"Those bullet," Tonto said, "are silver." It was true. The bullets in the cartridges were hard, solid silver. The Texan looked puzzled. "That makes pretty high-priced shooting," he said.
"You not shoot much," Tonto replied. Then he explained how the precious metal for the bullets had come from the Texan's own silver mine. Tonto himself had cast the metal.
The white man marveled at the complete knowledge Tonto had of him and of his affairs.
Then Tonto brought a mask from beneath his buckskin shirt. It was black, and fashioned to cover the entire upper part of a man's face, effectively concealing all identity.
"Wear this," Tonto said.
The white man hesitated. "If I go about wearing a mask, the law will be in full chase in no time," he said.
Tonto nodded. "You hunt-um outlaw!"
Birds of a feather! By concealing his identity with the mask, his disguise would serve a second purpose. It would mark him in such a way that outlaws might welcome his company and thus put him in possession of information otherwise impossible to secure.
"Other Ranger all dead," said Tonto, as the white man tried the mask and found it a perfect fit. "You only Ranger now. You all alone."
"All alone," repeated the other softly. "Except for you, Tonto. It seems that it's your plan for us to travel together."