Ranger Bill, Warrior of the Woodland.
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.
Hi there boys and girls.
Today I'm going to tell you about an adventure that wasn't a bit like anything we'd ever
been up against before.
Just before I started to talk you heard a certain noise, and I'm pretty sure you recognized
it as the crack and whine of a rifle.
But this was a very special rifle, one with great power.
This kind of rifle is called an express rifle, probably because it shoots bullets so very
fast.
Well anyway, all of us, but especially Henry, will never forget that particular rifle.
We'll find out why in the story I call, The Secret of Seal Island.
Bill looks sad.
Bill is sad Ray.
Well, I don't like the idea of having to type out these long reports.
I'm an outdoor man anyway.
Besides, I'm not much of a typist.
And yet, all of that wouldn't matter if it wasn't that these are such unhappy reports.
Yeah, same old thing.
Yeah, same old thing, that poacher.
We'll catch him someday.
But when?
Half my men are on the trail, you've been out, I've been out, but we never even see
him.
We'll have to find that for sure.
I've got plaster casts of his tracks, photographs of his tracks.
I know those boot marks perfectly, but I've never seen his face.
He bad man.
Shoot more game?
Yeah.
No, he's unbelievable.
My men found three more grizzly carcasses today.
Three in one day.
How you know for sure this man killed all this game?
His tracks.
Plus the fact that he's an excellent shot.
Game poacher no good.
He's been shooting stuff out of season, anything he wants, whenever he wants it.
Take hide and sell, huh?
Oh sure, he's a fur hunter all right.
There's always a good market for bearskins, even though the animals are shot illegally.
Poacher very bad man.
Kill game out of season.
Kill any game he wants.
Same as stealing.
Yeah.
What gets me is that we don't even know who this man is.
Indian have a name for a man like that.
Man who killed game all time, all time, kill, kill, kill.
What's that?
You know, Luke Carrow.
Wolverine.
Oh yeah, sure.
Wolverine, only animal in the world who kill just for sake of killing.
Wolverine very fierce, smart.
Nobody ever see, hard to catch.
Meantime, he kill animal all time.
That certainly is a good description of our poacher.
Well, at least we have a name for him now, Grey Wolf.
We'll call him the Wolverine.
Not far, the top of the rim rock.
No, we keep heads down.
Yeah, I know.
And when we get to the edge, we can see the whole valley spread out before us like a map.
See, Bill, see a little pile of rocks there.
That edge.
We go there, look through binocular.
Not have to stick our heads up over top of skyline.
Good.
You see anything, Bill?
No, not yet.
I'll quarter the whole valley.
You think the Wolverine is up here?
Tracks go in, not come out.
Well, I certainly hope.
Grey Wolf.
You see?
Yeah, here, take the binoculars.
Over there on the far edge by that chimney butte.
Big man.
Big black beard.
Met him all right.
But how can we be sure it's the Wolverine?
Here, you take a look.
You see pack of furs on ground beside him.
Maybe two, maybe three bear hides.
Oh, yeah.
Nobody else have hides this time of year.
Of course.
Well, now that we've seen him, how do we get him?
We go back down, back into valley, and circle way, way around, long way.
Walk quiet, come up behind Wolverine, catch him.
But it'll take us most of the day, Grey.
He be there, he wait there, watch for a game.
We catch him.
Come on.
Here we are.
Yeah.
When we saw him, he was just on the other side of this little chimney rock.
Here's what we'll do.
When I give the signal, you run around that side, I'll run around this side.
That way we'll come on him from two sides at once.
You ready?
I'm ready.
All right.
One, two, three.
Nobody here, Bill.
So I see.
So I see.
A piece of paper stuck in cleft stick.
That's a note for us.
He left it here for us.
Well, what notes say, Bill?
Dear Ranger Bill, you're supposed to be a woodsman, but I guess you forgot that if you're
facing into the sun, then the sun glints on the glasses in your binoculars.
I saw you before you saw me.
Too bad all that long walk for nothing.
You'll never catch me, signed Wolverine.
The Wolverine.
In a good old summertime, why on earth you play that tune?
All you do is complain about the heat.
Yeah, it kind of takes my mind off of my suffering.
Hey, just fling a few more of them ice cubes into this here lemonade here, will you?
