 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. Hi, boys and girls. Hi everybody, in fact. I'm Henry. Well, I guess you know who I am, but well maybe in case you never tuned in before, I'd better tell you at least a little something about myself. I'm Ranger Bill's ward. That's just another way of saying that he's my guardian. We've had lots of adventures together. Some of them real exciting and dangerous. We just never know what's gonna turn up next. Today I'd like to tell you about an adventure that Grey Wolf and I had just about finished both of us off. It all began one day in the summer when I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll start over again. Grey Wolf and I called this the adventure of the tarnished gold. Ah, this looks about right. That map is right, that is. Hand me that compass. East-South-East. Looks as though we're running into a blank wall of rock. Wait a minute. The sun on that cliff makes it hard to see. We'll make a turnaround, I reckon. Not much of a path here. Sure. We go around this corner of rock and yeah, there it is. What? What? Jabez, since you've asked me, I'll tell you. What you're looking at now, what's over there staring at us in the desert sun, what we've come this far to find is $100,000. Dear Grey Wolf and Henry, we're having a fine time and wish you were here. We've seen the President of the U.S. yesterday, but I don't reckon he's seen us. He was going by in his automobile. Bill is busy with them fellas down to the penny-gone building. For what? In between times we have been seeing the sights of Washington, D.C. We will be back in two weeks. Bill says I got to practice more on my harmonic key. The folks in the next room at our hotel put in a complaint. Best regards, Stumpy. Good old Stumpy. You know, I even miss that harmonica playing of his. Maybe back soon. You bring newspaper too, Henry? Yeah, not much in it. You want it? Ah, take a look. Now, big men come to Naughty Pine. Ben Barclay, known around the world as mine engineer, come to Naughty Pine. Says millions of dollars can be had in old gold workings. Mr. Barclay in an exclusive interview, I said that millions of dollars. Come in. Mr. Bragg? Yes, that's me. Mr. Bragg, here's my card. Sit down, Mr. Barclay. Your card reads Benjamin Barclay, mining engineer. Peru? Indian. New York City. That's a pretty big territory. Now, I get around, Mr. Bragg. Mr. Bragg, I'm a man that gets right down to business. Don't beat around the bush. Never waste words. Now, you're the big banker in this here town. Only banker in town. Naughty Pine isn't a big city. Big enough. Mr. Bragg, I've come here to you because I want to let you in on the biggest proposition you ever heard of. I can make you the richest man in this part of that country. But I'm not interested in speculation. This isn't speculation. This is a sure thing. I'm listening. Mr. Bragg, I could show you a trunk full of credentials, papers, letters of recommendation. All stuff that would show you prove to you that I have been and am one of the most successful mining engineers in the world. But I'm not going to do that. I don't feel I have to. I'd rather have you prove for yourself what I have to say. Go ahead. Here it is. I must ask you to keep this confidential. Of course, Mr. Barclay. It's been my theory for a good many years that those old-time prospectors, those desert rats who went around digging all those little mines... Yes? Well, it's been my theory that nine times out of ten they quit. Left their workings. Not even knowing they had struck a gold vein. I can't believe that. Listen then. You know what the assay office is, don't you? Naturally. We have one right here in this town and it's run by the United States government. Yeah, I know that. Well, even without being an engineer, you must realize how much mining techniques and assaying techniques must have improved in the last 50 years. Wow. Now, new methods of testing the rock, new methods of grinding and analyzing the ore will, I feel certain, show traces of plenty of gold. Where the same ore analyzed 50 years ago by the old methods wouldn't have shown a thing. Makes sense, but how does all this add up as far as we are concerned that is? Well, that's what I'm here to tell you. And Mr. Bragg, I can make you a millionaire. Hi, Henry. You got homework done? Hey, did you get