Fiery horse with the speed of light, the cloud of dust, and a hearty, hi-ho, silver! The Lone Ranger! In companion Tuttle, the masked rider of the plains, led the fight for law and order in the early Western United States. The stories of his strength and courage, his daring and resourcefulness, have come down to us through the generations. And nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse, Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again. Come on, Silver! We're heading for the North Country! Hello, Silver! High in the mountains, with their precious deposits of copper, just south of the Canadian border, wind lashed fine, biting crystals of snow against the windows of a shack that sheltered several hard-faced men. Don't ask me what Greg is doing. Just wait and find out, the same as I've got to do. You sure you ain't holding out on a snake? You and Greg have been pretty thick for the past couple of weeks. I ain't holding out on anybody. Don't try it, that's all. Shut up! Stop your haggling. Wait and see what he's got in his mind. He's fixing something to show us. He can show us a way to get the Martin mine. I'm for him. Hot weather man or not. He's taking a mighty long time in that little room. Hey, who? What? Get your hands up! Heist him! Heist! Stand where you are. Don't move. Don't reach for them guns! Take it easy, you galoots. Put away the hardware and relax. That's Greg. What's the idea? Why the mask? Always I told you I'd come up with a plan and I got one. You see, outfit is part of it, but the most important part. Tell me this, have any of you critters ever heard of the Lone Ranger? No. What about it? Ranger? What's he, a Texas Ranger? This ain't Texas. Seems I've heard of him. Nothing much, though. You'll hear plenty about him if you'd go south of the Badlands. Ain't a man, woman, a kid down there that ain't heard of the Lone Ranger. He wears two guns like these. White hat and a mask. Is he a wrestler? Wrestler my eye. What is he? Well, he's just about the biggest headache there is for men that have to step outside the law. He's the one to smash my gang. If it wasn't for him, I'd be down where it's warm instead of up in these freezing mountains. Is he after you? I guess I've shook him. The point is this. We want something Mr. Martin has got. Well. Now, you boys know that youngster that's friendly with Martin. Dan? Yeah. You mean that fellow that lives with the old woman? Yeah, she's his grandma or something. Her name's Frisbee. Anyhow, the kid has heard stories about the Lone Ranger. This grandma Frisbee tells him. The kid thinks that whatever the Lone Ranger ever did was just right. Here's the point. Dan has plenty of information about Martin. He's worked for Martin once in a while, doing our jobs and things. Martin thinks a heap of them. You're to the point, Greg. What's that to do with your getup? How do you think Dan would act if he was to come face to face with the Lone Ranger? I begin to savvy. Wouldn't he break his neck to do anything the Lone Ranger ask him? By darn it, but he would. And with him knowing Martin so well, ain't there possibilities in my scheme? Possibilities is right. Plenty of possibilities. I declare, Dan, this is going to be a night that ain't fit for man or beast. You don't have to go to Mr. Martin's office tonight, do you? Nope. Said I'd better stay home to see if the fireplace is kept well filled. What's that you're doing? Oh, just carving something out of this hunk of wood. It's cowboy's head, see? Oh. Is that a mask you've shown over the eyes? You spotted it, eh, Graham? Is that the Lone Ranger? No, I never said it was. Oh, you never said. You needn't say. I've been able to read your face ever since you was knee-high to a pup. And there's a special look you always get when you're thinking about that mask man. Gee, I wonder if I'll ever have a chance to go to the southwest where he is. You wonder if you'll ever have the chance? Well, why won't you have the chance, son? There's a chance for anyone to do anything, if he makes it. I suppose there's a chance the Lone Ranger will ever come up into this high-border country. Now, what gave you that idea? He never has, has he, Graham? Oh, nope. That's why hardly anyone around here knows much about him. Just wondering. Guess I'd better put another log in it, Clare. Oh, what's on your mind, Gladdy? Nothing in particular. You were asking about the Lone Ranger coming up here. Well, there's a lot he could