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.
Hello boys and girls, I'm sure you recognize that sound you just heard, in fact you can
still hear it a little bit I guess, it's thunder, you know what that means, rain.
Well rain has a great deal to do with the adventure we're going to tell you about today,
rain and what happened after.
As you know I'm a forest ranger out here in the west, my job is an interesting one, sometimes
I'm called a natural resources conservationist, those big words just mean I look after the
trees and meadows and the animals and my territory is in what people used to call the wild west,
of course it isn't too wild anymore except when nature goes on a rampage, which is exactly
what happened in today's story.
It seems it rained and rained and rained until, but I see I'm getting ahead of myself,
the name of the story is, they call him a coward.
Take a look high in trees fellas, that red headed woodpecker, not see too many like this
around here, they come up north in early spring, tap tap tap.
Boy we're lucky to have a gray wolf take us on these nature hikes, yeah, so I'll get
out of school, out of the school building out in the woods, yeah, but it's still part
of our school work, yeah, gray wolf knows everything there is to know about the woods,
uh huh, say, don't you like the woods, it's not a special, you're new in town I know,
your name's Jerry isn't it, yeah, I guess you just moved here, what's your dad do, he's
dead, he died in a big fire, my mother works at the railroad lunchroom, and moved here
because she got the job here, anything else you want to know, no, I'm sorry Jerry, I didn't
realize, hey boys look down road, schoolhouse on fire, hey, come on schoolhouse on fire,
wow, look at that, look at those flames, come on Jerry let's hurry, we've got to help those
kids out of that schoolhouse, come on let's run, good work boys, move fast but don't make
children scared, take their hands two by two, that's it, two by two, hey teacher, all children
out safe, good, children all okay, now we just have to let old schoolhouse burn down,
Henry good work, good boy, keep head, keep cool, great, help keep out little children,
hey, where's Jerry, I asked where's Jerry, he not run when I call for help, he not run
when you run, he ran all right, but he ran the wrong way, he ran away because he was
scared, well all I can say is I ain't heard nothing like it in all my born days, here
you have this young fellow almost a mangrove and how old you say he was, fifteen, he's
in school with me, almost a mangrove and when all them little children was in that there
schoolhouse with the flames of roar in the region, what this here Jerry do, he run away,
I know, worse than that he run flumb away, run safer away, been gone for three days now,
everybody's out hunting up hill down there, I just hope that he's all right, that's all,
covered just about every possible place to look for, hey Stumpy, what, that big packing
box over there by the wall, looks as if, let's go over there, no sooner said than done, over
we go, here we are, I'll just bend down take a good look inside this here packing box and
see if I can, we'll come my whiskers and call me a dude if it ain't, it's Jerry, well did
you enjoy your meal, yeah thanks, we'll give you some more in a little while, I guess you
didn't have too much to eat for three days, no, Jerry, Bill and the sheriff and some other
good folks have asked me to talk to you, well I'm what they call a psychiatrist, I'm a doctor
except I don't treat you for stomach aches, I'm here to help you when you're worried or
unhappy or scared, well what I'd like to do with your permission is sort of talk things
over with you from time to time, I think maybe we can work things out so you won't be, well
so quick to get away from things and Bill and Henry and Grey Wolf and Stumpy are all
ready to help you do this, in fact they've invited you to go out and stay with them for
a while and in that way all of us can help to make things better as far as you are concerned,
does that sound like a good idea to you, Jerry?
If you say so, oh good, as a matter of fact they're waiting for you right now, let's go
out there right this minute, my car's outside and we can...
There you be Jerry, that there is the very latest tune I done wrote, in fact that's the
first time, the very first time I ever played it, don't you especially hanker after harmonica
music?
Well...
Well we come out here today to study and observe the critters of the forest, we can just forget
about the music.
All right.
Now then, let's get on with our bird watching, maybe I better explain, I ain't exactly as
technical as Grey Wolf but now you take that there bird sitting up there in that tree up
there, you see her?
Sure.
