A horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty hi-yo silver, the Lone Ranger. Before this exciting adventure, a word from our sponsor. General Mills, makers of Cheerios, the oat cereal that's ready to eat, Betty Crocker Mixes, and Wheaties, the breakfast of champions. Present by special recording, the Lone Ranger. When the weather's bad, do you and your friends ever hang around the house wondering what to do? Well, I'll bet it happens lots. Well, you know where you can have the most fun? In the kitchen, with a package of the new Betty Crocker Brownie Mix. That's right. It's easy as can be to bake up a big batch of luscious, chocolatey brownies with Betty Crocker Brownie Mix. Everything you need is right in the package. Just add one egg if you like the chewy, fudgy kind of brownies. And two eggs if you want them soft and tender like cake. Add nuts, too, if you like. Either way, Betty Crocker Brownies are the gee-I-can't-eat-em-fast-enough kind. Even if you've never baked before, you'll turn out scrumptious, chocolatey, perfect brownies the very first time. And what fun you and your gang will have eating brownies that you've baked yourselves. Have Mom get Betty Crocker Brownie Mix next time she shops. Then invite your friends over for some fun. With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful mask 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 hoofbeats of the great horse, Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again! Come on, Silver! Let's go, big fella! I am, Silver! Greg Talbot, owner of the cafe and gambling hall in the New Mexico town of Greystone, paced the floor of his office as he spoke angrily to his men. I've just found out that Hank Ames, the candidate for first mayor of this town, promises if elected to put through a big tax on cafes and gambling hall. And he has every chance of winning the election. Maybe we'd better gun him some night, boy. No, no, nothing like that. Everybody would suspect we did it. Well, you better do something, Greg. The fame stands a big chance to win, just like you said. I'll do something all right. That's a good idea. I could run against him. What? You? The law here says an hombre must be living in town at the time of elections to vote. But it doesn't say how long he has to be here. Ames can muster 40 votes at the least. Against a possible 30 for me, right? Right. Then it'd be up to us to get more men here who'd vote for me. 20 more would put it over. Yeah, but where are you going to get them? From out of the Greystone mines. Well, those hombres only get $30 a month. I'll offer them $5 a day in expenses to move into town for a week and register for my hotel as voters. They'll stay long enough to vote me in, then leave. Hey, James, and that straight-laced tribe backing them will be in for a big surprise on election day. The miners were former prospectors who failed in their search for gold. Secretly, each of them hoped that someday he'd get the chance to be on his own again and make a strike. Greg Calvert talked to a few of them that night, and they passed the word along to the others. Greg was assured that at least 20 men would accept his offer to register and be on hand for elections. A few nights later, banker Lewis, who headed the elections committee, stopped at candidate Hank Ames-Store to discuss the coming election. Oh, evening, Mr. Lewis. Evening, Hank. I'm glad you're alone. I want to talk to you. You mean about Greg Talbot? Uh-huh. When he came to say he wanted to run against you, he was so confident it has me worried, Hank. If you think I'll get elected, what's bothering you? There's something I heard today. The mining company manager was in the bank. He told me about 20 men so far have notified him they're moving to town for a week, laying off for election day in Greystone. Well, maybe they just want to be here to help celebrate. Nope. He found out from one of them that they planned to come to town Sunday and stay to vote for Greg Talbot. I reckon we'll have to hope for the best, then. There isn't much we can... We can... Oh, bye, son, that we won't just sit around and hope. We've got to do something. I'm glad you're showing some spunk, Hank. If you get to be mayor, you'll have to get used to fighting crookedness and such. You got an idea? Yeah. An Indian was in here this morning. He rides with a certain hombre who helps the law. Who is he? Ever hear of a masked man called the Lone Ranger? The Lone Ranger? Well, I sure have. You know him? I got to know him some time ago when I was in trouble. What could he do? I figure if I