 horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty hyo silver, the lone ranger. With his faithful Indian companion, Toto, 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 yester year. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse silver. The lone ranger rides again. Gold was discovered in the hills north of Snake River. Men headed there from all parts of the west. Prospectors built flimsy cabins in the hills and near the river's banks and the settlement was called Orville. At the extreme end of the main street, a shack had been built by young Tom Spencer and his wife Ruth. This was the newspaper that Tom Spencer called the Orville Sentinel, and the Sentinel together with its owner became an object for ridicule by the lawless element. Red Estee, the cafe owner, laughed as he talked to his two crooked cohorts, Oak Wetzel and Pug Vernon, both of whom had arrived in Orville that day. Imagine, these people start a paper in a town where maybe five or six people will bother to read. Row with Orville, the paper says. What a lad. We don't have a bank or a school or even a law officer. This young whippersnappy. Hey, wait a minute. He said they have no lawman here. That's right, Oakie. It's why I sent for you and Pug. This sounds good. It's going to be good. Most of the men you see around the cafe are my boys. When things really begin to boom, they'll be in the spot to take over the suckers that kill me. Leave it to you, Red, to look into future things. Yeah. But here's why I want you to. A lot of these prospectors in the hills have hit it rich. They don't have time to come to town. All they do is stash their gold away. I want you boys to get as much of that gold as possible. It'll be easy. During the next few months, more and more prospectors poured into the hills around Orville and with their coming lawlessness increased. The greatest losses were suffered by the prospectors who were robbed of their hard earned gold by two men who attacked them in their lonely cabins or at their diggings. Tom Spencer, young editor of the Orville Sentinel, poured out indignant columns in his newspapers. But as he said to his wife Ruth and his neighbor, Dr. Niles Ross. What good does it do getting indignant? No one reads my paper except perhaps the crooks I write about and complain about. They do it to laugh. Oh, that's not true, Tom. A great many people read the Sentinel. You're wise right, Tom. Don't get discouraged. You wrote to Marshal Millen down to Grand City, didn't you? Yes, I asked him to suggest some man who'd take the job as sheriff. A good man who'll clean out places like Estes and who'll put an end to robbery and mayhem. The Marshal will find the man, Tom. Be sure of that. I hope so. Something must be done and we can't wait longer. At that moment, the Lone Ranger and Toto were riding the hills toward the scene of the gold strike. The Masked Man's thoughts were the same as those of Tom Spencer and Dr. Ross. Toto, Orville will become the most lawless community in the West unless steps are taken soon. Ah, stories we hear. Not good. Wherever there's gold, you'll find crooks. And until Orville sets up the law-enforcing office, it'll be all right. You need to go after those crooks. If we move a little faster, Toto, we'll be able to make the outskirts of Orville by midnight. Come on, Silly! Late that afternoon, Red Estee met with Oak Wetzel and Pug Vernon in his office at the rear of the cafe. Boys, I received some news today that knocked me right out of a saddle. What kind of news, Red? You know that bunch of Chinese that set up diggings on the north side of the hill? Well, sure. They have a bunch of cabins down by the river. What an outfit they are. Yeah. They've dug more gold than anybody else around these parts. Huh? You're crazy, Red. What do they know about gold mining? They know how to work. That seems to be the answer. Jed Lansing, down at the general store, took them out a lot of provisions. He got talking with one of them. Yeah, according to Jed, one of them speaks English. Fell up by the name of Lum. Sue Lum, he's called. He must be the one I saw down at the Spencer's newspaper office. He's the one that does all the talking and all the business for him. He's the one who stashes away all the gold they dug. Jed Lansing told me. Hey, they don't carry guns either, do they? No. They're against that. So, yeah, see how it is. You want us to get their gold? Yes. Their colony is set off by itself out near the river. Sue Lum's cabin is the last one near the water. Take your horses tonight and ride