horse with the speed of light, the cloud of dust, and a hearty high old silver, the Lone Ranger. Faithful Indian companion Tonto, the masked rider of the plains, led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Whenever men gathered around the campfire, stories were told of his strength and courage, his daring and resourcefulness, and these stories have come down to us through the generations. No greater champion of justice can be found in the pages of history. Return with us now to those thrilling days when the West was young. From out of the past come the thundering hoof beats of the great horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again. Come on, Silver! We're heading for the gold country! There's going to be trouble! Hail Silver! And a boy rode their burrows down the rocky trail toward the valley. The men were prospectors who had failed to find pay dirt at Pike's Peak and had pushed farther north through the foothills of the Rockies. They'd been on the trail for weeks, but here at last was the type of country for which they were looking. Suddenly, a band of painted savages raced over the ridge above them. A hail of arrows descended from the heights. The men and the boy broke for cover, but before they could start firing, the redskins were on top of them. Five minutes, it was all over. The two men lay at the side of the trail. The burrows were driven ahead of the ponies, and the boy was carried away by the Indians, a prisoner. Juanigo, Manicti! You killed my pa! You killed him! Let me go! Let me out of here! A year passed. Other prospectors, in larger numbers, had found the valley and fought off the Indians. The little town of Banksville had sprung up, and pay dirt had been found in many of the canyons and gulches that surrounded the valley. Late one afternoon, the Lone Ranger and Tonto rode along the edge of a deep gully toward a point where they could see the town below them. There's a town, but we don't want to get there until after dark. It'd take us that long. Trail down four, five miles to west. What about this gully? You ride close to the edge, you see. Come on, Silver. Gully, not go all the way down. Only halfway. You watch water from the creek, it make waterfalls. Steady there, boy. You look. Yes, I see. The gully cuts into the face of the cliff like a big V. If we followed it to the end, we'd still have to jump about 200 feet. I guess the long way around is best. That's right. Come on, Silver. We're hitting the back trail. There are miners down gully. Two of them. That outcropping looks as if it might be pay dirt. It's bad. Miner go far from valley. I know what you're thinking. Kimisabe? What? Hunter Wright. You look over gully. On the other side? Far away. Indian right this way. Can you tell who they are? All Indian round here. Bad Indian. Then if they reach the edge of the gully and see those two men below them... Men not live long. We'll have to get them out of there. I wonder if they can hear me. Then look round. They're not looking up. We'll have to get closer to tell them what's wrong. Maybe Silver Scout go down there. Just ahead? Huh. We'll try it. All right, boy. We're heading down the bank. Over the edge. Steady, Silver. Steady. Now we're at the bottom. Come on, Silver. It's a mass man or an Indian. Better get your rifle. Don't go for your guns. We're friends. We don't trust nobody that wears a mask. There's no time to argue about it. We've come down here to warn you. This is our property. Hightail out of here or we'll... He said warn us, Jeremy. Warn us about what? Indians. They're heading toward the gully from the east. You mean it? Where are your horses? At the entrance to the gully. Half a mile from here. You'll have to ride with us. Here. I'll give you a hand up. You ride us, Tonto. Can your horses make it carrying a double road? We've found a place where it isn't too steep. Come on, Silver. Come on, Scouts. Hull, Silver. Hooray. Just a little farther, boy. Just a little farther. That's it. Now come on. How's Tonto making out? They're coming over the edge now. These rocks will give us all the cover we need. I can see the Indians. Where? They're still back away from the gully. I don't think they've seen us. The sun's shining in their faces. That's lucky. We're out of range of their arrows. Right here, Tonto. Oh, that was some crime. I never saw the lack of these two horses. Except for that black I owned down the pen. Never mind your lies. We ain't got time to listen. We're safe, ain't we? Out of range, that's all. They can still come after us. Look, they're getting off their horses. Coming toward the edge of the gully on foot. Yes. Just like they expected to find somebody down there. Perhaps they do. Injun scout maybe bring word. What's that? The scout may have seen you and brought the other members of his tribe back with him. Sure gonna be disappointed, ain't they? They're looking down. That gully ain't so wide or so deep they can't follow us. I don't think they will unless... Tonto. One of the Indians stayed with the horses, but he's leaving them now. He's running toward the gully to our right. Time to see him. Almost there. What do you make of that? Him boy, not man. No, he isn't an Indian either. His hair. It's yellow. He's going over the edge. He's running away from him. They've seen him. Them go after him. He may be able to reach the bottom first, but he can't escape without help. We can't do nothing from here. I'm going down there again. Why, they'll kill you. You say the entrance to the gully is a half a mile to the south? Yeah. I'll meet the three of you there if we get away. You can show yourselves now. They've all gone over the edge. Come on, Silver. There's the boy just ahead of us, Silver. We've got to hurry. We'll have to pick him up without stopping. Get ready to jump. Ready. Steady, boy. Steady. Now. Gosh, mister. I made it. Fire, Silver. Over. What are we stopping for? Those three men. We're waiting for them. One of them's an engine. He's a friend of mine. Are you an outlaw? What do you think? Mister whatever you are don't make any difference to me. But you don't talk like a crook. You don't act like one either. Let's leave it at that. Where are your horses? On the side of the big rock. We'll get mounted. Engine come after you. We left them behind. They won't give up so quick. I better keep a watch on our back trail. There they are. Shoot, masked man. They only got one gun and just a few bullets. Tell those prospectors to head for the valley, Tonto. I'm time to do that. Get them up, scout. Shoot. That stopped them. Look at them duck into the underbrush. It's a long way back to their horses. They won't follow us. We're safe. Come on, Silver. I've been with them most of the year. Today was the first time they ever let me go outside the village. I've been asking to go hunting with them for a long time because I figured I might get a chance to run away. Gosh. You don't know what it means just to hear somebody besides an Indian talk and be with friends. Do you have any other friends? Do you have any relatives? Nope. They were just Paul and me. Is there any place you want to go? Well, it don't matter to me. We'll have to think of something. Don't you worry none about that, masked man. He's a likely-looking youngster. Jeremy and me will see he's took care of. You mean that? If you're prospectors, I can help you a lot. My pa was a prospector and I helped him. Well, that's just fine and dandy. Shake hands with your Uncle Ezra and your Uncle Jeremy. Oh, gosh. How about it, Jeremy? After hearing the kid's story, I guess our own troubles don't amount to much. Well, I was captured by the Apache down in Arizona. Hold up there a second. I ought to warn you, Tommy, that everything your Uncle Jeremy says goes by the opposite. If he says he was captured by Apache, most likely he never saw an Indian before today. Oh, no such thing. Oh, it ain't exactly lying because folks know what to expect. But don't ever start imitating him, Tommy. Someday you'll want to tell the truth and nobody will believe you. Oh, now, don't start preaching. I just wanted to warn the boy about getting into bad habits. You said you had troubles. Ain't found a speck of gold in six months. You mean you really struck it rich. Yeah, well, what's that? He sure does, mister. There's more gold in that gully than you can shake a stick at. We only found it yesterday and get driven out by Indians this afternoon. Worst part of it is we had to leave her tools behind. You can buy more, can't you? Haven't got it since. Except for about $300 we washed out since yesterday. We got money, sure. But folks in town are going to wonder where we got it. There's a lot of tough hombres around and they might follow us back here and take the claim away from us. Indians and bad men. It's a great combination. Maybe I take a few liberties with the truth now, Nan, but you talk too much all the time. You don't have to worry about Tonto and me. Doggone it, stranger. If you want to work that gully, you're welcome. Ain't you got no gratitude, Jeremy? Nope. Ain't got a speck. Well, that's better. I sure wouldn't have liked it if you'd said yes. We're not interested in gold, Ezra, but we would like some information. About what? Is there a man in town called Ranch Jordan? Nope. Translate that for yourself, masked man. Ranch moved in a couple of months ago and now he practically runs the whole shebang. You're sure he's there now? No reason for him to leave. Tonto. Uh-huh. You'd