Okay.
Here you are.
Thank you.
I've done made up a tune all about how miserable I feel when she's as hot as this.
Okay.
Let's hear it.
Brother, does hot weather affect you that way?
Yep.
Please give me some more of them ice cubes.
Not many left in the bucket.
Here you are.
Thank you.
Now I've done written another tune.
Only this one is about how good I feel when she's nice and cold.
Go ahead.
The name of that one is, hooray for winter and snow and frosty weather, cause the horse
knows the way and he'll pull the sleigh and please pass the ice cubes.
Is that part of the title?
About the ice cubes, I mean.
Ah, sure.
Stumpy.
They're just art anymore.
They're all gone.
None of the refridge either.
He used them all up.
Oh, me in hot weather like this, I never can get enough ice cubes.
I wish I was sitting right on the iceberg.
Guess what I wish.
What a thing to say.
Why none of us will ever see an iceberg.
Yeah, what a life.
A hundred in the shade and no ice cubes.
Gray Wolf, do you get seasick?
Well, that Bill, you feel okay?
Sure.
And Henry, how about you, do you get seasick?
I don't even know.
I've never been on the sea to find out.
Same here, but why the question?
I'll explain.
It's a mighty, mighty strange story too.
It's in three parts really.
Part one is, do you remember how we hunted for months and months for that game poacher
we called the Wolverine?
Yeah, we never caught him.
We haven't had any poaching for a long time now, so we just figured that you and Gray
Wolf had at least scared him out of the country.
Exactly.
You've happened to hit the nail right on the head.
The Wolverine is out of this territory.
Oh, good.
But he's still up to his old tricks, poaching.
And that's part two.
I have here on my desk a long detailed report from Washington and from the Alaskan Game
and Fisheries Commission.
It appears that somebody has developed a new and fiendish method of shooting the fur seals
up in those Arctic waters.
That's against international law.
Sure.
And who evidently has a sloop or small vessel with a supercharged engine has been shooting
the rare fur seal, probably from a long distance away from his boat, no doubt, so as not to
startle the herd, and then skinning them and, we suppose, selling the hides.
What a wicked thing.
Well, why don't they catch him?
They've never even seen him.
They do have the plaster casts of his boot tracks and micro photographs of the bullets
he's used.
Washington compared the Alaskan reports with mine.
I get it.
Yeah, the plaster casts of the footprints and the micro photographs of the bullets,
they match.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt.
It's our old enemy, the same man doing his poaching now in Alaskan waters.
Wolverine.
I think so all the time.
But what's this got to do with us, Bill?
Well, this is part three.
And it sure sounds strange on a blazing hot summer day like this.
Grey Wolf, you and I are the only men who have ever actually seen this wolverine.
So Washington wants us to go along on the expedition that's being fitted out to capture.
We can identify him positively.
The Arctic?
Yeah.
And since it's summer and you have no school...
Hey, you're going to take me along.
Yeah.
Stompy can hold down the fort here.
Since we are going right up into the Arctic Ocean, enjoy this hot weather while you can.
We're going to where it's mighty, mighty cold.
It's getting colder by the minute.
The colder it'll get.
Captain Stormweather, are we in the first seal waters?
Ah, two or three more days, boy.
An old time sailing vessel like this one don't go as fast as in modern ships.
I like this kind better, though.
But how do we know when we're in the first seal waters?
Still worrying, huh?
Well, first we sight a seal or maybe a couple, just little brown heads bobbing in the waves.
And we'll keep sighting more and more until finally we get to the islands.
The islands?
Yeah, seal islands, we call them.
Just rocks sticking up out of these here icy seas.
The seals like them.
They gather there by the hundreds.
Thousands, if it happens to be a big enough island.
Mostly they're harmless critters and easy to shoot.
That's why it's again international law to shoot them.
And a man shooting at them from a long ways off can just about as many, shoot about as
many as he likes without the seals catching up on as to what's going on.
That makes it crueler.
Oh, look ahead, boy.
Kind of nor by nor east.
Ah, I could see something, Captain Stormweather.
Is it an island?
A seal island?
Covered with snow?
Nope, that ain't no island, boy.
That there is an iceberg.
And a big one, too.
That old bird there means we're getting up into the northern seas.
