 Ranger Bill, warrior of the woodland, struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, fighting the many enemies of nature. This is the job of the guardian of the forest, Ranger Bill, pouring rain, freezing cold, blistering heat, snow, floods, bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions. Yes, all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done. This is a lazy time of year for most of us. Spring is just around the corner, and late winter is still in there punching. So we have much to do because we can't get at it. Henry, Grey Wolf, Stompy and I decided to take a ride up to Silver River Dam. Now that the weather is moderating, the construction is going full blast again. We had no particular reason for going up, but I guess we all like to play sidewalk superintendent. Also a friend of ours, Brick Finch, is chief engineer of the project. We didn't know we'd stumble into the story Penny Wise and Pound Foolish. I don't see how they can do it. Do what, pal? Build a dam across this canyon and expect it to hold millions of tons of water? Well, it shouldn't be too much of a mystery to you after studying physics and school. Yeah, I know, but it seems so fantastic. Why, a guy sits down with a pencil and some paper, and a couple of months later he's got it all figured out. A big piece of concrete and steel weighing so much and so wide at the bottom and the top will hold back a certain gigantic amount of water. And then those construction crews come out here and they start from scratch and all they've got to go on is a blueprint. A year or so goes by and the dam is done. And it works. Now the way you put it makes it sound fantastic, all right? And you're right. Engineering science is amazing. That's great truth. Yep, I'll say it is. Out of them fellers know it'll work when they're through. Under the man working last and finishing up. Know that everything will be just the right size and fit just so. But it always does. You know, fellas, it all adds up to just one important fact. Faith. Faith? Yeah. The engineer has faith that he was taught proper engineering principles. The draftsman has faith that the engineer is giving him the right statistics. The construction boss has faith that the draftsman knows his business. Concrete men have faith that the steel men have set the reinforcing correctly and so on down the line. The man who throws the first switch to make the first test run. You speak great truth, Bill. It is faith. Men have faith in other men, but they not have faith in God. Right. Even though God is perfect and he knows all knowledge and sees all things past, present, and future. May I join this philosopher's club? Hi, Rick. Hi. We were just mixing a little theology and philosophy. I kind of thought so. I could tell by the look on your faces. And where were you that you could see the look on our faces? It's nothing but thin air from here to the bottom of the canyon. Oh, a little gadget called a field glass. Remember here of it? Keep funny. We thought maybe you had an eagle eye. Well, I saw you up here in the sidewalk superintendent's box and got nosy. When I saw him as you, I came up quick like a bunny. How are you fellas anyhow? Oh, well, and lazy, Rick. How's yourself? Oh, just fine. Working myself to death, but otherwise, I'm okay. Trying to make up for lost time? Oh, you said it. We had a rough winter and it really slowed us down. Hey, look at those motors that trucks bring in it. Why? I've never seen them that big. Those are my pride and joy. What do you mean, Rick? Did you design them? Oh, no, I'm no electrical engineer, Bill. I'm talking about the price I got on those motors. Oh. Must have made a good buy to be so pleased about it. A good buy? Man, I got those motors for a song. Brand new, too. Save the taxpayers a lot of money. Well, in that case, let's go down and see how much money you saved us. Mutes, aren't they, Joe? We've got three more to bring in. Well, what a lot. I can imagine. What do you think of them, fellas? Well, they look shiny and pretty, but what I know about electric motors is you can stick in your eye. Yeah, me, too. Far as these big jobs are concerned. Well, they're no different than a small electric motor, Henry. Just multiply the factors and add more structural material and wire and you've got a giant. What's your mule power on these, honey? 