horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty high old silver, the Lone Ranger. In companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. 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 hoop beats of the great horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again. Come on, Silver. Let's go, Victor. Come on, Silver. Away. Rod Mallory was an influential figure in the town of Apache Bend. He owned several ranches surrounding the town, controlling interest in the bank, and the Ace High Cafe where he spent most of his evenings. The table in the corner was known as Mallory's Table, and men felt honored when they were invited to sit down with the host. Lefty Barton looked particularly pleased as he toyed with his drink. Rig up, Lefty, and have another. I was just thinking up a toast. I'll give you a toast. Let's drink to the hanging of a cattle thief and a murderer. Now, Mr. Mallory, I... I didn't mean to make you uneasy, Lefty. My pal... I'll change that toast. We'll drink to the hanging of a man that's been jailed as a killer. That's better. I'll drink to that. There. I sure hope nothing happens to prevent the hanging of Bob Rutledge. He'll hang all right. Then nobody's going to wonder who killed Bill Stacey. I'll, uh, feel better about it when I see him buried. You're not worrying about it, are you, Lefty? Well, as long as he's alive, you never can tell what might come out. Don't worry. When does Bob go on trial? And, uh, I'm going to tell you a secret, Lefty. Yeah? Rutledge isn't going to get a trial. What? I do believe in taking chances with a jury. You never know what will come out when a man's on trial. But you said he was going to hang. He is. I'm going to pass the word among the boys tomorrow. You mean... I mean that Rutledge is going to be the guest of honor at a necktie party tomorrow night. If he's not, it's because I'm losing my grip. No danger of you doing that. Here comes John Jackson. Sure enough. It's a lucky thing he don't know the whole story. Howdy, John. Good evening, Rob. How are you, Lefty? First rate. I see you're letting Indians in the cafe. Where? The one that just left. I came in. Oh, him. He was just here to eat. I won't let an Indian get his hands on fire while I'm... Anything new around town? You heard of Rutledge being brought into jail, did you? Yeah. I heard about him. I expect you'll be particularly glad to see him hang. Won't you, John? Oh, I... Sure you will, John. He killed your uncle. Right. Don't talk about that. What's the matter, John? Don't tell me you're getting squeamish. Well, don't say things like that. It'll be a lot better if you just forget everything that's happened. Listen to him, Lefty. I can savvy how he feels, Mallory. Chances are John's uncle's the only man he ever killed. Lefty, keep your voice low. It's all right. Nobody can hear us. I'm talking soft. Take it easy, John. You'd feel a darn sight worse if the law was still hunting for your uncle's killer. I wish I'd never gone into that deal. You shouldn't complain. You got about $5,000 cash after the foreclosure on your uncle's ranch. Stop talking about it, you hear me? John, you've got to get used to talking about your uncle's murder. If you don't, you'll have some mighty sleepless nights when Bob Rutledge gets his neck stretched. You think he'll hang for sure? Yeah, John. I know he'll hang for sure. And then you can relax complete, knowing that the murder of your uncle has been paid for in full. Blazer's happening outside. Trailbrake. Come on. Maybe it's Bob. I wonder if it is. Hey, stop him! Game good. How are you going to hit fellas on horses that can travel like that? They're out of sight already. Where's the sheriff? Where in thunder is he? Where's Dave Moore? What happened? How'd you lose your prisoner? Someone busted him out of jail. There was an Indian and a masked man, that's all I know. A masked man, huh? Yeah. Did you have a guard? Your doggone rider had a guard. They tied him. Then Bob Rutledge got away? He sure did. And he's getting farther away every bit of while I stand here answering fool questions. I want a posse. All men that are willing to ride come to my office right away and get sworn in. Hey, Mallory. Sounds like it was a real jailbreak. Of course it was. There was no necktie party at all. I didn't even start the talk for a necktie party. Can't find it. Something's going wrong. I wanted Rutledge to hang. Wow. Maybe it don't matter much. His break in jail makes him look plenty guilty. Nevertheless, as long as he's alive, the truth might come out. I won't rest until he's strung up and buried. It was the Lone Ranger and Tonto who had broken into the jail. They rode away with Bob Rutledge riding with a masked man on the back of Silver. Their camp was well concealed and there was no fire to attract attention. Confundered. Why'd you do this? Who are you anyway? And why'd you drag me out of jail? You think you belonged in jail? No, I didn't. But what business is that of yours? I might have had a chance at my trial, but now there's not a man in town that'll think I'm innocent. Just a minute, Rutledge. You spoke of a trial. Yeah? You weren't going to get a trial. I'm not going, Joey. Tonto and I were in town