Ranger Bill, Warrior of the Woodland. Ranger Bill, Warrior of the Woodland. Struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, showing rare courage in the face of disaster. In the air. On horseback. Or in a screaming squad car. Ranger Bill, his mind alert, a ready smile, unswerving, loyal to his mission. And all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done. Perhaps this story will be hard for you to understand. You might even think it's a bit too sentimental. But keep an open mind, will you? It'll be something to make you think, too. Now let's call this story, Old Faithful. Henry, Stompy, Grey Wolf and I have been doing a lot of trail riding the last six weeks or so to get the district ready for the influx of tourists. There are many things that have to be done and looked after to make sure that the area is as safe as we can possibly make it for the inexperienced and also the careless visitor. We're riding along, talking over the previous day's work. It's early morning and the horses are frisking. Matildy, you old rascal, stop acting like a code. Lady Horse, your age shouldn't be so full of pep. What matters, she not act like Lady Horse should. You said it. Stop it now, you mule-headed bum, before I teach you to mind your manners. Hey, Bass, go on, behave yourself. Say, do you fellas put something in their oats? Like what, for instance? I don't know. Boy, they sure got a lot of pep in spite of the hard work they've been doing. You're right there, pal. Say, old timer, how's the Lady Horse, Matildy's age, supposed to act? Huh? Well, she ain't supposed to act like no schoolgirl. She should have dignity. Dignity? What's that? Oh, don't tell me you don't know what dignity is. Oh, dignity. That is what you said the first time. Well, my tongue got caught in my tooth and I couldn't see what I was saying. Like Bill always say, you guys kill me. Where are we going today? Check on the black bears, make sure they're in good humor. Oh, yeah, they can get mean. Mix in that grizzly with the pep-kiddy-doodle-do. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, Matildy, easy, girl. Stumpy, you all right? Yeah, I guess so, but my horse ain't. What do you mean? She stepped in a chuck hole. Could tell by the way she fell. Great, Scott, you're right. Her left front leg's twisted underneath her. You don't think her leg's broken? I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it's broke. Easy, Matildy. We're gonna move you so we can take a look at your banged-up leg. Ready, fellas? Yeah. Say when. We've got to be quick about this now, just to get her leg out of the hole with the least amount of pain for her. On the count of three now. One, two, three. Little more, a little higher. There, that's good. Easy, girl. Yeah, that was a good job. I don't think it hurt her too much. I hope not. Easy, Matildy, old girl. Easy, girl, easy now. All right, let's have a look at your leg. Now, I'm not going to hurt you if I can help it. We've got to find out. Easy now. Hold her, Matildy. Hold her now. We try to help you. Well, what do you think, young fella? And a girl. That's it, you're gonna rest now. I won't bother your leg anymore. Well, say it, will you? It's busted, ain't it? Yes, it's broken, old friend. Fractured in two places. Henry, Stompy, you fellas start making camp. But Bill! You heard me. Yep, sure did. Come on, sonny, let's make camp. Well, Grey Wolf and Bill decide what to do about Matildy. They ain't fooling this old conger for one minute. Take it easy, Stompy. You're plenty rough on old timer. After all, it is his horse. Yes, I know, Grey Wolf. It's better to keep Stompy busy right now, though. You have a point there. What do you think about horse Bill? What I'm thinking isn't very nice for Matildy or the old timer. Break plenty bad. Take a look for yourself. Chuck Hall did a good job. Oh, plenty bad, all right. Broke two places. What would the Indians have done under these circumstances, Grey Wolf? This bad place for it to happen. Hard to get horse out with thick trees all around. The Indians probably take hunting arrow and put animal out of misery. Even an old and faithful animal like Matildy? Ah, not kindest thing to do. That's what I think, too. We're going to have to shoot her. Stompy? Yes? Where's the verdict? We're in a bad place for this accident to happen, old timer. There's no way we can possibly get her out. That is without clearing a road through this thick stand of trees. If it happened out in the open, we might be able to save her. I guess the only kind thing we can do is shoot her. Shoot her? Stompy, Matildy is an old horse. Her bones not men good anymore. And not too good of a chance for her. I'm sorry. So am I, Stompy. Very sorry. Thank you for your sympathy, but they ain't going to help my horse none. We got all kinds of fancy dangle machines. We can't help my old horse. She's been a faithful friend all these years. She saved my life twice. No, I can't do nothing to save hers. She's got a right to live, ain't she? Well, ain't she? Her just being an animal makes a difference among human beings. Take it easy, old friend. Yeah, we know how you feel, Stompy. We know she's been your good friend these many years. Never complained or shirked her duty. I also realize that this is the day of miracle medicines even for animals. Take a look around you, old timer. How in the name of common sense can we get her out of here? Yep. I reckon it's nigh impossible, all right. But you've overcome that before. Ain't you even going to get a veterinarian here to look at her? Ain't you even going to try to help her? Sure, old friend. We're going to try, but... On the other hand, do you think it's fair to her to make her suffer? If you was Matilde, which would you rather do? Get shot through the head with a revolver? Or suffer a little bit? Wait and see if your busted leg can't be patched up so you can live a little longer? All right, old timer. You win. We'll bring a vet in by copter and he can be lowered on a cable to the treetops. No, you're talking, sonny, like your old self. Bill, if this was 25 years ago, I wouldn't argue, but this ain't 25 years ago. I understand, old timer. You better take care of your horse while I set up the radio, huh? Do you understand what you're supposed to do, Amos? Over. Yes, Bill, I do. You want me to pick up dock waters and bring them out to you. You'll mock the spot by a smudge fire. And I'm to lower the dock through the trees by cable. Then go back to the heliport and wait for further orders. Over. Good boy. Shake a leg now. This is important. Over. I sure will. Tell Stompy not to give up. They sure do some wonderful things nowadays for banged up animals. Out. Thanks, Amos. Out. How's Matilde? She seems to be comfortable right now. Good. But tell Stompy the dock's on the way. Okay. I'll tell him. Bill to Fire Tower 3. Bill to Fire Tower 3. Over. Tower 3 to Bill. Tower 3 to Bill. How's Matilde? Over. You must be sitting there with the switch open, eh, Tom? Over. I don't need my ears to watch for fires. Over. You have a point there, all right. Well, Matilde's as good as it can be expected. You will no doubt know that I'm going to make a smudge fire shortly. Over. Right. You're North 8 and West 6, right? Over. That's a close enough guess. Well, I can't draw with you now, Tom. Out. I understand. Tell Stompy to keep his chin up. Out. Should I start the smudge fire? Yeah, that'll be fine, Henry. I'll give you a hand clearing a safety area. It's going good now. Should I put the smudge maker on it? Well, let's wait until we hear the cop here. Sure. How's the old timer? Kind of down in the dumps. Isn't saying much right now. Just looking after his horse and thinking plenty. That's what worries me. Oh, what do you mean? I thought he's doing pretty good. Well, I'm not saying he's doing anything. I'm just saying he's doing pretty good. Well, I'm not saying he's doing anything. Oh, what do you mean? I thought he's doing pretty good. He isn't thinking out loud. Bottling it all up inside. I see what you mean. When he blows his lid, it'll be rough. Yeah. We gotta try and prevent that. Hey, hey, I hear the copter. Let's put the smoke maker on the fire so he can find us. Grab the Doc's gear, pal. Right. I gotcha. Hey, Doc, unhook harness. Okay. It's unhooked, Gray Wolf. Now, slide out when I hold steady. Right. Let her go. Let her go. Let her go. This is some experience for me, fellas. I've made a lot of calls for various and summary means of transportation, but, hell, this beats all. It is a bit unusual, all right, Doc. Where is the injured horse? Over this way. Stompy's weather, it's his horse. So I understand. Too bad. I'll get you a new one. Yeah, so I understand. But we'll have a look at her and see what we can do. Do you think you can save her? I don't know, Henry. Oh, hello, Stompy. Howdy, Doc. Well, there she is. All busted up. Her leg, that is. Yeah, I see. Easy now, young lady. We'll have a look at this fractured leg yarn and see if we can do something for you. I'm through for the time being, girl. Take it easy now, Matilde. Well, what's the verdict, Doc? Not good, old timer. The leg's fractured in two places. No, don't tell me you come all the way out here just to tell me that. You're not telling me anything I don't already know. Can you save her, can't you? Yep, I can save her, but, uh, I don't know what to do. I'm not sure what to do. I'm not sure what to do. I'm not sure what to do. Yep, I can save her, but, uh, not here. What's that mean? Well, it means unless you can get her out of here and back to the hospital where I can put her in a sling and then split her leg, she'll have to be shot. But how about her age? She ain't no spring chicken, you know. Well, her age is a disadvantage, but I don't make the job impossible. Yep, if you can get her out of here, I'll fix her up. All righty, I'll get her out of here and have to carry her on the back. Oh, what you bludgeon for the supper, fellas? It was fine. Don't mention it, Doc. Well, gentlemen, we have a problem. Uh, Doc. Hey, Outbell. Can you give the horse the sedative to ease her pain and let her sleep? Sure, of all means. I'll take her to the hospital and get her out of here. I'll get her out of here. And let her sleep? Sure, of all means. But what I'm gonna give her is mighty powerful. You mean repeated doses might kill her? Yep, repeated doses of the same strength would. How long will the first dose last? Oh, from 10 to 12 hours. That means we've got to get her out of here in the dark tonight. Yep, the longer we wait, the worse it'll be for her. You speak truth. I'm gonna go give her the hypo now. You fellas make up your mind what you're gonna do. We can't let that horse suffer any longer. Bill. Yes, old friend? I heard one time about some fellas rustling cattle by carrying them out with a sling and a helicopter. That's right. It's a fact, Stumpy. Why can't we do that with motility? Well, you forget one thing. What's that? The cattle were standing up, not dead weight lying down. Ha! That knocks that idea into a cocktack. And I thought you had the answer, Stumpy. Well, now, don't go stepping all over your own feet, young fella. How are we gonna get her into a sling? We'll make a hoist by using a long pole and a stump as a lever to jack her up high enough to get the sling on her. A whirl of a jiggle will pick her up and tow her back to the hospital. Hey. What do you think of that, fellas? That's some good enough to try. Yeah, you said it. Let's talk it over with Doug Waters. If he says okay, we'll do it. Woopie! Kick the jet out, motility! We ain't through yet! What do you say, Doc? I say it sounds good enough to try it. Will it hurt the horse? No, she won't feel a thing, nothing. She's out like a light right now. This stuff is fast and effective, you know. Now, we gotta be careful. The broken bones don't pierce a blood vessel. If that happens, we'll have to apply a tourniquet. Nope, I don't see any problems from my side of the picture. The problems are all yours, fellas. I...I'll hope it works. Well, you heard the man. What are we waiting for? It's getting late in the afternoon. You fellas start rigging the lever hoist while I radio instructions. Then I'll help you get everything ready. Let's get to work. Hey, what have you guys been dreaming up out there? You sound like wild men. Over. Never mind, wise guy. You haven't got a horse with a broken leg. Over. No, but I'm glad to have a helicopter with a busted motor. Okay, what do you want me to do? I'll take you to the hospital. I'll take you to the hospital. I'll take you to the hospital. I'll take you to the hospital. Okay, what do you want me to do? Over. First of all, get a sling from Dark Waters' place and lower it down to us. Over. How will you mark the spot? Over. Bonfire. You know the general direction. Then hang around a while. Or you can land, if you wish, in a clearing to wait until we're ready to have you lift the horse and carry you to Dark Waters' hospital. Over. Okay. Say, have you ever seen the gasoline trademark of the flying red horse? Over. Sure. What's that got to do with this? Over. Oh, that's just a picture. This is for real. The flying black horse in the sick bay sling. Over. Listen, Clown, get moving, will you? We haven't got all night. Look out! Hey, Stumpy's got the stump all set. He's got a notch in the top of it. What do you mean? Well, this stump, it's as tall as Henry, acts as a fulcrum and we make sort of a trough in the top for the lever to rest in. Ah, he do a good job of high cutting. He sure did. Well, this skinny tree is clean to branches and ought to make a good lever pole. Good job, Grey Wolf. All right, let's set it up on the stump and into the notch. Say when? Wait, let me tie a line on the end of this log. It's going to be up in the air a bit. Now let me give you a feller's hand. You need some muscle to lift this. When we get it up high enough, drop it on his head, fellas. Good idea. He talk like we not have muscle. You know, for once I'm glad, really glad to hear Stuffy pull off one of his corny remarks. Me too, pal. All right, let's get this pole in place on the count of three. One, two, three. Hey, it's good. Almost looks like a teeter totter with one end sticking up. What next? Now we run this rope that's hanging from the high end under that big heavy log. Hook it on to the sapling over there and we've tied its head to the ground. When we're ready to hoist we cut the sapling and it'll help lift her up. Go that again? Well, we've made a big teeter totter dock. At one end, the horse will be attached. At the other high end is a rope. It comes down to the ground and under that big log. Henry's stripped it down to the slippery under bark. Then the rope is attached to that strong sapling and it's bent over. When we let the sapling go, it pulls the rope that slips under the log and pulls down the end of the long pole. Well, we pull on the rope too. The other end comes up and lifts the horse. Hey, Doc, why the peculiar look on your face? I've been enjoying the education of making a hoist out of raw material. However, the thoughts occurred to me, how are you going to attach the horse to the log so it'll be lifted up? Well, old timer, you know the answer as well as I do, sonny. Okay. We're going to make a temporary sling out of rope. We'll slide it under and attach it to the log. However, it would shut off some of her blood supply if we used it too long. So we'll wait for the regular sling which won't hurt her over the long period of carrying her to town. Hey, I can see the copters landing lights flickering through the trees. Let's soup up the bonfire. Bonfire! We're ready, Grey Wolf. You can release the sapling anytime. Oh, I can cut rope now. There she goes! Well, that's fine. Let's get the regular sling out of her prado. There she is! All set for a ride in the flying machine. Boy, your ideas sure work fine, Stumpy. Don't count your poultry before their hatch, young fella. Is she still out, Doc? Sure, but she's got lots of time yet. I'll call Amos and have him move into position. Even he didn't go home! He didn't go home, old friend. Just sit down somewhere to conserve gas, huh? That's fine, Amos. Hold it right there and lower your cable. Okay, Bill, here it comes. Have you got enough light? Plenty. Your landing lights and the bonfire give us plenty of light. I can see the cable end now. Make sure the hook safety pin is in place. We don't want any accidents after going this far. Right. We've got the hook now. Hold tight for a few minutes. You'll have to take the Doc up first. Okay. Up you go, Doc. Take real good care of her, will you, Doc? She's the best friend the fella ever had. Ah, don't worry, old friend. When you get back to town, I'll have her all prettied up for you. I take care of all sick and injured animals you know, like it was my own. Thanks! Well, looks like I'm going back to town the same way I come. See you fellas later. So long, Doc. So long, Doc. Take her up slowly, Amos. Okay. Up she comes. Look at that, will ya? He's lifting her just like a bird. Hey, she's gonna hit that tree top. Amos, stop the winch. What's wrong? Bring your copter a little to the right. How's that? Fine. Ease up now. She's heading toward the other tree! He'll never get her through! Hold it, Amos. Okay. What now? A little to your left. Just a little. She might clear. Hey, Matilde's moving up there! You're seeing shadows from the bonfire! I am not! Look! She's coming out of the sedative. Let her down, Amos. Then you'll have to lower Doc Waters down too. Okay. I'm gonna try to make it the next try. I'm gonna run out of gas. Poor old Matilde. Doc, you take care of the horse. You fellas help him. Alright, Bill. Okay. Where are you going? I'm going to top those two trees. You can't do that in the dark! It's too risky! It's tough enough in the daylight. That'll be alright. We've got to get Matilde out of bust. You heard Amos tell me he hasn't too much gas left. When he comes back this time, we've got to make it. I'm not right. Why not let you top two trees? I'd top one. Okay, if you want to. No, wait a minute, you young whippersnappers! I ain't letting you risk your lives for the sake of my old horse or young horse! I admit that she's been my good friend a long time and all that sort of stuff. She's lived a good life, had good care. I'll miss her like old get out if we have to leave her here, but that's what I'll do. You fellas have showed me that there ain't no other way. Grey Wolf, are you hard of hearing? Almost deaf like stone. Let's top those trees for two old faithful friends of ours. I hear plenty of good when you talk. Easy does it, Amos. Fine. Fine. You're clear of the treetops now. All right, take off. Doc gave her a smaller dose this time. Out. Okay. Boy, am I glad we made it this time. You know something? I feel real good about this whole thing. Thanks for asking me to help. You fellas are okay in my book. I'll make sure she gets to town safe and sound. Out. Say, old timer, this is no time to get wet eyes. It's all over. Yeah, come on, old friend. Take it easy. I'm just thinking how fortunate Matilda and I are that you fellas are willing to do so much for two old friends. Yes, sir. This makes up for all the years of hard work. And that's how it happened, boys and girls. Well, see you next week for more Adventure with... Angel Phil!