5,000 horsepower, old-timer. Now, I don't know how to figure out mules. I thought I had you stumped for a minute, but you're shrewd, fella, all right. How much you save on motors? $1,100 a piece. Not for the batch, but a piece. $1,100 each? Yeah, pretty good, huh? I don't know, Rick. I'm a ranger, not an engineer. Hope you're not making a mistake. A mistake? Well, how could $1,100 savings be a mistake? You're the engineer. You say they're okay, then that's it. But it seems like they must have cheated somewhere along the line to sell them for that much less. Oh, no, no. This is a big outfit that makes them. They assembly-line everything and cuts costs that way. They pass on the savings to the buyer rather than make an enormous profit. You know your business, friend. Hey, he's getting late. We've got to be rolling along back home. Okay. Say it sure was nice to see you, fellas, again. Drop around soon. I'm going to ride in a truck down to the warehouse. See you later. All right, Rick. Okay, Joe, let's roll these beauties down to the warehouse. Footing's ready for the first motor, Rick. Fine, fine. Good work, Jim. Set her in when you're ready. Okay, Matt. Easy does it. Nice work, Jim. It's not every man that can set a motor this size in the first try. It takes teamwork, boss. Matt can handle that train like a baby handles a rattle. Yes, I noticed that. I guess you could put that hook in your pocket without tearing a claw. I'll have the electricians connect up the power and test that motor, tested by lifting the gate. Right. That floodgate weighs plenty. We'll soon find out what these motors are made of. Ready soon, Chet? Yep. About two seconds and we'll be ready to try this one. She looks good. Or to be able to lift the gate, all right? Yeah. Like taking candy out of a baby. How come you didn't throw the switch in a pit? I wanted to try the panel control. I got to make sure the whole circuit's working okay. Good idea. Here it goes. Sounds good. Throw the lifting device in gear. That gate isn't working right. I'm cutting it off. It's not connected yet. I'll have to go down to the main box. Let's go down and look, Jim. She doesn't look very pretty now, Rick. What a wild one she was. That's the understatement of the year. It's a good thing we were far enough to wait to duck the shrapnel. She sprayed steel like a machine gun. How come the emergency cutoff didn't work, Chet? I didn't think we'd need it for one motor. Yeah, you're right. We shouldn't have. Well, I think this is an isolated accident. This is one in a million. I'm sure you're right, Rick. Every once in a while, a motor runs wild. We've had our turn and I think the rest will be all right from here on in. Well, I better be. I've ordered three more motors for the dam on South Fork. Hey, it looks like the fellas down South are their hands full. Floods. They're a machine that's sure working overtime these days. But it doesn't concern us yet. We're sorry for... Well, pretty soon now, flood starts. The snow begins to melt. And then we get much rain. We have more water than we know what to do with. That's right, Gray Wolf. The shady river will be going on the rampage and they won't see our beds for a week. Hey, here comes a hot bulletin. Hey, we're getting emergency standby orders. They sure are. Just as sure as we're standing here. We're on 24 hours standby alert just in case we're needed in the flood area or somewhere else. Thunderstruck luck, fellas. Hi, Rick. Hi, P.C. is together. Well, I had to come downtown on business so I thought I'd stop by and visit a few minutes. That's about all the time we can give you, friend. Henry, put the coffee pot on. We'll have a couple months. You don't make a joke, either. Not real months. How'd the accident turn out yesterday, Brick? What? How'd you find out? Secret service. He can find out most anything he wants to know. Yeah, I believe it. I thought the accident was a pretty closely guarded secret. Not that I made it so, but with so much noise from the construction, I didn't think anyone noticed it. I'm sorry I shocked you, Brick. They just spilled the coffee. Henry, please get something to wipe off his trousers. Sure. Glad to. Here, I pour you one more cup of coffee, Rick. Thanks, Grey Wolf. Boy, you could've knocked me over with a feather. It's a small world. It sure is. Small and crowded at times. Here you are. Thanks. Now, I don't know what made the motor go wild and blow up. That is, I know the theory of it, but I don't know what the defect was. Perhaps the motor was just a lemon. Sometimes that happened. Anyone hurt? No, no, thankful for that. You know, the most astounding thing about the accident is that I inspected the motors just before I signed for them. And they were inspected at the factory. I guess it's just one of those things, Brick. Will the manufacturer make good? Oh, yes, yes. There's a guarantee with the motors. Well, go ahead and say it. Say what, young feller? Give me the, I told you so story. Oh, that isn't what I had in mind, Brick. I was thinking more along the line of penny-wise and pound-foolish. Listen, you fellas stick to trees and related subjects. I'll stick to motors and engineering. I bought a lot of motors and machines for the state and federal government in my time, and they've all been good. Just because I ran across one bad apple is no reason to hang me. You know the old saying, Sonny. What saying, Stumpy? A bad apple can spoil the whole barrel full. Well, time's up for the gin music, fellas. We gotta get our gear and man ready for 24-hour call. Well, when this blows over, you fellas come up and see me. I want