 Ranger 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. Here you are, Mr. Jenkins, and thank you very much. That's all right, young lady. I don't mind depositing money at all. I know what you mean. There's always enough to spend it on. You said a mouthful there. I suppose you spend a lot of your pay on your girlfriend. Me? I reckon that's one expense. Don't trouble me. I'll leave that kind of thing to the younger whippersnappers. Oh, that's too bad. I should think a girl would be pleased to be taken out by a man of your distinction and experience. Well, I admit that there are some real advantages in spending time with a fellow my age. I'm sure that's true. But I'd even consider it a real honor to be asked out by a kind and established gentleman like yourself. You would? Well, anyhow, you can be happy that I bank here. I mean, what do I mean? I'm sure I don't know, Mr. Jenkins. Well, anyhow, I've probably brought you more dinners than any of those young fellas, anyhow. Or did I already say that, anyhow? Well, I don't understand what you mean. Well, what I mean is, as long as I keep putting money in this bank, you keep getting paid. And as long as you keep getting paid, why... I keep being. Now you'll have to stop taking advantage of impressionable young fellas like me. Couple of kind words like that, get the fella all the head up. I really meant what I said about you old, equivalent thing to being nicer. Over there is another example of someone who thinks rates that opinion. Oh? Where are you looking? See? Coming out of the president's office. Mr. Ashby. Miles Ashby! I haven't seen him in Coon's age. Excuse me, young lady here, thanks for pointing him out. See you next week, 50 days. Well, I'm afraid that's the final word, Miles. I wish we could do more for you, but you can understand the bank's position. Certainly, Mr. Fillmore, I understand the bank's position. Good day. I don't know if I was supposed to hear that or not, Miles. Stumpy Jenkins, what a nice surprise. How are you, Miles? Been a long time. As it has, more than a year I'd say. You don't look a speck different. Nor do you! Of course, fellas, our age never do. Yeah, that's true, that's true. Now, you got time for a cup of coffee across the street, or are you heading right back to your place? I was planning to go right back out, but I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to talk to you, you old walrus. Come on! Tell me, Miles, what have you been doing with yourself? Oh, you haven't heard. Oh, I did hear a rumor too about you drilling for oil in your place. I didn't know whether it was true or not, so I didn't pay much attention. Ashby's folly, they call it. What you heard was true, Stumpy. I have been drilling. Well, judging from that name, he ain't been too successful. Well, that's a kind way of putting it. I haven't been at all successful. By the looks of things, I won't ever be. Now, hold on there, Miles. I never heard you say anything like that before. You must really be discouraged. Frustrated is a better word for it, Stumpy. You see, I'm still sure there's oil under my land, but I'm the only one who thinks so. Why don't you start from the beginning? Mind you're good to get it off your chest. Maybe you're right. Well, about a year ago, it was right after Jesse died. Your wife was a fine woman, Miles. At first I didn't know what to do with my time. It seemed that all of a sudden, like, I had lots of it. So I took to Reading. Reading? That's right. I read most everything I could that looked like it had any value. Sure is a lot of trash out these days. Now, anyway, one day I was reading up on the petroleum industry. You know, the gushers in Mexico, the Pennsylvania oil fields, John D. Rockefeller and all that. And they suddenly realized that the kind of area that the geologist's fellow said was almost sure to have oil under it was the kind of land that my farm was on. You mean you can tell by looking at the top of the land whether or not there's oil way down under it? You can tell pretty close if you know what to look for. So I went into the library and got out all the books on the subject that I could find and began putting together a picture of what ought to be there if there was oil. Well, what did you figure out? Guess what you think I did, Stumpy? It all fit together right in place. There's anywhere here abouts it's got oil under. It's my place. What'd you do when you figured this all out? Just when anybody'd do it, bought a lot of equipment, hired a few men and started drilling. But no