do. Mr. Martin said there were a lot of outlaws around here. He has to be awful careful who he hires for his copper mine. Well, I suppose bad men from all over come here because the border's so handy. They can get out of the country if the law gets too close to them. I guess so. Oh, sakes alive. Now, who'd be out on a night like this? I'll go see. Howdy. Mask. Mind if I step in out of the wind? Do the talking inside. That wind's bad. Thanks. Sure is a fierce night, ma'am. We were just saying that a lot of outlaws head for this high-border country, but you're the first one that was brazen enough to wear his mask. Oh, me, an outlaw? Oh, that's a good one. Maybe you never heard of me. I'm called the Lone Ranger. You? The Lone Ranger? Sure. If you was down in the South Country, you'd have heard of me. Well, now, who says we haven't heard of the Lone Ranger? Jiminy, we've heard about you, mister, but I never thought I'd set eye on you. Well, sit down. Here, take this chair. Oh, thanks. I've had a hard trip, mighty hard. Then I won't mind if I can do some good up here. Is there something we can do for you? Well, ma'am, I wouldn't like to intrude on you, but I sure need a place to spend the night. But we've got an extra room. You mean you're going to stay here? Why not? I'm a democratic sort of hombre. My fame hasn't gone to my head none. Maybe if you cared to listen, I could spin a couple of yarns about my adventures in the South. Take the time, for instance, me and my horse busted up a smugman outfit. For an hour, Greg, posing as the Lone Ranger, told fabulous stories of his personal achievement. Then he was shown a room in which he was to sleep. Dan's face was sober as he went to say goodnight to Grandma. Well, I'll be up early in the morning, Graham. What's the matter, lad? Nothing. I suppose you feel somewhat let down. Well, he's different than I thought. Mm-hmm. But I suppose he wasn't boasting. People from the South may have a different style about him. Maybe so. Well, chances are he thought the things he told about were, well, pretty ordinary adventures. It probably didn't sound like bragging to him. You're trying hard to be fair, Dan. Well... I suppose you had the Lone Ranger pictured as a lot different. That's usually the way. You probably thought of him as a white knight following the search for the Holy Grail. After all, Dan, even the Lone Ranger's just a flesh-and-blood human. Well, sure. Sure, that's it. I suppose the nights at the round table would have seemed different than we pictured them. Anyway, he must be a great man. I'm just hoping I can help him in anything he wants to do. The following morning, Dan's spirits rose to a high point when the masked man outlined a plan and asked Dan to help. He whistled cheerily as he made his way across the crisp, fresh snow to Mr. Martin's office. Yes, sir, he is all right. Not many men would do the sort of thing he's planning. And even if they did, I'll bet they'd want the credit for it. Good morning, Dan. Good morning, Mr. Martin. I didn't look for you today, Dan. Did I tell you I'd have some work for you? No, sir. I hope you didn't come to tell me your grandma ain't well. No, sir. She's all right. Good. Mr. Martin, I came here today because I want to talk business with you. Hmm? Business? Well, son, set yourself right down. Yes, sir, set yourself down. Mr. Martin, you own a small piece of land on the elbow of Cane Creek. Oh, I reckon so. I guess I bought it once to help a squatter get a stake to go back east. Would you sell it for $100 cash? Sell it? You own it? Well, it isn't for me, Mr. Martin. That is, well, someone else wants to buy it. Well, the land's no good. Well, Mr. Martin, here's the whole point. There's water there. If something happened to you and someone else got the land... Got the kid all fixed up, Snake, so you'll convince Martin that he's got to keep it a secret who he's buying that land for. Won't the kid tell Martin he's buying it for the Lone Ranger? No, no. I made him swear he wouldn't tell who he was representing. You think the kid swallowed your story? Sure he did. I told him that I wanted to get the land to make sure that the folks that settled there in the future wouldn't lose the water rights. He fell for it. He thinks I'm doing a great thing for humanity. Me, the Lone Ranger. They still don't see what good it'll do to have that worthless land. We'll get a deed to it, signed by Martin. Sure, but what good... I wrote up the paper