that long-distance call that they were trying to get you on? They even asked me at school where you were. Well, I said... Well, I take a walk. No telephone. They want the call again. You do homework. Well, all I know is that you had this long-distance phone call and... I'll bet that's it right now. I'll get it. Hello? Yeah? Yeah, sure. He's right here. Just a second. It's for you. Oh, thank you, Henry. Hello? Yes, Great Wolf. Oh, Bill. Is it Bill? Yes, I seen paper last week. Yes, big story, front page, big picture. Henry, you send Bill naughty pine newspaper? Sure, last week. I thought he'd like to see it. What do you want me to do, Bill? You tell I do. Uh-huh. Yes? Well... Hey, what's up? Some new adventure? I do that, Bill. Fine. Right. What's Bill want? Sure, Bill, I'll do. You know, worry. Goodbye. How was Bill? I know. I know. What I don't know is what he wanted. Sure sounded important. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. You remember a picture in paper of a man named Barkley? Sure. Well, he must be about the richest man in the world. I saw him on the street downtown. He's got a real gold nugget on his watch chain. Supposed to be worth $7,000. Maybe. Anyway, Bill think he know him from long ago. See his picture in paper. Bill say that I watch Ben Barkley. What for? I don't know. Bill say watch, so I watch. Watch and see. But right now, I watch Henry do homework. Did you get that package in the mail from the dental supply office? Yeah. Okay, hand it over. Heavy. Of course it's heavy. It's bound to be heavy, considering what's in it. I'll just put this away in a safe place. I thought we'd better have plenty of... Well, let's say plenty of bait. Bait? Sure, bait. Bait to land a poor fish named Bragg. Bragg the banker. Like everybody else, he's looking for something for nothing. And that's why we're going to be able to land him hook, line and sinker. Yeah, but... Here he comes. He let me do the talking. That's a laugh. You never say anything anyway. How do you do, Mr. Bragg? Already for our little fishing trip? Yes. But why on earth you want to haul this fishing tackle along, when all we're going to do is ride out and look... Mr. Bragg, you wouldn't want the whole town in on this deal, would you? No, I guess not. Of course not. Now, folks think we're just going on a little fishing trip. That's different. I see, I see. Bring the horses around, Jabez, and we'll get started. Mr. Bragg is a busy man. We'll get there in an hour, easy. And here we are, Mr. Bragg. Just as I said we'd be. And hardly an hour's ride from town. And this is the face. This is where whoever dug this place in the first place quit. But he must have quit because he found out this was worthless. Worthless, maybe, by old-fashioned methods. Here, Mr. Bragg, take this pick. Go ahead. Shine the light right here on the face, Jabez. Right. Now you go ahead, Mr. Bragg. Go ahead and chip off some of the samples yourself. I told you I'd prove to you that I was an honest man. You get your own samples. Go ahead. Well, that's it. Now, you pick up those chips yourself, Mr. Bragg, and put them in that can of a sack. You hold on to that sack and don't let go of it for a minute. Don't let go of it until you hand it in at the assay office yourself. I can't believe it. Would you mind flashing that light around a bit? There. I see. I see. I can't believe it. Barkley, let's get back to the assay office as quick as we can. Mr. Stone, get off your feet off that desk and look at what I have here in this sack. Okay, okay, Mr. Bragg. What's your hurry? We'll see. Where'd you get that? Never mind. Your job isn't to know where I got it. It's to tell me how much it's worth. It'll take a while, you know. Sure, I know, but get going. Get started right away. All right, all right. Yeah, I can't be sure. Just by looking at this stuff with my naked eye, I can tell you I've never seen anything like it in my whole life. Never in my whole life. Why, you can even see the gold in it. Cleanest day. Well, there he comes out of the assay office, looking up and down the street. He's hooked all right, he's hooked. Yeah, now all we've got to do is... Mr. Barkley! Mr. Barkley, weren't there? Yes, Mr. Bragg. Wait, all right. Mr. Barkley, I'm glad I happened to see you. I think it's safe to say you were right. Right from the start. The man in