tonight. Tonto heard about plans to set a lynch mob on you tomorrow. A lynch mob? Yes. But why? That's one of the things we want to find out. Who are you? How do you know about me? You worked for Bill Stacy, didn't you? Yeah. You were arrested for his murder because you and he had quarreled. That's right. What was the quarrel about? I don't see why I should answer your questions. You wear that mask on your face and don't tell me anything about yourself. Why should I tell you... Why did you quarrel with Stacy? Because I had reason to think that he was mixed up in some dirty scheming with Rod Mallory. So you left him? Yes, I did. You bought a small ranch of your own near the Stacy Ranch. Yes, and I bought and paid for every head of cattle I owned. And Stacy said I stole this cattle he lied. I understand you called him a liar to his face. In fact, you and Stacy had quite an argument. We did. But I didn't kill him. Have you any suspicions against anyone? I'm not telling what I suspect. Why did Rod Mallory want a lynch mob to get you? Rod Mallory? You mean to say he's a... You said that Stacy and Mallory had teamed up in some underhanded work. Well... What was it? I've got to hunt you with some rustling. What's more, Rod Mallory made Stacy do what he wanted him to do. How could he do that? Well, Rod held a mortgage on the Stacy Ranch that he could foreclose any time he wanted to. What's more, I don't like the looks of some of the men Mallory pals around with. Neither do I, Bob. Look, who are you anyway? Do you know a man called Lefty Barton? Yeah. A little weasel-faced hombre. A sneaky-looking coyote. Do you know where he lives? Yeah. He seems to know a lot about Mallory's business affairs. He probably knows a lot about the shady ones. And he's the man I want to talk to. Where does he live? In a dirty-looking shack across the street from the livery stable. Thanks. Sit in there, Silver. Otto, keep an eye on Rutledge. Keep him here until I get back. Ah, me do it. What are you going to do? I'm going to bring Lefty Barton here to camp for breakfast. Let him be full of... Come, Silver. It was quite late at night when Lefty Barton came home to the unkempt shack across from the livery stable. Who's that? I just wanted to be sure you're the right man. Well, you... Is that a mask on your face? Yes. Well, if you think... Put your key away, Lefty. You're not going home yet. You're coming with me. Like braces, I... Oh! Another draw. I'll use a gun barrel on your wrist instead of my fist. My horse is over here. Come on. Hey, let go of me. I yell like that and I'll knock you out to quiet you down. Let me go. You hear me? Let go. You can't do this to me. You talk about what I can do when I get you to my camp. What's the idea? What are you going to do with me? Oh! You're hurting my arm. Get on that horse. That's it. I will take a ride. Easy, big fella. Come on, Silver. Right. It's a day in the morning. What in tarnation is happening to Lefty? Lefty. Lefty. Gosh. Mr. Jackson. What happened? Didn't I hear Lefty yelling? You sure did, Mr. Jackson. I seen the whole thing right there from the door of my livery stable. What happened? Lefty went up to his door. The man stepped out from the shadows. And I could see by the moonlight that he wore a mask. A mask? He carried Lefty away with him on a big white horse. A white horse? Rick Scott, it's the same man. Huh? He's the one who took Russage out of jail. I've got to tell Rod Mallory about it right away. Rod, I got the facts from Warfton over at the livery stable. And Lefty was carried away by the masked man that got Russage. Lefty's a yellow-livered blabbermouth. He's likely to tell everything he knows. Can he prove anything against us? Against me? He's not going to get the chance. He's got to be found. Get the boys together, Jackson. And tell them to comb every part of the county until they find Lefty Barton. What are they to do with him? Bring him back here. Or shoot him on sight. He's not to have the chance to talk. Well, look, Tonto. He's got Lefty Barton. Here you go, Tonto. Say the big fella. Take him off my horse. Uh-uh. Let me down. I can hardly stand up after a ride like that. Bob, why'd this masked man capture me? Tell him I'm your friend. Friend? Why, you sneaking polecats, you don't know what the word friend means. Well, that's not so, Bob. You got me all wrong. The masked man's running things. Lefty, we want some information. There's nothing I can tell. We want to know who murdered Bill Stacy. Well, Bob, you was picked up. I didn't ask who was arrested for the murder. I asked who did it. And that's just the first question. Come over here, Tonto. Uh, me here. Lefty, have you ever tried to keep a secret when an Indian wants you to talk? What do you mean? I'll ask the questions. If you don't know the answers, Lefty, you're going to have a very unpleasant time. 