Up into the land of ice and snow.
Sure is big.
Yeah, plenty big.
They come bigger than that sometimes.
You know much about them?
Iceberg?
Whoa, we learned in school that the part you see above the water line, I mean, that's only
a tiny part of the iceberg.
Right.
One eighth of the iceberg stiffens out of the water.
The other eight, seven eighths is under the water.
Oh, that's why they're so dangerous, isn't it?
Your ship could hit the underwater part of an iceberg, even though you thought you were
far enough away to pass by it.
Yeah, we'll just circle around this and give it a wide berth.
Uh, Captain, what happens to icebergs?
Oh, when they get down into warmer waters, they just mellow away, boy.
Just mellow away.
If they get into regular steamer lanes, the government sends out warnings.
What's that?
The iceberg.
You watch.
Wow.
What?
That whole iceberg split practically right in half.
There are two icebergs there now.
They're right.
That's called calving.
It's a pretty sight to see, but we're lucky we weren't any closer.
Captain Stormwell, over there on the right.
Captain Stormwell, I see it.
I see it plain as day.
Yeah, and so do I, boy.
But it ain't over to the right.
It's over to the stabbered.
But I will say you've got mighty sharp eyes for a landlubber.
And you spotted it first.
And that means we're getting there.
That little head of bobbing along the water.
That's a fur seal.
Islands all around us now.
Yeah.
We passed quite a few of those bare rocks you call islands.
We haven't seen any seals.
Just a few of them in the water.
There'll be plenty as soon as we get further up.
We may not have to go as far as you think.
See that little island off there to starboard?
Captain Stormwell there?
Let me see.
Let me focus my spyglass here.
Those tiny dots, are they seals?
Yeah.
And what's more?
And what's more?
They ain't moving.
They ain't moving a mite.
And that ain't good.
You hands, get busy on them davits.
Stand by to lower the stabber.
Long boats.
We're going over there.
Well, there they are.
All dead.
All shot from a great way off, looks like.
And the pelts have been taking off slick as a whistle.
What do you got to say, Bill?
Three nations have signed a solemn pact to prevent this vicious, wanton, illegal poaching.
I know, but who done it?
Like a tracks in snow.
I know those tracks anywhere.
Two Indian footprints, same as photograph.
Those footprints belong only one man.
But who?
Bad man.
A man we call Wolverine.
Yeah.
Shooting and skinning fur seals is against the law.
Sometimes certain restricted permits are issued, but we know that this fellow has none.
What are we going to do now, Bill?
Henry, we followed this man all the way to the arctic.
We know now what he's up here for.
May be a long and a difficult pursuit, but we'll catch him.
No sign of him, Captain?
There is a sign.
We've been tacking back and forth in these waters for ten days now.
Yeah, I know.
We're about as far north as we can go.
Pretty soon we're going to have to turn around and then...
Oh man, that storm coming up.
Riding down those hatches, men.
Make everything ship shape.
We're in for a blow.
Hang on to that railing, Bill.
She's getting rough.
I'll say it is.
Captain, do you think...
Short sail there.
This looks like a humdinger.
Yeah, we'd better.
Hey, Captain Strongwood, look.
Aye, I'm looking.
Right where you're looking.
I see the same thing you see.
A sloop riding with bare sticks.
A rigged like a horse.
A long, lean ship painted black.
She's trying to use her engines.
See that propeller wash under her stern?
She's turning, turning away.
Certain.
She's seen us and she's trying to get away.
Well, that must mean...
Of course that's what it means.
That their auxiliary sloop is the ship we're after.
Otherwise she wouldn't be trying to buck the stern and get away from us.
That's the Wolverine ship for certain.
But what can we do, Captain Strongwood?
We can catch her, that's what.
But she's not going to let us get away.
We're going to have to get away.
We're going to have to get away.
We're going to have to get away.
We're going to have to get away.
We're going to have to get away.
But she has a powerful motor.
This is just a sailing vessel.
All the better.
These waves make a motor useless.
See how the propeller lifts right out of the water?
Bill, you'll see all a sailing vessel can say of the day.
This wind is their enemy.
But our best friend.
Throw on more canvas there.
We're chasing the Wolverine.
What are we going to do?
What matter, Henry?
Oh, this fog.
It can't seem to be going away.
It's not going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
It's going to go away.
Well, it's been on turn on watch for a long time, it seems.
Yeah, hard to watch with nothing to see but fog.
Well, I hope that other boat doesn't get away.
Everybody hopes same thing, Henry.
Yeah, sure, I know, but...
Hey, Grey Wolf, did you notice anything unusual?
No.
Something...
Something seems different somehow.
Oh, Grey Wolf, I know what it is.
The fog, it's lifting, see?
It's getting clearer by the minute.
We keep sharp lookout now.
Maybe you see Black Sloop.
Right.
Can you take the leeward side? I'll take the starboard.
It's like the captain told us to.
The fog must have gone blow away quick.
Funny, these waves weren't so high.
Oh, ho!
What's that, Grey Wolf? The Sloop?
The Black Sloop?
Right you are, boy.
Only about a quarter mile away.
Both of us had to just ride a four to the wind during that fog.
Now that she's lifted,
lo and behold, we're ending up closer to the Black Sloop than ever before.
Hard to helm and give chase!
Ho!
We're catching them!
Right! And it looks by the time we catch up to them,
we'll be right in the lee of that monstrous iceberg up ahead.
Oh, the iceberg?
That'll be a help on a continent where it'll break the force of the wind.
That's the...
That's the biggest one I've seen yet!
Yep. They don't never come much bigger than that one, boy.
That's because we're so far north.
It ain't hard... had time to break up none.
Boy, it sure is grand!
Biggest I ever see, too, come to think of it.
Now, what do you suppose is the matter with them fellas in that Sloop?
Huh? What do you mean?
Well, they must be plumb-crazy.
They're near enough to that berg they ought to be veering,
but instead, they're steering straight for it!
Maybe a rudder broke.
Oh, sheet yaw if that happened.
Nope. They're steering us straight toward that iceberg.
What? What are they...
They're up to some sort of trick, I think.
I'm certain. But what it is, I can't figure, not for the life of me.
My stars are gonna make a landing!
Right on that iceberg!
That's right. But what for?
They can't escape away from us that way.
Besides, nobody can live on an iceberg.
Not for long, anyway.
A little boat right up by iceberg now.
She's shallow-draft.
Well, look at that!
Somebody's getting out!
Somebody's being made to get out, Henry.
See those rifles? Those men in the boat are pointing at the man who just jumped onto that iceberg.
I can just about see.
Still pretty far away.
This is incredible.
Watch the Sloop, Captain Storm, with her.
Yeah. She's doing just about what you and me had figured she'd do, Bill.
Uh-huh.
There she goes, backing away and turning, and heading out to open sea.
But they left that man alone on the iceberg!
Right. And if you take a good close look at him with a spyglass, I'll guarantee it'll be the Wolverine.
Why? Why?
They've marooned him, Henry.
Those men and his crew have figured he was too dangerous to be with.
So they put him off in that iceberg. Marooned him.
What about the Sloop, Bill?
I'll let it go. Can arrange to get it later.
Right now, we're going to follow our original plan.
We're going to go and capture the Wolverine.
Man, that stays chill. He'd take off back through those ice hills.
Very bad man. Not give up yet.
We'll find him once we set foot on the iceberg.
Then we'd better hurry.
We are hurrying, Grey Wolf.
Sure, we'd better make more hurry.
Man not alone on iceberg.
What? But...
An Indian sees more than we can, Henry.
Never seen before, but see now.
He looked over biggest ice hill. Great White Bear.
I see it. A poor bear. And a giant one.
That poacher has done Ben Marooned on an iceberg with a polar bear.
No sign of the Wolverine or the polar bear.
Neither one of them can be very far away.
This is a big burgh.
We could walk clear around it in 10-15 minutes.
I'm sure glad we got these ice shoes on with a spike.
Got to have them, boy. Now then, let's spread out.
Keep about 40-50 feet apart.
Grey Wolf, you go over to port there.
Right.
And I'll take the next position. Then you, Bill.
Right.
And you, boy, take the other end.
Okay.
Now then, we'll keep in sight.
Watch where you put your feet.
Get a good grip before you take the step.
And go slow.
And above all, don't do no hollering.
But that man knows we're here.
Sure he does, sonny. Icebergs is funny.
A loud sudden noise might start one to cracking.
We don't want this thing to bust apart while we're on it.
Well, you don't have to whisper.
And if you do, Carl, call easy like.
We understand.
Let's take our positions and go forward now slowly.
Sooner or later, we'll see the poacher.
What do we do then, Bill?
I'm counting on him giving up.
Surrendering when he sees that we mean business.
He lifts his rifle to fire at us. You shoot.
Shoot right out of his hand, Grey Wolf.
I will.
A cabin say big noise might split Iceberg.
That's a chance we'll have to take.
And the polar bear?
Oh, he's probably died in the water. Swum away by now.
What if he hasn't?
That's another chance we have to take.
Everybody ready?
I not like this Wolverine plethora of bad men.
Poacher no good to me ever.
Wish we'd see him pretty soon.
I not like this Iceberg.
I wish that feller'd show up.
Or the bear.
Him or the bear, both.
They must be laying low somewhere.
Probably watching us.
Can't say I realize this expedition know how.
I thought surely we'd see him before this.
Almost across the Iceberg.
Must be hiding behind an ice hill, waiting for us.
And, henry, I wish he'd stay closer.
Wow, it sure is cold.
I'm lonely.
It all says I should keep even closer.
Where's Icehill's getting away?
He's not here.
He's not here.
Where's Icehill's getting away?
Does seem I'm getting farther away.
There he is.
Where?
Over there, to the right.
Over behind that ice hummock.
Over by henry.
Henry, watch out!
That's him all right.
Black beard and all.
Now that he sees us he's standing up.
Man have rifle bill.
I wait for your orders.
You save fire.
I ready.
Good.
The bear!
The polar bear!
He's right behind henry and coming fast.
Can the boy shoot?
Yeah, sure.
But look, his rifle's jammed.
Must be froze tight.
No!
Gray wolf, you're the best shot.
Get that bear.
I can't shoot from here.
Henry, between us and bear.
If I shoot now I hit henry.
Henry, run!
Run to the side!
Henry!
Henry slip and fall.
Bear coming fast.
Shoot, gray wolf.
Henry's still in line of bullet.
That stopped the bear.
He's down for good.
Gray wolf, how can I ever thank you for...
I not shoot bear.
I not dare shoot.
Henry, other man shoot bear.
Save henry's life.
Other man?
Then it must have been the...
She's gone.
She's cracking.
That's that done it.
This here iceberg is cracking in two.
What do we do now?
Hang on and pray.
Gray wolf.
Here, Bill.
Captain Stormweather.
All shook up, but still ship shape.
Henry!
Henry!
Take a gander over yonder.
This old iceberg gun split right spang in two.
And over yonder is the other half.
And there sitting on it is henry and that butcher.
Oh no.
Look to me, the lord make everything all right.
Look to me like wolverine binding up henry's leg.
Taking good care of henry.
It's a miracle.
The dingy's still there.
Let's get her in and roll over there.
As fast as we can roll.
Come on.
So when I saw that polar bear coming for me, I was scared.
When I found my rifle was jammed, then I fell and sprained my ankle.
Boy, then I was really scared.
I tell you, Bill, I never prayed so hard in all my life.
And your prayers were answered, Henry.
And you, wolverine, I don't know your real name.
How was it you decided to fire at the bear instead of us?
You saved henry's life.
I done plenty of bad things in my life.
I ain't no ornament to society.
But I can't stand still and see a young boy clawed up by a bear.
Well, we're grateful.
You know that.
Plenty of grateful.
He fixed my leg and everything.
I ain't looking for no thanks, no favors.
I done wrong and I knew it.
I'm ready for my punishment.
But I done found out one thing.
Found it out in spite of myself, you might say.
What then?
Like you say, I had the choice of shooting you or the bear.
When I was standing there in them few seconds, something come over me.
Like a voice saying to do the good thing, shoot the bear.
Now, can you understand a thing like that?
Yes.
Yes, I can.
And on the long voyage home, I think we can explain a few things to you so that you'll understand too.
I'm ready to listen.
Henry, what on earth are you doing?
I'm getting some ice to take back to Stumpy.
He always needs ice for his lemonade.
Well, see you next week for more Adventure with Ranger Bill.
Bye.