out there along the shoreline. Leave your horses in that scrub brush along the water. It was after midnight when Oak Wetzel and Pugburn and dismounted and left their horses waiting in the underbrush that skirted the river. Then assured that there was no one acting as guard in the Chinese colony, the men began to approach the roll of tumbledown shacks a short distance away. Come on, Pug. Meanwhile, the lone ranger and Tahoe drew rain in the hills. They dismounted and prepared to camp for the night. The moon was full and the masked man walked to a spot where he could see the river below. As he watched, he saw two figures emerge from the brush at the river's edge and begin to slink in a fritted manner toward a cabin. Pato, come here. Look down there. See those men? They seem to be up to no good. Then sneak up to cabin and look, Kimusavi, see men on the outside. Yes, he holds a gun. Pato, we're going down there. Kimusavi, we ride there and hear horses and get away before we reach them. I realize that. We leave our horses here and go down on foot. We try to take them by surprise. Let's go. A short time later, the masked man and the Indian, after making their way down from the hills, approached the rule of cabins where they had seen the two men. Then they heard two shots from the cabin nearest the river. At almost the same moment, the cabin door opened and two men rushed out and ran toward the river. Pato, those are the two we saw by carrying bags and they must have fired those shots. Come on, after them. The two crooks were more than 50 yards away and their horses were but a short distance from Sulam's cabin. They were astride their horses when the lone ranger and total guns drawn ran past Sulam's cabin. They paid no attention to the Chinese men who ran from the cabin shouting. Instead, the lone ranger called to total. Pato, shoot it, they'll get away. I winged one of them. He dropped his bag. But Kim, get away. Yes, they're both getting away. Too bad we didn't ride our horses. Then ride to town. Yes, perhaps they'll cross the river farther downstream and ride to Grand City. It looks now as if they're heading for Orville. We get horses right after them? Yes. First, let's recover that bag, the one man dropped and we heard those men up at the cabin. The lone ranger picked up the heavy loaded bag and brought it back to the cabin where a group of aroused Chinese were gathered around Sulam. They parted when the mask man and Indian appeared. The actions of the lone ranger had made the Orientals place immediate trust in him and Sulam told of the robbery. Crook, fellas, have come on a pace. No see face. Did they hide their faces with handkerchiefs? Yes, or same wear like you say. Take gold. Shoot Chinese fella on tongue. When on tongue, him make a fight. Me try, make a fight. Crook fella hit me on head with a gun. Me fall down. When we get up, Crook fella shoot gun, run away. So that's it. They stole your gold. Steal some? They can't be allowed to escape, Sulam. As soon as I've treated the wound of your friend on tongue, Tatl and I are going after them. After the lone ranger had treated the wound to Chinese, he and Tatl returned to their camp for their horses. Soon they were galloping along the river bank, heading in the direction the Crooks had taken. Oak Wetzel was the Crook who had been shot by the lone ranger. He and Pug Vernon, after doubling back to Orville, had gone at once to Red Estee's office, entering the cafe by a rear door. After leaving the single bag of gold on the table, Vernon joined Red Estee in treating Wetzel's wounds. Estee completed the job. That'll keep you going till Dark Ross opens up in the morning. You can go to him, man, and give him some trumped up story about how you got shot. Thanks, Red. I'll do that. Now let's hear what happened to you. How come you got shot and only have one bag of gold? We're lucky we got there. That's right. Tell him, Pug. Those Chinese had no guards outside their cabins because most of them must sleep in Suleim Shack, guarding the gold there. Must have been 15 of them when we broke in there, like finding yourself in a hornet's nest. They woke up and tried to keep us from the bags of gold. We slugged a few and shot one fellow, I'm sure. Then we grabbed the two first bags of gold we could get our hands on and made a run for. They're guns or no guns. We couldn't stand off 15 Chinese. They started to go crazy. They sure seem to have a lot of gold in the Shack. But Red did take more than two men to get at it the way they look after it. All right. We only got two