myself, and I've fixed it so as we can change the wording of it. Instead of being a deed to that elbow land, when we're done with it, it'll be a deed to the Martin copper mine. Greg, I take my hat off to you. That's the slickest scheme I ever heard of. Yes, sir. That sure is one doggone slick scheme. ...underaged, Dan, so all you can do in this deal is act as the messenger. Yes, sir, I know that. I sure appreciate this, Mr. Martin. All right, then. Well, I'd ask more questions about this mysterious friend of yours. But you said you'd given him your word. Well, there's the paper all signed. I'll have my clerk witness it. Greg got what he wanted through Dan, and for the next few days held many conferences with Snake Anson. Conferences to which Mudd and Fenner were not invited. The two resented their exclusion. I ain't no fool, Fenner. I know what those two are up to. Oh, you do, huh? Well, Mudd, what's your idea? I got notions of my own. You have, huh? But I'd bet they're the same as mine. Greg and Snake are aiming to freeze us out of the deal. That's just the way I figured. It's plain as day, Mudd. Before Greg got here, we got along all right with Snake. Now Snake has thrown us over. Right, and I don't like it. I don't aim to stand for it. Me neither. Greg is in our way. When a man's in my way, I get rid of him. He planned to go to Grandma Frisbee's place tonight. Now, when he goes there, he circles the town to come up with the mask on from the direction of the woods. We can ambush the rat if we wait there. I'm for it. Let's get Greg tonight. While Mudd and Fenner waited an ambush, a masked man rode toward them through the woods. This masked man was not the schemer, Greg. He was a lone ranger, travel-worn, and near exhaustion, as was the Indian named Tonto at his side. Their trip had started months ago in Texas. They'd crossed the narrow strip of Oklahoma. We pledged ourselves to capture Greg. Yes, the masked man's pledge. But Greg had traveled far. There were days and days of discouraging defeat, of lost trails, and then a slender clue to take them to Dodge City in Kansas, then to Kearney, Nebraska. These were days of scorching sun with nights of bitter cold that sapped men's strength and tried their courage. We pledged ourselves to capture Greg. Nebraska was behind the lone ranger and Tonto. The unknown lands of Wyoming stretched out endlessly ahead. The tortures of grim wilderness would have made an animal give up the trail, but the masked man and Tonto pushed on with that adherence to a purpose that gives strong men the right to dominate and rule and the right to govern the lesser living creatures. We pledged ourselves to capture Greg. Wyoming kissed Montana, then the hills and mountains, the high border country, with the end of the journey in sight. The end, one way or the other. Tonto, this is the first time we've been in the north. Ah, light's a town ahead. Yes, and if Greg isn't there, we've lost him. He'll cross the border into Canada. We can't go after him. 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. Lone Ranger and Tonto were riding silver and scout high in the border country on the trail of an outlaw known as Greg. But at this moment, their progress was watched intently by two shady characters known as Fenner and Mud. Fenner, someone is coming out of the woods over yonder. See him? Yeah, two of them. I wonder who Greg's got with him. You take one, I'll take the other. Maybe Snake is one of them. Should we let them get close enough to make sure who they are? One horse is white and I think he is. Couldn't be anyone but Greg. Now get ready. We wouldn't have come on this long trip, Tonto. We hadn't given our word to that dying man that we'd get Greg. And I think of the way he rode to that appointment without suspecting that Greg was waiting an ambush. Rifle cocked, aimed at his harlot. Tonto. I got one of them. Get the other this time, Kimo Sabi. Come on, hit him. Come on, Silver. Surrender or you've got some more. Get him up, count. No, no. Don't shoot. Don't shoot again. Hand up, both of you. Hold on. Great Caesar's ghost. It ain't Greg. Greg? Tonto, did you hear that? Ah, me here. Steady, big fella. One of you fired a shot that grazed my horse. Wait, listen, mister, let me explain. Take a look at Silver, Tonto. I'm going to keep dropping these two. They won't start anything. See if Silver's badly hurt. It was a mistake. We thought you were someone else. You said Greg. Yes, that's