The Lone Ranger and Tonto by Fran Striker, Francis Hamilton Striker Page A

grappled.
    The Lone Ranger fought desperately. His life depended on it.
    "Lemme at him, lemme at him," bellowed a familiar voice. It was Eph Summers, the prison guard, who pushed through the mass of men to clutch the Lone Ranger from behind. "It's
him
," he roared, "the masked man that's got Dave Walters!"
    The Lone Ranger brought his fist around in a short hook, and landed a blow flush on the jaw of the man nearest him. He ducked and whirled, breaking loose from Eph Summer's grip. He stepped back quickly to gather himself for a new attack, but guns glinted in the moonlight. Instead of doing the expected thing and running away from the mass of men, the masked man lowered his head and charged again into their midst. He struck one in the stomach with his shoulder, using all the strength of his driving legs. He heard the fellow's breath go out with a
whoosh
. Once more he jabbed with his balled fist, and felt the impact to his shoulder as his blow went home on someone's chin.
    The man would have gone down, if the Lone Ranger hadn't caught him. He lifted the man high above his head, and threw the fellow bodily at the others who sought to capture him.
    Men went down in a tangle of arms and legs. In that split second of confusion the Lone Ranger leaped to the back of one of the horses, heeled the beast's flanks, and shouted a "Giddap!" He accompanied his shout with a hard slap on the high strung mustang's rump, and the nervous animal was off like a flash.
    Guns roared and bullets came close as the Lone Ranger crouched low over the racing horse's neck. He set a course straight through the heart of the town, running a gauntlet of shouts and shots on both sides of the street. At the far end of the lighted lane, the masked man took a long chance. Without slackening the pace of the fast little horse, he threw himself from the saddle while the horse ran on without breaking its stride.
    The Lone Ranger landed on his feet, but his momentum made him fall forward and roll crazily along the ground. He was winded and badly shaken from the spill, but managed to regain his feet and duck into the shelter of the arroyo before the pursuing men raced by.
    For several minutes the masked man stretched his length on the ground, gasping for breath.
At least
, he thought ironically,
I've given that old man's lies something to back them up. Now the law wants me as the robber of those jewels as well as for aiding a prisoner to escape
.
    But for the present he was free. He gulped in huge lungfuls of cool air then examined himself to make sure no bones were broken. He could not linger here for long. Soon the men would overtake the mustang and know that their quarry had left the saddle. Then the search would begin in earnest. They would know he must be near the town, and they would doubtless form a circle around it, working in. They couldn't fail to find Silver.
    The Lone Ranger dragged himself painfully to his feet, and headed toward the spot where the big white horse had been left. He could hear the men in town, and hoped fervently that he could release his horse before the search began in earnest.
    Silver was well-trained. The horse made no sound as the Lone Ranger approached. The masked man found his saddlebag and brought forth a pad of paper and the stub of a lead pencil. He wrote a hurried note, which he fastened to the horn of the saddle. He took his own white hat from the horn, and put it on his head. His own neckerchief replaced the bright one he had been wearing.
    "That note," the masked man whispered to the horse, "is for Tonto. Take it, Silver, find Tonto."
    The horse remained motionless. "It's all right, old fellow," said the Lone Ranger, "I know what I'm doing. I can't go back with you now, and you've got to get away from here in a hurry. Now go and—" He broke off with a trace of a smile showing on his face. "Sorry, Silver, I guess I'm getting absent-minded," he said. He jerked the reins loose from the shrub to which they'd been tied, and