bags of gold. I see only one. Where's the other? The Crooks told Red Estee about their pursuit by the Lone Ranger and Tahoe. Oak ended. One of them shot me just as I got on my horse. The gold bag fell to the ground. I couldn't get off and pick it up. That's right. He couldn't. They were getting near. Besides their shots were getting too close. Why didn't you shoot it out with them? They were behind us when we were running for the horses. And when Oak got himself shot... I'm sorry about losing that other bag, Red. That's a put I don't like. You say they have a load of gold in Suleim's cabin? The most I ever saw. Bags of it. Then we're going back after that gold. All of it? All of it? When? Now, before the night's over. Red, you're crazy. We couldn't manage it. That's what you think. I have different ideas. Those Chinese don't have guns. You're sure of that? Yeah, we made sure. But they have gold. And I have a lot of men. And all my men in the cafe have guns. We don't have to worry about that mass fella you saw. He's still up with the Chinese. We'll kill him too if we must. Now, wait, Red. I don't get this. What are you planning? I told you. To get the Chinese gold. We're going to work up my men so they'll use their guns. We're taking every man in that cafe. We're going out to where those slant eyes are. Well, what about the men outside who aren't in your gang? Whatever the crowd will do, they'll do. You and Oak go into the cafe and start an Indian nation meeting. I'll tell you what to say. You just speak hot and loud. I know how mobs act. When you're finished, they'll want to kill every Chinese that's out of San Francisco. Boys, this could be bigger than an Indian massacre. The curtain falls on the first act of our Lone Ranger adventure. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. Now to continue. The Lone Ranger and Tutto following the crook's trail arrived at the end of the short main street that ran through Orville. They dismounted and left their horses in a grove of trees. The masked man noticed a light burning inside the last shack in the settlement. The moonlight revealed the sign above the front door. The Orville Sentinel. Tutto, the young fellow who publishes that paper, Tom Spencer, is going to become an important man in the West. You say him have good newspaper. Yes, he does. Perhaps we'll visit him before we leave. What you do now, Kimosabi? The only horses I see are at the hitching post in front of that building at the other end of the street. It must be the cafe. They go there and look for crooks? Yes. They walk to the rear of these buildings until we get there. And I'll decide what action to take. Here we are, Tutto. It's a cafe, all right. You can see, Kimosabi. Window at back. Open. Yes. Let's go there. Perhaps we'll be able to look over the place without being seen. You can see inside from here, Tutto. What's this? Everybody's there together. Big crowd, one place. One standing on the bar, asking for silence. And Tutto, there's another man who's been lifted up beside him. See? His arm is bandaged. It's in a sling. Ah, maybe him man, you shoot at river. Yes, perhaps it is. Inside the cafe, Red Estes stood to the rear of the crowd that had gathered around the bar at the raucous request of Pug Vernon. Vernon stood atop the bar, and Oak Wetzel stood beside him. Finally, the noise subsided and Pug began to speak. We all know what a big menace those Chinese out on the river become. You've probably heard how they've been jumping claims of stealing gold. Now they've planned to murder us. They're plotting right now to kill every white man on the hills and on the river. You don't know that show, Pug. I don't know. Pug knows. He tried to kill me, but they got away. I was shot tonight and left but dead. While I made believe I was dead, I heard those yellow men plotting. They're going to march into town tomorrow afternoon. The lone ranger was serious as he backed away from the window of the cafe. Thought of those men are liars. They know as we know the Chinese in and around Orville are hard workers and peaceful. They don't even carry guns for protection. Me know, King Pug. I'm convinced those men who were speaking were the two we chased tonight. That's what me think. They've got bandages in their arms. He can make up story how the Chinese shoot them. I think their plan is to use a mob as a front. They really intend to go back and steal the money they couldn't get earlier tonight. We must stop this mob from leaving Orville for the Chinese colony. Hello. Right out there at once. Tell Suleim