who he was waiting for. What does Greg look like? He's tall. And lean-hipped. And he's been posing as the Lone Ranger. What? That's how we made the mistake. He's been wearing a mask. He even got himself a white horse and tried to call it Silver. Hey, that was what you called your horse. And that shooting. Taking our rifle clean out of our hands while sitting astride a horse. Fenner, maybe this man is... I'll deal with you two in a minute. How about that wound, Tonto? It only scratched. Silver not hurt. Good. I had to race you old fellow or they could fire a second time. I wasn't sure I got their rifles. Look at here, mister. If you... Why were you waiting for Greg? It's a mighty long story. Tell me. You mean, we're to stand here in the wind and tell you the whole thing? The sooner you start, the better. I'm down if I will. Talk. All right. Greg is up to something. Him and Snake Anson figured on finishing up their business deal tonight. Greg should have been by here by this time. Maybe he changed his plans. I don't know. But I do know that he figured on concluding the business tonight, posing as the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger sent me for you. He said to tell you it was mighty urgent. I don't know why he'd send for you. Neither do I. Snake Anson, you're not worth a hoot. You never was and you never will be and I'm hanged if I trust you. Well, suit yourself. I brought you the message. That's all I can tell. I suppose the masked man didn't have time to investigate the reputation of the man he sent for the message. I'll go to Mr. Martin, Grandma. If he thinks we should go meet the Lone Ranger, it'll be all right. Very well, Dan. Whatever Mr. Martin says. I'll be back as soon as I can. Well, bundle up good. It's getting bitter cold. I will. You sure you'd be warm enough? For sakes alive. Of course I will. Well, the way you keep the wood piled on the fire is a caution. Well, what are you waiting for, Snake Anson? You've delivered the message. Yes, I'm leaving. Goodbye, Graham. Bye. I wish I could shake off the feeling I got. There's something about that there Lone Ranger. Something about him. Oh, he wants you and me to go to him, Dan, eh? I hated to ask you, Mr. Martin, but he said that now it'd be all right to tell you who he was and why he was buying that land and everything. Lone Ranger. At last you've met him face to face. It's up to you, Mr. Martin. If you don't want to go out on a night like this, it's all right. Oh, weather never stopped me, Dan. Oh, and he wanted your clerk, too. I don't know why. I can't figure it out unless he's in real trouble. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he's been wounded or something. Oh, son, what do you think we should do? I don't know. What's your grandma say? Well, she said you'd know best. Hmm. Hang and all, we're going. If we don't, we might wish we had. Your clerk is supposed to get him. I told you they would. The kid and Martin and the clerk that works for Martin. I'll watch till I saw them start off from the clerks. I'll be here in a minute. Good enough. You keep out of sight till I need you. Those three have got to die, but it's got to look like an accident. Well, it'll look like an accident. And the three of them will die. Here's the shack, Mr. Martin. Come in. Why, that's... That's the man. Come right in. Glad you got here. The wind part of you? It wasn't bad. Uh, who are you? Me? Ain't the kid told you? I'm the one that's called the Lone Ranger. Stry down here by the fire and get warmed up. You say you're the Lone Ranger? Well, sure. What's the matter? Don't you believe me? You sound a mighty lot like someone I've known right here in town. Yeah? Let me see your right hand. Mr. Martin, he tried to hide his hand but not quick enough. Mr. Martin, he has the tattoo mark. This man's name is Greg. What? Get your hands up. You heard him. I'm back in his place. Snake Anson. Snake, you... So you're Greg. Dan, this man's no more the Lone Ranger than I am. He isn't. No, he isn't. See if they got guns, Snake. Right. Keep facing this way and keep those hands high. What's your game, Greg? You're a smart man, Martin. Built yourself a big thing from being smart. But you weren't so smart when you sold it. Get to the point. He ain't armed. What did I sell? That elbow land? That's worthless. You didn't sell the elbow land, Martin. You sold your copper holdings. That's a lie. It was the elbow land. Get ropes on these three, Snake. Can't take chances with them. I'll have rope no time. By the time we got finished with that bill of sale, Martin, it read a lot different than it did when you signed it. So that's it. When I went to record it, the man in the office wondered if you'd really sold out for $20,000 cash like the paper said. He was gonna ask you about it. You can blame him for what'll happen to you three. Murder, eh? I can't take a chance in having you deny the sale, can I? I reckon you'd have an easy enough time telling what you really sold with this kid and the gent there that witnessed the signature to back you up. Oh, gosh, shut up. In a little while, the rope won't hurt your wrist. I should have known better. Should have trusted my first feeling. Oh, Mr. Martin, this is all my fault. Look here, Mr. Gregg, let Mr. Martin go. Let him go and keep the clerk in me. Now, that wouldn't be fair. Oh, if Mr. Martin's alone, it'll be his word against yours. There's no need to murder him. He's my... Save your breath, Dan. Dan's too well to rope you. Not while I... Hey, you little... Stop that. Ow! You angry crooks. Let me go. You make one more play like that and I'll shoot Martin before your eyes. I'd give my life to get you and Mr. Pottle out of this. You trusted a man. You thought you had reason to trust Dan. And you trusted me. You'd never have gone into a business deal like this without even seeing a man if I hadn't asked you to. Now, don't blame yourself. That'll hold. Now, tie him to chairs in front of the fire and we'll leave him for a little while. Yeah. Let him try to figure out what's gonna happen. How long have we been watching the place, Snake? About ten minutes. The candle I fixed should have burned down by this time. As soon as it hits the fuse, the powder will let go. This rain will be blown to kingdom come. All we gotta do is make sure no one can tell they was roped. And who is there to say it wasn't an accident? Greg, look. Someone... Two men heading for the shack. You see him? Yeah. Well, that's their tough luck. The trail leads to this house, Toto. So you're back. That's not Greg. What? Not Greg? The Indian. It's Toto. It's the real Lone Ranger. Toto, cut those ropes. He's here. He did come, Mr. Martin. He'll fix everything. Your name is Dan? Yes. Get the others, Toto. I'll release Dan. Hurry. The others will be back. Silver will warn us. Toto, what's the matter? Wait. You say your name Dan? Yes. Here, let me rub your wrist where the ropes were tied. What's your last name, Dan? Frisbee. Oh, Dan Frisbee. I somehow felt you'd come here. I wondered what was wrong about the other one. But I know you're the Lone Ranger. I don't know what brought you here. Two men tried to shoot us. We went to Mrs. Frisbee's and she said Dan went somewhere with Mr. Martin. She didn't know where, but we followed your tracks. Greg's the one that posed as the Lone Ranger. He aims to swindle Mr. Martin out of his copper mine. And kill you three? Yes. He'll be coming back. He and Snake Ansel. Why did they leave? I don't know. Toto and I saw the tracks going away from here. They headed for a little guy. Yeah, I smell smoke. Smoke? Maybe they were planning to set fire to the cabin. It come from that room. It smells like the smoke from the fuse Mr. Martin uses and blast them. Their candle. It light fuse. Back, Toto. Wow! Did you see that gun come out? What did you do? A lucky shot. I nipped the fuse. Oh, here. Here, can I blast them powder. So that was their scheme. Now wait here, Toto. I'm going after them. Come on, Silver. Graham, you should have seen the way he went out after those crooks. He's the real Lone Ranger. I never saw anything to equal him. He looked at me and I looked right into his eyes. I never saw eyes like his before. Oh, Dan. Dan, if he hadn't shown up, you'd be dead by now. So had Mr. Martin and his clerk. There was something... I wonder why he and Toto were so curious about me. They didn't look at Mr. Martin that way. I'll see who's there. Dan, may I come in? Graham. Graham is here. What? Oh, mercy me. Greg's been captured, Dan. Snake Anson got away. I thought you'd want to know about it. Yes, sir. Thanks. Thanks for everything. Thanks aren't necessary, Dan. Um, I don't suppose you'd sit down for a little while. Um, I'd like to fix you something to eat. Thank you, Mrs. Frisbee. I'd like to sit down. You see, I want a chance to talk to Dan. You have just heard is a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated.