tell that masked man the situation, he'll find a way to do something about it. You know how to get in touch with him? No, but I figure the Indian might come in again for more supplies. In that case, I'll ask for the masked man's help. The following morning, Tonto returned to the camp in the nearby hills after another trip to the store in town. Good morning, Tonto. Glad you're back so soon, Tonto. Our riding gear is all in order now, and we're ready to start for Texas. Now, let me bring message from storekeeper in Greystone, Kimasabi. From Hank Ains? Ah. And him say maybe Lone Ranger, come see him after dark. Him say it's important. Oh, of course. We'll stay on here, and I'll see Hank tonight. Under cover of darkness, the Lone Ranger and Tonto rode the back trail into town. The store was closed, and Hank was waiting in his living quarters at the rear of the building. When he heard a knock at the back door, he hurried to open it. Evening, mister. Mighty nice of you to come to see me. Hello, Hank. Tonto said you had something important to discuss. That's right. Come in. Right. Sit down now. Get right to the point. Thanks. Briefly, Hank explained the situation. When he finished, the Lone Ranger said, The only way to help would be to keep those miners from voting in some way. Uh-huh. But until we get some town laws, there's no way to prevent them. Hmm. There's only some way to get them to leave town before the polls open. But how? Oh, wait, Hank. Most of those men used to be prospectors. Hmm, that's right. The desire to stake a claim where they were certain they'd find gold would be very strong. Uh-huh. They'd leave their deathbed for a chance like that? I think I have a plan of a work, Hank. It'll be up to you to get word to each of the voters you're sure of, so he'll know what's going on when I put my plan into effect. Sure. Just tell me what you plan to do, and I'll pass the word to the right people. All right, listen. Well, Sunday after the miners have gathered in town, I'll arrive disguised as an old prospector. I'll go to the cafe and let them think I've found a vein of gold. The week before elections, the miners engaged rooms at the hotel. Early the afternoon before election day, the Lone Ranger, carefully disguised as a bewhiskered sourdough, rode into town on a nondescript horse, which Hank had obtained for him. Toto waited in a grove on the edge of town with silver and scouts. Later at the cafe, no one noticed the stoop-shouldered old prospector who entered and walked slowly to the bar. Well, old towner, what can I do for you? Give me some sarsaparilla, mister. Sarsaparilla? All right, Jiminy, you really must be broke, stranger. Nope. Just careful, young fella. Your own drink makes me talk too much. I don't reckon you'd talk about anything folks would be interested in. There you are. That's ten cents. All righty. Take it out of that. Hey, what? Hey, that's a gold nugget. Gold nugget. Yep. Pure gold, mister. You, uh, got any more? Maybe there's a whole vein of raw gold running through one of the ridges back in the hills, if a man's willing to dig and find out. All right, well. Nothing like sarsaparilla. Reckon you can just keep that nugget, mister. I got plenty more where that came from. Got to start back now. Takes me several hours to get to where I'm going. See you again sometime. Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on. Hey, the old man struck it rich. Spoke of a vein of gold in a race. Why, yes, it's a chance of a lifetime. I'm going to trail that sourdough. Go on. Go on. Now, wait. Wait, man. Listen to him. Let's stick together on this. There's plenty of land from what he said so that all of us can stay clean. Well, but... If anyone follows him now, why, he'll spoil things for all of us. Those old sourdoughs are mighty cagey, and if he sees he's followed, he won't go near that race. Well, that's true. So I say let's wait a couple of hours. Then it'd be easy to pick up a trail. All right. We'll have had time to go to the mine and get our tools so we can get samples of oil when we go out to the ridge. Good idea. We'll sit together and wait. Yeah, that's right. We'll continue our Lone Ranger adventure in just a moment. All over the country In every direction All you're, how you're doing Is a question And here's what I have That these people have to say Wee! Eatin' Oh, wee! Wheaties And the do, do, do Doin' okay Okay Doin' okay? You bet the champs in good old New York are. Listen. Now, in New York, we wait for days to see a guy called Willie Mays cause Wheaties keeps him leaping high to grab those