what's happening here. Have him hide his friends in the money. Then cross the river and ride to Grand City. You want me to get Marshall there? Yes. Marshall Millen is a good officer. He knows we've helped him in the past. Ask him to enlist a posse and get here as soon as possible. Me go, Kimusubby. Take shortcut to Grand City. Good. I'm going to the newspaper office. I hope Tom Spencer will be able to help me. Tato rode off for the Chinese colony and the lone ranger hurried to the office of the Orville Sentinel. When he entered the one room building, he saw a man and woman intent on writing at a large desk. They dropped their pencils on the table and leaked to their feet in alarm when they saw the mask man. Who are you? What do you want? Please don't be alarmed. I have reasons for wearing this mask. But I haven't time to explain them now. Are you Tom Spencer? Yes. What do you want? Your help, Spencer. Your help and the help of any decent man in or near Orville. Unless we act, there might be a mass murder tonight. No. What are you talking about? The lone ranger told of the mob being formed at Red Estee's cafe and concluded. Although my friend Tato has gone to warn them, they still may not be safe. You're right. Unless we do something now, no one will be safe in the future. They use prejudice to rob the Chinese now and perhaps to murder them. Later on, they'll use the same tactic to rob other people regardless of race. That's usually the way. But we haven't time to discuss reasons and possibilities. What we want now are a few good men who will not be afraid to use guns against a mob. Tom, Dr. Ross will help. Sure he will. Dr. Ross's office is only a short distance from here. There's also Jed Lansing and his son Ed. They sleep in back of the general store. I'll ride up into the hills and get the prospect as we know to be on our side. I'll go right now. Get the men you mentioned, Spencer. Have them come here. I'll hurry back to the cafe and see what's happening there. When the lone ranger reached the rear of the cafe a few minutes later, he could hear Oak Wetzel still haranguing the mob in the cafe. Inside the cafe, Wetzel stood alone atop the bar talking to the man who'd heard his tirade. You'll follow me there, boys, and get rid of those murdering Chinese men. First we'll get my gun, man. I've got to get mine. All right, then. Get your guns, everybody. Take ropes too. We may need them. We'll start off from here in a few minutes. We want to get this thing over before dawn. It's either us or the Chinese. And we don't want it to be us. That lone ranger's attention was diverted to another window, this one revealing the interior of Red Estee's office. Estee was inside talking with Pug Vernon. Cautiously, the lone ranger walked to the door that was a rear exit from the office. There, he placed his ear against a crack in the door and listened. And in his office, Red Estee hefted the bag of stolen gold and talked to Pug Vernon at the same time. You did a good job, Pug, you and Oak. Let him lead the mob out to the river. We'll ride behind him and be ready to move in on the money shack once the mob takes over and chases the Chinese into the hill. Yeah, I know where the money's kept. Too bad we didn't have more men with us before. We can have made off with a whole pile of bags. We'll get it all this time, Pug, don't worry. You've made a lot of money, Red, from the jobs Oak and I have been doing around the Oval. You haven't done too bad yourselves. You'll be rich with your cut from the Chinese gold. Are you going to give us our split on everything then? Yeah. And don't always be worrying about that money I owe you. Everything you've stolen is right over there in that big safe. The marshal of my grand city will be glad to know that. Hey, what did you get into? You're covered both of you. Move and I'll shoot. Take it easy, stranger. We're not moving. What's the play? I'll take your gun, Lester. And I'll tell you. Well, yeah, have my gun? Yes. Are yours, Pug? That's it. Red, the boys are starting off. I hear them. Don't know why. Quickly, out the rear door. Both of you. Hey, what for? Move, I say. You don't have to do what he says, Pug. Yeah, we'll move it. Now that Roger walked fast before that mob out front forms, we're going to the Sentinel office. Faster! What's this? A lone ranger pushed Red Estee and Pug Vernon into the office. Get in there. Where Tom Spencer stood with Dr. Ross and Jed and Ed Lansing. All men carried guns. Lock them in that closet over there. I'll explain later. The mob is forming. It'll