oil, huh? Stumpy, in the last few months I've seen more colors of shale and more layers of limestone than most of them fellers study in geology, see, in four years of college. But no oil. That little bit of conversation I heard in the bank was saying that there wouldn't be any more money for the job. That's right. I can't quite figure it, but that's a story. The bank was helping me finance this drilling. I couldn't have done the thing at all without help. But today, Mr. Fillmore said that they couldn't put any more money into that hole. It was kind of a surprise. They didn't even give me any warning at all. That doesn't sound like the way the bank does business. I guess it doesn't matter. There's no way I could have prepared for it anyhow. I don't know how I'm going to tell this to a man. I'm afraid they won't take to it at all. Are they behind you at all of this? No, we get along all right. But I think it's more like just a job for most of them. I'm afraid when the money stops, so will they. Oh, there you are, Ashman. I was hoping you hadn't left town yet. Tell me. Mind if I sit down? Who's your friend, Ashman? Hey, Stumbie, this is Tully Fillmore, brother of the bank president of Stumbie Genesis. How do you know Stumbie? Hey, don't remember seeing you around Naughty Pine before, Mr. Fillmore. I've been away for a while. I just got back a few weeks ago. What's the uniform, state police? Poor stranger. Oh, yeah, boy scouts have paid. Well, Ashby, how are things coming out at your folly? Any oil yet? You always seem to know all about it anyway, Tully. That's right. I always do, don't I? So I do know that you haven't got a drop. Want to sell you a place yet? Hey, what's this? For a while I've been offering to take that farm off Ashby's hands. He just don't seem to want to sell, not yet, anyhow. What do you want with Miles Place? Just looking for a nice little place to settle down, that's all. Well, even take all that worthless oil equipment off his hands. That equipment is not worthless. Who wants to buy a second-hand oil-drilling equipment around here? Except you. I told you. I'll take it off his hands. I'm interested in it for myself. I ain't so sure. Who asked you? Well, Ashby, I'm ready to sell, yeah? I've told you plenty of times, Tully, that I don't intend to sell my farms. Now, why don't you just forget about it, huh? I'll forget about it when I think there's no possibility of it. Well, then you can forget about it right now. That's all. I understand my brother's bank ain't gonna give you any more money. What's that got to do with anything? You owe him quite a bit, don't you? Hold on there, young feller. What's all that to you? Ashby, you should find more polite friends. They makes me a real man. I could do a lot more harm to you. More? What do you mean by more? Ashby, tell your friends to get off my back, or maybe you'll both be sorry. C-come on, Stumpy. We'd better be... Forget it. I was just going. That's about the saddest you've sounded on that harmonica for a long time, Stumpy. Well, that imitation of a coyote was pretty sad itself. But no kidding. Is something really the matter? Usually you make that harmonica sound like a circus. You've got pretty good powers of observation, young feller. You're right. Something is bothering me. Want to tell us about it, old timer? Well, Ashby, this morning over at the bank, it looks to me like he's having real problems. He's been drilling for oil on his place. Oil? Around here? Ain't struck any yet, but he's sure there's some there. Anyhow, all of a sudden, the bank won't loan him any more money for his drilling. Without any warning at all, it just stopped. That means he can't pay the fellers. He's hired to help with the job. And with no workers and no money, he can't drill the oil. And with no oil, he can't pay back the money he already owes folks like the bank. Why? He's sound like he's really in a pickle. Like I said, on the surface, it looks like bad luck. But I ain't so sure. What are you getting at, Stumpy? Yeah. Sound like you think something's fishy. That's exactly what I think. Well, we were in the restaurant across from the bank this morning, and we fell her by the name of Tully Fillmore. Isn't that the man who runs the bank? Nope, it's his brother. Anyhow, while Miles and me were talking over old times and his problems, his Tully character pushes into the booth and starts making offers to buy Miles' place, drilling equipment and all. That doesn't sound suspicious, old timer. Again, on the surface it don't. But if you could have seen and