 the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty high old silver, the Lone Ranger. When the West was young, the masked rider of the planes fought crime in criminals throughout the length and breadth of seven states. No man did more to bring law and order to the frontier. Now let us take the trail of adventure to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of silver. The Lone Ranger rides again. The greater part of Texas was suited only to raising cattle, but the soil around Graceville was so fertile and well-watered that even those settlers who started out as ranchers soon turned to farming. Jeff Holstead was one of these. His wheat fields covered over a hundred acres, and as our story opens, his grain is ripe and ready for harvest. Jeff's wife, Mae, is sitting on the front porch of their home. It is late afternoon, and she watches her husband as he walks slowly toward the house. My Jeff, you look all tuckered out. I've been clear over the south for you today, honey. Here, you take this chair. Uh-huh. That feels right comfortable. I was just thinking, Jeff. Huh? I wouldn't trade this for all the money in the world. Trade what, Mae? Oh, our house and fields and all. Yep, we got lots to be thankful for. Many folks can settle down in their old age, feeling as well provided for as we are. And with three grown boys out in the world and going great guns. I can't help wishing sometimes that they was all to home again, just like they used to be. It's the way of life, I reckon. Yes. I get the same hankering sometimes, but they had their places to make in the world. They were such good boys. And still are, by golly. Look at how Luke paid me back that thousand dollars I loaned him, so as he could get started in the freight and business. I sometimes wonder if you did the right thing with that cash, Jeff. You mean I shouldn't have given it to Cephas Cooper? Oh, I wouldn't have minded if it had gone to pay back some of the cash we borrowed from him. I did better than that. I do hope so. I used that thousand to get me an option on Cephas land. I suppose it was all right. You're darned right it was. After Harveston, when I've sold my wheat, I'll pay him the rest of the cash. And next year we'll have land for three times the grain we're raising now. I know. Just think, May, we'll be rich. Have you seen Mr. Cooper here? No, but I'll get around to it soon. There's the 2,500 you owe him. That comes due on the 25th. Shucks. The wheat will all be harvested and hauled to town by the 20th. There's time to spare. You're sure you're getting a good price for it? Cephas fixed that up himself. He got me a buyer and it's all written down what I'm to be paid. I'm to get in top prices. It's funny about Mr. Cooper. Everybody says he's so mean and stingy. He sure been fine to us. But I still think you ought to ride to town soon and put him in mind of his promise. Maybe he'll go tonight. If you do, I want you to take along the letters I wrote to the boy. I'll put him on the stage myself. I told Davey all about how good we was doing. Did you tell him how we was raising wheat just like he is over Lake City? Mm-hmm. And have a letter for Steve. Just thinking of him being a Texas Ranger now. And I thanked Luke for the $1,000 he paid us back. I reckon the freight and business must be right profitable. And I told them all they was welcome home any time they found a chance to visit. They are that. And by golly may, we'll show them the old folks are still good for something. Before we're done, we'll be making more cash than the three of them put together. Cephas Cooper was the richest, most influential man in Graceville. Even the sheriff did as he directed. The general story ran was a gathering place for the men in town. And among them now, we see the tall figure of the Lone Ranger disguised and without his mask. How much of those supplies? Let me see. There's five pounds of bacon and a couple of pounds of beans. Mr. Cooper. Yeah. Don't be bothering me when I'm trying to figure things in my head. Oh, it's you. Is it hosted? I just want to talk business with you for a couple of minutes. You in a hurry, stranger? I can wait. How's the wheat coming, Jeff? Fine. Just fine. Right through curtain, ain't it? Just about. Come to see me about that cash. You want me, Jeff? Partly. Let's step over here and talk. Come on. But if it's credit for a glove you want, you ain't getting it. It ain't nothing like that. This will do. Now what is it? You seen my wheat of late, Cephas? Where did I get the time? You figure out I'm paying me the cash you borrowed. Well, you know I can't do that after harvest. You must be joking, Cephas. For the land's sake, you knew the grain would have to be cut and then hauled to town before I could sell it. All right. All right. Don't waste my time, then. The stringer's waiting for me. I come about that promise you made me. He ain't forgot, have you? What promise? Dern to be ain't forgotten. Why, don't you recollect when I borrowed the cash for planting and such? You said you might loan me some more to hire men and do the harvesting? I don't recollect no such thing. But, Cephas. You got a copy of the agreement we read out, ain't you? Well, sure I have. It says you're to pay me $2,500 by the 25th of this month, don't it? I ain't trying to get out of that. And it says if you don't pay me that cash by that day, your house and land and wheat is all mine. I, I don't just sell it. Maybe when