you to be there for the big test. Oh, what test is that, Brick? When we turn all the motors on from the master control panel and raise the floodgates. Where's the boss, Jim? Over at the North Folk Dam. Did you say where to put these motors? He wants them over there. I guess he's ready to install them soon. Good enough. Well, I'll get this jambarone over there. Okay, Joe. See you again. Right. Hey, Winch. Take it up easy now. Okay, Chet. Look up the power and the lifting mechanism and we'll try this motor. Give us half an hour and we'll be ready. Good enough. I'll be back in half an hour. Okay, Chet. Throw it in gear and raise the gate. Right. She's running well. Okay, okay. I'll find out what's wrong. If I can't, I'll cut the power. What do you think, boss? I don't know, Chet. I can't find the trouble. Hey, what's wrong down there? Where'd you come from? Emergency light went out when you pulled the power box. I came hot-footing it over here. You and Chet all right? Oh, yeah, yeah, we are. But the motor's got a stomach ache or something. Maybe heartburn. Well, I'm calling the factory and having sent out one of their engineers right now. Did the factory engineer find out what's wrong with the motors? Yes, he did, Jim. The voltage regulator was on the fritz. That doesn't tell me a thing, boss. I'm sorry. The device that had just the motor voltage to the load acted up. It put a higher voltage on the motor for heavier loads, but as soon as the load was taken off, it didn't reduce the voltage. So the motor started running wild. Like a jam gas pedal on a car, huh? Exactly. He's going to put new devices on all the motors and then we'll be in business. It's a good thing he found out what's wrong. I'm glad it's a simple problem. Yeah, so am I. Even on the best machinery and the most carefully inspected this can happen. It might be the change in humidity or something like that, the affected part and made it function abnormally. Yeah, it could be. Well, I'd better get back in the job. Okay, I'm going in town for a while. I'll be back by evening. Well, that's a whole story, fellas. Boy, am I glad. Glad for what? That you didn't find out you made a mistake? Well, the problem was simple. Well, both stumpy. I just had to tell somebody and I didn't want the men to know I had a case of jitters for the while. Jitters over what, Brink? Well, when I was down in the pit there working on the second bad motor, I kept thinking of an old proverb. Go on. Pennywise and pound foolish kept going through my mind. We're glad you found out what's wrong. The rest of the motor should be all right now, huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. That'll work like clocks now. Oh, that good news. How long before dam is finished? Oh, about three weeks we'll have the Silver River Gates finished and the motor set. I'll call you fellas up when we're ready. Hope you'll come. We're glad to come and see dam go into official operation. Yeah, I'll say. Boy, those things fascinate me, no end. That goes for the rest of us, Brick. We'll be there just as soon as you let us know when the day is. And we get off this 24-hour alert. Oh, the flood's still raging down south? No, the peak has passed. It's subsiding. Well, that's fine. Well, I gotta be running along. See you fellas in about three weeks. Well, maybe we were wrong, huh? Sort of looks like it, sonny. Maybe Brick really got himself a good buy on those motors. Yeah, I think so. Don't you, Bill? If they were used motors, perhaps, but I still think $1,100 below competitive prices is a lot of money in anybody's bank. Maybe you speak great truth and hard to say now. Why'd you cut me off before if you feel this way about Brick's tremendous buy? Because I like to see a man happy with himself, Henry. I don't follow you. Maybe if we'd let him know how we feel, it might save you some grief later on. Perhaps you're right, but in this case, I don't think so well. Brick plenty pleased with himself when he came here. Yeah. Why do you think he came all the way into town today? You might have something there, but why did he have to tell us, special? To prove to us that he was right in making the purchase. Oh, because he figured we were his critics? Yeah. Pal, we all live on an egocentric basis. Most of us handle our ego in normal portions, but it's the fuel that drives us on. We want to make good for our own sake and to prove it to others, but mostly for our own sake to replenish our fuel supply, especially after we've had considerable discouragement. You figured that Brick had been through enough with two bad motors, but wasn't any sense in us adding to his grief? Right. It would have been cruel for us to cut him down. He was riding high, and he needed that lift to give him zest to continue. You see, Brick isn't a Christian. Oh, he says he is, but he's never made a testimony to that fact. He doesn't have the reserve to go on in adversity. Namely, the Lord's help. We depend on the Lord to give us strength when we're