Now you might think that there bird was Robin, but she ain't, Jerry knows her she ain't,
that there bird is South American Willy Wallopus.
Funny thing about them South American Willy Wallopuses, they fly backwards.
Oh.
Yep, the South American Willy Wallopus flies backwards because don't care where it's going
but he'd like to see where it's been.
I heard that one before.
Maybe so, maybe so, yeah I just thought maybe some little foolish man like that might cheer
you up a little, all of us Bill, Grey Wolf, Henry, we all been trying to get you to feel
a little...
I know, it's no use, I don't belong here, I don't belong anywhere I guess, I'm just scared
of everything.
Oh nonsense, Jerry you're every single bit just as...
Look there, cute little rascal, look at him, sending himself giving us a once over.
All curled up there and just enjoying life as pretty as can be.
There he goes, jumping over fences, running away for dear life, scared most to death,
running away, running away from a tiny baby cute little harmless innocent garter snake.
Oh Jerry, Jerry, Jerry.
We ride pretty slow Jerry, these good horses, anyway I tell you what to do.
Yes.
Horse smart, horse know when rider is, well when rider is new rider.
Like me.
The whole reign is easy, not tight, this horse Indian trained, everybody ride Indian horse
forgets to be a good rider.
Now sit up straight, now I show you how we go to the left.
You press horse side with left knee, turn wrist a little bit to the left, there see,
easy.
Now you turn wrist straight, don't press with knee, see, now we go straight.
Horse know, you make good rider Jerry, two or three lesson you beat me.
I learned to ride when I was five years old, no saddle.
My father lift me on pony's back, show me to ride same way I show you.
Everybody learn to ride out here in the west, you like it?
I'm no good at it.
I teach you, now we stop, you do what I do, go back on reign, slow and easy, no need to
say anything.
Now, see, easy, now when we start you move hand forward a little bit and talk horse talk.
Horse talk?
You like this, see, now I show you what to do to make horse go.
First you...
No, no Grey Wolf, please let me off, let me get off and walk home, please Grey Wolf,
horses scare me, I want to get off and walk, I'm scared.
Where is hot, we need the rain, we'll be there in a minute or two.
Henry, I don't think that...
Jerry, I can't even hear you, boy, we walked about a mile and a half on a broiling hot
day just to go swimming.
We got our swimming trunks on, so when we get to the water all we have to do is just
jump in and cool off.
But Henry...
You can swim, can't you?
Yeah.
Well then, there's the old swim and all, just like the pictures in the books.
It doesn't look good though.
I don't think I...
Hell, here goes nothing.
Come on in, that water's fine, it's just right to like it.
I've swum here a million times.
In fact, Bill taught me how to swim right here.
Hey, hey, still down the bank?
Yeah, I thought you were...
Hey, Jerry!
Jerry, come back!
Jerry!
And there, Jerry, is one of the finest views in the whole world.
That's what I always say, three states.
How high are we?
Oh, not so very high, three, four thousand feet.
This time I brought Henry up here when he was a little shaver, he wouldn't believe we
were looking at three states.
He thought they should have been different colors, like on the map.
I see.
Well, time to start back.
Uh-oh.
What's wrong?
Oh, nothing to get startled about, Jerry.
It's just that I haven't been watching the times a lot later than I thought.
Practically dusk now.
By the time we get down to the timber line there, it'll be dark, pitch dark.
Do you know the way home?
Sure, blindfolded.
Let's get started, huh?
Well, you're beginning to enjoy life out here in the West, having fun, I mean?
I don't know.
I'd like to see you have a good time.
We'd like to have you with us, Jerry.
Why?
Well, because we like you, that's why.
How can you?
How can we what?
How can you like a person that's afraid of everything?
It seems the older I get, the more of a scaredy cat I get.
I know what you and Stumpy and Grey Wolf and Henry are trying to do.
You're trying to help me learn how not to be scared of things.
But no matter what you do, no matter what you do...
We like you, Jerry, and that means we're going to keep on liking you.
