 A fiery horse with a speed of light, the cloud of dust and a hearty high old silver, the lone ranger. With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoof beats of the great horse Silver. The lone ranger rides again. Born Silver, let's go big fellow. Are you Silver? The tenth century, a meteor hurtling through space plunged into the atmosphere surrounding the planet Earth. Heated to incandescence, it streaked as a ball of fire through the night skies over California, approaching at incredible speed to smash into the ground. The meteor made its own pit where it rested and grew cold. At first the place was frequented by sightseers and geologists, but interest waned through the years, and the mass of rock and minerals from outer space was all but forgotten saved by a few scientists. The place became part of a national park under the protection of the federal government. It was 60 years after the meteor's arrival when a group of scientists and high government officials held a meeting behind locked doors in Washington, D.C. Tell me, Dr. Madison, is it extremely important that you and your colleagues have samples of this meteor? It is, sir. This new chemical element you're looking for? Just what is it? Well, as yet, it's unnamed. We do, however, know that the element, if it can be found and isolated, will have remarkable properties. It may have the elemental force of the Sun itself. And you think you'll find this element in the meteor? I don't know. European scientists have made great strides in their research with meteorites. We cannot let them get too far ahead of us. You know, Mr. Cowbert, it's been three months since you promised to secure pieces of that California meteor. Well, in those three months, Professor Lockley, we haven't been idle. How about it, General Fairbanks? That's right. Immediately after the first request, we filled a chest with pieces chipped from meteor. The chest was stolen between California and St. Louis. And there was another attempt? A second chest was filled with this mineral. What happened to that one, General Fairbanks? We don't know. Wells Fargo sent it from California on a special stage, which apparently disappeared into thin air. There, you see? That should prove something. Someone, probably an agent from a foreign government, is trying to block our research. We must take unusual precautions to get this chest through as far as St. Louis. Agreed. The meteorite is limited in size. If shipments continue to disappear, it'll be all gone. Have you any suggestions, General? Gentlemen, let me show you something that I've carried in my pocket for a number of years. Here. Are you a bullet? Yes. Oh, this looks like silver. It is. Silver bullet. Does it have a special significance? Very special. It was given to me by one of the most loyal sons this country ever had. You gentlemen may not have heard of him, but he's become almost legendary west of the Mississippi. I propose to find this man and ask him to help us get the chest of ore to St. Louis. Well, where can you find him? I know of only one way to locate him. I'll send word to a certain pottery in a little mission in the west. What's this man's name? Well, as for his name, I don't know it. But he's called the Lone Ranger. Word flashed to the country's outposts by the new electric telegraph, and the message was relayed by horsemen until it reached the pottery in his little mission. People from all sides came to the pottery. When they left, they carried a message with them. The pottery's looking for the Lone Ranger. And if you see these Lone Rangers, you're telling me it's wanted by the pottery. The stage is all loaded. Just have to go. And don't forget to spread the word. The pottery wants to see the Lone Ranger. I won't forget. Get it! Metacuse deshuma beca Lone Ranger. Mexicans, half-breeds, Indians, pioneers. Everyone spread the word in an ever-expanding circle until it reached an Indian named Tonto who hurried to the top of Thunder Mountain where he built three fires and sent three towering columns of smoke into the sky. A signal that was seen on a distant hill, seen and understood by a masked man who leaped to the back of a snow-white stallion and shouted, In the meantime, the fastest of the trains westbound from Washington carried a special car with one of the highest of the government officials. The car was taken as far west as possible, then shunted to a siding where the man from Washington in his age waited and hoped. Each day the man from Washington became more anxious and each night found him pacing the floor of a small room that served as an office at one end of the car. It was nearly midnight when he was startled by a soft wrap on the door. What's that? I wonder... General, the pottery sent me. Thank goodness. I'd almost given up hope. Come in. Come in at once. Thank you. Will you sit down? Thank you. I have a lot to tell you. Very well. Some time ago, you gave me a silver bullet. Do you remember? And I gave it to you. I told you that it represented an obligation I could never wholly repay. The government needs you. We need you more than ever before. What can I do? Let me tell you about a meteor that fell in California. And about two futile efforts to move portions of that meteor to Washington. And why some men of science want to investigate those minerals from space? And the third chest is being filled with pieces of the meteor. And I'm convinced that enemies will try to intercept this chest as they have the previous ones. The hazardous part of the journey is between California and St. Louis, while the chest is being carried on the stagecoach. Have you tried to maintain secrecy? Yes, but we tried on previous occasions. Enemy agents have sources of information. Yes, I know. We plan to move the chest over the Butterfield stage line over the usual route through Yuma, El Paso, Fort Chadburn, Fort Smith. I know the route. We considered making special arrangements for the stage, but decided against it because a special stage would attract attention and arouse suspicion. This or, then, is to be carried on one of the scheduled runs? Yes. And we want you to see that the stage goes through. Have you any further orders, General? You may work in any way you consider best. It's up to you. You might remove the mask, and disguise yourself to travel as a passenger in that stage. Well, I... That's merely a suggestion. You do what you think best, but see that the chest reaches St. Louis. I'll do my best, sir. I might explain that you will not be the only one who is watching this stage. A government agent will, at all times, be somewhere near the stagecoach. Well, I know him. There's a way by which you can identify him. Now, I'll tell you what is to be done with the chest when it reaches St. Louis. I see. How can I identify this federal agent? I don't know. What? He alone knows how he is to be known. He's put the information in a letter. Here it is. Yes? The envelope was sealed by the agent himself. The method of identification is something that's... and by you. Open this letter when you're alone, away from here. Read and memorize the contents, and then destroy it. This agent must have been told that I would help. He was. Well, do you know me? No. You'll, you'll find him. I will, General. Is there anything else? No. From now on, it's up to you. Right. Hey, there, Silver. Steady boy. Silver. So that's the horse I've heard so much about. He's not often impatient. Where are you going from here? Well, Tondo's waiting in a camp about a half a mile away. I'll join him there, and his daybreak will start west. Good. Well, Silver is impatient. Good night, General. Good night, and good luck. Silver seemed to know by some rare instinct when trouble was impending. Two men waiting in a clump of cotton woods watched the railroad car on the siding, and the masked man who stood at the open door shaking hands with the general. They had drawn a rope tightly across the trail, just high enough to strike a man on horseback. He's holding an envelope of some sort. Do you see it, Vince? Yeah. That's what we want. I let the boss know that mask man was gonna get an envelope for instructions. Don't ask me how the boss knows things. The point is he knows, and he's generally right. I don't know about that, Rankin. What do you mean you don't know? The last time he told us, it would be a chest of ore on a special stage. He was right about that, wasn't he, Vince? Yeah, only... Only what? Maybe it was ore of some sort. But as far as I could see, there was nothing special about it. I know gold, ore, and silver ore. And that stuff we got wasn't neither one. What are you squawking about? The boss paid us off, didn't he? Well, I've got no squawk about that. He'll pay us off again when we take him the envelope in that masked man's hand. Look, Rankin, tell me something. Yeah? What's the boss after? I mean in the long run. What kind of a game is he playing? All I know is he hired us to do certain things, and he pays us when they're done. He won't answer no questions, and he don't like to deal with men who ask him. Hey, the mask man's marking up? Yeah. Get ready. I'm all set. He's coming this way. Yeah. Get back a little bit so he won't see us. He can't see us in here. It's too dark. Get back anyway. I wish he'd come faster so he'd hit that rope hot enough to take him clean out of the set. It don't matter. The rope will stop him anyhow. If it don't, my six-gun will. Leave your gun and leather. If there's any shooting to be done, I'll do it. The boss don't want murder. He can be avoided. I don't... You get a noose ready to drop over his head. I'll get ready. Here he comes. The Lone Ranger felt a peculiar tension as the trail entered the cottonwoods. His senses were tuned to a high pitch, but even so, he didn't see the rope that was stretched across the trail until he was almost upon it, and he swung quickly, pulling Silver to the side. Over Silver. Come on, boys. He's seen us. Rain out, Mr. Weewant, you. Let him away. There's a rope you didn't see. That's it, Vince. I got him. Hold her tight, Vince. I'll remember that thing. Grab onto him. Come on, you. Get off that saddle. Hold that rope tight so he can't raise his arm with guns. You better take your hands away. Now hold him. Come on, you. Swing out of that saddle, or I'll shoot. And I'll shoot to kill. 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 to review our story. When the Lone Ranger left his secret meeting at midnight, two men acting on orders of one they called Boss waited where the trail led through a clump of cottonwoods. The masked man rained up in order to avoid being swept from the saddle by a rope that had been stretched in his path, but a noose dropped over his head and a sudden pull tightened that noose, hanging his arm so they could barely move. Vince, hell, the rope taught while Rankin clutched at the Lone Ranger's belt. Come on, you. Swing out of that saddle, or I'll shoot. And I'll shoot to kill. Add him, shall we? Get off that horse! Come on, boy, add him! Get back here! Silver began a fighting demon rearing high and lashing at the woodpeak captors with his hooves. The men gave ground and news grew slack around the masked man's waist. Get rid of that. Come on, Vince! This way! Soon after leaving Vince and Rankin somewhere in the woods, the Lone Ranger reached a small camp where Tonto was waiting. It took but a few moments to tell about his meeting in the railroad car and the subsequent encounter in the woods. You will not go after Follers? No, I didn't, Tonto. Maybe then get you from Manbush, huh? It wasn't that. I didn't want to risk losing the letter the general gave me. Oh, that's right. The letter tells how a government secret agent can be identified. You think Follers Polly are here? They do. Silver will give the alarm. Uh-huh. He warned me when I was saying good night to the general. I didn't realize it. I thought he was just restless. When you read the letter? You can build up that fire a little bit. I'll read it now, then we'll burn it. No, I've got a big fire. They wanted to leave the... Tonto! What matter? The letter. Tonto, it's gone. Gone? You sure? Yes, I had it in this pocket. One of those men was tugging on my belt. That must have been when he took the letter. Maybe the letter fall from pocket. It couldn't have. It was taken from that pocket and we've got together back before it's red. Fill that water on the fire and grab your horse. Uh-huh. We'll leave blankets and other things here. Yes, study there, silver easy. Be ready. Come on, then, Tonto. Come on, Silver! Silver! Silver! Silver! This is where it happened, Tonto. There's the rope that was supposed to take me out of the saddle. Uh-huh. It's... It's quite dark here. Yes, give me your knife. I'll cut this rope down so it won't break someone's neck. Here, your knife. Thanks, you misubby. There. Which way then, Tonto? Hey, run over that way. I don't know whether they had horses waiting nearby or not. Oh, tracks. Pretty hard to follow. Nevertheless, we've got to follow them. We've got to overtake those men and get the letter back. If they've read that letter, we... Then what we do? I... I don't know, Tonto. We've got to be sure of one thing. We've got to be sure that the identity of the federal man does not become known. Ah. Leave the horses here and see what we can do about the trail. It took all of the combined skill of the Lone Ranger and Tonto to follow the trail in the dim starlight that filtered through the cotton woods. At times, they moved on hands and knees and paused frequently to strike matches, shielding the light carefully to look for indentations in the ground or freshly broken twigs that would indicate that Benson Rankin had gone ahead. In the meantime, the attackers thought themselves quite safe in an arroyo. Are you sure this is where the boss said he'd meet us? You'll be here, Vince. I'll take it easy. What's worrying you, anyway? Ah. I don't feel a darn sight better if that masked hombre hadn't got away. Maybe it's just as well he did. We don't have to worry about handling the prisoner. If it hadn't been for that door-going horse, it isn't... Oh, stop crying over spilled milk and built me bust up some twigs. What are you doing that for? You ain't going to build a fire, are you? Yeah. Small one. How did it be seen? Not down here in the bottom on the royal. Anyhow, we won't have it going more in a couple of minutes. What do you want with the fire? Aim to know what we stole. That envelope? The same. The boss was done right anxious to get his hands on it. Maybe it's worth a lot more than he's paying us. Ah. You plan to try and collect more from him. Maybe. Information don't hurt a man. You, uh, got a match beans? Yeah. And we got enough twigs here. They'll last while I read the letter. Let's start them burning. All right. I don't know if we're doing the right thing, Rankin. Me? I don't like to risk making the boss sorters. He didn't say anything about not reading the letter. He just said we was to get it and have it here by the time he showed up. How'd he know that masked man had come for it? I don't know. Yeah. That fire's burning bright enough to read by. Go ahead and read the letter and we can put her out. Yeah. Yeah. Sure looks important. Look at all that ceiling wax on the envelope. Ah. Come on. Hurry up, Rankin. Will you? That masked man has problem on the look for as he might see the fire. We'd hear his horse if he was coming this way. Man, there's a lot of writing here. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah, just smooth it out. Hey, come on. Hey, come on. Get my mail out. Let me go. Vince, get your gun. I can't. I need it. I need it for you. You're asking for trouble. This is for you. You. I'll fix them. Yes. They both have. Look, matter in fire. Oh, get it. It just started to burn. Huh. Good thing you saw it when you did, Toto. The man who knows the contents of this letter is the man who wrote it. Him, secret worker? Yes. Me put fire out now? Just a minute. Let me see how much of this letter is destroyed. It burns a lower pot. Yes, the signature's gone. Much more burned? It doesn't seem to be much missing. I'm going to read this now before it's lost again and I'll burn the rest of it. In the meantime, Toto, see if you can find some rope and tie those two before they regain consciousness. Ah. There are horses over here. Maybe rope and sabotage. If you don't find rope, take your knife and cut up some of their clothes. While Toto tied Vince and Rankin, the Lone Ranger held the letter close to the small fire and read it carefully and memorizing the contents. I will at all times be somewhere near the stagecoach that carries your. It will be better if you and I work separately as much as possible. A silver bullet. You will be wearing a silver bullet. And there the letter ended. There had been more, but the rest was gone. Couldn't be much more. Wearing a silver bullet. Securious expression. What do you mean? What you say? Toto, a man were to identify is going to be wearing a silver bullet. Oh. Maybe he mean in gun belt, huh? Possibly. He could wear a bullet tied to his watch fob or even around his neck. Uh-huh. Uh, you tear up letter? Yes. I was told to destroy it as soon as I'd read it. I'll burn these pieces. These fellas tied plenty tight now. All right, Toto. You better stay here with them. I'll go back and get the horses and I'll get someone to take charge of these two. They might be able to give us some information. Not right. It's possible that they could tell what happened to the previous shipments of ore. I'll go back and report to the general. He can send some of his staff. That's good. I'll be back as soon as possible. After the Lone Ranger had left, Toto kept the fire in the arroyo burning brightly to serve as a beacon for the masked man's return. He sat in the shadows watching the captured men regain consciousness and enjoyed their surprise at finding themselves prisoners. But Toto's simple pleasure was short-lived. The tall, lean figure that approached in the darkness made no more noise than a shadow as he crept up behind the Indian. Vince saw him, but he gave no sign. Then Rankin's face underwent a slight change of expression that telegraphed a message to Toto. He started to turn, but too late, the barrel of a heavy gun crashed against his head with stunning force. When the Lone Ranger and two men from the General's party reached the arroyo, they found the fire reduced to a bed of glowing embers. Toto said he'd keep this fire burning brightly. I wonder if anything has happened to him. You're over here. Keep us out of it. Toto. Well, what's happened? We're the prisoners. I mean, he tires. I see you are. I'll cut those ropes right away. You said there were prisoners. There were. There. Toto. What's happened? Are you hurt? They get hit on head. They go unconscious. How did it happen? Who did it? Toto told us. There were so many prisoners. We saw a fellow named Rankin. All of a sudden, look pleased. We turned to look behind, but it's too late. You have quite a bump on your head, but I don't think it's anything serious. We get conscious. We're tired like this. The prisoner's gone. Then there must have been at least three men in the party. That's right. Oh, gentlemen, I'm sorry. You'll have to tell the General that the prisoners have escaped. We'll have men start a search right away. If we find them, perhaps he can identify them. If you find them, you'll have to hold them for identification, because Toto and I will not be here. We're going west to meet a stagecoach. Do you think you can ride, Toto? You'll bring scout. He's right over there. Come on. Not good. We ride. How soon are you starting, Wes? We're going to camp right now to pick up our duffel, and then we're starting. Then when we get there, they're better. He's a big fella. Come on, Toto. Be ready. Come on, Toto. Get him up, scout. Maybe that masked man doesn't realize it, and I'm afraid he's up against a lot more than three men. Well, the Lone Ranger has embarked on a new trail that leads to his most thrilling and unusual adventure. Be sure to listen to the next broadcast and follow the masked man and Toto as they meet the enemy on the eastbound stage. The story you have just heard is a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated.