 horse with a speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty high old silver, the lone ranger. Faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the masked rat of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early days of the western United States. The most notorious outlaws on the frontier learned to fear his strength and courage, his daring and his resourcefulness. It was he more than any other man who blazed the trail for civilization and made possible the winning of the West. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Come out of the past on the thundering hoof beach of the great horse silver, the lone ranger rides again. The clinking of glasses and noisy conversation in the cafe of Mason's corners suddenly stopped. The roughly clad men who had crowded the bar drew back and in the space it was cleared, two men confronted each other. One was middle-aged, heavy jawed and muscular. The other was in his early twenties, pale and thin. When he spoke it was with difficulty that he kept his voice from trembling. You ain't got no right to say that to me, Mr. Thompson. You ain't got the right. Well, I said it. Well, you take it back. When I say a thing young fellow, I usually mean it. That being the case, it stands as is. Now, you figure I'm doing anything about it? Well, on me ain't crooks. No, not regular ones, I guess. I'm telling you. You wouldn't have the nerve that you're just as bad as crooks. If you figure giving a hideout to the worst killer this state ever seen don't amount to anything. That ain't so. We never did. You're doing it right now. You just prove it. Boy, you... Look here. You gonna stand there and deny somebody ain't hiding out in your place? Well, I... You can't deny it. Mr. Thompson, I ain't saying it's so, and I'm not saying it ain't. But even if somebody was hiding on our place, what call you got to claim he's bad-tanned? That's in the district, ain't he? I don't know. And who else but better have to hide out? You and your pa ain't fooling nobody, Kerry. Neither one of you earned the cash you've been spending lately. It's the pay you've been getting from bad for hiding them from the law. You don't know what... It's cash you've been taking off the coyote that killed my boy. Mr. Thompson, if you just listen... Listen! Why, you whining, crawling, skunk, don't you sabby what I'm trying to do? Don't you know I'm just waiting for you to fill your hands since I can shoot you down without it being said I draw it on a man that wouldn't fight? I ain't got no quarrel with you, Mr. Thompson. You miserable old cat! Now will you fight? Now will you go for that gun? Go away, please. I haven't hit you again? I won't take that from you anybody. I don't have... And what are you waiting for? I'll show you. It's a mask man. Shot the gun for Milts man. Where'd he come from? That ain't bad. Is it... Oh, don't move. Put that gun back in your holster. Who? What is... Now this way, outside, quick. I can't... Hurry. What do you want with me? Who are you? You'll find that out later. Now out this door. No, you don't, Milts. Keep away from that gun the next time I lay where it'll do the most good. Bad Tanner, you rotten dry culture. You'll stay where you are till you hear it right away. And after that, you'll go outside only at your own risk. Come on, folks. There they go. Get that man. It's Bad Tanner I'll tell you after. Mr. Inside before you talk. Go on inside. This fella showed up at the cafe and brought me here. And if you think I know the reason why, you're local. You're a crook. No, Carrie, I'm not. You must be. But what you think right now doesn't matter. Don't you two realize that you've been playing with fire? Paul, what's he talking about? You know as much about it as I do. I'll explain. Tonight, Paul almost got himself killed. Huh? Is that so, son? Is he telling the truth? Oh, you know it, Paul. You know you're no match for Thompson. A man who can't handle a gun and he better than you can shouldn't wear one. He's just asking for trouble. Just a second. What's this about Thompson, huh? Paul, what's he mean? It wasn't nothing. I could help. Thompson accused the two of you of hiding the man who murdered his son. What's that? He knows just as everyone else knows. Had you been hiding someone, you wished to keep undercover. Both of you have spent more money lately than either of you could hope to earn in a year. And Thompson knows that when bad escaped from the penitentiary, he made the boast he'd returned to this district. He believes you've given bad refuge. What else could you expect? That's crazy. Is it? And why did Thompson attempt to drive your son into a gunfight? But, but I don't... So, Paul, that's what everybody's figuring, I guess. You can see it on their faces. I don't see what to... Carrie, huh? Who are you hiding? Who is it you've been buying extra supplies for? We... Well, we ain't hiding nobody, but that's just a pack and on since. I don't know where such crazy notions get started. Don't lie to me, Carrie. But I'll tell you... I have reason of my own for being quite sure it isn't bad. But as certainly as I'm standing here, it's someone. Well, if you think that, just sex the place. You wouldn't have him here, of course. He's probably hidden somewhere back in the swamp. No. No such thing. I'll tell you now. Very well. Forget it. If you won't talk, there's no use wasting time and argument. You claim the same thing, Paul? We ain't lying to the stranger. And anyhow, what's it to you? I'm after Bette. If I can capture him, he won't escape the gallows a second time. We don't know anything about him. That's the gospel truth. Perhaps not. Then why do you keep on... There's some kind of a mystery concerning this other fellow who's hiding near here, Carrie. I will, I... I suspect that somehow it's connected with Bette. Oh, wait! And before I leave the district, I'm going to learn what that connection is. Hold on! Hi! Come back here, mister! Come on, Paul! Come on, do it! See? He's gone. Paul, what does he know? You think he knows the truth? You think he does? I don't guess so. But the way he talked... Paul was mostly bluff. Paul. Yeah, Paul? Did Milt Thompson really try to start a fight with you? Did he? He did, Paul. If the masked man hadn't showed up just when he did, maybe I'd have been a goner. Son, you've got to stay away from Milt. Oh, I ain't afraid. Take that I'm thinking of. Yeah. Yeah, I know. If Milt grilled you or you grilled Milt, it'd be just the most awful thing that could happen. And you know why. Thompson. I did, Travis. Come in, close the door. Something you wanted? Travis, when you come to me for a job last week, you claim to be a handy fillet, quite a number of things. Oh, yeah, Mr. Thompson. I'm right handy. I can rope or toss the horse. Were you telling me the truth when you said you'd been a civilian scout for a while with Colonel Thorpe's regimen along the border? Why, sure was. You should be a good man on trail. Oh, sure, you bet. Why, lose some cattle? No, but something happened last night. Huh? Well, Reagan, I'd better explain, Travis, and then you'll say me what I want. I don't know whether you've heard about it or not, being new to these parts, but just a little over a month ago, my boy Jim was killed. Oh, no, that's too bad. He was murdered. He was? Murdered, Travis, by one of the yellowest dogs that ever hit this county, Bat Tanner. I've heard teller this kind. I'd sent Jim over to the county's seat to collect some cattle, money from a buyer. When he left town, he was carrying over $20,000 in his saddlebags. Well, he never showed up. Oh. He's never been found to this day. Huh? Then how did he... Do I know Bat killed him? Because a man from Yellow Medicine happened to see it from a distance when Bat held Jim up on the trail. Oh. This fellow seen Jim and Bat fighting. He rode to help, but there was a stream between him. By the time he found a place to cross it, they disappeared. Wow, dog gone. Bat must have had time to get rid of Jim somehow. That part of the country's pretty broken up. It would have been hard, I reckon. And he hid the gold and lit out. Hid the gold? Well, it worn on him when he was caught. Oh, he was caught, wasn't he? You're not here across the state line on another charge. The one he was tried and sent to jail on. I guess he was wanted by the law from one end of the west to the other. Yeah, I heard that, too. Anyhow, long as we couldn't find where Jim was, it wouldn't have done any good to bring Bat back and try him here. To prove a murder, you'd better show the fellow was killed. Uh-huh. He was slated to hang, anyhow. There's another killing he was arrested for. He was just waiting in jail till the day said by the judge for him to swing. Only he didn't wait. He busted out. That was about two weeks ago. You mean he got clean away? Yeah. And nobody at all has got any notion where he is? I have. You have? I said something happened last night. Well, last night a mask man showed up at the