 The challenge of the Yukon. On King! On New Huskies! The Wonder Dog King, swift as and strong as a Eskimo-leaf dog, blazes the trail through storm and snow for Sergeant Preston, as he meets the challenge of the Yukon. Sergeant Preston was typical of the small band of Northwest Monod Police, a preserved law and order in the new Northwest country, where the greed for wealth and power led to frequent violence and bloodshed. But in spite of the odds against them, Sergeant Preston and his Wonder Dog King met that challenge, and justice ruled triumphant. Sergeant Preston of the Northwest Monod was driving his dog team into Dawson City when he saw Jim Christie and his little daughter Sally at the edge of the trail. Oh, King! Who are you, Huskies? Hello there, Jim. Hi, Sally. Hello, Sergeant Preston. Can I give you a lift? I'm going your way. Sure can. It'll help if I don't have to lug this tree home on my shoulder. Put it on the sled. Sally can ride, too. Oh, thanks, Sergeant Preston. This is my Christmas tree. Daddy let me help pick it out. He just cut it down. And it's a fine tree, too. Put it right here, Jim. There we go. I'm so glad you're back, Sergeant. Now you can stop and see Frisky. He's grown since you left. Ah, Sally, Sergeant Preston's probably tired. He won't want to stop and see your puppy. Well, I'd like to see him. Come on, Sally, I'll lift you up on the sled. Thank you. She sure worships that puppy you gave her, Sergeant. He's going to have a nice Christmas, too, and hanging stocking up for him right beside mine. Frisky's a lucky little dog, having you take care of him. Well, are we all ready? Yep. I'm ready. On King! On you, Huskies! Planning to spend Christmas in Dawson, Sergeant? Well, yes. I have my cabin here, and it seems more like home. Ah, this is going to be the best Christmas Mary and Sally and I have ever had. I'm glad to hear that, Jim. You've had some hard luck. But the best Christmas present of all is that I'm getting out of debt at last. Had a fine trapping season. I thought I'd never be able to pay back that money I borrowed from Crane. But I think I have enough furs to do it. Well, that is good news. Crane's a hard man. I borrowed money from him last year, and then I didn't find gold. I took the trapping in desperation, but it sure paid off. I've got enough fox skins of my cabin to pay that debt and have some left over. We'll have to have a real celebration this year. What's wrong with King? Pull! Pull, you Huskies! Listen, listen. Did you hear someone call? No! No! That's Mary. Come on, Sergeant. There, King. Come on, fella. Jim, look. Isn't that smoke by your cabin? It looks like it. We're coming, Mary. Take care of Sally, Mary. Come on, Sergeant. Jim, be careful. My furs, I've got to save them. They're all in there. Easy, Jim. We'll do what we can. The whole side of the cabin is burning. That's the side my furs are in. Jim, it's too late. It's going to cave in. Don't go in there. I've got to help them. Jim, come back here. Oh, stop it, Sergeant. It's too late, Mary. Come on, King. Oh, Sergeant, Jim's got to get trapped. Just inside cave then. I'll get him. Jim, where are you? Over here. Kevin, you've got him all over there. My leg. I'll get the dogs and slid. Good work, boy. I didn't see him. King came after me. He's quite badly hurt, Mary. You'd all better come over to my cabin. He's destroyed. I can't pay Crane. Jed Crane was the wealthiest man in Dawson. He sat alone in his office that evening, and a frown deepened the wrinkles between his cold blue eyes as he added a column of figures. Three, seven, twelve. Hermie, come here. Did I say you made it, Crane? What do you want, Jake? Just heard some news I thought might interest you. Yep. Jim Christie's cabin burned down this afternoon. In Christ? What happened to them first? All of them burned. Nothing left at all. He said he intended to give them to him. Therefore, the rotten luck I was sending after them tomorrow. You surely say in a trick maybe he hit them somewhere and started the cabin to fire himself. Oh, no, they was in there all right. Jim got hurt trying to get them out. Yeah. Well, I'll have to wait another year till he pays me what he owes me. I'll be sure of fooling to take a chance on him. It's kind of hard on his family, just before Christmas and all. They'll live through it. Boys was talking about taking up a collection for him. Well, don't come to me for anything. It's pleasant enough as far as I'm concerned not getting the money. This Christmas business is a lot of sentimental boss anyway. Well, it's just for the kid. Nobody cared about my Christmas when I was a kid. Just another day. Another day in a lousy orphanage. You mean you never got any presents? Presents! Yeah. Yet they did get a present once. Yeah? It was Christmas time. Little girl visited the orphanage with her poor mom. We thought they were looking for a kid to adopt. Where? Out of a clear sky, she came up to me and handed me a toy dog. She just came and said, Well, Merry Christmas. Well, you didn't say it. It was a fresh present I ever got. I cried over the thing in bed that night. Carried it around under my shirt for a week. And I waited. And hoped. Well, they didn't adopt a kid. My, my. They never came back. Then one day I threw the dog away. As far as I could throw it. And I always hated Christmas. You shucks. Well, you've made up for it since. Well, see it did. By being as hard on everybody as it was hard on me. It was the only way. Well, the boys was all talking about giving something for the kid's sake. Of course. Now, if they was all to give enough. See, each give a gold nugget. Yeah, they could start Jim up in business again. See, maybe they would be fools enough to. It might be worth a try. What are you talking about? I'll start the ball rolling. Enough nuggets to trim the tree around the top. I'll give the first nugget a big one. Besides my thumbnail. Of course, Crane. You ain't thinking that maybe you'll get your money if Jim gets enough nuggets to pay you. I'll never give it a thought. He's a chance friend. If you belly who they sing right and Jim does get enough to pay me. I'll give you a 10%. Don't seem quite right somehow. Of course it's right. Otherwise it's going to have a big debt hanging over his head. It might take a year to pay off. Oh, it'll take more than that. He won't be able to work for a long time with one foot crush. Yeah, if you collect enough, he'll have something to live on, maybe. After he pays me. Tell everybody I thought of it. Enough nuggets to trim the Christmas tree. And I'm starting it by giving the biggest nugget of all. Hello, Sergeant. Hello, Sergeant. Hello, Sergeant. Well, Jim, we're up. I have good news for you. Good news? I can't tell you all about it. It's a surprise. But everything's going to be all right. What do you mean? If you weren't so blue about everything, I wouldn't even give you a hint. But there's a chance that you're going to have as fine a Christmas as you planned before the fire. What? I'll tell you this much. Jed Crane's a fine man, after all. I guess we were all wrong about him. Jed Crane? You mean Jed Crane is bothering about our Christmas? He wants you to have a better Christmas than you've ever had before. He's the bottom of everything. I'm just as surprised as you are. She does, she does. Sergeant Preston told me about the big surprise you planned for Daddy. Oh, he did. And I thought it would be nice if you'd be there when he got it. Christmas Eve. Well, hey, don't think I'm afraid of the busy. You mean you'll be trimming your tree or something? No, I don't believe in him. What? Didn't your plan... Let's not talk about it. But you'll believe in him if he come over and see mine. Oh, please come, Mr. Crane. Just Sergeant Preston and Daddy and Mom and I'll be there. Hey, I don't like Christmas Eve. Maybe that's cause you're... Well, you're all alone. Maybe if you could... All right, all right. I'll come with you. We're along now. I'm busy. The soft light of the candles on the Christmas tree was reflected in the nuggets that hung like drops of gold from its branches. Sally smiled as she looked at the happy face of her father and Mary and Sergeant Preston lived at his chair near the tree. Then she noticed Jed Crane off in the corner by himself. His wasn't a happy face. His eyes had almost a desperate look and Sally suddenly fell sorry for the old man. She left the others and went to him quietly. Mr. Crane. Yes? Could... could I sit on your knee? Well, sure. Isn't it a wonderful Christmas tree? It's a... yep, awful pretty. Doesn't it make you believe in Christmas? Just a little. I guess so, a little. You've been so good to us. Daddy's so happy again. No child, I ain't. Sergeant Preston said you started everything. Mama says my stockings will be full of presents in the morning. I bet that's a fine feeling to find this stocking full of presents in Christmas morning. Did you like it with your little boy? I... I don't know. Let's... let's not talk about it. Mr. Crane, I... I want to do something. I want to give you a Christmas present. Me? Oh, no, no. The trouble is everything we had was burned except... well, the only thing I have to give is frisky. You mean you want to give me your pup? He's... he's really a wonderful dog. I know you'll love him and... and maybe you'll let me come over and play with him once in a while. But he... Shelly, he... he's all you got. It isn't cause I don't love him. I do, but... but it's Christmas and you just got to have a present. Shelly... thank you, my dear. Merry Christmas, Mr. Crane. Shelly... Shelly, wait a minute. Don't go. I... I have a better idea. You know what? There's another present I'd rather have. Another present? I wish it... Well, maybe this sounds kind of funny, but I wish you'd kind of adopt me for a... for a sort of unclean... Adopt you? Why, that'd be wonderful. I haven't any uncles and... and you belong to our family. Yeah, but I'd belong? Of course I'll adopt you, Uncle James. You keep Frisky and bring him over to my house once in a while. Someday I'll tell you a story about a little boy and then another little girl and a dog... a toy dog. But, hey, is that... that story any different? He wasn't adopted. I just doubted Mr. Crane. He's... he's my uncle, James. What, certainly. Your Uncle, James? Fine, Sally. Well, welcome to the family, Uncle James. Jimmy, he and his house, that money you owe me is all in the family. We're going to forget all about it. Didn't I tell you, James, isn't this the best Christmas you ever had? You're a king and Frisky thing, so... That's impressive. That's the first time that dog used ever wag his tail, babe. Well, he's just trying to see what we all want to see. Merry Christmas, Uncle James. These copyrighted dramas originate in the studios of WXYZ Detroit, and all characters, names, places and incidents used are fictitious. They are sent to you each week at the same time and reach you from our transcription studios. You hold it.