Leastwise Miss Kitty knows enough to follow downstream. She's bound to come to something sometime. We better get rolling. I don't know how to thank you, so... This is about all I have to offer. A very special person gave me that. Well... I'm gonna have to leave you now. Gotta get across that river before dark. You think she was here, Marshal? Could be her. I sure hope so. She's survivin'. Well, I hate the thought of her staying out here another night alone. Oh, I do too, Newly. I don't know what we're gonna do neither, Matthew. We've just ran plumb out of tracking ground. I got an idea maybe she crossed here. Let's go over to the other side and take a look. Look, I've got an idea. Come on over here. I'm gonna draw you a picture. That's a house. A house. Where people live. All right? These are people. People. Like you. And me. People that live in a house. Please. Come on. Come on, please. Come look at me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. Come on. You should put this back on. You poor baby. Wait a minute. Lamond, get out here! Just go on now. Come on. It's people. They'll help us. Come on. Come look at this. Look, look, look, look there. Ain't that it? Ain't that the animal? Will you go after it? Get goin'. Stop. Just stop it. Look at that. Boy, get up there. Go catch it now, you hear? What do you mean "it"? You mean the child? That ain't no child. That's a animal. - What? - It. Who are you anyway? Well, my name is... is Kitty Russell. I'm from Dodge City. And I was in this stagecoach accident. I got lost, and that child helped me. Helped you? It ain't ever helped nobody. I don't want her hurt. Come on. We gonna go see Miss Mather. - Who's Miss Mather? - That's Ma. Now, you come on. She'll get you something to eat. Don't worry. We're not gonna hurt you. I wanna hear how you become friendly with the animal. Oh, stop fighting me, Mister. I gotta get your neck. That child, who is she? How'd she get this way? Ain't nobody around here knows for sure. We think it was the fever sickness over Jewel Creek way. It happened years ago. And folks were struck down all over. They just fell down. Up and down, back and forth and sideways. Bodies were layin' all over the place. We figured that the animal come from one of them families that died. Didn't anybody take her in or try to take care of her? The chances are nobody knew... Knew... Will you hush up? He rambles on like that ever since he was afflicted. Who'd want to take in a mangy kid right out of a fever house? We never got it, though, so's you ain't gotta worry none. Well, I already told her. She knows we ain't sick. Will you stop buttin' in? I'm telling it. Yes, Rubilee. Um... How long you folks live here? Oh, we don't live here. In this burnt-out old shack? No, we're just stopping off here. We're on our way into town for the big doin's. It's Fourth of July, and we just stopped in here last night to get in out of the rain. I just told her that. Well, that explains it. Explains what? Well, the child. She's... She's deathly afraid of people, and... Well, she lead me here, thinking it was abandoned, and... when she saw you, she ran away. Faster than a jack rabbit, she did. Well, I don't understand how she survived. She survived by stealin'. That's how. Folks 'round here been going crazy with her getting into chicken coops. Bad enough she steals the chickens and the eggs. Then she leaves the coops open, and old Mr. Fox comes in, steals what she didn't take. Even known to steal a pig now and then. Eats it raw. Then leaves what she can't tote off. Even the seed grain ain't safe. All right, mister, you're through. Hasn't anybody tried to catch her? To feed her? To teach her? Or something like that? Folks round here tried everything they knew. They've tried dogs, they tried traps. They even tried poison. Poison? On a child? Ain't no child. It's an animal. Worse than any wolf or coyote you ever saw. Because it is smart. Ain't smarter than us, Ma. Sure look wore out, Miss Kitty. I can make a palette for you. In the shack, on the floor. I sure could use some rest. Come along with me. Like I say, we ain't got much here. We're just stoppin' off. But I can fix you some kind of a thing on the floor. Kitty: I sure appreciate that. What's in here? Well, such as it is, this is it. Look. How much you got there? $38. $38 spendin'? It ain't Confederate. You give me that. I said give me that. You give me that. We're gonna have us a hundred more to match these. You mean that bounty on the animal? How we gonna get it, Ma? If the animal helped that woman, that means she's friendly with her. Now, we got the woman. She gonna sleep in there. And if they be friendly as I figure they be, then sometime tonight the animal... gonna come skulking around here... looking for her friend. Come on! Come on! I got her! I got her! Ow! Come on! Get her, Valjean! Rubilee, we got it! Rubilee! Get the hell off of her! Let go of her. What are you doing to her? Leave her alone! There's a bounty on her. That child saved my life, and I'm not gonna see her hurt. Ma: Oh, don't let it get away. She's worth a hundred dollars! Valjean, get her. Get in there. Come on. Come and get her. Valjean, will you come here? Get her. Get her up. Take her over into the shed. We'll tie her up, just to be safe. Just throw her right in. Mama, what are we gonna do with all that money, huh? We're gonna have us what we always wanted and never did get. A real house in town. You just tie her up tight there. Keep an eye on her. All night? Valjean'll spare you later. I ain't closin' my eyes, if that's what you're thinkin'. No, sir. Not with you worth a hundred dollars in gold, I ain't. You're about the ugliest thing I ever did see. Not only are you ugly, you're probably loony to boot. You know what they're gonna do with you? Huh? They're gonna take you and lock you up in a big stone building with chains on the walls. They're gonna lock you in those chains. And you'll scream, and you gonna holler, and there ain't nobody gonna hear you, much less care. And that's gonna teach you for stealin' other folks' stock. Valjean. Shh. Gonna get you out of here. Just hold still. All right. There we go. Okay. Okay. Underneath. Go on. Go on, underneath. Hurry up. Run. Go on. No. I'm just gonna hold you back. Go on. Lamond! If you twitch a leg, I'll blow you both. Clean apart. Mrs. Mather, you can't do this. You shut your mouth. Or I'll kick it shut. Ma! We're all ready. Ma! Please. You just can't leave me here like this. - Oh, can't I? - Come on. Let's go. I can do anything I want to now, looks like to me. Son, come. Just get that wagon going. Get your hand in there, you. Get it in there! A hundred dollars ain't gonna go far. Oh, hush up, Marcus Henry. Hundred dollars. At least part of it. I got me a plan. Now, what we're gonna do... is we're gonna go into town, and we're gonna charge everybody we see 50 cents a head to take a look at the animal. You mean, like, we're going into business, Ma? And then when all the folks have paid 50 cents to peek at the freak, we're gonna tell 'em we want $200 more or we'll turn her loose again. You hear that, Lamond? We're going into business! We're gonna be rich! Mrs. Mather: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Matt: Hold up there. Lamond: Good morning. Anything we can do for you? Well, we're tracking a woman and a child. Thought maybe you might have seen 'em. No, we ain't seen nobody. Not a soul. Ma'am, where does this road lead to? Back that away, it leads to old Jewel Creek. But the way we're going, it heads into town. Matt: Well, thank you, ma'am. If you see anything of 'em, why... Mrs. Mather: Oh, we'll help 'em out, Marshal. We certainly will. Thank you. Hold up just a minute here. What do you got in there? Well, that's just an old animal we caught. It's none of your affair. Matthew! There's a little girl in this here cage. You leave her alone! She's ours. There's a bounty on her, and we got a right to it. Let her out of there, Festus. You let her out, you turn her loose, you'll never catch her again. Where's she runnin' off to? Like as not, she's g-gone to the woman. Festus, you and Newly keep an eye on 'em. It's all right. It's all right. He's a friend. He's a friend. It's gonna be all right. - Matt. - It's all right, Kitty. - Oh. - I'll have you loose in a minute here. Mm. Ow. Sorry. Matt, this girl is scared to death of people. She's