you pay me what, Joe, I can lend you some more. But I ain't fool enough to send good cash after bad. Then, then you never intended to let me have the cash for Harveston. I didn't put it in writing, did I? No, but you... But it ain't in writing, it ain't business. You, you planned this all the time. Well, it ain't my fault if I stand to gain more by foreclosing than by lending you more cash. And you took that other $1,000 for an option on your land. No one I'd never have the cash to take it up. I ain't saying. You know Dern well. I can get a good price for my wheat if I can haul it to town. I ought to. It was me fixed up that deal for you. For yourself, you mean? It'll be you that's selling what I worked and slaved to raise. I don't care. First off, you sold your cattle in winter farming. Then when your cash went out, you come to me for help. You, you seem right willing. I gave you $2,500. You got $1,000 from that boy, yours, Luke. And I sold you the right to buy, buy my land for a half what it's worth. What in blazing fell about that? Half what it's worth. You did that because you figured I'd never be able to buy it. And you could just keep the thousand. That is your look out. Why you don't don't go second me, Jeff. I wish I was packing a gun. Don't you raise your hand to me. I'd like to. Boys, come here. Jeff, let me. What do you want to do, Chief? Throw the old fool out. I'll handle Jeff. Throw him right out on the street. You seeking coyote? Go on. Come on. Let me alone. Take your hands off me. You're going outside. You're going proud, old man. Don't do me that fear, stranger. Leave Jeff alone or you'll have me to deal with you. Thank you, stranger. Chief is his boss around here. He's not my boss. Come along, Jeff. Yes, stranger. I'd give him anything to be 20 years younger. I didn't need no help then. We'll get out of here. Wait! You haven't paid me for that rub, you moron. I'm not taking it. Don't come back here, Jeff, unless you come with cash to pay me. There ain't much chance of that. And be sure you don't harm nothing around your place. If I do, I'll have the law on you. It's going to be mine by the 25th. And I don't mean to have you trying no tricks. Outside the store, the Lone Ranger left Jeff, and the old man made his way home alone. He told his wife of Cephas Cooper's scheme. And together they decided to pack their few personal belongings, preparing to leave the house that had been their home for so many years. You got all my shirts packed, May? They're in this village. I got everything else from the book board, I guess. Come here, Jeff. You got all my shirts packed, May? They're in this village. I got everything else from the book board, I guess. Come here, Jeff. What is it, honey? I just wanted you close to me. There, there, May. Everything will turn out all right. The boy's was brought up here, Jeff. I know, I know. Look, there's the chair where David carved his initials with his knife, and you spanked him. If them days were only here again, he could carve up the whole house, and I'd never say a word. And over there's where Luke always used to sit when he was studying his book. I never did see a young man like him for book learning. And it was Steve built them shelves under the window the time you was laid up with a sprained back and couldn't get around the house. I recollect it just as plain as if it was yesterday. You don't suppose David will mind putting up with us, do you, Jeff? Of course he won't. We can't turn to Steve. The Texas Rangers just live as in barracks. And Luke's not married. He's with his wagons most of the time. Shucks, Dave, he'll be glad to see us. I'd rather almost anybody but Mr. Cooper got this place. May, I was just a dodgering old fool. A dang did-it to think I could make a go of raisin' wheat. And when I think of letting Cephas talk me into giving him Luke's thousand for that option, it makes me so dog-gone mad I could go back to town and fight Cephas and all his sneaking friends single-handed. Jeff, Jeff. Oh, there, I... I reckon I've been a mighty poor sort of a husband to you, honey. Now don't you be blaming yourself, Jeff. If it was only something I could do... You've got to promise me you won't stop in town to make trouble. You know as well as I do that there ain't a man there who won't do Mr. Cooper's bidding. You wouldn't have a chance again. I... I reckon we'd better get going. We can send back for anything we've left behind, the towers. Yes. Here, I'll carry the release. You go on ahead. We'll make out, Jeff. We'll be happy again. Sure, we will, honey. Let's hurry, Jeff. I... I can't stand to say goodbye to the house. I'll put the release in the back of the buckboard. Uh-huh. Now, give me your hand, ma'am. I'll help you up. Oh... Oh, it... It ain't easy for me to get around as it used to be. I'll be right with you. Now don't look back, honey. We'll ride out of here just as though it didn't matter at all. Get up. Get along with your dad. Take long to get to David's, Jeff. A couple of days, I reckon. Get along there. We'll make it as fast as we can. Jeff, look. There's somebody riding from town already. Mr. Cooper ain't got the right to send a man here to the 25th. Say, I've seen that white horse before. Hold on, Jeff. He's calling to you. Walked in blazes. Oh, hold on. Jeff, I want to talk to you. No silver roll, fellow. Oh, boy. Don't you remember me, Jeff? I don't know. I... I've seen that horse before. There's something