heard the conversation, Bill, I have a feeling that Miles is running some pretty carefully planned bad luck. Maybe I'll ride out to Miles' place this afternoon and see how he's doing. I think he could use a little moral support. Why don't we all go? I was hoping you'd say that, Bill. I'd like to see an oil well. Sure is a rare sight around here. Well, it's not exactly an oil well yet, Henry, but there she is. And I wonder now whether she ever will be an oil well. She just walked out on you, Miles. That's right. It sure was hard to understand. We all went into town today. I gave the men the morning off. When I got back, only Sam, the foreman, was here. He said that the boys heard that I wasn't going to get any more money and that they were quitting until the time I'd be able to pay. How'd they find out? I don't know. As far as I know, there only were a few people who knew anything about it. I don't think it'd take too good a guess you to know who told them. You mean Tully? That's exactly who I mean. I think he's got a lot more to do with your troubles than it looks like. Stumpy, this isn't like you at all. I've never known you to be this way about a person without anything more than a feeling against him. I know, Bill. I can't surprise myself when I think about it. Sometimes you get feelings about folks that you can't get rid of. You know as well as I do that feelings can be depended on for too much, especially with something like this. I know. I think we'd better look into this and see whether I'm just imagining things. If I am, I owe that fellow an apology and I'll give it to him. If I'm not, well, we'll be glad we knew. I don't care what you do. All I'm interested in is getting that drilling underway again. If we don't do that, I've got too many bills to think about anything else. How far do you think you'll have to drill to find oil, Mr. Ashby? It's hard to tell. We've been through all the right kinds of limestone and shale formations. It might be a few feet. It might be a few hundred feet. But I'm certain there's oil down there. Maybe I'm just too far over in one direction up here. What do you mean? You know that oil deposits form like big bubbles under the ground? No, I didn't know that. Well, that means in one place it might be just 100 feet to the oil. But if you moved over a bit to where the bubble was rounding down, there might be 200 feet to the same oil. I see. So I just might be at the 200 place instead of the 100 place. It's impossible to tell from up here. How far down have you gone? About 250 feet so far. We just dropped that pipe lining into the hole before we quit work. I wondered how you kept the hole from caving in. Yeah, that's where it stands. A nice clean job part way to oil and no way to finish it. Well, why bother you with problems? Let's go in the house for some coffee. I might even be able to find a few cookies sitting around in the pantry if you're interested, Henry. You fellas go on in. I'd like to look around the well for a few minutes. Is that all right with you, Miles? Oh, sure, sure. Just don't trip over anything. I'll be in in a few minutes. Henry isn't the only one who might be interested in cookies, Miles. Lead the way! You'd better leave at least two cookies for Henry Oldtimer. After all, they were originally for him. It's his own fault for dilly-dallying out there. He's a very bright boy, Bill. I noticed how he took in everything while we were looking over the operation. Well, he has a good, healthy curiosity, Miles. Like a lot of fellas his age, he isn't really sure what he wants to do when he gets older, so any new piece of information is stored for future consideration. Well, he seems to have a very quick mind. No, he's not too quick on his feet. At least, where are these cookies are concerned? What was that? By my way, it sounds like... It is! It's oil! A gusher! It must have been broken through by itself. Looks like you were closer than you thought. I knew it! I knew it! Come on, let's get out there and cap it before we lose any more oil! We're right behind you, Miles. It's raining oil! Look at you, Bill! You're all black and slippery! Wait till you see yourself, Oldtimer. I haven't seen you in black hair for years. Get over here! Tell me, get the cap on the valve closed. All right. That's right, Miles. Turn. All right, find it out. It's a little tighter. It's working. That's it. There we go. There we made it. That was some pressure! I'm surprised it was as easy as it was. It's just a good thing we didn't have the drill down in there. That would have been an even bigger job getting it out before we could cap it. I guess it would have been. Hey, I just remembered, Henry's out here somewhere. Henry? Oh, yeah! Henry! What are you, pal? You think he might have been hurt in the gusher? I don't know. I'd say we better look around. Oh, that's all right. I'm not hurt or anything. Henry! Are you all right, boy? Sure. Only I'm awfully sorry. Sorry? What are you talking about, young fella? Well, I started this whole thing going. You? That's right. And I guess you'd better know now is any time. I was kind of fooling around with that pipe you put down in the hole. I saw much smaller it was than the hole you drilled. I was just, well, seeing if I could wiggle it back and forth. Well, what happened? I'm really sorry, Mr. Ashby. I got up to move in a little and suddenly it dropped out of sight into the hole. A minute later it came up about as high as you see it now and everything went crazy. I guess I fouled things up, huh? Fouled things up, huh? Not this time, pal. Although I question whether you should have been fooling around with the equipment, this time you did a real service. That spray was oil, pal. You set off a gusher and Miles now has a working oil well. Hey, Ashby. Come in. Hello, Tully. What's a good word? Good word, huh? What's this I hear about your striking oil? That's right. I thought it was just a rumor. How could you do it? You didn't have no money or no men. Good clean living pays off, Tully. It was kind of an accident. Accident, huh? Some accident. That's how it happened, all right. Henry Scott, you know, arranged your Bill Jefferson's ward. He was jiggling the pipe we had lowered into the hole. I guess you know I was interested in that land, don't you? You tried to buy it often enough, I should know. Yeah, but I'm even less interested in selling now. You listen to me, Ashby. I was sure, like you, that there was oil on that land. Now you found it. And that don't make me real happy. You thought there'd be oil there, too? If you thought that, why didn't you try to influence your brother in the bang? Maybe I did influence my brother. Ever think of that? You mean you were the reason they stopped financing the drilling? Maybe. Hadn't been for that lucky accident of yours, that well might have been mine today. Oh, I could get real angry, Tully. That wasn't a very nice thing to do to a fella. Nice? That well will be worth a lot of money, Ashby. Too much money to think about being nice. I suppose it was you who convinced my men to stay away from the job. That's right, Ashby. The old squeeze plan. Well, Tully, the joke turned out to be on you. Didn't it? Now the oil's been found. I'll have no trouble getting any financial underwriting for any other well I might care to dig out there. It looks like you lost out. Maybe not, Ashby. Maybe not. Sounds like trouble, fellas. Tower 2 calling. I'll see where the fire is and how big it is. Hello, Tom, where's the fire? What? Okay, we'll get out there as soon as possible. Where is it, Bill? You look all white. It isn't exactly a forest fire, fellas. Tom spotted it from his tower. Miles Ashby's oil well is blazing. I just can't figure out what could have started it. Well, whatever it was, it certainly did a good job. Do you want that chemical-fire fight of weapons brought over here, Ranger? Yes. I don't know how much good it'll do, though. That fire looks like it's being fed from underneath. I saw that, too. Almost like the cap's off and it's a burning gusher. That's it. Of course, Henry's hit it right on the head. That cap must have worked its way loose and started the gusher all over again. And then somehow the whole thing caught on fire. The equipment's all set up, Ranger. Just give the word most prayer on. Go ahead, run away. Let's see if it will do anything to stop it. Okay, let's have it, man. Let's put this thing out. You were right, Bill. That was going to fire all around me. Any effect on it? If Henry's right about that being a burning gusher, it won't have any more effect than what you see. The plane will have to cut off its food supply to stop it. Okay, that's tight. Even more impossible to cap it. What, with all that heat, flame, pressure? Oh, Bill. Bill, do you know what this means? What, Miles? That fire's going to eat up the entire oil supply. It'll be like it was never there. It'll be ruined. Not so fast, Miles. Maybe we can stop that thing yet. Might as well shut off that palm spray, man. Just use it on any fire that might start off away from the well. Okay. We hold it off. You think you can stop it, Bill? Maybe. Miles, do you have anything around here to shoot a well? Shoot a well? That's a way of producing when there's no pressure already down there. Yes, Bill. Yes, I have some nitro back in the shed. So I thought I'd keep it on hand just in case. Good. Run and get it, will you? I'll get this area clear. What are you planning to do? Stop your fire. Whatever you say, Bill. I'll be right back. I don't be in so much of a hurry that you forget how touchy nitro is. Take it easy. Bill? Yes, Bill? I still don't get what you mean by shooting a well. Just a minute, Henry. Let's clear the area around the well, men. We're going to try a little blast thing. Stumpy, you clear your crew from that side. Al, you clear this side. And then I'll do it. Now, what was it, Bill? I just wondered about shooting a well. Oh, sure. Sometimes an oil deposit doesn't have all the pressure built up inside it like this one has. In that case, it sometimes works if you set off an explosion inside the well. This creates enough pressure down there to get the whole thing working. I see. Sometimes you use our wells that are thought to be dry to reactivate them. Boy, it's a good thing you knew about that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have known that, Mr. Ash, we've had the nitro blistering around here. There's every little bit of information you pick up helps, one time or another. I've just one more question. Yeah, I'll go ahead. What do you do with the nitro? Stick around and watch, Henry. Here comes Miles with it now. And unless I miss my guess, this whole thing will be out in a few minutes. The gusher stopped. It worked. Wow! I'm thinking, Sonny, blow up the hole at your bank so that the well will fill in and stop the fire supply of fuel. Now, why didn't I think of that? Oh, I really am grateful, Bill. You probably saved the whole well. That's pretty good. Save the well by blowing it up. Won't it take a lot of time and money to start over? Sure will, Henry, but now everybody knows there's oil down there. I shouldn't have any trouble at all getting the back end I need. Sure seems funny that a big explosion like that could make everything end up right. It's not quite ended, Stumpy. What do you mean? I'm interested in determining what caused this fire in the first place. That's right. We never did figure that out. Hey, Ranger, I was a call for you a while ago, but you was busy with that nitro. Oh? Yeah, it was kind of noisy, so I didn't get the whole thing. Something about wanting you to get to the hospital for a confession. I didn't hear it real well. A confession, huh? Come on, men. Maybe we won't have to figure out what started this blaze. You won't be able to stay long. He's quite badly burned. Tully, we're here. Maybe Henry, Stumpy, and I had better wait outside. No, Bill. You were all involved in my brother's troublemaking. I want him to face you all. Come in. Is all this really necessary, Pete? Tully, you've caused a great many people a lot of trouble. These are the main folks here. They're doing apology. Maybe you'd better tell them all that you've done. They probably all know it anyhow. What's the point? I think you'd better start telling them. Oh, all right. So I talked Pete here into not giving Ashby any more money. And then I talked his man out of working for him. I wanted that land because I knew there was oil there, too. I thought I could force Ashby into selling. Then when he struck oil anyhow, I... I guess I saw red. I snuck over and uncorked as well and set it on fire. I'll beat it, all of you. Maybe, maybe we'd better go. I don't know. Tully's always been a problem to us. Looks like he's a lot of a problem to himself. Of course, Miles, the bank will cover any loss you've suffered. I feel that's the least we can do. I mean, we do seem to share some of the responsibility for all this. Yeah, it's mighty nice of you, Mr. Fillmore. I never thought it was true until now. What's that, Stumpy? I heard a fella once telling what the definition of a bank was, but I thought he was just kidding. A bank? What did he say it was? He said that a bank was a place where you could borrow money and you could show enough proof that you really didn't need it. Oh... Well, I guess you can see, boys and girls, that troublemakers never realize how many people are affected by their commotion. I'm sure you have more respect for others. Well, see you next week for more adventure with... Ranger Bill was produced in the radio studios of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.