been living in this wilderness all her life. It's all right. Don't worry. He's a good friend. He's a good friend. Oh, Matt. Oh, thank God. Thank God. Kitty, it's all right. It's all right. She sleepin'? She's out finally. Figure she'll ever let you clean her up? Oh, I think so. We might have managed it by now, but too many men around. Well, maybe when we get back to Dodge it'll be easier. I'm not gonna take her to Dodge. You're not? Newly, she knows that you and Matt and Festus are my friends, but she's still terrified of you. Now, how do you think she'd feel in a completely strange town with a lot of strange people gawking at her? Well, I see what you mean, Miss Kitty, but if you're not gonna take her to Dodge, what are you gonna do with her? Well, I've got an idea. When we get to Silver Creek Crossroads, I want you to stop. Silver Creek? Well, that's the road to... What do you think? I think that's the best darned idea I ever heard of. Whoa. Marshal, we're stopping at Silver Creek. Stopping? What for? Matt, I want you and Newly and Festus to go on to Dodge, and I'll meet you there later. What are you gonna do? Do you have to know everything? Let's go, Newly. Yes, ma'am. Giddup. Mama, somebody's coming. Come on. I think it's Miss Kitty. - Hi, Miss Kitty! - Hi, Miss Kitty! Hi, kids. Wait. Land sakes. That's a child. Good gracious, Miss Kitty. What has happened to you? It's a long story, Bess. - I'm gonna need your help. - Yes. Yes, of course. Well, now, where did you find her? Out in the badlands. She's lived like an animal, and she's absolutely terrified of people. She doesn't talk, she doesn't understand, and I thought, well, if anybody'd know what to do, you would. Oh, my goodness gracious. Well, the first thing to do is get her back down here if we can. And we can't do that all standing around here gawking at her. Now, get back on the porch. Every one of you. Hurry up now. Get. And don't gawk. Miss Kitty. I've had 17 children, and wasn't a one of 'em didn't have a little jealousy in 'em. Now, what do you think? Oh. I think it's worth a try. Hi, Elsie. How are you? Elsie: Fine. It's so good to see you again. I hardly recognize you, you're getting to be such a... Mm, big girl. How old are you now? Four. Four years old. Is it working? I think so. She's coming down a little. Kitty: Say, I know what let's do. - You wanna have some fun? - Yes. Would you like to go for a ride on the carousel? Yes. All righty. Stand on there. You better stop it, Bess. Wait. No, no. Come on. Come on. No, no, no. No, no, no. No. Bess. You wanna go with Mommy for a minute, huh? Come on. Come on. Please? Get on up here with me. Come on. Please. Put your feet up. That's right. All right, Bess. It's all right. Bess: Robin? Mary? It's all right. It's all right. Maria. All right, children. It's all right. It's all right. Bess: Stop. It's all right. Believe me. Please. It's fine. Okay. All right, boys. It's all right. Children ain't no problem, Miss Kitty. They just need to be loved.
Behind the Scenes of The Lost
According to a book about “Gunsmoke,” Amanda Blake, who resided in Arizona and traveled to Hollywood for the show’s filming as required, expressed great dissatisfaction with working on location, particularly enduring the scorching desert heat while layered in heavy clothing for most scenes. This dissatisfaction sparked a feud between her and producer John Mantley, ultimately resulting in Blake’s departure from the show three years later.
Despite enduring a series of physically demanding challenges, including a stagecoach accident, navigating muddy waters, enduring heavy thunderstorms, tumbling down hills, and engaging in confrontations, Kitty remarkably retains her false eyelashes and maintains long, glossy fingernails throughout the ordeal.
Looking for More Gunsmoke Episodes?
Get ready to indulge in some classic Western entertainment with Gunsmoke! Whether flying solo or sharing the experience with loved ones, grab a bowl of popcorn and prepare for a nostalgic journey. The Lost marks the first episode of Season 17 of Gunsmoke, offering an adventure sure to captivate audiences of all ages.
You can find more about any of the Gunsmoke episodes here.