knocked down repeatedly. But Brick only has human reserve. Oh, well, I understand now why you cut me off. I'm glad you do. It took a long time to explain it, pal. But I want you to really know and understand why. And also, there's the fact that we're not engineers. We really don't know anything about those motors. Yeah, you're right. Oh, this is true, but there's an old proverb that Brick overlooked a might. What proverb, old timer? The proof of the pudding is in the eaten. Well, boss, we're doing it. We'll finish two days ahead of deadline. Yes, and the thanks goes to you and your men, Jim. Without the wonderful teamwork, I'd have been licked. Thanks, Brick. Oh, not at all. Tell the boys the bonus money, it'll be ready for them on payday. Okay, they'll light that piece of news. It'll take us a week to get all that heavy equipment and gear out of here. Tear down the shacks and warehouses. Right. We've got to leave this place clean as a whistle. Burn all the junk down. There's a whistle. Burn all the junk lumber and have the sweeping machines clean off the top of the dam on the road. Sure thing. You'll be able to eat off the concrete after we get it cleaned up. Fine, fine. When are we going to finish the open the dam? Well, the official ceremony will be in a month when all the VIPs come up here. However, we're going to start the flood gates and generator operation in three days. Sort of our own private official opening, huh, boss? Yeah, sort of. We've got to get the dam in operation as quickly as we can to bring flood problems just around the first bend in the river. Do I have to wear my Sunday suit for the private opening? Oh, no, no. Your overalls will do. I'll make it a clean pair just for the occasion. Oh, Bill, this is Brick. Oh, how are you, Brick? I'm fine. Say, you fell us off the 24-hour alert. Yeah, business. And how? Can you be up here on Friday? We have to walk all the way. Great. I'll expect you about noon. We'll be there. You're welcome. See you on Friday. So long. Goodbye. This is rising pretty fast now. Yes. But it'll go down some as soon as we open the water ducts that run to the turbines and start generating electricity. Of course, if the water gets too high, we'll open the flood gates and spill it out. Silver River Dam will sure help control floods in the country below. Ah, that's right. Silver River, a great flood maker in time past. Even my father, Black Wolf, knows Silver River floods. Yeah, sure. See? When are you going to see the fireworks? Right now. It's time for the boys to raise the flood gates and spill the water. Hey, there they go. I can see the water gushing out now. Hey, wait until they open all the way. You'll really see water come on. Man, you're not joking, are you? Tons and tons of water are spilling out like coming from a giant fire hose. Hey, the gates are all the way up now. Boy, you sure can see good from here. But those men run to one gate. Hey, yeah, something's wrong over there, Brick. No, they're running away from the spot as fast as they can go. Come on, it looks like I've got a wild motor in my hands. Any other way you can stop it? How about the fuse box? No, no, I need a tool to pull a fuse. I can't do it by hand. Can't you connect the lifting device, work the motor until you can cut the power? Oh, it's gone too far for that. You can't go down it. The tumor is strapped and it'll be sprayed all over the place. I'll see you later. Brick, you can't go down there. What emergency power switch? I don't know. You fellas try and find it. I'm going down to help Brick. Bill, come back! That's why the emergency power... Come on from this world. Thanks, Bill. You saved my life. Forget it, Brick. Let's get out of this pit and go sit down somewhere. How'd you do it, Bill? Why, we were still 100 feet from the emergency cut-off when we heard the motor quit and died down. He shot out the fuse box with his revolver. Well, that quick thinking on your part, Bill. Who shot at young fella? Another man? Well, it settles it. I'm through being penny-wise and pound foolish. These motors are going back and I'm buying good ones. And Brick did just that too. He bought good motors and they work fine. It's too bad Brick had to learn the hard way. Those motors almost cost him his life. Well, see you next week for more adventure with... Fellas and gals, Ranger Bill again, stepping in here for less than a minute to invite all of you out there to another half-hour of adventure next week at this special spot on your radio dial. We've gathered a pile of stories for you with mystery and adventure and all kinds of excitement and we don't want you to miss a single one. So next time, call up your friends or get together with them and join all of us Rangers for a session of fighting forest fires, grappling with grizzly bears or just plain trying to help somebody out. We're sure you'll enjoy the story and you might just learn something that'll be of real help to you in later life. So next week, be sure to listen.