 Ranger Bill, warrior of the woodland, struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, fighting the many enemies of nature. This is the job of the guardian of the forest, Ranger Bill, pouring rain, freezing cold, blistering heat, snow, floods, bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions. Yes, all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done. That's wind you're hearing, a special kind of wind that only blows in high and dangerous places. The wind the old Indians call the ghost wind. When you hear it it means trouble, and real trouble, because you only hear it when you're way, way up in the peaks, up in the top of the rockies, where a man is really on his own, where he's all alone, with danger. When I hear it, I'm reminded of one of the most exciting and unusual adventures Henry and I ever had. A hair-raising story about the bare, silent places, and empty air, and the fiercest birds in the world. I call it, In the Eagle's Nest. Come in. Lieutenant Larson reporting, sir, pilot, United States Special Aeronautical Survey Department, helicopter division attached. Sure, sure, Ted. I know all that. You go through that whole speech every time I see you. We're not that formal out here in the wild, you know. Sorry, sir, I kept forgetting. It's just that at cadet school we... Well, I have something special to report. Good news, a bag. Well, I don't know for sure. Now sit down. Let's talk it over. Thank you. Okay, shoot. Well, sir, you know I've been taking the helicopter on some pretty long flights lately, finishing up the aerial photographic survey for the ranchers, and for the last week or so I've always swung around through Lost Canyon. It saves dodging a lot of those high peaks. Yeah, it's pretty wild country. Yes, only one cabin in the entire area. I know. Let's see, that's where old man Margrave lives, and all alone. Must be 80 if he's a day. That's what worries me. Why? Well, the old fellow usually runs out in waves when he hears the copter, or I see smoke from his chimney, but I haven't seen him or the smoke for a week. Is your helicopter ready to fly right now? Yes, sir. I can take off any minute. Why? Lieutenant Larson, sir, we're paying a call on old man Margrave right now. It's right down there. Can you see it? I can just make it out, I think. Is that it? By that stand of pines? Yeah. Now all I have to do is land. What's the matter? Did you get out? No. It's the updraft. In these canyons in the hot weather, it's rough business. So hang on. Hold on tight, but don't sit too rigidly. I'll do my best. Hey, we're going up again. I thought we were going down. That's the updrafts I told you about. Oh, you mean the ghost wind. What? I'll tell you later. Right. And just about time, too. I don't like the look of things here. Yeah, me neither. Kind of lonely. Quiet, too, isn't it? Too quiet. There's a ramshackled old building. First time I ever saw it from the ground level. Let's try the door. Is he dead? I don't know. Look at those rope marks. But he's been tied up in that chair for days. You got a first aid kit in the copter? Sure. Well, go get it while I cut these ropes off. Right. There we are. It's a Margrave. It's a Margrave. Can you hear me? It's the forest ranger. He's still alive. Mr. Margrave, can you hear me? Can you hear me? It's the trace of our country ever had. He got to save it, protect it, keep it for all the... all the... Mr. Margrave. Is he gone? No. Rub his wrists and then his ankles. So where the ropes were. I'll break one of these ammonia vials under his nose. Ranger, is that you? Yes, Mr. Margrave. I'm here to take care of you. Oh, thank you. Don't try to talk too much. How do you feel? Just...just tired. Very, very tired. Those men are so cruel. I wanted the treasure, but I didn't tell them. Safe now. Most rest. Ranger. Ranger. Yes? The seventh brick. What about the seventh brick? He's out. I'm afraid so. Malnutrition and shock and fright. I don't think he was tortured or injured other than those rope wounds. He looks like a mighty sick man to me. He is. Can you carry three in the copter? Yeah, if I have to. This is it then. I'll hold the old fellow as best I can, brace him with my arms and legs, and you fly us back to Nightie Pine as fast as that contraption of yours will go. Yes, sir. Just for a minute. I almost forgot. The seventh brick. That was a clue, a message you wanted me to get. The fireplace is brick. Of course. Here's the fifth, sixth, seventh brick in the top row. It's loose. You're lifting it right out? Yeah. Underneath is a little black notebook filled with tiny writing. That's the clue I needed. Let's go to Nightie Pine Hospital and fast. Okay. I'll take his feet and you take his head and shoulders. You got the book? In my pocket. You ready? Easy now. We'll have him there in no time. Why, I... There they are. Who? The man we're going to bring to justice. But right now our job is to get this poor old fellow to a hospital. Here we are. I'll lift him right in. Up with it. I figure we can make it to Nightie Pine in 20 minutes. Good. Don't waste any time. Fire away! You'll settle with me later. Where are they? How to sight up the canyon? Are they firing at us? Nope. What are they firing at? I think I know, but I can't be sure yet. This guy, he just thinking of