the assay office seems enthusiastic, and, in fact, he seems almost beside himself. We'll know tomorrow, but... Yeah? Yeah, what? What about titles? Suppose we... Nah, you don't go supposing a thing, Mr. Bragg. You don't think an old hand like myself would go into a thing like this without making sure every single solitary title was safe? Well, I have a lien on everyone. A place we looked at and lots more besides. Oh, oh, my. For a moment there, I... You said other places? Why, certainly. Oh, my. Well, then we... Does anybody else know this? Not only us. Good. Oh, I've got to be going. I remember you said that we shouldn't be talking together too much. I'll see you tomorrow. So he wants titles, huh? After he gets that assay, as we report tomorrow, he'll forget everything except the fact that he wants what we got. Boss. What? Look. Where? There. Oh, him. Engine. Sure is an engine. Didn't you ever see an engine before? He's harmless. He's the same one we saw yesterday, and the day before, and the day after that. He lives here, I guess. He's harmless. Don't tell me you're scared of a broken-down, beat-up engine. Bane is known as the Iberian Peninsula. The capital's Madrid. The chief exports are... grapes, cork, and... Bah. Bah. Yeah. But you're a funny teacher, but I get the point, though. Wool. The chief exports are grapes and cork and wool. So haven't I studied enough now? Nope. Tell me more about Spain. Well, Spain's a dry, arid country. The short, swift rivers are noted for trout fishing. Hey. Hey, what? Hey, what about those men? That Barclay, that banker Bragg. You know that guy that never says much. Have they been catching any fish? Oh, no. No? I thought you said that they were... Well, a man carrying fishing rod, not always catch fish. Oh, yes, but I thought... I follow. Walk soft. Barclay make two or three trips. Sometimes take banker Bragg. Sometimes all three go. All time, all take fishing rod, but never fish. But where do they go? Oh, badlands away. I follow on horse, yeah. There's no lakes or streams or ponds out there. No good place to fish. I should say not. But where do they go, Gray-Walk? Same place every time. But where? Same place every time. Every time. Hole in mountain. Yeah, I see you're here bright and early, Mr. Bragg. When I say I'll be at a certain place at a certain time I'm there. You've got that report finished yet? Yeah, when I say I'll have a thing done at a certain time, I got it done. Yeah. Well, hand it over. Well, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. This is incredible, incredible. I told you yesterday I thought it was an unusual sample. You didn't just get it from one place, did you? You know, sometimes... Oh, of course not. I know better than that. I took samples from here and there across the whole face. That vein must be ten feet wide and over six feet high. Well then, Mr. Bragg, all I can say is this. If you own a part of this outfit, even a tiny part of it, you stand to be one of the richest men this country has ever seen. This assay is more dollars per ton than anything that has ever been recorded anywhere. And so when I saw the report, saw it with my own eyes, I knew that this was the biggest thing in the world. Mr. Barkley, you're right. I said so all along. Of course you did. Now, perhaps we could talk business. Perhaps we could. Are you prepared to sell? Well, yes. Matter of fact, that's exactly what I was... Mr. Bragg, you seem like a good businessman. I've decided to do you a favor. Yes? Now you take me. I like to be on the go. China, Afghanistan. I don't like to stay too long in one place. You know, I get kind of restless. What I like is a quick profit, and then off I go on the move again. Yes? So here's what I'll do. You've convinced yourself now that this is really a wonderful proposition you found out for yourself. That's right. So I don't have to do any more talking. Mr. Bragg, I'll turn over that whole thing to you. Turn it over to your locked stock and barrel. For one lump sum that is. How much? Well, considering everything, considering the facts and figures you got for yourself, and considering what you found out, I don't think I'm asking too much. How much? Of course, being on the move as I am, I'd want it all at once in cash. How much? $100,000. I'll take it. Is it far from here? Oh, five, ten minutes. Get down and