And if you'll just...
Bill!
Huh?
Great-O and Oll.
Yeah, watch him fly.
Not a sound, see?
Comes drifting along out of those trees just like a shadow.
Quiet as fly in the world.
Wonderful sight, old Mr. Owl.
Bill, it's dark under those trees.
I don't like the dark, especially in the woods.
I wish we were back home.
It's time to climb into the hay.
This year hot weather gets a feller all discombobulated.
Hope she ain't too hot to sleep.
I'm tired.
Me too.
How about you, Grey Wolf?
I always ready for bed when time come.
Go to bed early, get up early.
That's my motto.
Me too.
How about you, Bill?
Sure enough.
Grey Wolf, have you taken a look at the barometer on the porch?
Yes, not good.
No good what?
The barometer dropped.
Did you bust it?
When did you drop it, I mean?
No, big rain come, I think.
I agree.
Big bad rain or else I miss my guess.
Well, everybody accounted for before we aim for bed.
Where's Jerry?
He's asleep.
I just looked in on him a minute ago and there he was sound asleep.
Sound asleep.
No, no.
I'm afraid, I tell you.
Can't you understand?
Jerry, that there's just a teeny weeny little bit of a baby garter snake.
Gentle as days, it wouldn't hurt a flea.
But I'm afraid of snakes.
All kinds.
Don't make me go near it.
I hate snakes.
I don't like to get near them.
No, no.
Now we know where to start.
Tell them.
This good horse sees you to ride.
Just kick back heels and horse go fast, fast, fast.
But horses are so big.
I'm scared when they come close to me.
I don't like to get on them.
They go so fast, so big.
Hey, you just jump in while I jump in.
Water's not so deep.
Why so far?
Twitter's not so deep.
I don't like to get on them.
They go so fast, so big.
Hey, you just jump in while I jump in.
Water's not so deep.
Why so far?
Swimming's fun.
You dive when I count three now.
It's easy to swim.
It's fun to swim.
All boys like to swim, like to swim.
No, no, not me.
Water makes me shiver.
I can swim.
I don't want to.
I don't want to swim because I get frightened.
Now we'll go through these dark woods, Jerry.
Nothing to be afraid of in the wood at night.
Dark woods are friendly places.
Here we go.
I'm scared.
Oh, I'm scared.
Isn't it во comfortable here now?
Love in the woods feels a life of a necessity.
Now with your
The shore is raining.
Equinoctal rain.
Equi-what-chool.
Boy, good luck at it, will you?
Yeah.
Uh, Jerry showing any progress, do you think?
Poor fellow.
He tried and tried all of us, but nothing seems to help.
Dr. Grant, that psychiatrist, he's a try, but even he can't...
It's like we've tried everything.
No, Henry, not everything.
I begin to think we started in the wrong way.
There's one thing we haven't tried, and maybe that's what we should have started with.
In fact, I think the very next thing to do is...
Hey, hey, the emergency signal on the state radio.
I'll get it.
Bill here, okay to go ahead, over.
Bill, big trouble.
The river has risen over the bottomlands, still rising.
All inhabitants of the area evacuated except one house.
The house had confluence of river and bitter creek.
Hey, I know that house.
I've been there.
Parents injured trying to rescue their two small children.
Parents in hospital now.
Children still marooned in house, surrounded by floodwater.
Need help, urgent.
Repeat, urgent.
Over.
Okay, Cal, we'll get those children out, over and out.
You heard all that, fellas.
Now let's get ready, all of us.
It's dark, we'll need flashlights.
Gray Wolf, you get the horses ready.
With all the floodwater, we can't use the jeep.
Henry, get several coils of rope.
Stumpy, get heavy gloves and the snakebite kits.
Those bottomlands flooded, every bush will have a rattler or a cottonmouth in it.
Okay.
Hey, what about Jerry?
He'd better stay here.
We'll be fighting snakes and horses and water and darkness.
He's afraid of all of them.
Now let Jerry stay here.
No, Terry.
I heard what you said.
It's true.
I am afraid of all those things.
But I'm more afraid to stay here all by myself.
So I'm going with you.
Can't be very far now.
Right around this bend, I think.
It's hard to see her in the dark.
You all right, Jerry?
I'm all right.
Good.
Hey, the water gets any deeper, the horse will have to swim.
Hey, try not to let your horse brush against those tree branches.
Bell says it.
I know.
The ground's rising.
We're up on higher ground.
It's almost ran into Bill, the rest of them.
Hey, what are we stopping for?
This is as far as we can go with the horses.
From here, the land dips down into the platoms.
Hey, huss over there.
Hundred yards, maybe.
Light and window, huss.
Children still there.
Look at them billows arranging water, trick-stressing them.
What are we going to do now, Bill?
We'll inflate the life raft.
Spread it out and get it ready, Grey Wolf.
I do.
And we'll each take poles or a paddle and let the current take us down to the house.
Once we get there, we'll get the two youngsters up, then let the current take us to where
we can touch solid ground again.
That's a good idea.
Rubber board all spread out.
All right.
Punch here the compressed air capsule.
There, boat ready.
Good.
I figure it'll take all of us, pulling and paddling, to guide the boat.
All of us, that is, except Stumpy, you and Grey Wolf and Henry climb in and get set.
Okay.
All right, Bill.
Jerry, you stay here and mind the horses.
We'll be back before too long.
Jerry?
Yes, Bill.
All right, Bill.
Good.
I'll get in here.
Everybody ready now?
Okay, Bill.
Remember, keep aiming for the house.
All right, I'll shove off.
There.
Now keep paddling and pulling all the time.
See you later, Jerry.
Just about halfway there.
Hard to see in the dark.
The good thing is, I left that lamp in the window.
I think it's nearby at just dandy.
I think we're just about in time, Bill.
Rain coming down harder than ever.
It reminds me of the time that...
In this here curve, get mind swift.
About all the...
I can...
Bill, there's a snag up ahead.
I can see it in the water.
It's near the left, to the left.
Careful, careful.
It's no use.
We're going to slam right into it.
Get ready for trouble.
Okay.
Snag, puncture the boat.
Quick, grab onto the branches of this oak tree.
Henry.
I got out of the tree, Bill.
Stop me.
Hey, get your holes.
Here, let me out of the tree.
Gray wolf.
I act like Otter, not wolf.
Grab tree, all right?
Good.
All saved so far.
What do we do now?
If only an expert, strong swimmer could make a go of it in this curve.
I'm going to get the
rope.
Hey, no, the quadricle champion.
You know that, Bill.
Gray wolf, land animal, not water animal.
Swim okay, but I...
No, swim good.
You good swimmer, Bill.
I was.
When I got pitched out of that boat, I hanged my arm somehow.
I don't think it's broken.
Right now it's numb.
You should have swore a dare.
Well, can you hang on to the tree, okay, Bill?
Oh, sure.
It only takes one hour to get out of the tree.
I'm sure I'm not going to be any good for much else.
At least hang on to the branches of this tree.
They can pass through the monkeys.
Well, all right.
But this will not help two little ones at house.
Do we have those long ropes we brought with us?
I think they sank when that boat went down.
Or else maybe we not bring.
You're going to help us.
There isn't a single thing that we can do.
Hey, tree, move a few inches.
That fast current, it's gradually uprooting this tree.
What are we going to do?
Yeah, just hang on, son.
Just hang on.
Maybe she'll hold.
Maybe she won't.
The only thing we can do is...
Anyway, Jerry's all right.
I don't think he can see us.
He doesn't even know we're in trouble.
I've seen him.
Jasper is him.
Isn't that their flash lightning?
It looks like he's kneeling down.
Kneeling?
Yep.
Marshal, I've seen him for a second, I'd say.
Bill, I'm going to go get him.
I'm going to go get him.
I'm going to go get him, I've seen him for a second, and I'm going to say, Bill, the
tree's moving.
It's tearing loose.
I know, I know, Henry.
What do we know, Bill?
What do we do, now?
Let's wait, let's hang on.
Hang on, hang on, hey.
Bill, on the water.
Right above you!
Here, turn around, look!
Maybe it's a man eating wild amulet!
God!
I can't believe it!
Yeah, it's me, Jerry!
But Jerry!
I'll just hang onto a branch here and catch my breath for a second.
Jerry!
Don't worry about me.
I suppose I should have told you.
I can really swim okay.
I got medals in junk to prove it.
Now then, Bill, here.
I got a coil rope here, tied around my waist.
Just a second.
What?
There!
It was tied to the palm of one of the saddles.
Bill, pass the one end of this rope around me.
Right below my arm.
Gray Wolf!
Good, I do!
Right.
Now while you're doing that, I'll pass this whole coil rope twice around this big branch.
You finished Gray Wolf?
I do.
Not too tight?
No, that's just right.
You take the coil rope, as I swim toward the house, you pay it out gradually.
In this current, we don't want to have too much slack.
Jerry, are you sure that you can...
I'm sure, Bill.
I'm going to swim down to that house and get those kids.
When I jerk twice on the rope, you pull me back, okay?
But Jerry!
You ready, Gray Wolf?
Yes, but I...
Okay, here I go.
You be ready with the rope.
Go on!
There he goes!
The rope's a lot faster.
I can't take him fast.
He's a good swimmer.
He can swim like Oscar.
The best I ever...
Hey!
Huh?
Watch out!
Rope goes slack.
It's about to see what happens.
Do you think he...
Yeah, Jerry's signal.
Two jerks on rope.
Now I pull.
Oh, I wish I could see him.
I bet all that black water...
I'm pulling the rope.
Must be a heavy weight on him.
Hey, I can see him!
I can...
Yeah?
Keep pulling, Gray Wolf!
I'm pulling!
Pull!
There he is!
And it looks as if he...
Yes!
I mean...
I got a little kid under each arm.
Here, Stumpy.
Will you take one?
Sure, will I?
I was jaded!
Henry, you take the other one.
They're both okay.
They're the best little kids I ever saw.
Gray Wolf!
Yeah, Jerry?
Please listen.
I'm going to swim to the shore, to the high ground where the horses are.
What?
I'll keep the rope around my waist.
And when I get there, it's when I get on the rope, I'll be able to get on the rope.
I'll be able to get on the rope.
I'll fasten my end to the rope, the saddle horns of a couple of saddles.
In the meantime, you tie yourselves to this end of the rope.
I do.
Done what, Jerry?
When I give the signal, two jerks on the rope, just like before.
I'll start the horses and we'll have you hauled out of here in about one minute flat.
How do you know which way to swim?
All I've got to do is keep upstream, get shallow pretty soon.
And besides, when the horses hear me, they'll whinny.
I'll make it, Bill. You'll see.
Jerry, I don't know how we can ever make it.
Tom, I'll get my breath back. Here I go.
Go on. See you on the banks.
And a couple of shakes for the lambs tail.
Well, there he goes. There he goes.
The boy was afraid of everything.
The boy we call the cow.
Hmm. What a best picnic I ever went to.
Glad you'd come along, Doctor.
You want to go swimming with us later?
Yeah. And Jerry's teaching me how to dive.
Boy, is he good.
I swim like a rock, but I'll go along.
Jerry, how did all this happen?
Well, one day I happened to find a book in Henry's bookcase.
I just started reading it.
Seemed like I just couldn't stop reading.
I see. What was that book, Jerry?
It was this book. Right here.
I carry it with me all the time. My pocket. Here.
The Bible?
Yes, sir.
The Bible has been used to change many young lives,
even more radical changes than Jerry.
The Bible introduces you to the God who created you,
and once you've met him and allowed him to explain a few things to you,
your life is changed.
I hope you already know this.
Well, see you next week for more Adventure with...
Ranger Bill!
you