With the speed of light, the cloud of dust, and the hearty high old silver, the Lone Ranger. Whenever men gathered around the campfire in the early days of the western United States, stories were told of the masked rider of the plains. These stories have come down to us through the generations. No one could match the Lone Ranger's strength and courage, and his daring and resourcefulness made him the greatest champion of justice the frontier ever knew. Return with us now to those thrilling days when the West was young, from out of the past can the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again. Come on, Silver! We're heading for Ward's Crossing! All right, O's! The Lone Ranger and his faithful Indian companion, Ponto, stopped on the crest of a hill near the town of Ward's Crossing to watch a curious sight on the trail below them. What's that fellow in the bug you think he's up to, Kimo Sabe? Maybe him loco. He's certainly behaving that way. Look there. Deliberately forcing that horse to run away with him. Ah. There, he's tossed away the reins. We stop him? He'll be close to town before we can reach him, but we'll try. Come on, Silver! Get him up, Scout! The Lone Ranger and Tonto were not the only ones to see the runaway, however. Young Pete Mander saw the careening buggy as he rode from his cabin toward the main trail. One look and he spurred his horse forward. Come on, fella! Get up! Get up! Come on, get up there, boy! He rode at an angle and soon was bearing down on the horse and buggy. He shouted encouragement to the portly, middle-aged man who clung to the buggy's sides as though in fear of his life. Come on, there! Hang on, Mr. Duffy! I'll stop your horse! Hang on, there! Get up, fella! Get up! All right, boy! Just a little closer! Come on, there! Gotta get a hold of this finished bridle! That's it, boy! Ah! I don't reckon you'll be running again for a spell. Hey, boy! Hey, all right, Mr. Duffy? Weren't hurting on him, were you? Right. Thought I'd turn over. Never had such a scare. Oh, my good gracious. I can hardly get my breath. You'll be all right. Here. Here's your reins. If we can get him the rest of the way to town without no more trouble. Oh, yes, yes. Yes, of course. Well, if you're all right, I'll be getting along. No, no, wait. Huh? You... You saved my life. Oh, shucks. I reckon I didn't do nothing like that. Maybe saved you a tumble is all. Oh, but you did. I insist. Well, anybody would. It makes me feel very ashamed. Very ashamed. Huh? What's that? Well, I mean, after all, we've never been very good friends. You owed me nothing. Oh, forget it. I've never had nothing again, you, Mr. Duffy. If there's anything I can do to show you how grateful I am, how much I appreciate what you did, I... Oh, shucks. Nothing at all. I don't... Wait. Yes? Maybe this is my lucky day. You really meant that about wanting to do something for me? Of course. Of course. Then quit trying to keep me from seeing Kate. She ain't your daughter, Mr. Duffy. She... She's just your ward. When you come right down to it, you ain't got no real right to try and keep us apart. But of course you can see her, my boy. Of course. Anytime. Huh? You... You ain't out of your head, are you? I mean, being shook up like you was, didn't you? Ridiculous. Well, I couldn't help wondering... Nonsense, my boy. Nonsense. Nonsense. When a man comes as close to cashing in his chips as I did just now, I reckon it does something for him. Helps him to see things straight. I regret very much the trouble we've had in the past. Well, I'll be doggone. And just yesterday, you was promising to nail my hide to the calaboos. Oh, I spoke hastily, I'm afraid. Sure, no hard feelings. Well, if I'm really hearing this and not just dreaming it, why, you can look for me out your way tonight. Tell Kate that, huh? Tell her I'll be showing up around sundown. Glad to. Glad to. Well, I'll have to be going on. Oh, one moment. Yeah? Now what? Your trousers. You must have ripped them again, the buggy. Huh? Well, doggone if I didn't. It's all bad, too. Oh, just a second. Oh, but that's all right. I feel it was my fault. It was my fault. Here, take this. It's nothing much. Just enough to pay for having them fixed. Oh, now, Mr. Duffy, I couldn't take no cash. Oh, it's just a dollar. There's no more to owe you. Take it. Here, absolutely insist. Well, if you won't have it no other way. Take it, take it. Thanks. Don't mention it. Then we'll be seeing you this evening, huh? Sure thing. Fine. Fine, my boy. Mr. Duffy. Yes? Reckon I've been just as mistaken about you as you've been about me. I, well, I just want you to know I've changed my mind. You're all right. Thank you. Thank you, my boy. Good day. Good day. Get up. Get up there. Get up. Ain't he, fella? Agree with me, huh, boy? Well, I don't blame you. One day he's cussing me out fit to kill and the next prove. Just because I stopped his full buggy, you'd think we was old pards. Well, there ain't no counting for human nature. Come on. I've got to get back to the cab and change my duds. Come on, boy. Come on. The Lone Ranger and Tonto, seeing that the man in the buggy was not in need of their aid, had turned back and made camp. Later that day, Tonto went to town for supplies. When he returned, he had a strange story to tell. The Lone Ranger listened in silence, then... Tonto, you mean to say they really arrested that young fellow? Oh. Him same fellow. They found a thousand dollar bill in his possession? That's right. The fellow in the buggy claimed he was held up and a thousand dollars stolen from him. Is that right? Oh. What's his name? Him named Duffy. The young fellow? Him, Pete Manders. Tonto, you and I know that Pete didn't hold up Duffy. Oh. All he did was stop the buggy after the horse had started... Tonto. What matter? Did this whole thing have been arranged in advance? What do you mean? Don't you remember? We saw Duffy deliberately frighten his horse into running away. Ah. Tonto, remember? What if Duffy had known that Pete was close by? What if Duffy had planned for Pete to stop his horse? Knowing that from a distance, it might look as though Pete had stopped him against his will. Hmm. As a matter of fact, you say there were two or three witnesses who claimed to see that very thing. Not what them say. Yesterday, according to your story, Pete and Duffy had a public fight over the fact that Duffy refused to let Pete call on his ward, Kate Freeman. They both made all kinds of threats. Today, Duffy claims he was held up. He identifies a thousand dollar bill found in Pete's possession to prove it. And Pete finds himself in jail. Tonto, the whole thing fits. Ah. The sheriff goes to Pete's cabin and finds him changing clothes. The sheriff and Duffy accuse him of getting ready to escape. Pete denies it. Claims he never realized it wasn't a dollar bill that Duffy had given him. Who'd believe a story like that? In the first place, Duffy's a rancher. He's supposed to know how to handle horses. The very idea that a horse could run away with him would be laughed at. Not right. But granting that's true, who'd believe Duffy would give Pete money under any circumstances after the quarrels they've had? Hmm. But even if he went so far as to accept that, how would you explain a man being careless enough to hand over a thousand dollar bill thinking he had a one? It heaps strange. It isn't strange, Tonto. What do you think? The sheriff evidently didn't believe that story, and neither do I. Huh? The sheriff doubts Pete, and I doubt Duffy. Here, Silver. Call Scout Kimosami. Ah. Here, Scout. What we do. Tonto, there's more behind this than Duffy's dislike of Pete. Yep. Only an insane man would frame another under circumstances like these. Or... What do you think? Or a man very badly frightened. We'll find out which is true. Come on, Silver. Get him up, Scout. Come on. That evening, Pete Manders, confined to a cell in the jail at Ward's Crossing, tried to convince the sheriff of his innocence. Doggone it, Sheriff. You've known me ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. If I'd been crooked, you'd have found it out long before this. I swear every word I told you's the truth. You've got to believe me. Pete, if it was just your word against Duffy's, maybe I would. Well, ain't it? No. But who... Clem Wiggins and Porky Roberts and Jeff Swenson all saw you grab Duffy's horse and stop his buggy. That showed you was up to something right there. Well, it was a runaway, I tell you. Pretty thin, Pete. Oh, blessed old sheriff. Do you think I'm altogether crazy? Do you think I'd do anything to spoil things with Kate? I don't reckon that would have worried you much. Kate wouldn't believe anything against you if she'd seen you do it with her own eyes. Oh, talk sense. I am. That's how some women are. Don't sit right somehow, Sheriff. No one you'd think I'd turn crooked. I don't. Huh? But you've been saying that I... That I think you held up Duffy and took that thousand dollar bill off of him. Well, I do. But I know you. Ever since you've been a kid, you've been hot-headed. You've done more crazy fool things around here, just on the spur of the moment, than any other dozen fellers in town. I can see how it was. You were so bile and mad at Duffy, you wasn't thinking straight. You saw him coming. And all of a sudden, you got the notion of how to rile him. You went through with it before you gave yourself a chance to cool off. Well, I wouldn't exactly call that crooked. But under the law, it don't matter. It's just as bad as if you held up folks for a living. You sure got it all figured out neat, ain't you, Sheriff? I think so. So I'll get sentenced to at least a couple years. That depends pretty much on Duffy. Hey, I'll ask him to go light on you. Uh-huh. A fine chance of that. He'd like to see me in jail for life. Oh, it won't be that bad. Anything at all is bad enough when you haven't got it coming to you. I'm sorry, Pete. But I just can't waste no more time here talking to you. I got other things to look at. Look, Sheriff. Well, you say Duffy wouldn't frame me because he wouldn't have no reason to. But I tell you, he has. He's got a plenty good reason, the best. And I can tell you... Pete, you've done nothing but slander, Duffy, ever since you've gone with Kate. I've had my fill up. But, Sheriff... I won't listen no more. But, Sheriff, you ain't heard what I meant to tell you. If you just listen for a minute... What's the use? Pete. What the... Look here. Here is the window. Who's there? I've been waiting until the Sheriff left. Masked man. Suppose you tell me what the Sheriff wouldn't wait to hear. After Pete had confided in the Lone Ranger, the masked man gave him certain instructions. Then... Yes, stranger. I read just what you asked me. Take it. Thanks. Kate will know your writing. Sure. She does, lest you convince her that I'm on your side. Stranger, you say you saw Duffy start that runaway of purpose. I did. But you can't tell the law that? Of course I can. But do you think the law would believe me? No. No. Wearing that mask, I don't reckon it wouldn't. But do you believe me? You know what, you'd have to gain by lying about it. Side me sure didn't get you much. What you told me about Duffy, are you sure of the facts? Uh-huh. But I couldn't prove them. He administers Kate's estate? He's got full charge till she marries. That's the way her pa willed it when he died. And you're convinced he's been looting the estate, huh? Oh, going right I am. What else could he have given me? Hey, he knows blame well if me and Kate got hitched, I could call for an accountant. I'll bet anything you'd care to name if the estate was investigated, Duffy'd find himself in a fix he couldn't snake out of. He wasn't unfriendly until he saw Kate might marry you? Ain't enough skunk to be friendly to anybody. But he wasn't down right again me before then. I see. Look, stranger, what are you scheming? One moment, another question. Kate, would she have the courage to defy her guardian? What do you mean? Would she go against his orders? Well, that'd depend. Suppose she knew it was the only way in which you could be helped. Would she then? Oh, stranger, maybe you'll think I'm patting myself on the back, but I figure she would. Fine, I'm glad to hear it. You ain't told me yet what you've got in mind. I'm not certain yet myself, but I have the beginning of an idea. Yeah? And once the details are worked out, I believe it'll free you. If it does, you can work miracles. As long as a man's innocent, it doesn't require miracles to prove it. Oh, well, you ain't good acquainted with Duffy yet. I hope to know him better. Doggone it, I don't think you do. Only I've got a kind of a hunch Duffy maybe won't be so pleased about it. I think I'll be getting... Hey, Pete! Who's that you're talking to with the window? It's the sheriff. Right. Better be going. Yep, but I'll see you again. I'll silver away! The curtain falls on the first act of our Lone Ranger drama. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. Now to continue our story, the Lone Ranger raced out of town, and when he came to the place where Tonto was waiting for him, he called to the faithful Indian without stopping. Tonto! Hurry! Follow me! Get him up, girl! Get him up! Hurry, old fella! Where are we going? To the Freeman place! Kate Freeman lives there with her guardian. Come on, silver! Hurry, old fella! Get him up! Hurry! In the living room of the ranch house, Kate faced her guardian defiantly. I don't believe he held you up. He's in jail, Furt. Pete's no thief. He's a no good coyote. No, you can't say those things. You have no right. You've done something terrible. Lied, tricked him. I know you have. Oh, you think that, eh? I do. I do. Come here. No. All right. Oh, please, my arm. You're twisting it. Please. So I tricked him, eh? You did. Hey. No. No, I didn't mean it. Please. Please let go. Hey, Reagan. Hold it. Stay outside, Tonto. Mask. Pete. What's this fella been doing? I... Keep still. Let her speak for herself. Who are you? That doesn't matter. If you're after cash, then what are you doing? I'm here to speak to Kate. Kate, I've had a talk with Pete Manders at the jail. I've just come from there. You have? Yes. Don't talk to this fella. If you do, I'll... Yes? Nothing. I suppose what you started to say is that if she talked, you'd try some more persuasion on her, such as twisting her arm, as I saw you do through the window. Don't wait, I'll stay quiet, or I'll give you a taste of your own medicine. The law will hear about this stranger. I imagine it will. I told you, Kate, I'd seen Pete. Here. This is the message to you that he wrote. Take it. What... What does it say? It merely explains that I'm on Pete's side. But read it for yourself. Ah. So he's been trailing with crooks, eh? Has he? Ain't you one? We're not alike, Duffy. In other words, I'm not. Pete... Pete asked me to do whatever you suggest. Yes. Now look here. I'll tell you for the last time to remain quiet until you're spoken to. If you don't, you'll regret it. Kate, will you do as Pete asks? I don't know who you are, what you want. I want to help you both. I happen to know that your guardian here tricked Pete. That's why he's in jail now. I knew it. I knew it. He framed Pete in order to prevent your marriage. That's a lie. What? Eh. Nothing. That's better. As I said, he didn't want you and Pete to marry. But even though Pete's in jail, that's no reason why you shouldn't marry him, if you have faith in him. You mean get married now? Within a day or two. She can't. Why not? I won't give my permission. He's of age. What's your permission got to do with it? She can't get married, that's all. She can't. That depends upon her. Well, Kate? I don't know what to say. If you're hesitating because you're frightened of this fellow, you needn't. You leave here tonight. I'll take you where you'll be safe. He won't be able to harm you. And if he attempts it, well, he'll be sorry for it. I... What's your answer? Yes. I will. Two hours later, the masked man reined in before a second ranch house. Oh, hold that, Silver. Oh, boy. Oh. Here, I'll help you down. Thank you. You know these people? They're friends of mine. Good friends. How about your guardian? Will he be able to trace you here? No, I'm sure he won't. These people are your friends. Wouldn't he think of them? I don't think so. But it won't matter. They'd never tell him I'm here if I asked them not to. Good. I must be getting back to town. Pete will want to know what's happened. Stranger. Yes? You will prove he's not guilty, won't you? I will. I promise. If you do, I'll never forget. The masked man rode to town where he spoke briefly to Pete Manders a second time. Then he returned to camp. Oh, hold that, Silver. Oh, boy. Tonto, what did Duffy do after I took Kate away? Him not leave. That means he'll wait until morning to report this to the sheriff. Ah. Good. We'll not have to watch him anymore tonight. Not right. Well, Tonto, we played our part. What happens now depends upon who was telling the truth. Duffy or Pete? The sheriff had hardly sat down at his desk the following morning when the door of his office burst open and... Huh? Oh, morning, Duffy. You're out bright and early today. Look here, Sheriff. Huh? Can Kate get married without my say-so? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, what's that? You heard me. Don't she have to have my permission? Chucks, I don't see why. If that was so, you could see to it she never got hitched till you'd caged in. That don't make sense. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Why, what's happened? Well, even if she can get married, she can't marry a jailbird, can she? Oh, I'm beginning to savvy. She and Pete making plans? That ain't none of your business. Well, maybe not. But Jane answered me. Well, it ain't common for anybody to marry someone in the calaboose, but it's been done. Don't see nothing illegal in it. You mean to say that if Kate come here and said she and Pete Manders aim to get hitched, you'd let him? Uh-huh, I reckon I would. Then you ought to have that badge yours took away. You think so? I tell you, they can't. Won't stand for it. Oh, you're going to run my office, huh? I'll see to it. There ain't no wedding. Seems to me you're getting mighty upset about nothing. Pete ain't said nothing about this. How do you know they're planning anything? Oh, I know it all right. Yeah? And when I tell how the whole thing was fixed up by a mask fellow you let talk to Pete while he's in jail, you'll hear plenty about it. A mask fellow, huh? That must be the fellow I chased away last night. Well, that's your last word on it, eh? If they want to marry, you'll let them. Well, they're old enough to know their own minds, eh? Well, we'll see about that. What are you figuring to do? I'm riding over to Dobie Wells and ask Judge Felix about it. I'll be back late tomorrow. And if they're hitched between now and then, the judge says it's again the law, you'll be the sorriest sheriff this town ever seen. That evening, having finished supper, the sheriff chuckled over his encounter with Duffy while he prepared to return to his office. You never seen anybody any madder, Sophie. Fit to be tied, he was. On his way right now to ask Judge Felix about it over to Dobie Wells. Hand me my coat, will you, honey? Here you are, honey. I wonder why he's so dead set again them two young folks getting married. Well, tisn't hardly a thing, is it? With Pete in jail and not knowing how long you'll be there. Yeah, but Duffy was again it long before that. I know. A man's a fool to try and separate a couple as bound to marry as they are. Well, just remember it's none of your business. Do what you think is right and legal and let other folks work out their lives by themselves. Oh, sure. Well, time for me to leave. Won't keep the office open late tonight, I reckon. You needn't expect me late. Bye. Get home as soon as you can, John. You bet. A little brown jug filled with mountain dew, fresh from the sand for the... Oh, there's steady, boy, there's steady, steady. All ready, Sheriff? That won't ask. Don't reach for that gun. Are you? Lie ahead, follow my orders, and don't call for help. Taken completely by surprise, the Sheriff had no choice. The route pointed out by the Masked Man took them by a roundabout way to the far side of the jail. There they took cover in the deep shadows cast by a clump of trees. The Masked Man spoke softly to his great stallion and... Oh, oh, fellow, where? Dismount. Mister, what's the ID? You'll find that out soon enough. In the meantime, don't make a sound that isn't necessary. Huh? And keep yourself hidden. The horses won't be seen. Oh, Keeter, I... Listen to me. What the... We stay here until we get a signal from an Indian friend of mine. We may be here in just a few minutes. We may be here for the better part of the night. What in thunder, sir? To save a man's life. An hour passed. Each time the worried Sheriff tried to ask a question, the Lone Ranger silenced him. A second hour went by. And then? That's it. That's what? That call. The call of an owl. That's the signal I've been waiting for. Yeah? And I promise you, Sheriff, if you make any kind of a sound now, I'll gag you. But what are we here for? Quiet. What's the far corner of the jail? Don't see nothing. Oh, wait. Now, that shadow. That shadow moving against the wall. See it? It's hard to make out, but... Yeah. Yeah, I do. Somebody sneaking along outside the cells. Right. Hey. What are you going to do with that gun? Watch me. He stopped. Isn't that the window to Pete's cell? It is. He's looking in. He's got a gun. He's imminent. Careful. But he'll shoot. He'll let him. But... No. He fired. There he goes. Oh. Come on, Sheriff. Tonto, he's doubling back toward you. Get him, Tonto. Get him. The man who screamed when the gun was shot from his hand by the Lone Ranger tried to escape. But Tonto stopped him and dragged him toward the masked man and the Sheriff. Let go. Let kill him. Let him go. Let him get way out. Good work, Tonto. Who buys a great horned owl Duffy? Take him inside. You come. Let go. I'll give you a hand with him, Tonto. But I thought he was Adobe Wells. That was his alibi. In with you. Come on. It's way back to the cells. He'd murdered Pete. He probably would have cut across Kettering and got to Adobe Wells before morning. He would have talked to the judge, returned here the next evening, and you would never have suspected that he was the killer. But how? Pete there can tell you part of it. Get the skunk? Right here. And he's going behind bars where he'll stay put. There. Get in there. You only schemers. They didn't touch you, did they, Pete? Shucks, no. I done just like you said. Rolled up a pillow in my coat and laid it on the bunk like it was me. The coat sure got punctured, but there's no harm done as long as I wasn't inside it. What did you say Pete could tell me? Go ahead, Pete. Well, just what I was going to tell you before, Sheriff, but you wouldn't listen. I know doggone well that Duffy's been stealing from Kate's ranch. It's a lie. It ain't true. Keep still. Your attempted murder gave you away. But I tell you... Sheriff, I knew that Duffy had framed Pete on the charge of theft he swore against him. But I also knew there was no use my trying to convince you of the truth until I could expose Duffy's motive. Pete warned guilty after all? You'll still have to take just my word for it. But it's true. He wasn't. Duffy framed him to prevent his marrying his warden. You shut up. I aim to hear the rest of this. Pete supplied me with Duffy's motive. There was just one way to expose him. Well, Duffy had to be tricked into believing that even with Pete in jail, his scheme had failed. Yeah? You mean all that talk about getting hitched? Right. If Pete were married to Kate, he could force Duffy to make an accounting of his administration of her estate. Duffy couldn't afford that because it would reveal his thefts. He had just one thing left to make absolutely sure the wedding would never occur. Then that's why he tried to drill, Pete. It is. Pete was warned ahead of time, of course, so that he was in no danger. And Kate was hidden so that Duffy couldn't attempt her life instead. And Pete was the only one he could get at. Duffy, that makes you out as just about the lowest thing around these parts. None of it's true, I tell you. It's all just a pack of lies. They skidded us together. You wouldn't have tried to drill, Pete, less than you had a mighty good reason. And that can fit so, Pat, I reckon it's the one. Listen to me, John. But anyhow, it won't take long to look into things while you're in jail and get at the truth. So I reckon your game's up. But how about me, Sheriff? You gonna keep me here, too? Well, I don't know. You sure ain't putting any faith in that story about me holding him up after you've seen him try to kill me, are you? That ain't what I was thinking of. You can go free on just one condition. What's that? That me and Sophie get an invite to your wedding. Sheriff, just try and stay away. You have just heard as a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated.