crawl up to top of Ridge. What? Maybe Barclay and Jabez come. But they're back at the hotel. The clerk said they'd go on the bed. We make sure anyway. Ah, nobody around. It's a good thing that there's a bright moon. We use flashlight later. We'll get inside and mount them. Come along. Wow! So this is it? This is it all right. It's nothing but an old abandoned mineshaft. There's hundreds of them around here. Like this one, if it's like the others, just goes straight into the mountain for a few hundred yards, and that's all. Why do Barclay and Bragg come here all the time? We try to find out. Come along. Nothing in here? Nothing. We see. It's a good thing we brought these powerful flashlights. Yeah. He knew we were going into an old mine. Looks like we get to end of mine. Yeah. Can't go any farther. That's for sure. Yeah, that's the face of mine. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Hey, hold the light still. Why are you waving around like that? It's just gray wall. What? Look. Look. I shone the light back and forth. See? See, you can see the glimpse of the wall. See, it shines here and there. It shines all right. It shines yellow. Yellow. It shines like gold. Yes. Gold. Why, you said this was an old abandoned worthless mine that never had any gold in it to begin with. Look, Gray Wolf. See? See? I can scratch off little flakes with my fingernail. See how it shines in the light? Why, this wall is covered with gold. Right. Why? Why, that means that this mine must be worth a million, a million dollars. Gray Wolf. Yes. What? You don't even seem to be excited. I've got to think of what to do next. I no wonder, Mr. Barkley. Say, do you think he owns this mine and that he's going to sell it to Mr. Bragg? That's what I want to stop. I think that Mr. Barkley is going to... Mr. Barkley, what? It's... Yes, me, Barkley. Not as dumb as I might look. You're supposed to be in bed. Listen, boy, I wasn't born yesterday. I've seen this engine here poking around and snooping around and it didn't take much to put two and two together, especially as soon as I found out he was one of the Rangers. Jabez and me, we took off out of that back door of the hotel and followed you all the way. That's a good thing we did. Jabez? Right. You got that rope? Sure. Well, take those short pieces and tie their hands behind them. Yeah. Don't try any monkey business. I got you covered with the wrong end of a 44. Roger, get in here. We can see in the dark. You got them tied up yet? Yeah. Good. Get them lights and let's go. You. You too. Get moving. Keep ahead of me. We've got a place to go right now. How far are we going? You'll find out. Keep moving. What are you going to do to us? You'll find out. Boss. What? Mine, Chef. Sure enough. Hold on up there. This is as far as we go. As far as you go, anyway. You see what this is? Looks like a hole in the ground. It's going straight down. That's right. You fellas seem so much interested in old mines. Here's one just for you. Only this one goes straight down. Straight down about 90 feet. Used to have a rope to haul the miner up and down. But now there's nothing. You wouldn't. Wouldn't I? You and your engine pal come butting around into my affairs. And I can't have that. So I'm going to put you where you'll be safe. Right down in the bottom of that hole. Get that long rope, Jabez. Gray Wolf. Yes, Henry. I think I'm going to untie these ropes. Oh, good, Henry. Go ahead. I'm going to untie your wrist. You've got to untie mine. There. There. Here, now we can get this rope off of Rondard. Yes. Easy. There, got it. That was simple. Hey, I say that was simple. Gray Wolf? Gray Wolf, you all right? I ashamed. I get Henry caught. Now here we're in the bottom of old mineshaft. But, Mr. Barclay will come and get us, won't he? Well, well, we've got to get out. We've got to get out, Gray Wolf. Just in the bottom of a deep hole. There's no way out, but straight up. The walls are too smooth to climb. Gray Wolf? What are we going to do? Now what? Hello? Hello, Barclay? Yes. This is Bragg. I hope I didn't get you out of bed. No. That's good. Listen, Barclay... You're not backing out of the deal, are you? No, no. It's just that it's taken me a little longer than I expected to get that amount of cash together. $100,000, a lot of money. Not for that mine it isn't. It'll just take me a little while longer. How long? Another two hours. Okay. Meet you over at the bank? No. When to visit all. Say... What? Let's meet right out at the mine. To the whole $100,000 right out there in the mine. Right there at the face where all that gold is. Well, I don't know... It's the safest place I know. All right, Mr. Bragg, have it your way. We'll meet you in the mine at, say, 11 o'clock. Good. And I'll have the money with me. $100,000. In cash? In cash. It's been up a... It's been up a long time. Pretty soon, now, Brock, we sell that worthless mine to Bank of Bragg and beat it all the country. What do you mean worthless mine? We saw the gold, didn't we? Yes. It was gold, wasn't it? Yes. Well, why do you say that? Well, maybe $100, $200 worth of gold on that rock face. No more. But... That mine big fake. But what? Henry. What? I have two idea. One, got to get you out of here. That main idea. Two, got to sell broccoli, selling fake mine. Sure, but getting out of here. Well, I don't see how we can... I have idea. How wide this shaft is? Well, it's a little pocket sort of at the bottom. Let's see. It's about eight feet across. And then the shaft itself is about four feet. Give or take an inch. It's cut smooth, straight all the way. No place for a handhold or a foothold. Four feet, huh? Six feet, two inches tall. That ought to be just right. Henry, you listen. Listen carefully. Oh, yeah. Here's what I want. You help me get stretched out flat on my back. Right up where shaft gets narrow. And only at your shoulder height. I'll race my shoulders against one side of shaft. My feet against the other. Oh, it's a long way up there. I'll make it. I have to make it. Tie end of rope around my waist. And I pull you up after I get on top. But... Tie rope. There. Now give me a shot. I don't think... Can you stay like that? Racing across the shaft like that? I think so. Henry. What? You get over by sign. Crot's down under edge of rock there. Why? If I should fall, and I want to fall on you. Go ahead, go on. All right. You're right. Go. And I've talked now. Save breath. Time? 12 noon. On the dock. Bragg. What? There. Sure enough. It's him all right. And about time. Hey, over here. Coming. Coming. There's the gold. Shining. Shining in the light. Pure gold. And it's all yours. The whole mountain of it. Just as soon as you hand over the 100,000 iron men. I have it right here. Do you have a receipt? Got it right ready, Mr. Bragg. It's just about to become the richest man in the world. You hand me that money and the deal is finished. Very well. Oh, stop. Ah, the Indian. Get away. You're dead. You're a ghost. Am I not dead? Instead look like I get here just in time. And I'm here too, Mr. Blacklight. Get out. Both of you. You can't be real. Get away. No use to yell. No use. Yell not help you now. Where the man at? What's going on here? Plenty. You put that money back in pocket. What? I... I... Buckley, play old trick on you. He enjoyed his low shotgun shots with gold dust. Shoot shotguns at rock wall. Gold dust hit wall and looked like big vein of gold. What? What? You take rock samples to SA office. SA office not an old. Rock samples you take make fake mine look like richest mine in the world. Mine worth nothing. All fake. Just dirt and rock. No good. And I was... And I was most going to pay $100,000 for that pile of dirt and rocks. Gray Wolf. Can never thank you enough. Never. Greed did this to me. Lust for gold. It's taught me a lesson I won't forget. How can I repay you? I don't need to pay. You use money for good purposes, not selfish ones. I will. I will. I promise. Hey, where's Mr. Parkley? Ran. He not go far. Sheriff waiting outside mine. Bill remember Buckley in trouble like this before? He fake engineer. Bill call Sheriff and Sheriff will meet us outside mine. Buckley have a long time to think this over. What about you J-Biss? Me? I seen the light. Almost out there and introduce myself to the Sheriff. Go with him peaceable. I'm through. I'm reformed. When I get out, if I ever do get out, I'm going to go straight. Yes sir, I'll learn my lesson. Silent J-Biss really talked after that. A greedy man's money was saved to be well spent. And Bill said he wouldn't think twice about spending more time away after the way Grey Wolf had I handled this one. Well, see you again next week for more adventure with...