 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, already smile, unswerving, loyal to his mission, and all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done. Hello boys and girls, I'm Ranger Bill. Say, did you hear that strange noise? What did you think it was? Kind of hard to tell just what it was, don't you think? You know, the first time I heard it, I couldn't believe my ears. When I saw what was making the noise, I couldn't believe my eyes. Well, finding out what that noise was, and then trying to find out a way to stop it, gave Henry and myself one of the most exciting adventures of our lives. I call it, the mountain that moves. And, Clem, there you go, slamming their screen door again. Won't you never learn? Oh, Marthe, seems like I forget. I don't go for a slam it, but somehow or other I just... No, I know. Of course, you've been forgetting for 40 years. Yes, and for 40 years you've been reminding me. Oh, Clem. Come over here and set a spell in your rocker. Well, reckon I will. Ah, cool enough, I might have reckoned. It sure is, it sure is, and the sun's dropping behind the mountain. You know, taint everybody that has a mountain in their backyard like we got, Marthe. Why, that there mountain has shielded us from the hot sun in the summer time, and, oh, the cold winds in the winter. Well, you know, ever since we homesteaded here. What? I hear that noise again. What noise, Marthe? Oh, you know, Clem. Oh, nice. Now, now listen. Now, don't tell me you can't hear it. Oh, I hear it all right. We keep hearing it more often, maybe. What is it, Clem? He got no idea. A thunder maybe? No, there ain't no thunder, Clem. Not a cloud in the sky. Oh, that's right. Well, whatever it is, it'll go away. Always say that. Well, it always does go away, don't it? I don't like it, Clem. I just don't like it. It's some kind of a noise. Seems to come from over by that mountain. There. You see, she's quit. Does come over from by the mountain, though. Well, whatever she is, she don't amount to nothing. Good morning. Glad to see you. I take it you're Mr. Jenner with. Sure, and I take it you arrange a bill. That's right. I have my credentials here in case you... Oh, no, I got your telegrams, as I was expecting you. I'd have got two telegrams, one from you and one from the... The United States Geodetic Survey? That's right. Well, what brings you out to our neck of the woods, Mr. Jenner with? I don't exactly know. Fishing's pretty good. No, I'm not here to fish. I'm here as a sort of detective, I guess. Detective? Geographical detective. Bill, I'm a seismologist. Oh, you're one of those... ...disturbances on the Earth's surface. Ah, earthquake, sir. Well, yes. Any shifting in the Earth's crust. It's a big world, you know, Bill. And every now and then it gives a sort of a shake and a shudder. And when it does, well, it means trouble. But this is an earthquake country. Oh, I know that. That's a strange part of it all. In fact, that's why I'm here in your office this morning. Now, look here. Mm-hmm. Now, these probably won't mean much to you, but they mean a great deal. A very great deal to a seismologist. These are papers, charts or graphs taken from our recording machines in Washington. Oh, yeah. We have machines there so delicate and sensitive that any movement in the Earth's surface, anywhere in the world, is registered on those machines. Mm-hmm. In Japan or under the sea or anywhere, in fact. Any such movement is picked up by those machines, and then we can compute exactly where the disturbance originates. But what has all that got to do with naughty pie? A very great deal. I've checked and rechecked my figures, and have come to the same conclusion each time. Something is happening to part of the Earth's surface near here. And whatever it is, I can tell you right now, it's something I don't like. Oh, here's the best place, Stumpy. The water's deep, right by this jib rock. We sure clump plump up this here mountain, and the fishing better be good. Well, I'm out in streams with the best places for trough. Go ahead and cast. Here goes. Got him! The great granddaddy of all troughs! I got him! Very easy. Get ready, Henry. I'm a plain and easy leg. Almost got away there. Easy, easy. Get the net, Henry. Get the net. Okay. There. Pop him into the creel. I told you the only thing to do was climb up this here mountain if he wanted to get the lungers. Hey, what's the matter? Nothing, I guess. Well, something must be the matter if it makes you stop parking. Just for a minute there, I felt kind of dizzy, but I ain't dizzy if you know what I mean. Well, maybe the sun's too low. Hey, what's the matter with you jumping