A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty high old silver, the Lone Ranger. His name is not to be found in the written pages of history. The adventures of the masked rider of the plains have come down to us through the generations. With his great horse, Silver, and his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, he fought crime and criminals throughout the western United States. No man did more to bring law and order to a lawless frontier. Now return with us once more to those thrilling days when the West was young. The Lone Ranger rides again. Ike Hanover was well past middle age. His wife had died many years before, and Ike's only relations were a son, Matt, and a nephew, Jim Rockwell. Matt was idle, dissipated, and bad-tempered. And on those occasions when Ike tried to persuade him to mend his ways, and pointed out Jim Rockwell as a good example, Matt lost control of his temper completely. As our story opens, we find him arguing with his father. All the time holding Jim up to me like a tin god, I'm sick of it. Hold on there, Matt. I wasn't holding Jim up to you. Just the same thing, ain't it? When you tell me to get out and work the way he's doing. I wouldn't be telling you to, if you'd get something worthwhile to do your own self. I suppose he's doing something worthwhile, wasting his time digging all over the state, hoping to strike it rich somewhere. Well, even if he don't find no claim worth staking, he ain't sitting around all day smoking and gambling and drinking half the night. Pack of gambling I can do with the cash I get. There's lots of cash for you, Matt. All the cash in the world, if you'd get out and hustle for it, instead of loafing around. I'm satisfied. And any time you want me to get out of this old shack, you just say so. Son, I don't want you to leave me. You know better than that. Matt, you're getting on toward 30 now, and most men your age will say... I'll do something. I'll get out where my friends are. I won't clutter up your house no more this evening. Matt... Mind your own business. Matt, don't come home liquored up like you did last night. I'll do what I please. I don't know what I ever done to have my own son. Treat me like what Matt does, eh? Hi, Jim. By the shade of the cactus, I'm sure glad to see you, boy. Come in. What's the matter with Matt? He wouldn't even say hello. Never mind. Did you just get in town? Just this minute. I come here direct. This is your home, Jim, any time you want it. What are you doing back here so soon? I figured you'd be going another two or three months anyhow. Nope. I got news for you. What do you mean, Jim? I found it. You mean gold. I found a claim that's a corker. It's going to be worth thousands. Jim, you don't mean that. You really struck it? Look at this. Just a few samples, but it'll show you what the ore's like. Why, say, there's outcropping right on the surface. I'll bet it's the best strike yet. Gosh, Jim. You sure have got some good samples here. Better than any I've ever seen. Have you got the claim registered yet? Nope. Ain't that risky? No, no, it ain't. You see, I want to go back there and work it a little bit more. And then we'll make sure it's just the same under the surface as on the top. Then I'll register it. You're smart, Jim. You sure are. What's Matt doing these days? Jim ain't worth the powder to blow him up. He ain't, huh? I don't know what to do with him. He's getting into trouble all the time. Drinking and gambling again? Yep. Sleeps till noon every day and then gets back at the cafe again every evening. It's about time he'd done something. I know it, I know. Have you said anything to him yet? I talk myself for it. They don't do no good. I offered to start raising cows for him. I told him I'd start farming for him or stake him to a prospecting outfit. But he tells me to mind my own business. Ah, good old-fashioned licking would do him a powerful lot of good. I wished he'd get it. Say, hold on. I have an idea. What's that? I'll take Matt back with me. I'll let him be a pardon in my claim. And when he sees a chance to get a half share in a first-class gold mine just for working it... Oh, Jim. You couldn't do that. Why not? There ain't no call for you to give Matt half your claim. Oh, shucks, uncle-like. If he gives me a hand, we can work it just that much faster, don't you see? There's more than enough gold there for both of us. Well, I don't know. Besides, the trip will do him good. If he'll go. I'll fix that, all right. Just let me tell him how rich he can be in a few months and he'll jump with the chance to go. It took very little persuading to get Matt to join Jim. And in a short time, the two cousins were back in the deserted part of the country where Jim had found the gold. Unknown to them, their arrival was watched by an Indian. We find him now as he reports to his masked friend. The Lone Ranger is saying... You say they just came, Tonto? Hmm. Them come, dig gold. This morning? That right. Them build shack at bottom of the hill. That isn't a very good place to put a shack. Look up at the top of the hill there. Oh, heap big rocks. And the shale on that hill doesn't make a very sound support for the rocks. If one of them comes down the hill, it's likely to crash right into that shack they're putting up. That not all. What do you mean, Tonto? One color, him pale. Tonto, one brown from wind. Yes? Pale fella, stay indoors too much. You haven't much use for men like that, have you, Kimo Sabe? Maybe. Sometime. Tonto not like this pale fella, though. Why is that? Him plenty lazy. I see. You think he let the other man do most of the work while he sits around and does nothing? Hmm. Is there gold over where they are? Plenty gold. Tonto know. Many Indian know. White man, just find out. Indian leave gold in ground. Too much gold make trouble. I think, Tonto, it'll be a pretty good idea if we stay around here and watch the two men. Huh. In a few days' time, Jim and Matt had their shack built. And were ready to start tunneling into the hill. When the last of their equipment had finally been stowed away one evening, Jim puffed contentedly on his pipe, while Matt nervously rolled cigarette after cigarette. Ah, this here place is downright comfortable when the oil lamp's burning and you got your pipe going good. Ain't it, Matt? It'll do. Oh, what's the matter? Can't wait to get your hands on the pick and shovel and get after the fortune that's waiting for us, huh? The sooner the better. You will have your chance, Matt. First thing tomorrow morning. Yeah. We'll have to clear away the loose shale first, then we can tunnel in. Oh, I can't. We just blast. Well, maybe we can save time by using some blasting powder, but we've got to do most of the work by hand. We could stake the claim now. That wouldn't be so smart, Matt. You see, we only claim so much land, and if we stake the claim now, there's no telling whether the vein will run off our land or not when we get down to it. I see. We're going about it in a level-headed way. You see that, don't you, Matt? Hmm. Toss me, Matt. Here. Thanks. Thanks. Seems to me you're smoking a heap of them cigarettes. What's it to you? Nothing at all. Then shut up about my smoking. Say, I hope you ain't been kidding me about this here claim. Kidding you? That's what I said, ain't I? What do you mean, Matt? If this claim don't prove out of blame, Goodwin, there'll be a pile of trouble. You've seen the samples yourself, Matt. I know it. But you might have fixed this up with the old man, you know, just to get me up here away from my friends. And if you did, I'll... I'll be here, Matt. You won't do nothing. I've had enough of your ornery cussiness, and I don't think I'm going to stand for much more of it. Oh, you ain't. I've done three quarters of the work on this shack, and maybe more. Well, it was your idea. You had to have a place to live in, and it was easier to do the work myself than to try and get you to help. Besides, I figured maybe you'd get used to work gradually, but I guess I was wrong. Well, what you aiming to do about it? Just this. From now on, you're going to work right along with me, digging that tunnel. You're going to get half of what we find. And if you don't do the work, you won't get that half. All right, all right. Shut up now, will you? One thing more. There's to be no liquor. Get that? You've only seen me take one drink since we come here. Yeah, because you couldn't find no more. And you're not going to find any more, understand? I hear you. If you're through preaching now, I'll turn in. Good night. Daybreak the next day, found two shovels breaking into the side of the hill as the eager men threw the dirt and shale to one side and started to work on the tunnel itself. For the first hour, the work went smoothly. And then Matt said, Gosh, this digging ain't no cinch. You didn't think it would be, did you? There's nothing worthwhile that's a cinch. You ought to know that, Matt. How much do you reckon this claim will be worth to us? No telling. Maybe not so much. Maybe thousands of dollars. Gosh. I'm going to get what cash I can real quick, and then I'm going to town. You know, Jim, this ain't a bad idea. Up to now, I ain't had so much money to spend, thanks to the old man. But now I can show the folks in town some real parties. Not if you don't get back to work. I'll get me a big house and let the old man have his dirty shack if he wants it. He don't want that shack, Matt. I reckon it'll be right fine for Uncle Ike to be able to stop saving pennies. Ain't no call for him to change his way of living. No? He don't get none of my claim. What do you mean he don't? I'm working this. Let him find the claim of his own. He's always saying every man should earn his own money. Just like you did, huh? Well, maybe I didn't find this here claim, but it's half mine, ain't it? I'm working it as much as you are. Mm-hmm. You're working as hard at leaning on that shovel as I am at tossing this darn shale aside. I'll grant you that. Are you? But I told you it'd be half yours, and I reckon it'll be that. Ha! Wish I had a drink. You ain't going there, so you might as well forget it. Good morning. What the... Why, howdy, stranger. Where'd you come from? Over yonder. You're wearing a mask. You're an outlaw. I'm not an outlaw. I don't care what you say. You're wearing a mask and sporting two guns. And I don't want you near our claim. Now get. Hold on, Matt. What'd you want, stranger? I wanted to borrow some matches from you. I saw your shack and... We ain't got none to spare. Sure we have, Matt. Plenty. Here you are, stranger, and welcome to him. Thanks. You sure you ain't dodging the law, mister? No, I'm not. Ha! You wouldn't be wearing that mask if you wasn't. Now see here. You can't come around here and try and jump our claim. Get going before I put a bullet in your hide. Shut up, Matt. This fellow ain't trying to jump no claim. There's lots of room here. You're right, Jim. I don't want any part of your claim. I just thought I'd better warn you that you'll have to be careful of rocks sliding down the hill. Well, you're tunneling in, I see. Yep. We aim the tunnel in a way and then file our claim at the government office. Better watch out. This is loose shale. If one of the rocks on the hill above should slide down, it might block your entrance here. Thanks, stranger, for the advice. But we ain't taking it. Now get along and mind your own business. And don't try no tricks. I'm going. Here, Silver. Ah. You were hiding your horse around the bend, huh? I wasn't hiding him, Matt. Yep. Good day. I'll get that out. What'd you knock a gun up for? Because you ain't going to shoot a man in the back. Whatever he is, don't make no difference. What was the idea, anyway? He's an outlaw. We don't know that. Well, blast it. He'll fetch a whole gang of men here to file claims near us. What if he does? That's his privilege, ain't it? We can't claim this whole territory. But we're the only ones that know about this place. Now the news will spread. Let it. But don't shoot at a man when all he does is ask for matches and warn us about the rocks. Got any more to say? Ah, it's no use talking to you. The next time you try a stunt like that, I'll take a hand at it myself with a six-gun. Now I'll get to this tunnel again and dig. You can't boss me that way, Jim Rockwell. I'll boss you as long as you keep on showing you ain't capable of bossing yourself. But half of this claim is mine. I said dig. You, you'll regret this, Jim. Dig! 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. And now to continue the story. Jim Rockwell offered to share his gold claim with his cousin Matt Hanover in an effort to get Matt interested in something besides drink and gambling. The claim had to be worked before it could be registered. And the Lone Ranger, knowing of this, decided to keep an eye on the two men. He warned them about the loose rocks on the hill. And Matt, afraid the Ranger might bring others to stake claims in the neighborhood, fired at the masked man as he rode off. Jim knocked his gun in the air. We find the Lone Ranger now as he joins his friend Tonto on the other side of the hill. Oh, oh, there, Silver. Oh, boy. Oh, steady there. You see, fellas? Yes, I saw them, Tonto. Steady, Silver. I warned them about the rock and Jim thanked me for the warning. Me, here shot. What's that? The other one fired at my back as I rode off. Oh, he thought him like that. Him, plenty bad, Peller. Jim grabbed his gun hand. That good. Tonto, I'm afraid that when Matt gets a sight of the gold that they'll find when their tunnel is a little farther into the hill, he'll want all of it. You think him maybe try and get all gold? Yes, I'm afraid he may attempt to kill Jim. We're going to stay nearby and watch, Kimo Sabe. That good. We'll watch and plan. When hard rock was reached, Jim brought out the blasting powder and for several days, the sound of drilling carried through the hills with heavy blasts at regular intervals. Finally, when the depth of the tunnel had reached 20 feet, Jim straightened up excitedly. Matt, look at this. Is that the gold? The richest bane I ever seen. Matt, we're all set now. We're rich, Jim. Rich. We're both rich. We will be when we get this claim file and the gold dug. Then we've got to get the claim file now. We can't take no chances. That's right. Here. I got it all made out. This is the right word, ain't it? Huh? Say, when did you do this? I couldn't sleep the other night, so I made the paper out. You were sleeping. It's all right, ain't it? Yeah. Looks to be. Oh, well, sign it then. You put your name on there first. Well, what of it? One of us has to be first. Reckon it don't make any special difference which one it is. I don't suppose the fact that I found the place first means anything to you? Why should it? I could have found it just as well as you if I'd been here first. All right, Matt, never mind. You're going to sign, ain't you? I reckon. But see here, how'd you know how to make out these papers? I ain't as dumb as you seem to think. It ain't so hard to learn to draw a paper up like that. All right. You'll sign it? Yep, soon as I get a pencil. Here's one. Good enough. Now then. A-I-M-P-M. There you are. I'll get over to the shack and get ready to head for town and file a claim. You going yourself? Sure, why not? You stay here and watch it to see if no one jumps it. All right, Matt. But let me tell you this. When you get to town, you file the papers and get back here pronto, understand? Sure, sure thing. Don't do no drinking and less talking. Just get back here as fast as you can. I'll start now. You going to stay in the tunnel here? No use wasting time. I'll stay here and get the next blast ready. All right. There ain't no more powder here, though. Bring another can of it before you start for town. Get one from back of the shack. You ain't got none in here at all. Marry a bit of it. Then I'll fetch some. When Matt reached the house, he looked back to make sure Jim was still in the tunnel. Then reaching behind his bunk, he brought out a bottle, still half full of liquor. One long drink was followed by another. His brain was filled with plans and schemes. thought I didn't know enough to make out a claim. He thinks he's the only one able to do anything. Smart hombre he is. Too bad I gotta split that gold with him. Don't even want a fella to take a swig of liquor. Well, he can't stop me from drinking. I got a right to do what I want. Gosh, I sure will spread my stuff when I get rich. Look out for the rocks. They might do it that. Be right natural. Too bad I gotta split with him. Fetch some blasting powder back with him, Matt. I ain't got any more. It's all used up. He ain't got no more powder. I ain't got no powder left. Jiminy, why should I split with him? There ain't no one that'd ever know what had happened to him. It'd be perfectly natural for the rocks to fall. Matt sat on the edge of his bunk for some time, thinking, hearing whispers around him, listening to the ideas that seemed like spoken suggestions to his liquor-soaked brain. From time to time, he looked toward the tunnel, making sure that Jim was still at work there. And then... I'll do it. No one will ever know. I'll get even with him for preaching to me. I'll show him all right. Eh. One good swig left in the bottle, and now... There. Now, Jim, I'll bring your blasting powder to you, but not the way you think. The Lone Ranger and Tonto watched the figure that staggered up the side of the hill with a keg of blasting powder. Matt avoided the tunnel and went up above, where the huge rocks were poised, ready to crash down and seal the entrance. Get drunk. Liquor does things to men, Tonto. Brings out their worst instincts. It make good engine bad. It make good pale face bad. It make bad pale face killer. Exactly, Tonto. Him pick some powder under rock. Yes. Rock fall over tunnel. We stop now, huh? No, Tonto. Let him go ahead. Watch Matt and see what he does. We stopped her now. Perhaps Jim would forgive him. It would happen again some other time when we weren't around. Oh, that's right. He's lighting the fuse now and running. Rock's still flying. Yes? Jim, Matt, he'll fly now. He'll take a lot of strength to move the rock away. More than Jim has. Maybe him blast from inside. He has no powder inside. Jim, sealed inside the tunnel, realized what had happened and knew that without help from the outside, he would soon starve to death within the mine. He shouted. Matt! I'm here, Jim. Matt! Them rocks must have slipped down from above. Get some powder and break up the one that's sealed me in. Matt! Can you hear me? Are you there? I hear you. You bet I hear you. Matt! Get powder! Drill! I'm doing what you told me. I'm heading to town to file the claim. I'm filing the claim for myself, see? You won't need to be cut in for half now. It's all mine now. All mine. Matt! You're crazy! Matt! So long, Jim. I'll be back in a week. Maybe two, three weeks. I got some spending and drinking to do in town. I'll file the claim first and then I'll celebrate. Matt! Matt! Matt! Jim shouted until he was exhausted. Then for some time he tried to think, tried to force his mind to action and plan some way of escape. He used his pick on the barrier of rock without any success. And then after almost giving way to despair, the sound of someone digging reached his ears through the darkness. What's that? Am I going crazy? I hear something. Matt! Is that you? I'm going mad. I'm hearing things. This way, Jim. Take my hand. Who are you? You ain't Matt. You ain't my cousin. No, Jim. Take my hand. Leading Jim out through an opening in the side of the tunnel, the Lone Ranger paused to let the young man gather his scattered wits. You're the fellow with the mask? Yes. I'm safe now. Yes, you're safe, Jim. But how did you... There were two tunnels on the side of the hill, Jim, while you and Matt worked on yours during the day, we were working on the other one at night. You mean you... The second tunnel was at right angles to yours. When your entrance was blocked, all that I had to do was to break down the wall dividing your tunnel from the one we just came through. Then... But see here, stranger, I got to get my horse. That ornery double-crossing murderer will head for the office to file a claim to the mine for himself. Is that an hour start on you, Jim? Can you catch him? I don't know. Come on, I've got to get started. He tried to kill me. He done it on purpose. Yes, Jim, he did it on purpose. And look, look strange, he's took both horses with him. Wait, Jim. But now... Here, Silver. Come with me, Jim. I'll take you. Yes. Give me your hand. Here it is. But who are you? Why are you doing this for me? Steady, Silver. Ain't you afraid to be seen in town? You'll be arrested, won't you? The great horse, Silver, carrying his double burden, swept toward the town, the ground flying beneath his silver-shod hoofs. Sometime later, we find Matt in the government office about to register the claim. Well, there's the papers. I reckon they're made out all right. Yeah, they seem to be. You're named Matt Hanover? Yep. You ain't old Ike Hanover's boy, are you? That's right. And I've struggled rich. Seems to me, I hear that you and young Jim Rockwell started out together to work on a claim. Ain't he in on this, too? No, he ain't. I'm afraid he won't be in on anything anymore. Well, what do you mean by that? We had some hard luck with the mine and Jim, he got caught in a cave in and killed. No, you don't say so. Yeah. I tried to get him out, but when I got the rock away, he was dead. He'd smothered to death. That's a shame. He was your cousin, wasn't he? Yeah. Sort of busted me up. We was good friends. He done a lot for me. What'd you do with him? Bury him? Yeah, I thought it'd be best to bury him right there. You done everything you could to save him, huh? Of course I did. Right sure of that? Say, what's the matter with you? Nothing except there's a claim already on file for this here land. What do you mean? You're crazy. There couldn't be no other claim. He means that I got the claim filed. What? And I filled out the claim in your name and mine like we agreed. You just lied yourself in the jail, Matt, and there's witnesses aplenty. I reckon your paw can use your share of the claim. But I... Yep, Matt, looks like what you told me is evidence enough that Jim's story is true. That means you're going to jail. You see, I ain't the government man at all. I happen to be the sheriff. The story you have just heard is a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger, Incorporated. So... ... ...