line drives on the fly. And Yogi Berra's a Wheaties lad whose batting style makes pitchers sad. No matter how they throw the ball, that Yogi belts it through the wall. And look, both Willie Mays and Yogi Berra turn to Wheaties for extra energy because there's a whole kernel of wheat in every Wheaties flake. Wheaties, breakfast of champions. Keep on eatin' You're Wheaties and you'll be do, do, do Doin' okay Okay Now to continue. After the lone ranger posing as an old sourdough left the cafe, the miners, inflamed by his hint that there might be gold in a certain ridge in the foothills, mounted their horses and rode to the mine to get their tools. Tonto, waiting in the grove, chuckled as he saw the lone ranger ride slowly from town toward the foothills. Lone ranger looked plenty like old sourdough. He'll not fool you, Silver. We wait to see if plan worked. Miners follow. Then we go and meet lone ranger. Tonto waited patiently. The company mine was a few miles in the opposite direction from town and it was almost two hours later that the miners carrying their mining tools rode past the grove as they followed the lone ranger's trail. There go miners now. Plan work heaps well. We go meet lone ranger tonight. At the cafe, the barkeep hurriedly entered Greg Talbot's office and told him the miners had left to trail the old sourdough. Greg exclaimed, Hey, Sunder, we gotta get him back before tomorrow to vote. Ain't gonna be easy, boss. You could see the gold fever striking him even before that old sourdough got out the door. Send Sid and Lou in here and tell him to hurry. All right. A few moments later, Greg Talbot pounded his desk as he talked strongly to Sid and Lou. God darn it! That sourdough is ruining my plans for the election. I want you to take a shortcut and get ahead of him. He went out toward the foothills. What do we do then, Greg? Bring him back here at gunpoint if necessary. The miners will trade him back to town. Keep him here after election and then force him to tell where the gold is. Yeah, that's more like it. All right, get gone and don't come back without that old sourdough. Sid and Lou hurriedly left town and followed a shortcut trail through the hills. When they felt certain they were ahead of the Lone Ranger in his disguise as a sourdough, they stopped behind large boulders to wait for him. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Well, I reckon we're ahead of the old man now, Lou. We'll wait here for him to show up. I was thinking, Sid. We ought to force him to tell us where that gold's located and kill him. Then nobody would know but us. Yeah. Lou, I reckon we'll do it your way. Now all we have to do is to wait. Later, the two men heard hoofbeats approaching. Here he comes now, Lou. Yeah, we'll have plenty of time. The miners gave the old sourdough a two-hour star. Have your gun ready. Come on. We'll ride out and stop him. Get up there. Come on, get up. Now, where you are and reach, mister. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Ah, I'm reaching strangers. If this is a hold-up, I don't carry anything. We haven't much time. Now tell us where that vein of gold is located and be quick about it. Oh, that. Well, it's the right smart ways from here in the Sacramento foothills. Now, you follow this trail for about 20 miles. Then you turn at a big pointed rock and... No, no. Before you get that far, you turn on a branch trail and... Now, hold on. Talk sense. Well, like I said, you go 20 miles... No, it's only 15 miles to the branch trail that turns off where the scrub pines are. You know where that is. No, keep talking. Yeah, let's see now. You got me all confused. Oh, you got us confused. You want me to tell you, don't you? Yeah, sure, sure. Go on. Well, like I said, you go 10 miles on this trail... You said 20. Oh, oh, well, maybe it is. That's all cute, Floreco. He's full of crazy talk. Reckon there isn't any gold at all. I'm gonna plug him in there. Of course there's gold. Got some nuggets right here in my vest pocket. If I didn't have my hands up, I'd show you. I have a piece of paper and a stub pencil. Maybe I could draw the direction for you. All right. Draw a map showing the way. We'll be watching you close. The Lone Ranger lowered his hands, then loosened the shabby jacket he wore covering his gun belt. Suddenly, he drew both guns. Drop those guns! Oh! Hey, what? Drop yours, too. All right, all right. Now, just mouth and turn your back. Yeah, yeah. Easy, steady fellow. Now, use your own lariats to tie you. Quickly and expertly, the Lone Ranger tied the two crooks with the