Thunder Martin was one of the closest friends of the Lone Ranger and Tonto. He was closing the coral gate on the ranch where he worked as top hand when he saw a stranger approaching. Thunder observed that the man's clothes were too large and his face peculiarly pale. He has a message for the Lone Ranger, which he says is a matter of life or death. 

It's the twentieth anniversary of the death of John Reid's brother by the Cavendish gang and John Reid, now The Lone Ranger, retells the story to his nephew Dan Reid. This is also the story of how John Reid came to be the Lone Ranger. In the last twenty years the gang have all died avenged at the hands of the Lone Ranger, except for Butch Cavendish who the Lone Ranger believed was still in jail...