cafe. That's all. And that mask man was Bat Tanner. Well, I'll be. Then you know the polecat by sight, huh? Well, I don't know. Nobody around here did for that matter. Then just so happened that fellow from Yellow Medicine was riding through. Bat could have killed my boy. Never been suspicious. Oh, oh, I see. But that mask, comrade, was bad, all right, Travis? I ain't got a doubt of it. That's where you come in. How? I got reason to believe he's being hit by the carries of ourselves. There's two of them. The old Zeke and Paul, his boy. If he is being hit by him, it's in that swamp. Starts and beg of their place. It's a big one. Runs clear back for miles. Good hideout, huh? None better. But what did he be doing there? What would he come back to these parts for? The gold. But why don't he just get it in bamboos? He can't. When he was sitting in jail, he boasted to one of the other prisoners that he was going to bust out. Come back here and dig that gold up. The fellow he told had too passed it on to the warden. The law is looking for bad all through these parts, and he likely knows it. He's got to lay low. Yeah, I savvy. And so? That's the man I want you to find. If I trade in this fellow carry or his boy? That'd be the best way. There will be a chore. I'll make it with you a while. Or are you afraid you can't do it? Mr. Thompson? Well? If you're paying me extra for this job, you'd better draw out the cash as quick as you can. Yeah? Because it's just about mine right now. Rush. One door going, if they get done it. That's Paul. Let you out there, Paul. Paul, let you. It's me, Paul. Where are you going? Would you settle for it? Paul, I reckon you know. You're going into swamp, Paul. I've got to. It ain't safe. But he's waiting there for me, Paul. He's waiting. I ain't been able to get grew up to him for almost three days. I've just got to go there. Son, you'll get caught. No, I won't, Paul. I'll be careful. Then wait till it's darker. Wait till the moon goes down. It ain't going to get no darker. But, son, I know that you're just acting foolish. You're all the time scared to death and somebody's going to follow me. Shucks. Who's got the time to wait around just to see where I go? I don't know. Don't forget it and go on back in the house. I'll be long for daylight. Son, I wish to thunder you wouldn't do this. You know good reason? Well, somehow I just got a feeling you shouldn't. Oh, it's the night time, Paul. When morning comes, you'll feel different. Paul, see you later. Wait. Get up, fella. Get up there. Come on, get up. The curtain falls on the first act of our Lone Ranger story. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. Now to continue our story. Young Paul Kerry rode along the treacherous trail that led to the interior of the swamp. Finally, just at midnight, he drew his mud-splashed mount to a halt. He waited for a moment listening and slipped from the saddle. Then gave a low call. Hi. It's me, Paul. Don't shoot. It's Paul. He was answered from the open door of a ruined shack almost hidden to the surrounding vegetation. Paul? Come ahead. Stay there, house. I'm scared something will happen. Where have you been? Couldn't you get here before? Better get back inside. Yeah. I'm sorry you had to wait. Just ain't been safe, though. Paul didn't think I should have come tonight, even. Knew you had to have grub, though. Yeah, yeah. It's cold stuff. You won't need a fire. You won't need to make smoke. Oh, I've been near to starve. That'll hold you for a while. Thanks. But Paul, you say there's been danger? You don't mean anybody knows I'm hiding here, do they? Not you. Well, I do. But they got a good notion somebody is. They figure it's Batman. They won't find me, will they? Oh, shucks now, fella. Don't worry. Who'd locate you in here? Yeah. Yeah. Paul and me will be in careful. And nobody will make a stalk. You'll be all right. Just don't take chances. Stay right here till it's all right for you to go out. We'll let you know when. Well, but ain't they ever going to catch bat again? Sure, they will. Sure they will. Everything's going to be just fine. You can't stay away from the law forever. Paul, you don't know how awful it is. Hiding away in this dreaded swamp day after day and night after night. Sure, fella, sure. Knowing all the time I can't show up again till bat's been hanged. Well, don't think about it. Now, how's that bullet hole? Healing all right? Well, it ain't bad. Then I'd better be getting back. Paul's worried, almost local. Anything special you want for next time? You've been bringing me enough. You sure? Yeah. Oh, you've been swell, Paul. You and your pa both. I won't forget this. You'd have done the same for us. Well, good luck, fella. Thanks. How do you do? Bye. Up in this blasted swamp. Hardly see the sun and damp, cold lake all over. I wish the thunder had gone this mud. What? What, you, Paul? Paul, are you coming back? Who's out there? Who is it? I've got your hands moving out last year. Who are you? That's what I aim to find out about you, Mr. Stand over this way, where I can get a look at your face. How'd you get here? That was easy. Just trailed the kid that was just here. That's my horse back whip. Well, I'll be switched. You thought I'd done you in, then? Your bat-tanner. Didn't you recognize me? It was a dark agnab. This ain't a good one. Well, what do you want? What are you going to do? Gosh, I never figured on anything like this when I hired out to find you. Hired out? Sure. Well, I, more than first, seemed to want to know who it was them caries was fetching grub to in here. And the best thing of all, he figured you was me. I will. Now stand right where you are. Don't move one dog on in. I'm going to tie and gag you. You're taking me out? You're going to make me leave here? Oh, no. Well, then what are you? When you're tied up and fixed so you can't yell out, I'm leaving you here and riding back. What for? Then I'll tell this fella I'm working for where he are. And he can finish you off his self. Who? Who is he? Can't you guess, kid? He's a gent that goes by the name of Milt Thompson. Oh, no. Mr. Thompson, I located him for you all right. Where is he? In the swamp, like you figured. And he's? That tenor. A dirty killer. Travis, how can I find him? Does he know you're located him? Is he around? Of course, he don't know. I was in a million miles of there. Good. I scattered paper on the trail coming back, so you can get there again. Call my man. Tell every man the place to drop what he's doing and report to me. Sure, Mr. Thompson, but. But what? Well, if I was you, boss, I wouldn't fool with the fella. I heard him talking to young Kerry in the shack where he's hiding. He said if he was ever found, he'd never give up. I just as soon he didn't. Yeah. I said I wanted the pool cat dead or alive. But if I had my choice, I'd rather it was dead. Into the saddle. Travis here, located bad tenor. We're going after the skunk. Ready? Then follow me. Get up there. Those fellas topping outside. Where they look like? Milt Thompson. But what is he? Be careful, young boys. Pete, you and shorty stay here to guard him. All right. Well, Mr. Thompson, what do you think you're doing? He found bad tenor's hideout. No. And the day's just finished. Oh, no, wait. You don't serve me that silly in there. One word out of you, and I've blessed your head off. But you don't serve me weight. Just listen. Come on, fellas. Come back. Come back here, Mr. Thompson. Wait. You don't know what... The man Milt Thompson knew as Travis did not return with the rancher to the swamp. As soon as Thompson and his men had left, he went to the corrals. Saddle a powerful gray and headed westward. He didn't know that the lone ranger had been watching the ranch house and had been waiting for just such a move. Come on, Silver. Come on, old fellow. That's a bad tenor all right, old boy. He trapped himself the minute he saddled that gray. Oh, fellow, we'll see what he's up to. Hurry, Silver, hurry. But in the meantime, following the scattered scraps of paper that marked the trail, Thompson and his men drew closer to the shack. It was late in the morning and a bright sun shone overhead, but little of its light penetrated the swamp. The men rode to a breast and at the head of the column, milk Thompson spoke quietly to the manager's side. According to what Travis said, we ought to be almost there. Why didn't he come along? Too tired. He was up the last 30 hours. What's that there? Huh? See? It's like a kind of little clearing. You make it out? It does look like one. If it is, it's shack supposed to be in it. Just the other side. Travis said it weren't easy to see. Too well hid. Then we better pull up. You think so? Hold it, fellas. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Now what? We'll get closer on foot. Come on. What's the place around it before we let him know we're here? No need. Just get the clearing covered and we've got him. What if he ducks out back? Can't. All that back through there ain't nothing but quicksand. He wouldn't get five rods. Yeah, this is close enough. Scatter a bit, men. All right. You date. When you're all set, let me know. And I'll call out. Right. All set, boss. Bet. Bet, Tanner. We know you're in there, Pat. Enter up. Don't talk, eh? Hey, listen to this. I got a dozen men here. You ain't got a chance. Walk out of there with your hands over your head in just one minute. Or we'll blast you in that shack right out of the swamp. Inside the shack, Jim lay on the floor. His feet and hands were securely bound. And Dan had been drawn across his mouth to stifle his out-kies. He heard the threats of those who waited but could make no reply. Outside, no toms and hell, two loaded guns ready for action. This is your last chance. I've given you more time. I said I would already. Come out of there. Come out or we'll pour so much lead in there we'll rip it apart. Coming, Bert. Well then, take it. Let us let the skunk have it. Wait, boy. Wait. I thought it hurts on the just end. Listen. I think somebody's riding this way. Boss, you better wait to see who it is. I'll wait. If it's the sheriff who heard what we're doing and wants to take Bat himself, he can go to Thunder. Bat killed Jim and I'm paying him back myself. He's closer. That don't sound like a sheriff's voice to me. And who is it? There he is. You can see him. He's riding double. He's got somebody in the saddle with him. Out of the way. It's a mask man. Hey, maybe that's Bat himself. Maybe he's got... And that's Travis with him. Don't shoot. Don't shoot. You'll get Travis. Put down your guns. Hold it, hold it. Hold it, hold it. Travis, this man is Bat tenor. Get down. Don't believe him, Mr. Thompson. Don't believe him. He's lying. Hey, come back. There's somebody in there. Stop that man. Don't you fire, Thompson. Or you'll shoot your own son. Come in here and look. Boss, what's he talking about? They're keeping covered out. Soon find out. Come on, man. Paul. Jim. Jim, my son. See this man, Donner? I just took it off. Jim was gagged with it. That's why I couldn't let you know who he was. My son, we thought you was dead, we. Paul, I had to let you think that. Better let me explain, Jim. Thompson, I made Bat confess everything. When he escaped from jail, he headed it once for this section. He hired out to you under the name of Travis. He knew that you didn't know him by sight, that the law would never look for him and the employee of the very man whose son he was supposed to have killed. You knew Travis was Bat tenor all the time? I had suspected him, but I wasn't sure until I saw him riding his gray. He raised his own personal horse. I'd seen it before. But while he worked for you, we rode the horses you furnished. But I can't. No, wait. He was heading for the place. He'd hid the gold. Knowing that when you learned, you'd had your son shot, thinking him Bat, the game would be up. He had to risk leaving the district. But Jim, why didn't my son let me know he was living, but Bat hadn't killed him. And Bat explained that also. Jim got in a gambling script. It seemed to him worse than it was. And Bat, learning about it, tried to blackmail him on the day you met your son with the cattle money. Jim refused to be blackmailed, and they fought. Bat thought he'd finished Jim. Instead, Jim made his way to the carries and with their help hid out here in the swamp. But why? Because Jim hoped that as long as Bat thought him dead, he'd keep silent about that scrape, having nothing to gain by talking. Then when Bat had been hanged, Jim could show up and the story would never come out. But Bat's escape complicated things. Well, I... I paid for that trouble I got a thousand times over. The dickens with it. Son, I'm so all fired, glad to see you alive again. I don't care what you done. Thompson, you'll find your cattle money at your home. I'll let Bat dig it up, then capture them and took the money back. Missed, man. I don't know who you are, but... but it hadn't been for you with. With us all set to blast the shack. Forget it, Thompson. But there's simply else you'd better remember. Paul Kerry and his father. What? Jim and G. Hoss have had them carries. They're all in a gunfight. And all that time, he was helping my son. Paul, you ain't done nothing to them, have you? No, they're all right. With son, we better get back and thank them for all we owe them. Come on. I don't feel... So you have just heard as a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated.