 It's your misfortune and none of my own. If you die, I owe you long, you little doggies. You know that the fairy will be your new home. Lightning Jim. For this gold of the bank, we'll have got the first pasturing past the bandits in a long time. No period in history has more dramatically led itself to romance than the years during which the frontiers of our country were being pushed farther and farther toward the Pacific coast. Westward, the star of empire took its way. But the story of its ascendancy is not one of romance alone. Wild disorder and bold recklessness rode the plains and hills of the Old West. And hard on the heels of these ran the wolves of banditry and murder. To battle this lawlessness, Uncle Sam deputized only men of proved courage and integrity. And of all those who appear large upon the fading picture of heroism, none can claim greater stature than United States Marshal Lightning Jim Whipple and his faithful deputy Whitey Larson. In tonight's story, we find these two fearless agents of justice investigating a series of baffling holdups which have occurred with alarming frequency near the thriving little city of Painted Rock. Lightning Jim and Whitey are in the midst of an interview with the president of the local bank. You see, Jeffries, all these robberies have taken place in that gorge just before you get to the bridge. That's the spotlighting. And it's a perfect setup for the bandits, too. Dang blaster on rehine. You are right there, Mr. Jeffries. Lightning Amoeba started this morning. By galley, I tell you there must be a toss in places and the slopes of that gorge where them TV and jiggers can hide off. Yeah. What's more, they can keep a perfect bead on everybody along the trail below. Well, Jeffries, if these robbers are getting the information on the gold shipments from someone working in your bank, like you seem to think, I got a little plan that ought to get us somewhere. Well, I certainly hope so, Lightning. Well, here's my plan. You tell every man connected with the bank that I've ordered the good luck mine and outfit to go ahead and ship that gold. Yes. Tell them the gold will be on its way tonight. That would bring it in here about midnight Friday. But, Lightning, we can't get any men to bring gold through that gorge per day. Much less after dark. There won't be no gold, Jeffries, or any pack train, for that matter. You just say there'll be. Oh, then whichever one of them men is selling the bank secrets of, tell the bandit, is that it? Yeah, and we'll be out there waiting to introduce ourselves to him. Yeah, no, Whitey. But we won't know which side of the gorge they'll attack from. The way I figured was this. Long about dark, Jeffries can tell his employees the truth. It'll only be natural for the guilty man to rush straight out to warn the robbers of the trap. So we'll just tell him and get the whole gang. Little Thunder, go back. Bad boy. There. Now, now up, Thunder. Up, boy. That's it. Now, hold it. Hey, Willikers. Hey, mister. How do you teach a horse to do things like that? Well, hello there, Sonny. Where'd you come from? I was just passing by. When I saw you putting your horse through those stunts, I stopped to watch. Hey, how can you ever teach a horse to do things like that? Shucks. It's easy to teach Thunder anything. Ain't it, old boy? Seems like he's quick at the learn and most folks is. Well, I bet he can count higher than you can. I bet he can't. I can count as high as there is numbers. Steve taught me. I can add, too. Well, now, that's pretty smart. But so can Thunder. He can't? Yes, sir. All right. Thunder, I'm just three and two. And do it. Do it only, fooling. No, wasn't fooling. But you see, I have to tell him, bud. He won't do it for nobody else. Come on now, Thunder. How much to three and two me? Three and two, boy. What to tell you? Good boy. Steve can make me catch on to anything right off. But when I went to school back in Philadelphia, couldn't seem to learn fast at all. Oh, you lived in Philadelphia before you come out here, huh? I could tell by your lingo you were from back east somewhere. What's your name? Terry Vincent Wesley Foster. Benny for short. What's yours? Well, I got a proper tag, too. Of course, it ain't as impressive as yours, but folks generally call me Jim. Sometimes, Lightning Jim. Not Lightning Jim, you asked Marshall. Yeah. Hey, Wulikers. Well, Steve was talking about you only this morning. He said you were the smartest Marshall there is. Well, I guess that's pretty high praise. I'm afraid it's a little exaggerated, though, son. Tell me, uh, who's Steve? He's my brother. He's cashier at the bank. Oh, is he now? From the way you talk, I reckon you don't think much of him, do you? I do so. Well, Steve's the best man in the whole world, and the smartest, too. Well, what about your father? I thought most boys figured the fathers were the best men. I don't know about that. Steve, I don't have any father. Oh, that's too bad. So you're an orphan, eh, son? No. Being an orphan means you don't have any father or mother. I have a mother. She's back east now, but she's coming out here soon. She said in her last letter she'd try to get here for my birthday. Next month, you know, I'll be nine years old. Nine? Well, I thought you was just a little shaver. Uh, no. You're not small from my age. That's because I've been sick so much. You sick? Boy, you look healthy enough to me. I'm not sick. Not anymore, I mean. Sure you ain't. See, that's why Steve took the job at the bank out here and painted rocks, so I could grow strong and be like the other fellas. I have, too. Just feel his muscle. Wait till I roll up my sleigh. Hey, Vinnie. Mrs. Wilkins has been looking all over for you. Come on, it's almost ever time. Oh, Steve, come over here. This is Light and Jim. Now I've been talking to him a long time. Mr. Lightman, this is my brother. Glad to meet you, Steve. Uh, and I'm glad to meet you, Marshal. Well, come along with me. But I want to show Light and Jim a muscle, Steve. Ha-ha. Better run along, sonny. It's my dinner time, too. You can show me that muscle some other time. All right. Let's begin, and I'll make something to do some more tricks for you. That night at a deserted shack some distance from the town, the bandits discussed with Steve Foster the news that the young cashier has just brought. Well, uh, so the good luck mine is shipping after all, eh, Steve? Yes. The pack train's starting tonight. But I'm telling you, Harper, you better keep your hands off of it. These Marshal's will get you sure. Oh, yeah? Well, uh, get on with the rest of the news, Steve. Take care of them law badges. They'll be out of the way when the time comes, Steve. Are you? You aren't planning to? Drill them? No, Steve. We're reserving the rough stuff for that precious little brother of yours. But you said you'd leave Vinnie alone if I kept giving you information from the bank. Well, we ain't gonna bother the kids, Steve, as long as you play straight with us. But we ain't figuring to have no slip-ups, you understand? Yeah, I'll say we ain't. All right, we ain't. Now, uh, what else do you know, huh? I-I don't know anything more, except that Mr. Jeffries told us we'd have to stay at the bank tomorrow night. He said the gold would probably get to her about midnight. Midnight? Hey, what are you trying to do, Steve? Give us a drop of cross? Hey, wait a minute. You know well as us that no man in office gonna ship through that gorgeous dark, Steve. What are you up to? Now, wait a minute. Hold on, man, hold on. Uh, you see, old man Jeffries told you this, Steve? That's what he told everyone, Harper. He said the Marshal figured no robbers would suspect the gold was coming through that gorgeous. Night. Anyhow, they'd be on hand to help guard it. Uh, don't sound good to me, Harper. I, uh, I think you're wrong, Spike. You know, uh, this here gold with a lot of things I've heard about Light and Jim. They say that he's long on doing the unexpected. Well, bringing the gold in that night sure is unexpected enough. That's the way it struck me, too, man. But I think it would be better to let this load come through. Then the Marshals will leave town and you can go after the next shipman. Same as always. Lighting Jim and his deputy aren't just a couple of small town sheriffs, you know. Yeah, Steve's right, Harper. Maybe we better... Hey, what's your matter, Spike? You gone yellow? Heh-heh. Looks like we better hide Taylor into town and get Spike a couple of petticoats for him, sir. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute now. Shut up, Ross. You two Spike. Fighting amongst ourselves ain't gonna give us no words. Now, listen. You remember that, uh, red-skinned Indian Joe that helped us, uh, down in Smithfield one time? Geronimo, what do you mean? Well, listen. He's operating around these parts now. I seen him in town yesterday. Yeah? Now, listen. He was admiring that, uh, big black horse of Lighting Jim. Ooh. I just got me an idea. I think we'll make that red in a proper position. Finish your breakfast, whitey. See, see, Lighting, look. Look at the calendar. Look at the date, then. Friday the 13th. Ha-ha-ha. You're a little bit superstitious by any chance, are you, whitey? You know what if I am? You can't blame a fella for wishing we'd fix the murder date to go after these tough gold robbers we're gunning for tonight by gunning. Well, let's hope the bad luck works on the bandits instead of us. Lighting. Lighting. Cherry. Some darn red. King just stole your horse. Look, there he goes. Don't you, buddy. You might get thunder. Look. Hey, look, white Indian Joe, Marshall. Take my horse and ride after him. Flip rings fast and thunder for gosh, but he'll come and close to keeping up with any horse in his country. Hey, hey, Clipper. Hey, boy. Come on, buddy. You may be able to get close enough to reach the shop. You'll be ride hard after him. Clipper. Wait a minute, Lighting. Is this a blind canyon we are in? A hatched canyon. Remember that. We just come in the hole in the opening. That's right. My mind was on thunder. Well, come on in. That's even red skin sure now. No, yes. No, Lighting. Them Indians, they know every inch of this country. And that TV wouldn't have come in here without the reason, I tell you. You mean it's a trap? Well, that looks heavy to me, Lighting. You all right, buddy? I've lost my head over losing thunder. Put them up now, Marshall. Can you do sweet? We got you covered. All right. We got them up. What do you want with us? Thought maybe you'd like to make us a little visit, eh, Marshall? You and your deputy here. Get their guns there, Luke. Yes, I'll get them. Now, you law badgers, get a move on ya. And don't try to make a break for it either. Because me and the boys are keeping you covered. Now come on, get going now. Well, I hate to say I told you so, Lighting. But I just can't help reminding you that it's Friday the 13th. Yes, the old superstition of bad luck seems to have descended upon Lighting Jim and Whitey with a vengeance. Will it continue to work against them if the day goes on? And what will become of thunder? We shall find out in part two, which follows immediately. Now for part two of the adventures of Lighting Jim. At the robbers' hideout, Harper and his gang, jubilant over the success of their roost to capture Lighting Jim and Whitey, are planning an attack upon the pack train they believe is to bring gold through the gourds that night. Undisturbed by any suspicion that the plan outlined to Steve Foster by the president of the bank is false, the bandits are confident of securing the entire shipment of the good luck mining company. Hey, fellas! Did you hear what that sweet deputy said Friday the 13th? Well, it's sure been an unlucky day for him and Lighting Jim, all right? Yes, and for Steve too, if you ask me. Say, Harper, what did Steve do when you told him we'd nab the kid? Yeah, yeah, tell us about it, Harper. I bet he was scared, wasn't he? You bet he was. I told him, and I says, we're going to take good care of the kid for the present. Now, if the holdup night goes through all right, we'll turn him loose pronto. But if anything should just happen to go wrong... Well, I guess that'll keep him in hand, eh, Harper? Yeah, Steve's plump daft over the kid. He won't do nothing that might get us in trouble now. Hey, Harper! Here comes the red skin after that dare horse of the marshals. He couldn't handle that black devil this morning, so he left him out in the corral to cool off a bit. I sure don't envy him, none, having to tame that wall-eyed son of Satan. Well, that fool critter almost killed himself trying to smash Jogue in the sides of that canyon this morning. Yeah, and it's my belief he won't never be able to handle that horse, but that's no skin off our noses. He wanted a horse, and we had to have the marshals. What happens to the animals? No concern of ours. It's a law of badges that's been wearing me. But, see, I just cut me an idea. Now, it'll take all four of us to pull this job tonight, see? So why not get the Indian to stand guard over Leitner and the Swedes? Meanwhile, back in Painted Rock, Geoffrey's not knowing that Leitner's him and Whitey have been captured by the bandits. Proceeds with a plan that the marshals outlined on the previous day. Man, you can go home now. But I thought you said we'd have to stay at the bank tonight, Mr. Geoffrey. It's only seven o'clock, and something happened. Yeah, you said we'd have to be on hand to weigh in and store the gold from the Good Lock mine. I know, I know, and I'm sorry, man, that I couldn't take you into my confidence about this thing. You see, the marshal Leitner and Jim thought it'd be better for no one here to know the truth. Then if things went wrong, there couldn't be any suspicion directed toward you. In fact, the matter is that there won't be any gold shipment. Won't be any gold? You mean they aren't shipping from the mine at all? No, Steve. Marshals arranged to have a posse meet him out at the gorge about the time the bandits figured the pack train should come through. He figures they may capture a couple of the robbers at least. Realizing that Harper and his men, if fired upon by a posse, would assume that he had double-crossed them and might kill Vinnie in revenge, Steve mounted at once and rode frantically toward the hideout, hoping to arrive before the gang left for the gorge. When he arrived, he found Indian Joe making another attempt to subdue Lightning Jim's big black horse, Tundra. Man gone. Gone? What'd they do with Vinnie, the boy? What'd they do with the boy, Joe? Must take boy with him. Say you no follow or him shoot boy. But I've got to get word to them. The gold isn't coming through, Joe. Do you understand? Better not go. Shoot boy. Boss men say shoot boy if you come. Then you'll have to go warn them, Joe. Huh? You no go. Boss men hide by big flat rock. No H.C. Joe. Shoot gun pronto. You no go. But you'll have to go, Joe. You'll have to warn them. Joe, not go. Joe, stay here. Watch lawmen in the tool shed. In the tool shed? They left the marshals in the tool shed? Huh? Well, I guess I'll go up to the shack and wait for Harper. Guess I can't do any good by going after him. That good. You wait. Go get shot. Daddy Redkin's been ripping thunder again. Poor old thunder. Kill him. He'll kill the horse if he keeps that up. Bastard, buddy. I can't put these ropes. No. No, we need a lightning. That fellow look short gutters. Crossed up tighter than a Christmas goose, my galley. Yeah. No use tainting these ropes, buddy. We just tearin' our wrists to pieces. Yeah. No, they pullin' the knots tighter. The lightning may be a little superstitious yourself after we get out of this mess. Friday the 13 must be off a lucky day for the bandits, though. Lightning. Who's there? Who's there? It's me. Steve. Steve Foster. Steve Foster. Yes. I'm going to try to let you loose, Lightning. They've got Vinnie, my brother. They'll kill him. You've got to help me. You mean, heartbreak? Heartbreak? You need the brushes? Yeah. What are they doin' with Vinnie? What'd they take him for? An economy lightning. Oh, they've been making and keeping them posted on a gold shipment to the bank. Said they'd kill Vinnie if I didn't. Yeah. I did it, Lightning. But no, they've taken him anyway. And they said they were holding him and make sure I didn't double-cross him. Well, I didn't. I mean, I didn't mean to. I thought the gold was coming through tonight, like Mr. Jeffery's told us it would. Now you've got that party going out there and they'll kill Vinnie, sure. Hold on there, Steve. You want to save your brother? You better hurry up and get us out of this shed. We can't do nothin' for him. They in here with their hands and feet tied up. How can I get you out, sir? The door's padlocked and there's no window. See, see, Lightning. The red skin's got the key. That's right. He has. Listen, Steve, you got a gun? Yes, two of them. I picked them up at the shack before I snicked down here. But I... I don't know how to shoot, Lightning. I brought them for you and Wynton. Well, if you do just what I tell you, you won't have to do no more and just pull the trigger. I want you to hide back at this shed and fire one of them pistols. That'll bring the red skin on the run because he'll think what it was did it some way. As soon as he gets to the door, you pop around and hold a gun on him. Make him unlock the door, free us, and then we'll take care of the rest. But what if he doesn't put his hand up when I tell him to? What if he starts shooting? You'll have to risk that, Steve. You won't deceive your brother, don't you? Yes, yes, I've got to save Vinny. All right. I'll do it like you said, but... But if anything goes wrong, you'll have to get loose somehow. You'll have to save Vinny. Harper and his men will be hiding right under that ledge known as Black Black Rock. It's on the east side of the ground. We know where it is, Steve. Go ahead and pull that trigger. Put up your hands, Joe. Steve, what do you do here? Stop that gun, Joe. Oh, Steve. Steve. Steve, your heart's beating. It got me lightning. But I got him first. You'll have to save Vinny. Big, big flat rock. Steve. Steve. Like, yes, he's done for lightning. Yeah. Reckony is whitey. Now what did we do? Well, yes, the same thing we've seen before, Steve. Come. Yes, nothing. Say, whitey, I think I got it. I think I know how to get it out of here. Thunder. Thunder can get us loose. Your bad red skinning got him fastened up too tight. Hey, yes, he got it. Joe. Hey, chum. Joe, look at him right there. There he is, whitey. Thunder, old boy. I need you. You've got to help me. Now, now. Steady there, Thunder. Steady, boy. Steady now. Now, now kick Thunder. No, no, no, not that way, boy. Come here, Thunder. That's it. Now back up, boy. Back up. That's the idea. Now kick. Come on. Kick like that. Yeah, again, old fella. Steady now. Now kick, boy. Good boy, Thunder, that's the way. One more kick like that. They'll have the whole side of the shit done. Yes, he's powerful, all right. All right, Joe, old boy. Now once more, Thunder. Steady, boy, now. Steady there. Back up. Back up. Now kick Thunder. Kick, boy. Oh, he got it. Oh, he got it. Good boy. Good old Thunder. Oh, he got in. But what are we going to do? You notice that grindstone over in the corner? We're going to use that to saw these ropes for my hands. Joe, but we can't get through that lighting with our ink. There's no truss stop like this. Yeah, we can, whitey. Thunder, fix that. Now you roll over as close to me as you can get, whitey. Come on. All right, light. Come on. Hurry up. Don't see what you're trying to do. Keep going. Yeah, well, you will in a minute. Now listen, I'm going to get Thunder to put his muzzle down here against my shoulder. And when he gets close enough, I want you to grab his bridle between your teeth and hold on like grim death. You're light. Yo, yo, yo. Get to lightning. Thunder, he'll drag me to my feet. Right. All right, Thunder, old boy. How much do you like me? Can we kiss now? Come on, give me a kiss. Yes. I'll get a hold of it. Yeah. Go ahead. All right. All right. Now up, Thunder. Up, boy. Up. That's the boy. Yeah. Joe, we made the lighting. No, for that grindstone in the corner. Yeah. Good old Thunder. There's big flat rock, whitey. See? Just the head there. Yo, yo, yo. I see it. See it'll go there, lighten. You still left it at rock. Yeah, something moving. Get the robbers, or four of them. Yeah. We'll crawl a little closer, whitey. When we're near enough, I'll give the word to jump them jazz. Yo, all right. Let's go. Now, whitey. Reach for the sky, all of you. Yo, and be thick about the teeth. It's the Marshall. Lightning. Jim, it's the Warfax. How in a blue blazer did you get here? That fumbling red skin. When I get my hands on him. Get the guns, whitey. Yo. After Indian Joe's past, worryin' about what you might do to him. Where's that kid? Well, he's tied right there alongside the bushes. All right. Now keep him covered, whitey. I'm going to untie the boy. You're sure, lightning. Got this gag in so far you can hardly breathe. Can you? There now. There you are. There you are. Oh, Mr. Lightning. I know you'd come. I just know you were safe would come for me. Well, you can thank Thunder for that, Vinnie. And so ends another exciting chapter in the adventures of Lightning Jim, United States Marshal, and his deputy, Whitey Larson.