pass you any minute. Have your guns ready and let me handle this. All right. Then Pug Vernon were shoved into the closet without question, and the heavy door that could not be broken was locked behind them. Then the four men stepped outside into the night. Guns ready. There in the shadows, all of you. They'll have to march in the direct light of that full moon. Look, here they come now. Ready, Dr. Hare, with two guns. What about you, Jed and Ed? We're with you. Don't worry. They'll not expect this. Be at ease passing here. Remember that. You also remember that all mobs are cowardly. Oak Wetzel walked slightly in front of the mob as it paraded along the moonlit street past the office of the Orville Sentinel. Suddenly there was an outburst of shots above his head and that of the crowd. All right. Stop right there, all of you. Hey, what? The masked man. Boys, get him. Leave the guns alone. You're covered from all sides. I don't believe it. I'll show you. No. Three men had reached for their guns, and three shots from the darkness near the building had shattered their gun hands. Oh. Does anyone else want a bullet? Get your hands up, all of you. Hi. Now spread out in single file and face the other direction. I mean it. The next shot may hit a target. The mob had become a mass of unbelieving and shaking men. They had no idea how many guns were played on them from the shadows, and they saw a masked man whose flashing eyes compelled attention even as did his fast-shooting gun. They obeyed his commands immediately. All right, Spencer. You and Dr. Ross, please walk him back to those men and remove their guns from pockets and hostages. Certainly. Come on, Doctor. I'm with you. You men in the mob. You'll stay just as you are until you've been relieved with your guns. Then you'll turn, walk to the front of the building and place yourselves flat against it. Back turn. Any of you attempt a move, you'll be shot. Come this way. When Tuttle led Marshall Millen and his posse into Orville at dawn, a string sight met his eyes. In front of the Orville Sentinel, a crowd of men were standing with their faces to the wall of the building, with their hands held high against it. Four men holding guns ready stood behind them, and a masked man was speaking. Those of you who were led into this mob with a large oak wetsul and pug Vernon must know by now how wrong you were. You heard me force them to admit the truth of what I heard Vernon and Red Estee discuss in Estee's office. They're the ones who've been robbing the prospectors. Yeah, you're sure of that. Marshall Millen. I'm glad Tuttle found you and that you've arrived. Who are these men you have carried up? Most of the men back there are members of Red Estee's gang. They're either crooks or card sharps. The rest of the mob was either ignorant or befuddled. They've had their eyes opened these past few hours, Marshall. The masked man spoke to them of tolerance. Tolerance? Yes, of another man's race and beliefs. These crooks, Estee, Wetsul and Vernon had the mob attacking the Chinese merely because they were Chinese. Spencer will tell you the entire story later, Marshall. I, uh, thought you might want to know that the loot for most of the robberies around Orville is in a large safe in Estee's office. I see. These men are witness to confessions Wetsul and Vernon made while we waited for you and your posse. You'll have no trouble setting them to prison. Thanks. But I'll leave that part to the new sheriff I brought with me in response to a letter from Tom Spencer. Then everything is under the best control now. Not who you and I are needed any longer. Good people of Orville have a great future ahead of them. Good luck with your papers, Spencer. Good luck to you and thanks. Thanks for everything. He's a great man, that one. I'm sure the Chinese out on Snake River will be grateful what they hear what he did for them. He's done a great deal for everyone, everywhere. I happen to know a march that he's done in the past. Ruth, you hear that? Come on outside of here. Marshall Miller knows all about the masked man. I'm so glad things have turned out like this. Marshall, is that true about the masked man? You know him? Only as the rest of you do. How do you know him now? A stranger doing good for all. You see, he's the Lone Ranger. This is a feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated, created by George W. Trendle, produced by Trendle Campbell Mule Incorporated, directed by Charles D. Livingston and edited by Fran Stryker. The part of the Lone Ranger is played by Brace Beemer.