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. When Lefty was brought to the Lone Ranger's camp, he proved quite stubborn and unwilling to talk. But the masked man and Tonto had ways of dealing with men who, like Lefty, were obviously cowards at heart. Tonto came slowly toward the man. In the moonlight, his face seemed to become as savage as the face of the most heartless of Indians. No. No, don't let that alien get at me. Are you ready to answer questions? I don't dare. I don't dare tell nothing. I'd be killed for sure if I talked. What do you think is going to happen to you if you don't talk? Me fix him. No, no. Did Rutledge kill Bill Stacy? I... Did he? No. Who did? Don't ask me that, please, mister. Who did? You'll hear questions. Keep back, keep back. Answer me. It was John Jackson. John Jackson? I never should have talked. You mean to say Jackson murdered his own uncle? Yeah. He's the one that did it. Now that you've started, Lefty, you can keep on talking. We want to know all about that murder, and you're going to tell us. The Lone Ranger questioned Lefty at great length. The night passed. The darkness lifted and daylight came. In the meantime, the sheriff's deputies in one group and the associates of Rod Mallory in another searched far and wide for the masked man. Well, if daylight's come, we can travel faster and cover a lot more ground. Hold on. Wait a minute. Hold there. Hold on. Hold on. What do you see? Look. Over there among the trees. I see people moving around. There's a little campfire there. Yeah. Hey, fellas, look. There's Lefty. See him? He seems to be there all alone. I'll fix him. I'll shut him up for keep. I don't like any more murder. Out of your hands, Jackson. Don't matter what you like. We got ourselves to think about. Look. Maybe we ought to move a little closer to make sure of him before we shoot. Now, I'll get the yellowback squealing critter from here. Now, wait. We don't know he squealed. Put your gun down. Confound it. Why did you do that? Now you've done it. Why did you fire on Lefty? Lefty wasn't alone. There's the masked man. We've got to get out of here. Get out of here. They've gotten away. The ornery pool cats, they fired at me. That bullet went right through my hat. They fired at you all right, Lefty. Two inches lower, you'd have gotten it in the head. They were Rod Mallory's men. Your pals, Lefty. The ornery double-crossing skunks. They didn't come to help you. They came to get you. I'll make them regret that. I'll get square with them. Well, I'm going to give you that chance. I'll do anything to get square with those murdering double-crossers. Good. Here's what we're going to do. Sheriff Dave Moore had been up all night directing the men who had gone in search of the masked man, the Indian, and Bob Rutley, whom they had taken from jail. His eyes were red-rimmed and his face drawn with exhaustion as he sat in his office at noon. He was in no mood for the complaints that Rod Mallory voiced. I'm doing the best I can, Mallory. And if you don't like it, you can lump it. It was bad enough when your prisoner got away. But on top of that, you let that masked man come back here and capture my friend, Lefty. I was out in the range looking for him. And he was right here in town. A fine thing. I can't be in two places at once. What's more, Mallory, I don't have to account to you. Now get out of my office before I throw you out. That's pretty big talk, Dave. You heard me, and I'm ready to back it. Now get. All right. If that's the way you feel. But I hope you've got some money saved up. Because I'm going to break you. Until then, I'm the sheriff, and this is my office. And you stay out. Ornery polecat. Just because he's got a lot of money, he thinks he can run me as well as everything else in town. Don't let him. What's that? Steady. Mask. Buy or... Oh, do it, Sheriff. Oh. I see. A fast draw, huh? Fast enough to defend myself. Just drop your gun back in the holster and relax. I'll have to disarm you while we talk. How did you get in this office? The back door. You've got plenty of nerve to come into town with every man who can carry a gun on the hunt for you. Looking in the wrong places. Where's Bob Rutledge? He'll be around when he's needed. You busted him out of jail? For two reasons. First, he was innocent. Second, he was going to be lynched. Innocent? He didn't kill Bill Stacy. Who did? John Jackson. You mean to say John killed his own uncle? Yes, and Rod Mallory planned the murder. That's a pretty strong statement. Sheriff, do you think Mallory's on the level? Well... Haven't you suspected that he's been mixed up in shady deals? I don't make charges. I can't back up with proof. Mallory's a pretty big man in this town. He's not so big. And he's a plenty smart. He's not smart at all. He can't go on breaking laws forever. Who are you? What do you want? Why are you mixing into things around here? Will you sit down in your chair and listen while I tell you a few things? Doggone, there's something about your style that... I want to tell you why Bill Stacy was killed and how he was killed. He was shot, and all the evidence points to Bob Rutledge. Yes, I know. He'd accuse Bob of stealing cattle and they had a fight. Sheriff, listen to what I learned from Lefty Barton. Yep. All right, mister. You start talking and I'll start listening. I'll keep on listening as long as the talking's interesting. Well, in the first place, Bill Stacy's ranch was heavily mortgaged to Rod Mallory's bank. Mallory could foreclose any time he wanted to. I knew that. Did you know that Mallory had cattle