better ride back for the marshal. You know where to find him. Uh-huh. Marshal? I'll stay here and make sure that he doesn't get away. You mean to say that Ranch is wanted by the law? For a hold-up and a murder. Well, I'll be dogged. Gosh. Tonto, go now. Get up, scum. Adios. We'll ride on into town, but don't say anything about this to anyone. You can depend on us. Come on, Silver. Get up there. Blow out that lamp. What for? I want to show you something outside. It can't see good with any light in here. This window over here. Well? Look down the street. Three men riding this way. Yeah. There's a boy, too. I saw him at the edge of town. I rode here as fast as I could. What for? It's Jeremy and Ezra. What about it? The third man's wearing a mask. And take a good look at that white horse. Yeah. You've got a hunch I've seen it someplace before. I know I have. Let's get this window open. Is it... Is it... Get my gun on the table. You aim to let him have it? Get a good look when he passes here. They'll hear the shot all over town. What do they do? He's masked. I say I thought he was an outlaw. There's the boy riding up in front of him. I'll get him in the back. Now, you can see now. Is it? Yep. It's the Lone Ranger. Come on, Silver. I think he sees you. The moonlight's hitting your gun. Shoot, Rant. Oh. The curtain falls on the first act of our Lone Ranger story. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. Now to continue our story. Half an hour after the Lone Ranger and Tonto had ridden into town with Ezra and Jeremy, the two prospectors and the boy were standing on the porch of the general store. Ezra knocked at the door and... Cromwell! Wake up and open the door. Can't be in bed yet. You figure we can buy the tools and supplies and head back for the gulch tonight? I hope to, son. What do you boys want? Nothing from you, Larkins. If you want to get inside, I'm the one who's got the keys. What's happened to Cromwell? He's gone prospecting. I won the store from him in a poker game last week. We'll open the door. No, not till you answer some questions. We got money and we want to buy some tools. The story's been going around that you rode into town about half hour ago with an outlaw. Who said that? Rance Jordan. Rance took a shot at him but the masked man blasted his gun out of his hand. We got nothing to say. If you want to do business, open up. I figure this is a trap. After I open the door, that masked man will show up and rob the store. He ain't anywhere around and he ain't an outlaw. You say you got money? Plenty. I don't believe it. Where'd it come from? We got it. That's all that matters. When you left town, you didn't have nothing but your tools and some grub. Did you find gold? Another speck. We got a little. I want to look at it before I take any chances. Well, here it is. Open the bag up. All right. There. Now open the door. Hmm. Store opens tomorrow morning, nine o'clock. Good night, Jim. Come back here. Don't try busting in or I'll kill you full of lead. Hasta mañana. Well, love be dog. Listen, Rance. The important thing is that Jeremy said they hadn't found a speck of gold. That means that they've struck it rich. They wanted to buy some tools tonight and get out of town before morning just so nobody would follow them. Don't you see? Any sign of the mask, man? No. Your hand's all right, isn't it? The bullet hit the gun. We can't stay here much longer, Joe. I know that, but if we could grab this claim of Ezra's, we could sell it for plenty. All we have to do is follow them. We need more men. Those two old buzzards are dead shots. There's nobody else in town. Well, we could put it up to the rest of the boys as a business proposition. That means we'd have to split with them. Just leave it to me. I'm going over to the cafe. Right down, boys. I've got a proposition for you. I can lead you to the richest pay dirt in the West. Me, I'm not a miner. I'd claim the land for myself. Instead, I'm going to charge $100 apiece for every man that wants to follow me. Any of you gents are interested, I'll be a mechanic. All right, Larkin, shut the door. We got 50 of them. Yeah, it's too bad you couldn't make them pay in advance. You've got a lot of wild notions. 50 men and $100 apiece has $5,000. That's just about all the ready money in town. Yeah, but when they get wise that you're just following Ezra and Jeremy, maybe they won't pay at all. They won't get wise. You're the only one that's going to follow them. Me? You can mark the trail. Go on now. Get over to Ezra's cabin and tell him you've changed your mind. You'll sell him anything he wants. And after? Don't let him out of your sight. I'll give you half an hour's start. Then I'll round up the boys and follow you. Uncle Ezra? Yeah, Tommy? I got a feeling somebody's coming after us. What makes you think that? Oh, I don't know. It's just a feeling. There's so many turns in this trail, I can't be sure. That's why I've been looking back. It might be Larkins. That's or what it could be. I don't trust that hombre one little bit. Oh, we can take care of him. But you don't want to lead him to the gulch, do you? No. There's another turn up ahead there. As soon as we get around it, we'll pull up and wait a bit. That's a good idea. I sure wish that masked man was riding with it. Where'd he say he was going? Well, Tommy, Tonto and the marshal will be coming into the valley on this trail. If Rance should try and make a break for it, he'd have to take the pass to the north. The masked man's guarding it. Oh, oh there. Oh, Ginger. This is a fine horse you bought me. I only wish we didn't have to buy it from Larkins. Better keep quiet now. It's getting light. Yeah. Can we see that north pass from here? Soon as the sun gets up a little. Then if we run in any trouble, it's more than we can handle. We can signal to him. To the Lone Ranger. Smoke signals. I know how to make them. We won't bother him unless we have to. Now, quiet. There's somebody coming. Get set. What's the matter, Silver? Now that the sun's up, do you think we ought to get moving? We might as well wait here as any place. Tonto will signal as soon as he and the marshal get to the ridge above the valley. It shouldn't be. Wait. Smoke now. Don't get impatient, boy. It says help. Tonto never sent that signal and I don't believe that Ezra or Jeremy could have sent it. The boy, of course. Hip! Come on, Silver. Look, Rance. Somebody camped up ahead. I see him. Anywhere near the diggings? We'll soon find out. What's that? Don't ask him any questions. I'm beginning to think you don't know where you're taking us. That's Larkins. What's the matter with him? He's tied up. That's Ezra and Jeremy and that boy they brought into town. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Get these ropes off of me. What happened? They waited for me around to turn in the trail back there about a hundred yards. Then they jumped me and tied me up. You fool. What's it all about, Ezra? What brought you up here? Rance said he could lead us to the best diggings in all the West. That's mighty interesting. Don't let us stop. I suppose you paid him for it. Not yet we ain't. And I'm thinking there's something funny about the whole setup. What do you got to say to that, Rance? You know what I was trying to do, huh? Yep, maybe I do. You're going to start digging here? This ain't it. All right, Rance, come clean. Just keep your sights on, boys. I ain't there. But I want to talk to you where Ezra and Jeremy can't hear us. Yeah, none of that. We've had enough of this mystery. Speak up. Well, it's Ezra and Jeremy that know where the diggings are, but Larkins and me figured that just the two of us couldn't make them talk. I didn't want any money from you boys. I just wanted you to come along with me. Yeah, that's it. We wanted you to back our play. Name it. Well, you've got to make those stove and galoots talk. We'll talk. That means we never felt less like talking in our lives. They've struck it, Rich. There's enough gold in their diggings to make you all millionaires. Are you going to let them keep it all for themselves? No, that ain't right. How about letting us in on it? Don't know what you mean, Bill. Jeremy and the boy and me are just sitting here minding their own business. Take up it, man. Gold, millions of dollars worth. If you leave it to me and pay me $100 apiece, I'll get it out of them. Will you follow my orders? Well, I don't know. It came right to let them have it all. We don't know how much there is. Hear that? Jeremy says they don't know how much. You know what that means? How about it, boys? Is it a deal? Will you follow my orders? We're with you all the way. Then grab Ezra. Get him on his horse. Bill! Draw a rope over that big limb. Put the noose around his neck. You're going to hang him. You guessed it, sonny. You and Jeremy are the only two that can save his life. Uncle Ezra! Hold your tongue, Tommy. Grab him in. Hoist him up. The town was deserted, Silver. They followed Jeremy and Ezra into the hills. It means trouble. We've got to hurry. Come on, Silver. Faster, boy. Faster. Come here, son. Look at him. Run link with Mike Quirt and his horse jumps out of the way. I don't have to tell you what happens then. Uncle Ezra! Don't say a word, son. I'd sooner die than see that armory skunk get a dime. But he won't. The marshal's on his way here to arrest him. What's that? The lone ranger. He's bringing the marshal. Boys, I'll get you all covered. Stand back. Hurry up, Larkins. Make him turn the pockets out. You heard what he said. Hand over your money. Don't make a false move, any of you. Heard what the kid said. The marshal's after me. I'm wanted for murder. And one more killing don't make much difference to me. Hurry up there, Larkins. Bill's got over 500. How much you got so far? About a thousand. That's enough. Bring our horses over here. Right. We're taking the kid with us, boys. Come here. Let go. What's the idea? He'll make a nice shield. Climb aboard. Get up there, kid. Keep him covered while I'm out, Larkins. Yeah. Now, right on ahead. With a kid behind me, they won't have a chance to shoot. Get up there. Get up. Hang on, kid, or you'll break your neck. Get my hands untied here, Jeremy. Sure, here. Well, what are the rest of you standing there for? Get in your saddles and go after them. I don't want to tangle with an hombre like that. Yella, huh? He's got $500 of mine, but doesn't have a hunkier claim. Try and get it. Come on, Silver. Look, it's a mask man. It's a Lone Ranger. Boys, how about it? Will you follow him? Yes, sir. Mask man. Rance and Larkins just got away. They took Tommy with him. Then what are you waiting for? Follow me. After the mask man, boys. Come on, Silver. This trail's heading down. Yeah. They got away from the hill trail that last fork. They're heading back for the valley. Did they know the marshal was coming from the south? The boy told them. Right up here. What for? Look, that trail down below us. That's the same one we're on, isn't it? Yeah, it twists around. If I go down this bank, I can cut them off. But you can't. It's too steep. Silver can make it. The rest of you follow the trail. Come on, Silver. Over we go. Easy, boy. Easy. Dig in there. There's a point just above the trail. If we can reach that, I can rope one of them as they come by to the left a little. That's it. Steady now. Steady. You have to dig in to keep them going over. Now, boy. Brace yourself. Here they come around the turn. My rope's ready. There's Larkin's in front. He doesn't even see us. Get up there, you hungry chaos. Run up. What the? Back, Silver. Hey. We roped him, Silver. That fall will take the fight out of him. Now we're ready for Rance. We've got the boys riding behind him. Help. Masked man, help. I'll kill him this time. Knock the gun out of his hand, Silver. Down the bank and after them. Careful, boy. The trail's narrow. We don't want to go over that cliff. That's it. Come on, Silver. We'll have to keep to the outside. We don't want to force him over. Faster, boy. Faster. Don't. Don't you can't. He's trying to force the boy out of the saddle. Hang on, Tommy. Faster, boy. Burn the wind. Now we're catching him. If he thinks the saddle's too crowded, we'll get him out of it. Masked man. Watch the edge of that cliff, Silver. I'm going to jump on him. I won't use my gun, Rance. This is man to man. You're going over that cliff. Look out. Back, Rance. Back. I'll show you. Maybe this will change your mind. Gosh, Masked man. Just for a minute or two when you jumped up to your feet, I thought he was going to push you over. But when you hit him, boy, was that a wallop. I think we'll be able to hold him until the marshal gets here. There's the rest of them. They're picking Larkins up. He shouldn't be hurt badly. I pulled him into that underbrush at the side of the trail. He's standing up, all right. And here comes Uncle Ezra. Yes, sir. You sure taught those two hombres a lesson. Now there's just one more thing we'd like you to do for us. What's that? Well, me and Jeremy want to save that claim for ourselves. I heard that, Ezra. You can't keep it all to yourselves. I don't think you'd better, Ezra. Yeah? Are you forgetting the Indians? You could use a little company up there. Yeah, but I... Why don't you stake a claim for yourself at Discovery and two more claims? 200 feet apiece for Jeremy and Tommy. That's legal and it's fair. It's as much ground as the three of you can work. Oh, that's so, Masked Man. Guess I've been trying to bite off more than I can chew. Do I get first choice on those claims, Bill? Sure thing. Then it's settled. There's Tonto up on the ridge. Here, Silver. Is that to Marshal with him? Yes. Hold Ransom Larkin's here until he can take charge of them. I'm going up to meet him. Come on, Silver. Are you coming back, mister? Wait. Gosh, old Hemlock. If he don't come back, Tommy, we won't get a chance to thank him. Yeah, I know. Oh, but come to think about it, I've heard something about that. Yep. We won't see him again until we need him. When the Lone Ranger finishes his work, he never waits for thanks. The story you have just heard is a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger, Incorporated.