hurting that harmless old man like that. Why, he couldn't have hurt a flea. Not quite. She's coming back. Very good, eh? I don't care whether I hit her or not. A dummy? Or him either. I just want to scare them so bad they'll go away and not come back. Then we can investigate their happy home in peace and quiet. Don't look like they're ever going to go away. For keeps, that is. Eh, they'll go alright. After I fire this rifle at him a few more times. I suppose. I still hate to think of that poor old man. That poor old man, my eye. You want to get rich, don't you? Yeah, I guess so. Now the old geezer said there was a priceless treasure out there, didn't he? I guess so. Yeah. You guess so? Is that all you can say? I guess so. I guess so. I just hate to think of that old guy. That's all. I ain't hiding in this cave day after day. I'm afraid maybe the law wasn't that heliocoptic. I don't like shooting at him. Most of all, I don't like that wind. Ghost wind they call it. The ghost wind. I never heard of that ghost wind either, Lieutenant. But you can be sure that Bill has. He knows just about every single thing there is to know about the West. Ghost winds, rifle shots, lost treasures, old men tied up in cabins. The whole thing has me, Buffalo. Why, when I think of that old... I've been thinking about him too. In fact, I've been praying for him. He and Bill have been in this house. Bill here a long time now, it seems to me. Well, as a matter of fact, I've been praying too. And your prayers have been answered. Old man, Mark Grave, only I should say Dr. Mark Grave is sleeping comfortably now. Doc says all he needs is food and rest. We found him just in time. Did you say Dr. Mark Grave? I sure did. Doctor? He didn't have any patients up there in Lost Canyon, did he? Nobody lives there but him. He had patients, all right. Who? I'll tell you later. Right now, he has to work fast. Henry, is your football outfit done at school? Sure. Well, run down there and get it. Then hurry back to my office. The whole thing. Shoulder pads, hip pads, heavy shoes, heavy socks, pants. Better bring two pairs of pants in about three jerseys. What am I going to do? Lieutenant, do you suppose you could get one of those round, clear plastic helmets over at the air base that would fit Henry here? Sure, but... Are you pretty strong? Strong enough to resist a sharp blow? Well, you can bounce a hammer off him, but... Good. Get one. Do they have those heavy insulated gloves that the electricians wear over there at your place? I think so, but... We'll get a pair. I'll tell you both at Ranger Headquarters in about a half an hour. Okay. All right, sir. Where are you going? I'm going to the storehouse for 500 feet of one-inch extra-strong hemp rope. Then I'm going to the butcher shop with 10 pounds of chopped raw beef. You've got to hurry up and save old man Margrave's treasure. Here we are. Did you get all the stuff I asked for? Yes, sir. Oh, sure, Bill. Only... Yes, I've been scratching my head for an hour, you know, trying to figure things out. All right, let's begin at the very beginning. We know two men tied up Dr. Margrave and tried to get his secret out of him. Did the old man tell you? No, he was too sick, too tired to talk. Well, how did you know that... I know the old man doesn't smoke, but there were cigar butts and cigarette butts on that cabin floor. That would ordinarily mean two men. Just a double check. I looked at the ground outside the cabin and there were the tracks of two men, clear as day in the sand. One man was wearing heavy loggers boots and the other wore moccasins. Bill, what else did you find out? A car trade that you stepped on right outside the door of the old man's cabin. It was a valuable clue. I measured it with my calipers and micrometer here at the office and found out a funny thing. What's that? That shell was fired recently. You can still smell the powder from a 10.75-millimeter express rifle. Never heard of one. It's an odd size, I admit. Fits a high-velocity express rifle. Kind usually used only for a very big game. Probably the rifle we're looking for is a Mauser or a Mann-Licker Schumann. Hey! I know a man who has one of those fancy Mann-Licker whatever it is, rifles. It's the only one I ever seen. Yeah, and one too. He's that man, that tough fellow named Sanderson, the one they call Hawk. Right. Lieutenant, did you notice an old man, Margrave's chair, the one where they had him tied, was over by the north window chasing out toward that big cliff? Well, yes. So? Ah, the secret treasure. It's something to do with a cliff. Right. And that's where we're going, just as soon as I explain my plan to the cliff. The cliff? Almost to the top. Guys, wake up. We may have work to do soon. Okay, okay, Hawk. It was only kind of close my eyes for a minute like that. Ah, for an hour, you mean. Hey, listen, they haven't been back since the last time I shot at them. Maybe they're gone for good. They'll wait a little longer and then go up and get that treasure. What is it, Hawk? I got it figured out from the way the old guy acted. It's diamonds. That's what it is, a whole pack of them. That's a thing he could hide up there easy. Diamonds? That's the way I get it figured. Keep a watch out, Hawk. They might come back, you know. Okay. Hey, Hawk. Hey. What? What