rustlers working out on that ranch? Cattle rustlers? Yes. They brought the stolen cattle there and Stacy had to take charge of it. Against his will. Why, this is news to me. Stacy was saving money. Trying to accumulate enough to pay off the mortgage so he could break away from Mallory. Mallory knew about this cash. He persuaded John Jackson to kill Stacy. Mallory foreclosed on the ranch after Stacy died. Yes, that's right. Jackson inherited the ranch. And Mallory foreclosed and gave Jackson $5,000 in cash. You said Bill Stacy'd been saving up to pay off the mortgage. Yes, he'd saved nearly $20,000. Jackson didn't know about that money, but Mallory did. And Mallory took it. Then John doesn't suspect anything? No. Then on top of everything else, Mallory's the thief and the leader of cattle rustlers, too. Yes. By thunder, if I could just prove that. You can. How? Lefty Barton's going to help me. So is Bob Rutledge. How about you? Help me in. Good. I have a plan. I'll have to wait until early this evening before Mallory goes to his cafe. Then what? Then Lefty Barton is going to call on Rod Mallory at his home. That evening, Tonto found John Jackson on the hotel veranda. The Indian talked confidentially for several minutes. Then Jackson went with him to the home of Rod Mallory. The two took up a position near a large open window. Tonto, if what you said is true, I'll see that you don't regret coming to me. You will see plenty soon. How do you know Lefty's coming here for a showdown with Mallory? Me see Lefty. Me talk to him. Me know what Lefty planned. We've got to be careful. What would you do if we were seen at this window peeking into Mallory's living room? You here? Yeah. Someone at the door. Ah. Maybe that's Lefty. First of all, I'm coming. Good evening, Mallory. Lefty. Before you move fast, Mallory, you better notice I've got a gun in my hand. Really? Come on in, Lefty. I was worried about you when I heard about your capture by that mass man. I'm coming in all right. Put the gun away, Lefty. What's the idea? Is it a joke? No, Mallory. It's no joke. I came here to see why you sent the boys gunning for me. Gunning for you? Oh, now, Lefty, where did you get that notion? Why should I send anyone gunning for you? We've always been parred. Parred? Why, you double-crossing skunk. Now, Lefty, you must be loco. I was loco for a long time. Loco enough to believe all the things you told me. Now I know the truth. You thought I'd talk. So you sent the boys to kill me. Mallory, that was a mistake. Lefty, wait. Don't shoot me. No, I'm not going to shoot you. Why should I hang for murder? Jackson's already killed one man. I'll let him kill you. Which he'll be plenty quick to do when he learns how you swindled him. No, no, unless you left it. What do you think Jackson will do when I tell him that his uncle left more than $20,000 that he never saw? $20,000 that you stole. Lefty, what's got into here to turn you on me like this? Plenty. I'm through listening to your slick words. You've been getting your cash, and from now on I'm getting mine. Mallory, I want a hunk of the money you stole from Jackson. Well, let's talk it over. I'm willing to make a deal with you. That's better. How much do you think would be fair? I want all the cash you got from Jackson. All? Now, hold on. I said all. $20,000. But I gave Jackson $5,000. And for that, you got the Stacy Ranch. I'll get all that cash, or I'll tell John a few things that'll make his ears stand up. So that's how I was tricked. Jackson. Get your hands up and don't move fast. Hey, where'd you come from? I was outside that window over there. So you got $20,000, huh? Hey. And you talked me into turning killer so as you could get it. Put the... Put that gun down. Not on your life. Lefty called it when he said I'd deal with you. And that's what I'm here to do, you're on rate. Double-crossing polecat. Take it. No, no. No more gunplay. The matchman. We want you, Mallory. Come on, Bob. The sheriff. It's me, all right. And that's not all, Mallory. Don't be in on this. Get him up, Jackson. What's this mean? Sheriff, why is that murderer with you? Don't you call me a murderer, Jackson. Bob's cleared of all charges. That's more than to be said about you three sidewinders. Sheriff, I helped you. I came in and got Rod Mallory talking. I know all about that, Lefty. Wait, let me talk, sir. I'll do the talking. Me and Bob Rutledge and two deputies were right outside here. We could hear every word that was said. Mallory, we heard you offered to split stolen cash with Lefty. As for you, Jackson, we're heard enough to know that you and not Bob Rutledge killed Bill Stacey. It was Mallory's idea. He put me up to it. I never did anything wrong until he came along with his smart ideas. Smart ideas, my eye. Any man that thinks it's smart to try to get away with murder is a local fool. Especially with the Lone Ranger in the neighborhood. Lone Ranger? That's who it is. Hey, where'd he go? I owe him and Tonno a plenty. Oh, Dad, Bradded, where did he go? One, two, three. There he is. He's outside. He's riding away. Dog gone. After all he's done, he won't even stop for thanks. You have just heard is a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated.