all around like that? I lost my footing for a minute. But what I can figure out is this. How can a man lose his footing when he's standing still? Henry, when I told you I thought I was dizzy it was because the ground right under me seemed like it was moving. And then you... Henry, there's something awful to matter with this mountain. Let's get out of here. What do you reckon you want for supper, Clem? Well, being his house, he's such a nice day, Marthie, and I thought I'd like to take a walk up to the mountain to one of them trout streams and see if I couldn't get us a mess of trout for supper. Sounds good. Well, if you're going, you better get started. Oh, there's plenty of time. Let's just sit here and rest for a while on the stoop. Let's just rest for gracious landscapes. What was that? Oh, go see, Clem. That cream pitcher off onto the floor. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Marthie, that cat's been sitting right here on my lap all the time. Then... then what made that cream pitcher fall off the shelf, Clem, all by itself? Well, I don't know. Maybe he's sitting too close to the edge. Oh, my very best. Now you know better than to say that. Oh, I reckon we'll get another one, Marthie, next time. What's gotten to you? The cat. I mean the cat's tail. Look at that cat's tail, Marthie. It's all puffed up like a balloon. That means she's frightened. Frightened of what, Marthie? Nice of you to invite me to lunch, Bill, before we get started for the mountain. Fried ham, country style and sweet potatoes. Makes our fellow hungry just to... Oh, excuse me. Excuse me. Dear Lord Jesus, we ask you to bless this food to our use and to be with us this day as we start on our trip to the bottom. We ask this in your name, amen. Do you always ask grace like that for four meals? That's right, Mr. General Wythe. I see. And does it work? Work? Well, I mean, do you... We're Christians here, Mr. General Wythe. So we're grateful for the opportunity to ask the Lord's blessing on the food he supplies and to thank Him for it. We do this because we're happy to do it. But you said something just then about our trip this afternoon. Well, Christians continually ask the Lord for help and guidance in anything they undertake. Well, I thought people did that sort of thing in church on Sunday. They do, but you don't have to be in church to pray. No. Well, this was scientific research of mine of ours this afternoon. Do you really think the Lord is concerned with that? Mm-hmm. I know He is. But the Lord didn't send me out here. It's those danger marks in those calibrated charts and graphs. That's the only reason I'm here. Are you sure? Why? Well, as a scientist, of course I'm sure. Pass the hand, please. Am I going too fast for you? Oh, no. Keep it up. I can follow. Mr. Jenner, do you know what we'll find when we get to the mountain? Well, let's say I'm afraid of what we'll find. Afraid? Yes, from all the symptoms and all the clues and the indications we have. It begins to look very much as though old Thunderhead, as you call it, has just decided to move. What? A whole mountain move? Mm-hmm. Mr. Jenner, well, you must be joking. No. Well, is this an earthquake? No, it's not that. A volcano? No. Well, what? Well, Bill, we have a historical background for this sort of thing. It's happened before, you know. Yes. Several times in South America on the fringe of the Andes, a mountain, a whole mountain will move or shift, change position, if you like. Maybe a matter of a few feet, maybe several miles. Slides down here, you mean? Not necessarily. But it's a gradual thing and moves slowly like a glacier. No, when it goes, it goes fast. Not a volcanic eruption, not an earthquake. Not a landslide or an avalanche, just a mountain that moves. But what causes it? Probably some great cataclysmic upheaval or disturbance deep, deep in the center of the earth. Either that or gradual erosion of the base of the mountain over the centuries or crumbling of the mountain's foundation. But this was in South America. It's happened in Italy, too, near the Alps. Far away. Well, it's happened in this country. In the year 1906 in the state of Washington near the Rockies. Near the... Where near the... But can it be stopped? I think so. I think so. How? Depth charges. Depth charges? What are you talking about? This is a mountain we're headed for, not an ocean. I know that, Bill. But what invariably happens in a case like this, when a mountain starts to move, great cracks appear. Giant cracks on the earth's surface. We call them crevasses. They can be hundreds of feet deep. And if you can lower a high explosive down to the bottom and detonate it, the incredible force of such an underground blast will... But we don't have any such explosives. Oh, yes, we do. Plenty of it. Compound C in that knapsack on your back. Plus fine nylon rope with the electric and detonating wire woven right into it. Oh, um... Mr. Chenoweth. Yes, Bill? In those cases you told me about, when a mountain moved, were there people living on those mountains? Uh-huh, there were. And, uh... And what... What happened to them? I understand. I should have known. Dear Lord Jesus, help those people up there today in Old Thunderhead. And help us to help them. Amen. You know, it's interesting to me as a scientist to observe how a man like yourself resorts to prayer. Prayer is available for everyone, Mr. Chenoweth. Even scientists. Yes, yes, of course. However, and I'm sure you know, I have no wish to hurt your feelings. For my part, I'll put my faith in modern day know-how. Well, I can walk much faster than we have been. Step out the pace, and I'll follow. Well, we're nearly down now. I just caught a glimpse of level ground. Can't be far now. Yeah, good. We're about gonna come out of Clemen Marthy's farmhouse. Good thing, too. More than you'll have a picture of your ice-cold buttermilk somewhere handy, sir. I could use this... We're almost down now. Help me! Help me! Help me! I fell down! I can't get up! I can't get up! I fell down, too! You can't see nothing, particularly unusual, but here we are, two grown men, and we can't stand up. What's happening to the ground? I don't know. Well, it's bad, that's for sure. I never, never, as long as I... Henry, listen, listen. The whole ground is shaking. I'm scared. It can't be an earthquake. There's an earthquake country! Henry! Oh, no! Oh, hey, what's going on? No, it's gone. It's gone now. Let's get up. It's good to have your shank Sunday again, huh? We're having a terrible time out. We sure are. Well, let's get along home as fast as we can. What's the matter? What are you looking at? You look kind of funny, Henry. What are you staring at? You see what I see. Yep. I see, you see it. The same as I do. At their ditch like. She stretches out in both directions for as far as I can see. She's deep, too. She said, deep, you can't see the bottom of it. And she's wide, too. Too wide to get across. That's what that big noise was. That monstrous crack then opened up right in the face of the earth between us and the bottom of this mountain. Henry, we're up here on this mountain and we can't get down. And this mountain is moving. There, there, there you poor little thing. Poor pussy. Martha, everything all right inside? Well, we're all right. We can get new dishes, Martha. Come on out here on the ports and rest. Martha, what in what in the earth are you hunting for that takes you so long? Come here. Here's what I was hunting for, Clem, here's what. And I had a time finding it, I tell you, and all that burriness in there. Yes, the Bible. Yes, yes, Clem, the Bible. Oh, Clem, with all this awful goons on going on, I want to have the good book handy. Yes. For Clem, when that awful crack at you slim bang, come on. I didn't know what to think. She sure rattled everything around, whatever she was. As a dish, Clem, every single dish. Yes, you said that, Martha. What was it, Clem? I can't figure it out. Well, it seems like the whole world just started to... Martha. What, Clem? Martha, take a look over yonder. At that mountain, look. The mountain, in the running crossways. weren't there before, Clem? Upton was kind of leaning this way. Clem, we got to run. No, no, Martha. Why ever not? We ain't run. Oh, Clem, something terrible's taken place. The mountain looks like it's... Martha, my eyes are pretty good for an old fella. Good enough for me to see that there's two men standing up there on that mountain. Oh, you see. Oh, there be, Clem. Well, let him climb down. No, no, Martha. Then fellers can't get down. They're on the wrong side of that tremendous crack. No. We're not running away. I admit, I don't know what's happening, but... but we ain't running. Not until I can try and help them fellers some. Well, there's old thundered. That's the traditional topography, I see. See how it sort of stands out by itself? Oh, yeah. On the edge, so to speak, of those larger mountains. Yes, it's a good place to see it. Up here on this ridge, just after cross this valley here about a mile, we'll be right on the slopes of old thundered. You sure that's the right mountain? No, positive. I've been checking these dials all the way. That's the one. Even make out the dirt road winding up that crooked valley. That's the only way in and out of the mountain. What's the