about your voice that... We met in Cooper's store yesterday. Say, you're the fellow that helped me when them no-good friends of Cephas were aiming to throw me out. Don't leave your home, Jeff. We need no choice, stranger. It's more than a week until the 25th. Well, we... we talked that out, and we figured it'd just make it worse staying on till the last minute. Will you go back if I promise you will not lose your land? Go back. Stay there until you hear from me again. But what can you do? It don't seem like... Jeff, if the stranger was a friend to your one, maybe we ought to listen to what he says. You will not be sorry, Jeff. You... you think I got a chance to keep Cephas from getting our home? A good one. Then by golly, we'll do what you say. But how can... Turn back right now. You will see me again before the 25th. Jeff, Jeff, we ain't got nothing to lose. I don't know what he's got in mind, and I don't see how he can keep Cephas from collecting. But, honey, we are doing like the masked man says. Get around there, Nick. Get around. Now go on. Get out. Go on, boy. The curtain falls on the first act of our thrilling Lone Ranger drama. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. Now to continue the story. Jeff Paulstead turned from ranching to farming, planning his land with wheat. He borrowed money from Cephas Cooper and gave his property as security. But when he asked Cephas to make good of verbal promise of another loan to pay for harvesting, Cephas refused. Jeff and his wife may, believing they would lose their home, made ready to leave and join one of their three sons. The Lone Ranger, however, persuaded them to return and stay on their property until the loan came due. As our second act opens, the masked man raiding in his great horse, Silver, at the small camp he shares with his faithful Indian companion, Tonto. Oh, Tonto! Tonto! Tonto, I just talked to Jeff. They were leaving their home, but I convinced them to turn back. That's a good thing. Were you able to get the information I wanted? Tonto, where are Jeff's three boys? Dave, him Lake City. He's the one who took up wheat farming. Luke, him Bakers Town. Steve, him Sandy Ford. That's where the Texas Rangers have their barracks. That right. Lake City, Bakers Town, Sandy Ford. All of them are a long way off. Plenty far. And I have to make the trip. Silver, take you all right. But weren't for Silver, it would be impossible to get there in time. Tonto, right, too? No, Tonto. I'll make this trip alone. I want you to stay here and see that Cephas doesn't harm Jeff and his wife before I get back. Tonto, do that. Steady, Silver. Are you going now? I can't stop the rest. There isn't a day to spare. Tonto, wait. Come on, Silver! Cephas Cooper had been told that Jeff and his wife were preparing to leave their home before the 25th. But when he learned that they had returned, his curiosity was aroused. And with one of his men, he rode out to the hall's dead place. I wonder what that fool Jeff is up to. He ain't gonna do him no good. Just stay on. No blame right now. Jeff signed that paper giving me his place if he didn't pay me by the 25th. And he can't do it. Yeah. I seem to want nobody to work for him for nothing. You took care of that all right. And he not far around here with a nerve to go against me. When I tell him what to do, they do it at the worst for them. Well, Jeff's sitting on his steps. Well, get to the bottom of this. Who asked you to come out here, Cephas? This is my place, ain't it? Not yet, it ain't. We'll be soon enough, so it won't make no difference. Maybe so, and maybe not. You started to leave once, didn't you? And what if I did? What I want to know is why you come back. You're up to something. And by thunder, I aim to get to the bottom of it. You wouldn't believe why I stayed on, even if I told you. He just bluffing, Cephas. He ain't fooling me none. I'm here because of a masked man. Yep, that's right. He told me to stay on, and I'm doing like he said. A mask, fella. What's an outlaw to do with you? I don't know. Are you local? I don't know that either. Now, you look here. I've taught you once that I ain't the fella to fool with. And I ain't puttin' up with this here silly chalion. If you're joking with me, I don't care none for jokes. Cephas, I'll give you the straight of it. All I'm doing is waitin' for the masked man to come back. What he can do for me, I don't know. But I'll tell you this. If I had anything left in the world to bet, I'd bet the last penny of it that he'll help me out of the fix I'm in. Ah! No, this was a trustin' idiot. It don't hurt to trust, folks. The thing is to trust the right ones. I see it now. You're gonna try a trick to spoil a wheat so I won't get the good of it. No, you can think what you want. If you do, I'll have you jailed. This is your place after the 25th if I don't pay, isn't it? It is. But up to then it's mine, ain't that so? And I'm givin' orders. You get out of here and stay out. I'm sorry I ever met ya. But sure as seen, I don't have to see any more of you than I want. And that's none at all. Why? Do you hear me? I am a-going. But if I catch you on my property again before it's yours, I'll fill your hide with buckshot. Jeff's feelin' right violent, Cephas. He's up to somethin'. I can feel it in my bones. I got the same hunch. But it's not gonna do him no good. Steady that. I'm gonna have some of the boys keep an eye on him. It's a good idea. And if I can catch him doin' somethin' that ain't legal, I'll make him sorry for it if it's the last thing I do. Get up there. Get up there. In the meantime, the Lone Ranger was racing across country. He headed first for Lake City, where Dave Holstead, Jeff's son, had a large wheat ranch outside town. Dave! Oh, silver all color. Oh, boy. A masked man. Never mind that. Your parents are in trouble. What's that? They're in danger of losing everything they own. Wait, listen. You listen to me. I want your help. Strangers, you say Sif has done that to Paul? He did, Luke. Why, they're cheatin' old skin flint? Will you do as I ask? Do it. Say, Stranger, they ain't men enough in Texas to stop me. Good. Go on, silver all color. Wait, they think I wanna ask you. There's no time to wait. Hey, old... Day has passed, but Jeff and his wife received no further word from the Lone Ranger. The hopes he'd built up faded, and as we find them now in the living room of their home, they are resigned to failure. May I'd have to start harvesting that wheat today if I was to get it to town in time to pay Sifus? I reckon the masked man tried his best, but they want nothing nobody could do. I tried myself. I went into town and asked some of the fellows if they wouldn't work for nothing till after harvest when I could pay him. Yes? But that crook Sifus has got him so scared there wasn't one of them willing. I didn't hardly hope first. So I guess we'll have to go today, be after all. Jeff, those men, who are they? Huh? Why, golly, Sifus has sent fellows to run me off, right? All right, all right. I'm coming. Howdy, Pa. Davy! Ma, ma, it's Dave. Davy, my boy, you've come to visit us. Visit nothing. I've come home to work. Where's that wheat needs cutting, Pa? Ain't no use, Davy. A dozen men couldn't get it cut in time to get to town. A dozen? Who said anything about a dozen? I got 40 men here and ran to go to work. Davy, Davy, I can't believe it. There ain't tools enough. We brought our own tools. We do show you how to harvest a crop. Ain't that so, men? All right. I'm all in a tremble, David. It sure is good to see you. Oh, gosh. Now just forget about your worries. Hugh and Moss sit here. The boys will take care of the work. Come on, fellas. Let's dig in. All that day and well into the next, Dave and his men worked furiously. The smell of fresh cut wheat was fragrant in the air and great loads of grain were ready to be hauled into town. As the second afternoon wore on, Dave looked out to see his father running toward him. Davy, stop. Tell them fellas to stop working. It ain't no use. What's that, Pa? I just happened to think. We ain't got the wagons to haul the grain to town. Can't you get none? See the scene to that. He'd give everybody in the county orders not to help me. Blast it. Why didn't the mass fella tell me we'd need wagons? I don't know. But you better not waste your time no more. It was good of you, Davy. And your ma and me sure appreciate what you've done, but I... Did you say you needed wagons? I just now told you. Then look what's coming. Oh, I bless my soul. There was Luke's wagon. And there's Luke himself. Luke! Luke! Pa, we got here all right. You're just in time. What are you standing there for, Dave? Get back to work. My fellas want wheat to load up in them wagons. And you just bet you'll get it. Come on, fellas. Get the mass. Let me, Pa. I never thought when I set you up in the freight business that the day had come when your wagons could do me a turn like this. I'll start my boys to load them, Pa. Hold on there, Jeff. Hold on. See this. I've been watching everything that's happened. But you... And you ain't going to move that wheat. Who says I can't? I says it. You're not moving this wheat till you pay me what you owe. There ain't nothing in the agreement says that. All I got to do is pay you by the twenty-fifth. That don't mean nothing to me. This wheat is as good as mine. You ain't going to keep me from having it. Your scheming fell through, Severs. Yeah? Well, I got the sheriff. His deputy's an old man from town to see that no wheat's moved. The sheriff? He's just like everybody else around here. He takes his orders from me. And I give him orders to shoot the first fella to drive out of here with a wagon. Pa, every one of our fellas is covered by a fella from town. And every townsman is covered by a Texas rain gun. Pa, look, Steve's brought the rangers. You're all through, Severs. It's Steve. It's my boy, Steve. The masked man here brought me, Pa. He figured there might be trouble. I've been tricked. You can't get away with this. I ain't standing for it. You have no choice, Severs. Stranger. I don't know how to thank you. You brought my boys together again. You brought them here just when it was needed most. Jeff, will you be able to sell your grain in time to pay, Severs? I sure will. Blast ya. Come, found ya. See, what do you last about you? You. Severs, I was remembering how you taught me to give me that $1,000 for an option on your land. You were so blamed anxious to get the cash, you offered the land for a far less than it was worth. But I ain't taking a dime. And now I'll be able to get your land, too. There ain't no way you can stop me. Jeff, no. You wouldn't do that, would you? It was all put down in writing. And like you said, if it's in writing, it's business. And from now on, I'm a businessman. The story you have just heard is a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated.