and Apollo (Mike Mazurki), a kindly mountain of a man and Gus's so-called star. About the time they are binding up Lassie's sores, giving her food and water, and moving along in their van, young Chris bolts on his first day of the school term and sets off alone in search of Lassie. With his distraught grandfather setting out to find the boy, and Kelly and her sweetheart, attorney Allan Fogerty (Lane Davies), checking with the police, Chris takes a car conveyor in the direction of Colorado Springs. Soon after the truck takes off, a hungry and frightened Chris leaves the vehicle, buys food in a restaurant from a sympathetic waitress (Alice Faye), then goes out to look for another truck, and finally dives into the back of a cattle truck. The restaurant waitress, hearing reports of Chris's disappearance, calls his home and tells his sister where the boy has been, but Chris is on the move again, and so is Lassie. He in an empty cattle truck, she in the doorway of a freight car. Lassie leaps from the freight car and continues her journey. Clovis and the police officer who is aiding in the search for Chris, hear his cries as he is about to be crushed by a herd of Longhorns being loaded into his hiding place. Everybody is home – everybody but Lassie, whose ownership by Clovis has been clarified by Allan, the young attorney, who is about to join the family as an in-law. Lassie continues her long, painful journey. Wet, sore-footed, and limping, she stumbles upon the Mike Curb Congregation, who are rehearsing. The group takes Lassie along to their engagement, where a flare is knocked over, causing a fire. Panic ensues. Lassie is trying to save the life of a kitten from a burning dressing room and is presumed dead, but she is not, and the next day – Thanksgiving – Lassie, tired and filthy, comes wagging over the hill to Chris, Clovis, Kelly, and home. Cast James Stewart as Clovis Mitchell Stephanie Zimbalist as Kelly Mitchell Pernell Roberts as Jamison Michael Sharrett as Chris Mitchell Mickey Rooney as Gus Alice Faye as the Waitress (Alice) Gene Evans as Sheriff Andrews Mike Mazurki as Apollo Robert Lussier as Finch Lane Davies as Allan Fogerty James V. Reynolds as Officer Wilson Rayford Barnes as Reward Seeker Buck Young as TV Announcer Bob Cashell as