measurement take? That's the warning signal. It's a danger signal. Something's taking place over there. Something we can't see. But we can see it. Of course, right there by that little road. Oh, this is fantastic. It's incredible to see a thing like this. Look at that. Watch, Bill. See how the rock falls? There's that outcropping over there. It's like... It's like falling over a slice of bread, I guess. How tremendous. Strange. How strange to stand here in perfect safety and see this happen. It was so far away, we can't even hear it. There's a phrase somewhere. I don't know where. Something about moving mountains. I know. Well, we're seeing a mountain move. Oh, there. See, it's subsided again. That's what always happens, you know. There are a few upheavals like that one. Increasing in violence and the whole mountain goes. When the crevasses appear, it's only a matter of time. How much time? An hour. Maybe more, maybe less. But once the crevasses come up, the mountain is on the move. The road! The road! In and out of the mountain! What about it? It's gone! I don't like the look of things, Bill. These readings all point to the fact that the mountain is ready to let go. Are you sure? Every scientific test I've made and I've made them all makes it a positive fact. The explosive. It's our only hope. Are we almost there? Yes, just around this bend. That house down there, do people live there? Yes. Say, we've got to get them away. If that mountain goes, that house will vanish. Hey, you're in there! No use calling. Why not? I can see them. It's an old man and his wife. They live there, but they're not there now. Well, where are they? Up there. Up on the edge of that crevasse. It's just like I told you, the crevasse. The last warning. Quick, give me the explosive. Stumpy and Henry are up there too. Who? Oh, yes, an old man and a boy. And they're on the wrong side of the crevasse. Unless I can settle things with a high explosive, there's nothing we can do for them. And for that matter, if you and that old couple stick around too long, if things go wrong, there's nothing I can do for you either. Why don't you get out of here? I want to be here, Mr. Ternoweth, to do what I can. No matter if it does seem hopeless. Very well. Suit yourself. You're here, you know. Naturally, I'm a scientist. There's work to do. I have no choice. I'm not a scientist, but like you, I have work to do. And I'll stay. Like you, I have no choice. Very well. But I don't get it. Come along. Let's start climbing. Egg to clap, eyes on you. How do you feel? Yes, stumpy. Hi, Martha. Clem. Say, will things come to a pretty pass here? Now that you are here, maybe you can tell us just what's happening. Well, it doesn't look good. But what? This is Mr. Ternoweth. He tells me this mountain for some unknown, but positive geological reason is due to move. I knew it. I knew it all along. I'm going over to the edge of the crevasse to lower the explosive down, and as far as it'll go. All right, I'll go with you. No, Bill. The less disturbance, the better. You stay here. You and all these people remain quiet. Don't run about, and above all, don't shout. Say, how many that knapsack with the explosive and the prepared rope and wire? Thanks. Well, so long. Just crawl as carefully and as quietly as I can. Right out to the edge. I hope it doesn't crumble. I don't want to make too much of it, but I know this mountain is going. I'm sorry for all those people, the cartridges and the Fisherman, Bill and his friends. Me too, I suppose. If the explosive doesn't... The old man and the boy praying, I guess, and his wife and Bill, they're kneeling too. They're all praying. Slowly now. There's no jar or anything. And so, dear Lord Jesus, we turn this whole thing over to you. Amen. He doesn't crawl back to that little box. That's the mechanism. That's off the explosive. He's pushing a button, looks like. That great big crack. Back is closing out. No, Claire. My friend, you see, my friend, the crack is closing up. In fact, she is closed up. You've smashed trees here and there, to be sure, but the crevasse has vanished and no lives lost. And here comes that scientifical fellow. Yes, Mr. Chenoweth. Mr. Chenoweth, you have our true thanks. The crevasse is closed, Bill, and what's more, I can't detect any disturbance. The mountain seems to have settled. It's back to normal. And there's no danger now, anywhere. There are many strange occurrences in God's creation, not the least of which was the moving mountain. But, along with strange incidents, God gives us knowledge to cope with them and opportunities to really trust him. Well, see you next week for adventure with...