Who's that little cheddar box, the one with pretty auburn locks? Whom do you see? It's little orphan Annie. She and Sandy make a pair. They never seem to have a care. Cute little she, this little orphan Annie. Bright eyes, cheeks of rosy glow, there's a store of healthiness handy. Mite's eyes always on the go, if you want to know. Mark says Sandy always wears a sunny smile. Now wouldn't it be worth the while? If you could be like little orphan Annie. Well here we are, ready to start another big adventure with orphan Annie in Simmons Corners. But first let me ask you a question. When you drink your Ovaltine, do you always put in plenty of sugar? You know Ovaltine comes unsweetened, because in some cases when people are sick, doctors don't want them to have sugar. And that's why Ovaltine does not have any added sugar in it. So remember, when you're drinking your Ovaltine, you can always make it taste as sweet as you want just by adding the sugar yourself. If you've ever tried Ovaltine for the first time and maybe didn't like it because it wasn't sweet enough, ask your mother now to get you another can at her grocery or drug store so you can try it again. Then when you're mixing your cup full, be sure to add at least one teaspoon full of sugar before you drink it. And boy, just wait till you see how good that Ovaltine is. Why it tastes even better in a chocolate soda. What's more, your mother will be glad to let you have all the Ovaltine you want because it's so good for you. Every single cup full gives you important food elements to help build up strength and energy and pep for you. Another thing, tell your mother she saves money by insisting on getting real Ovaltine and not some over-sweetened product with a lot of sugar already in it. Because ordinary sugar is so cheap, you can just as well add your own and get more value for your money. So tell your mother to be sure to get genuine Ovaltine and not to take anything else in its place. And now let's see what's happening to Annie. After Mr. Flint confessed to the payroll and bank robbery, he escaped with his cronies Wright and Red Hogan. And right now, the marshal and Mr. Silo and Mr. Caslen and Annie and Joe are searching for them in the fields surrounding Simmons' Corners. It's still pouring rain and the night's mighty dark. Listen to that thunder. The little blizzards, it seems to be raining harder than ever. Shucks, litter rain, worse wet nows we ever can be. Who minds getting a little wetter? Nobody, Joe, no sir. Not if we can put this here Flint behind the bars where he belongs. You're right, Mr. Silo. As citizens, we're gonna do our duty even if we get half drowned. Good for you. I knew I picked a couple of good deputies when I got you two. Where are we heading, marshal, and what's the plan? I don't know if there is a plan, Caslen. Land sakes don't know if we need one. It's a cinch Flint and them others can't get out of the county. Not the way the sheriff and the state police have got the roads blocked by this time. I know, but Mr. Caslen means we ought to have some method of tramping around here in the wet. We may be going till daylight unless we work on some sort of theory. What sort of theory? It's so dark out there, don't see no sort of theory. Hardly could get us anyplace. Looks to me as if we just have to stumble around until we come plumb on to Flint. In this darkened rain, marshal, there's not much chance of that. Garnet, I know it. Here, Joe, there's a hollow and some bushes over there along that fence. Turn that flashlight of yours in there. All right. Is that the spot? Yep. There's nobody there, marshal. Nobody at all. I see there ain't. Thought maybe Flint and his men might have taken shelter in a hollow like that. Sure. I think we're just wasting our time, prowling around here in the wet. Well, it may be wasting your time, Mr. Silo, but it ain't mine. Dog, Garnet, I'm not forgetting the way Flint taunted me that day we found Bill Carwin being kept a prisoner in the old Carson house. He said I wasn't much as a police officer. I just want to show him I am. And if I can get my hands on him, I guess that'll show him. And here is what him all the time that was keeping Bill prisoner. I don't blame you at all, marshal, for feeling the way you do. If I were in your shoes, I'd want to get my hands on Flint first, too. But I still think we're not doing much to get him by stumbling around out here in these fields in the dark. I agree with Mr. Carvin. We ought to have a plan for this year's search. Just you name me the plan and I'll jump at it. I am as much at sea as you folks are right now. And say, these here fields are beginning to look like a sea with all this rain. What's your plan? Well, I don't know exactly. How about you, Mr. Silo? Well, I don't know if I had any exact plan in mind. It was you, Elmer, who thought of coming across these fields instead of going into town. Sure it was, and it was a good idea. Of course, it's a cinch. Flint and those others wouldn't have gone into Simmons' corners where they'd have been seen and been reported. They must have cut across the fields since they didn't have time to get in their automobiles. Yeah, that makes sense, Elmer, but it doesn't make sense us stumbling around here and looking into hollers with Joe's flashlight. Right, because it's easy to guess. Flint wouldn't take a chance on hiding in any holler. All right, then. Suppose you tell me where he is. Well, I don't think I can. Listen, Marshal, I've got an idea. You have any? Well, look, what place around here does Mr. Flint know better than any other place? He'd know better. Yeah, leaving to hide out for a short while until he had time to get away, where would he be most likely to head for? I don't know. I hadn't thought of that. I can tell you. There's one place he'd make war as quick as he could because he knows it better than anybody else, and that's the place where he kept Bill Corwin prisoner, the old Carson house. I swore on him. I'll bet you put your finger right on it. Makes sense anyhow. You bet it does. That's just where he'd go until he had time to plan his getaway. Shucks, Annie, I'll bet he and those others are there right now. Well, it's something to work on anyhow. I'm glad we brought you kids along with us. Shucks, we want to be of help, Marshal. Yeah, now let's see now. Which way is that old Carson house from here? Strikes me ear straight ahead. No, it's to the left, Marshal. Over that fence there. We've been going even with the river. We've got to turn and go toward it. Annie's right, Marshal. Well, I reckon these children know these fields about here better than we do. Shucks, I guess we do, because Annie and I haven't played in them for a long time. All right, here. Now let's get over this fence here. Hold that light steady, Joe. I will. Well, that's safe. I guess I'm not as young as I used to be when it comes to climbing. We'll make it all right. There. Can you kids get across? You bet we can almost jump it. Come on, Annie. Okay. Now then, which way? Straight ahead, right away from the fence. That'll take us to the river bank and the Carson house. Is that right, Joe? That's right, Annie. Just a little to the left, though. Yeah, that's it, Joe. A little to the left. Well, come on, then. I wish you could stop this raining for a while. It's running right down my eyes. Well, you've got to stand it, Caslin. Oh, I'm all right. Listen, we must be getting close to the river. I can hear it. We are close. It's just ahead there. For heaven's sakes, I haven't heard the river run like that since I was a boy. Just listen to it. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer. It's just a little bit closer to the river. It's just a little bit closer to the river. It's just a little bit closer to the river. The sound of it is tearing the banks apart. I remember the last flood we had here back in 1919. There was nothing against it. against it. Nothing that wasn't solid and anchored down to bedrock. Yeah, but this ain't getting us nowhere towards catching Flint. And I've got my duty to do. Annie? Yeah, Marshal? That old Carson House. Where is it from here? It's just ahead there behind those trees. You can't see it very well, cause it's so dark. I see it. Yep, that's the Carson House, Marshal. Well, let's get to it. We've wasted enough time. And I want to see this fellow Flint get the justice he deserves. We all do, Elmer. Let's go. Shucks, the place looks awful quiet. It would, Joe. Jumping grasshoppers, Mr. Flint wouldn't dare show a light tonight. No, but we would. Let's see a gleam from that flashlight of yours, Joe. Show it right on those steps. How's that? Fine. Come on, folks. We're going in here, and if Flint's around, we'll bag him. We're with you, Marshal. Throw that light inside there, Joe. There she is. I don't see nothing. Let's get further in here. Right. Still don't see anything. Well, they wouldn't be staying out here right in plain sight in the hall. What's this door here? It goes into a room, Marshal. Into that room where the old moving fireplaces. Oh, it does, doesn't it? Well, let's have a look. Wait a minute, Marshal. Wait. Wait for what? I thought I heard a noise in there. I thought... Listen. Suffering sunfish. Did you hear that? I sure did. What was it, Annie? It was the fireplace moving in there. The sliding fireplace that leads down to the tunnel under the house. Look out of the way till I get that door open. They've gone! Gone! Just yet! They've gone down the stairs behind that fireplace already. Well, let's go down after them. We can't. We know how to open the fireplace from the other side, but we never did find out how to move it from this one. You mean we're going to let them get away? No. Leaping lizards, I've got an idea. What, Annie? If they've gone down behind that fireplace, they're intending to get away through the tunnel to the riverbank. Maybe if we go straight down to the bank, we can head a more. Well, that sounds like business to me. Come on. Keep that light showing, Joe. I will. Say, it stopped raining anyhow. Be careful on the steps. They're kind of mean. Here we are. It's this way, Marshall. Right down to the river. I'm coming. Boy, oh boy, listen to that river. Sure ripping out the bank's all right. Don't noise. I ever heard it run like that. Say, there's a moon coming out through those clouds up there. Good. With that moon, we'd be able to see something. You said it, Marshall. I see something right now. There, on the bank. It's three men. They beat us out of the tunnel. One of them split all right. Yeah. In there's Red Hogan. Stop. Stop, Flint. Right where they are. Stop. In the name of the law. Shucks, they're not stopping. They're running faster than ever. Come on, men. After them. They're with you, Marshall. You bet. I'm going to get justice done if I have to chase them from here to the edge of the county. Stop, Flint. Stop. In the name of the law. They're hidden toward the bridge. I don't care where they're at. I'm going to get them. With that moon, we can see anyhow. Yeah. It's getting brighter. Stop, Flint. Stop. I call on you. Stop. Where you at? There they are. On the end of the bridge. They're... They're heading for the other side of the... Of the river. And we're heading right after them. Come on. If they can cross that bridge, we can. Wait, Marshall. Wait. Let go of my arm, Edith. I... I gotta get those fellas. Stop, Marshall. Wait, Mr. Silo. Don't go out on that bridge. What's the matter, Edith? Bridge crossing the bridge? I passed weekend. No. Please stand still. You've got to. Oh, right. I'll be but one. Look at the bridge. Look at it. They're in the moonlight. Look at the center. I was just ahead of Flint and those men. Great gehosh of it. The cement's crumbling. It is. It is. It's all falling apart. It stinks. That... That bridge is gonna fall. This flood is washing out that rotten cement. Gosh. Flint. Flint. Come back. Come back. The bridge is crumbling. They won't stop. They think they're getting away. Look at that center pier right under them. It's all crumbling to bits. There it goes. The whole bridge. Gone. Gone. The whole bridge. And with it's builders. Flint, Hogan and Wright. I guess you don't have to do any arresting now, Marshal. Mr. Silos Wright. There is justice in the world. And as Mr. Flint sowed, so did he reap. And now, there'll be no more robberies or cheating in Simmons' corners. But say, don't think there isn't going to be plenty of fun and adventure for Annie. There is because right at this minute, although Annie doesn't know it, there's a telegram coming over the wires to the silo farm. It's a mighty mysterious telegram too, and it's going to start Annie on the greatest adventure she's ever had. So don't miss being here when it comes. And say, you don't want to miss drinking your Ovaltine regularly either. Ask your mother to fix a big delicious cupful for you to have with your dinner right away. Remember, the boys and girls who are drinking their Ovaltine every day are the very ones who help to keep Annie's adventures going on the radio. And besides doing a big favor for Annie, that she'll appreciate more than ever in her big new adventures just ahead, remember, you'll be doing yourself a big favor too by drinking your Ovaltine every day. Because every single cupful brings you important nourishing food elements to help make you husky and healthy and strong, and keep you bubbling over with good ol' orphan Annie Pepper. And so, if you've run out of Ovaltine at your house, be sure and ask your mother to get you another can when she goes to the drug or grocery store tomorrow. And be sure to be here on time next Monday because we're going to start off on a brand new series of adventures with Annie, and you want to be in on all the fun that's coming. Until next Monday then, goodbye.