lariats. Then he helped each of them to mount and tied them to their horses. There. I'll lead your horses and take you with me. Thank you. You're not old. I'm from Marty's prank about this. What are you gonna do with this? Tomorrow, after the miners who are following me stake their claims, maybe I'll let you do the same. Ah, shut up. Hey, you must have posed as a sourdough to get those miners away from town. Good guessing, mister. Now we'll move on. Easy, steady there. Come on, come on, come on. Get up. Later, some of the miners noticed that the man they were following had been joined by two riders, but deciding they were friends, gave it little thought and continued to trail him. The Lone Ranger knew of a deserted shack and claim far in the foothills. After darkness fell, Tonto took a different trail and reached the shack ahead of the Lone Ranger. It was almost midnight when the masked man arrived with his two prisoners. Ho, ho there, ho, easy. Sid and Blue were taken into the shack and tied to chairs. During the night, the Lone Ranger and Tonto heard the miners passing the shack. At dawn, they saw them spread out over the ridge staking out claims. Some of them who had brought picks and shovels were already at work. Miners work hard, stake out claims. and dig in rocks and tink them fine gold. Oh, I'm sorry. They'll be disappointed. But this was the only way to keep Greg Talbot from being elected. Something's happened, Tonto. Find out what it is. Ah, me too. Find out. A short time later, Tonto returned with startling news. Bobby? Yes? Two miners find gold and rocks near surface. What's that? Well, I'm glad. I didn't expect anything like that. Oh, you hear that, Lou? There really is cold in this rig. Hey, mister, let us go and take claims, too. No, you're going back with us to town. There's a new jail waiting for you for attempted murder. I'll go into the back room and change, Tonto. And we'll start for town and see how the election turns out. That afternoon in town, all votes had been cast at the ballot box in the bank. Banker Lewis and his committee were about to remove the ballot box to count for votes when... Look! Greg Talbot and two of his men carrying guns. I've reached all of you. We're taking that ballot box and destroying the votes. We'll have to wait for another election to have a man. Hold on, Talbot. It's a crime to interfere with the legal election. Yeah? Who's going to enforce the law, Lewis? Take the box, man. No, you don't. By thunder, we'll not let you get away with it. I'll bet you I'll run this town by force if necessary. You're not taking that ballot box. You were asking for it, Ames? There's a gun! Oh, you... We're playing. Either you two Talbot men want to risk more gunplay? No, no. There's our gun. What's the shooting for? Look at that, man. Wait, man. This is a friend of mine. Is the election over, Hank? Yep. Polls are closed. Banker Lewis and his committee were about to count the votes. Good. How do the votes count it? It took only a short time to count the ballots. Then Banker Lewis announced, Hank Ames is elected mayor of Greystone. My first official act will be to arrest Talbot and his men for interfering with legal elections and for attempted murder. There are two more of his men waiting outside to add to their horses. They threatened to kill me. Jim, Sam, Tex, I appoint you all deputies to take these men to the new jail. tonight I'll appoint a sheriff for Greystone. Then we'll keep law and order. Mr. Hank told me of your plan to get those paid voters, the miners, out of town. You sure succeeded. Well, I led them to a ridge where they actually discovered gold. What's that? Yes. That discovery will cause others to come here and help your town to grow. I congratulate you, Hank. I know you'll make a fine on this mayor. I sure wish you were here to be sheriff. I don't now give help when needed. Now that everything is under control, we'll start for Texas. We have work to do there. Adios, everybody. Goodbye. Goodbye. I don't say to all this. That masked man, the talk of his plan. He was the old sourdough who led your paid voters out of town yesterday. What? Yep, he fooled them and he fooled you, Calvert. He's a true American who likes things done legal. You just can't beat the Lone Ranger. A copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger, Incorporated, is produced by Pendle Campbell Muir, Incorporated. The part of the Lone Ranger is played by Brace Beamer, your announcer, Fred Foy. Listen to the Lone Ranger brought to you by special recording Mondays through Fridays at this same time.
