"Rawhide" was an one-hour long Western series which ran on the CBS Television network from 1959 to 1965. A group of cowboys in the Old West drive a herd of cattle hoping to get sell them at a market. They encounter many adventures along the way. This episode is titled "The Incident of the Challenge" and was first broadcast on October 14, 1960. A Mexican Indian who appears at the cowboys' campsite and explains in Spanish to a Mexican cowboy that he is an Aztec Indian and has travelled 1500 miles from his village in Mexico to seek the daughter of the village's Aztec high priestess. He wants to bring the daughter back to the village to pray to the Aztec god. The Aztec and the cowboy visit a saloon and gambling casino and the Aztec sees one of the saloon girls wearing a necklace with gold coins. He believes that she is the woman that he is searching for. The necklace in the program does not have real Mexican coins but jewelry imitation coins.

Cowboys driving cattle appear.

The cowboys are driving the herd in Texas to Sedalia, Missouri in 1869. They are passing through an area experiencing a drought and some cowboys are sent to search for water.

The tornado causes a dust storm which separates the drive manager Gil Favor from the others. A Mexican Indian named Mitla appears and offers Gil some water.

Gil takes Mitla back to the campsite.

Gil is given some food and then talks in Spanish to Jesus, a Mexican cowboy nicknamed "Hey Soos". Hey Soos explins that Mitla is an Aztec Indian who has come 1500 miles from a small village in Mexico. The village's high priestess ran off to Texas with a man, had a daughter, and died. Mitla is searching for the now-grown daughter whom he believes is a goddess and the daughter of their Aztec god Quetzalcoatl or "Feathered Serpent". The daughter will be surrounded by gold and will be wearing a necklace with an eagle, a cactus, and a serpent on it. Gil heads for the nearby town of Santa Maria to purchase water for the cattle herd. At the town saloon the town boss Major Darius gives saloon girl Julia Garcia a present.

Julia opens the box and pulls out a necklace.

Mitla and Hey Soos have followed Gil to the town and the saloon. Mitla sees the girl and the necklace.

Hey Soos explains what Mitla is after and Julia is shocked.

The necklace has imitation Mexican jewelry coins with the standard emblem of Mexico, an eagle sitting on a cactus holding a serpent in it's beak. Mitla tells the people that Julia matches the legendary goddess of his village including being surrounded by gold, and points to a stack of gold coins.

The coins are, of course, imitation prop coins. Julia begins making fun of the situation.

Gil meets Major Darius who explains that the town has little water and not enough to sell. He does offer to purchase some cattle for their skins at a very low price. Julia and another girl leave the saloon and encounters the two Mexicans.

Mitla tells Julia that once he has found the goddess he will die. Julia points to an advertising sign with the emblem of Mexico on it.

Major Darius rides up and his horse accidently hits Mitla with a hoof, killing him.

Hey Soos rides off with another horse carrying Mitla's remains.

The cowboys hold a short service and then Julia appears.

Julia explains that she has left the town and the saloon and wants to move far away and live a conventional life.

Julia talks about Mitla's beliefs about her and walks up a hill.

Some American Indians see her and one shoots her with an arrow. One Indian rides towards the cowboys.

He tells the cowboys to get off their Indian land.

Julia, before dying, says that she hopes that she has done some good.
The cowboys are then drenched with rain.

Eric Fleming as Gil Favor
Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates
Sheb Wooley as Pete Nolan
Michael Pate as Mitla
Robert Cabel as Hey Soos (Jesus)
Ann Robinson as Julia Garcia
Lyle Bettger as Major Victor Darius
Director: Charles Marquis Warren
Writers: Charles Marquis Warren, Charles Larson