about the old man, eh? We'll fix him after. We got time. But, Hawk. Yeah? Suppose them cops come after us. Hey, Hawk? We're way out in Lost Valley, stupid. Nobody knows we're here. Nobody knows who we are. And they'll never find out. Never. Ranger headquarters, naughty pine. Yeah? Yeah? Well, I... Right. Yeah. Right. Thanks. That was the state capitol. I wired in for some information. Hawk Sanderson has a criminal record a mile long. And he's one of her armed robbery right now. He has a buddy named Banjoise Brunson. Kind of a stupid man. And he wears moccasins. Well, now we know who they are, but not what they're after. We know that, too. Just let me tell you. Old man Margrave was... is a doctor. A doctor of philosophy. His life work has been the study of burns. I found all this out in that little black book. It's his diary. For about 20 years now, he's devoted all of his time to the study of the great American bald eagle. Our national emblem. Why, they're extinct almost. Exactly. They're very rare. Extremely rare. And a pair with a nest full of young eagles would be something more... Hey, you know, I've seen them. A pair of them. They have a nest right near the top of that sheer cliff that's right behind the old man's cabin. They're terribly big birds. And they're bald eagles. Let me read from the old man's diary. Thursday. Clear and warm. Found the unmistakable traces of the second egg shell today. Right at the foot of the cliff below the nest. This means two frezlings have been born. Friday. Clear and warm. Found the third egg shell fragments today. Such a three-young eaglets. I am excited and happy. Then dropped into visit. Couldn't help telling them I'd found a priceless treasure. They acted so strangely. I was afraid to tell them anymore, but did indicate that the nest up on the cliff face had something to do with it. Don't want them to harm the frezlings. Saturday. Cloudy and colder. Both eagles bringing food to the nest. These are the first three young eaglets reported in over 30 years. I am very happy. I can see those same two men coming back. The larger one has a rifle. They act so oddly they alarmed me. I only hope they don't harm the young birds, or worse yet frighten away the parent birds, so the youngsters will starve. That would be a tragedy indeed. Is that it? That's it. And he was willing to die to keep the secret of those young birds. Bill, what can we do? Well, two things. First, feed those babies. That firing you heard was undoubtedly done by hawk and banchoise. And to scare away the big birds. Exactly. An eagle can be a dangerous opponent, especially if you're trying to get to near its nest. But if the birds were frightened away with rifle fire, hawk and his pal would have no trouble. But if those young birds aren't fed, they'll die. You still can't figure out why those men tortured the old doctor. I have a pretty good idea. And the old man began to talk about treasure. Their minds immediately would think of jewels and money. And when Mark Rave mentioned the nest, they wouldn't talk anymore. Now they'd think he had something in the nest. Gold maybe, or money. Right. And they tried to make him talk and he wouldn't. They decided to scare the big birds away and find out for themselves. And let the little baby birds die. I'm afraid men like that wouldn't care about what happened to any young birds. But these baby birds are important to our country. Which is one reason why we're going to try and save them. There's the cabin. And way over there's the nest. Yep. Why as close as you can, Lieutenant. Right, sir. I don't see anything of those men. No, but I'll bet they see us. I was afraid of all along. It's that flying machine. Get back in a cave. They'll never see us. Well, what'll we do? Just keep quiet and wait. It takes a man with a lot of brains to catch the hawk. And that's what worries me most. What? Maybe they have a lot of brains. I have to fight that updraft again, so hang on. Well, sure it comes in gusts, are you telling me? There's your nest. I can see into it. There's one, two, three little birds. Y'all, they look mighty weak. If they haven't been fed for a couple of days, they are weak. Why can't we just throw the food in? Lots of reasons. I can't get any closer than this. Don't dare run a chance of having my lifting blades make the side of the cliff. Oh. The ghosts will bust the wind from the prop blades which scatter the meat before it got near the nest. Oh. Look up. You see that overhang? The cliff bounces out right over where the nest ledge is. Only about four square feet of level space on that ledge. There's no room to land. Watch it. Don't shift your weight any more than you can help it. I'm going up. I'm going to try to beat this updraft. I mean, the ghost plan. Up we go. I don't have to be afraid of a helicopter. I'm afraid of that there, Helio Copper. What's it swooping and zooming around here for? I don't know. Are they looking for us? Nah. I ain't so sure. Well, I am. Suppose they are looking for us. I got this rifle here, ain't I? Yeah. I won't let myself be caught while... Hey. What? Sounds like they're gone away. Henry here has on two pairs of football pants, three pairs of heavy wool socks, three football jerseys, shoulder pads, hip pads, heavy-cleated shoes, and he's cold. It isn't me. It's that ghost wind. Yeah, I know. It blows here along the face of the cliff and on the cliff top all the time. Even on a still calm day, it never stops. Scientifically, it's an updraft caused by the warm air of the valley coming in contact with the cliff face, which acts like a chimney, so the warm air rushes up the cliff to the top where it's colder. Yeah, because nobody knew where it came from for why it whistles and howls even on a windless day. But the Indians call it the ghost wind. Here's ghostly. Hey, while you've been gabbing, I've been at work. I made a bowline knot in the end of this rope. Put one foot in the loop, Henry, and tie this short rope around your waist and around the big rope. Why? You're going over the cliff. Fasten that helmet on him, Lieutenant. Put on those heavy gloves, Henry, and hang that bag of chopped beef on your belt. Oh, sure, but what? We're too heavy. We'll take a youngster like you to swing down there safely. Now, I've got the big rope snubbed around this old pine tree here, and the Lieutenant and I will lure you down. When you're opposite the nest, shout, and we'll tie it off. Oh, I get it. Sure. Hey, my boy sounds kind of funny in this helmet. Then yank at the rope until you get yourself swinging so you can swing yourself in under the cliff bulge and get a foothold on the ledge. Right, Bill. Then I'll just dump the food in the nest. No, feed each eagle it by hand. They can't eat any other way. Just drop pieces of meat in their mouths. Oh, plot. I never thought I'd be a waiter in the eagle restaurant. Or in charge of an eagle nursery. Hey! Come on. Over you go. That's it. Easy now. Do you want to go to the eagle? Come back. I don't think they will. If they do, just duck your head and fold your arms over your face. They can't hurt you with all that padding. They don't attack with their beaks. You're too big for them to carry away. I just hope those eagles know that. Lower away. There's the nest. A long way to the ground out there. The ghost wind keeps blowing me around. Oh well. I've got to start swinging there. Good thing I took rope climbing in gym. And swing. And swing. Oops. I almost made a talent. Once more. Ball. Swing. Gotta get some sack over there. Touch time, little birds. They sure are hungry. That must look like an eagle. Man. Why they eat that whole bag full of about two seconds? It's time for me to start back. So long, eagles. Here I go. Out into nothing. And I hope this rope holds. Oh. It's still a long way to the ground. Oh well. Oh, yell the bell so I can pull me back out. Okay? Okay. There's the signal. We'll pull him up now. All right. Take it slow. Bill. Bill, look at the rope. Yeah, see it. Stop pulling. Those sharp rocks down there with the cliff bulges, they're just like knives. Right. When we pull the rope up, they cut and shred the rope just like razors. Yeah. The rope slides down all right, but we can't pull it up without shredding it apart. But Henry... Only one thing to do. What's that? We just lower the boy all the way down to the floor of the valley. I brought more than enough rope to reach that far. Just in case of an emergency like this. Henry's aerial elevator is going down. All right, start lowering it. Lower it away there. Lower. Sun's high. Yeah. I'm sick of this whole business. I have half a notion today. Hey, look, that shadow right in front of the cave. I'm going to see if I can find out what it is. See anything? Hey, it's a man on a rope. No, it's a boy. It's that youngster in the forest, Ranger. The Ranger. That boy there in the rope means the Ranger is in this, too. No, me. They're after us. Maybe so. Maybe not. Just to be on a safe side, we'll get the boy. He'll land right outside this cave. What do you do with them? I don't know. But I do know the Ranger will never do anything to us if we have that boy. Keep still now. It's almost to the ground. I'll keep him covered with a rifle. There he is. Put your hands up and come in here. Man, here was a hostage. You can't. I'm on top of that cliff right now. You know who you are. What you do? Shut up. Hock, he's only a kid. You keep quiet, too. I'll handle this. What the Ranger? You may never live to see the Ranger. Oh, yes, he will. Grab him, boy. Push that rifle out of his hand. I've got his arms bent. Push it loose. That's it. I'll plant it. Boy, you banjo out. You banjo is going straight from now on. I'll take my medicine. I'll fight old men and boys. Stand still there, you Hock. What do you do now, son? Right now, you and I keep Hock covered. Now we wait for the Ranger. And thanks. There they are. The Father and Mother Eagle. They've been carrying food to the nest every day. So I know the Eagles are doing well. We're all glad. And just thank only two ways to go. Hock and... Well, what happened to Hock and his pal anyway? Hock will get a long sentence. Banjo-wise, although we must be punished, will certainly be considered because of the way he helped Henry here. And the eagle, let's say. Yes, thanks to Henry and his adventure in the Eagle's nest. Well, that's about it. The Eagles grew up. And guess what? We even got a letter from the president thanking us for what we did. But a forest ranger can never rest. So see you next week for another exciting adventure with Ranger...