Written by GERRY DAY & B.W. SANDEFUR Directed  by HOLLINGSWORTH MORSE Guest Cast CLIFF OSMOND as MIDAS MANTEE MAURA McGIVENEY as RITA SILVER REX HOLMAN as GREEVY HOWARD WENDEL as WINSTON K.L. SMITH as PORTRERO SHERIFF JOHN TRUAX as VAL VERDE SHERIFF  JON LOCKE as DEPUTY CHUCK ROBERSON AS RAFER BUDDY VAN HORN as HUTCH RORY STEVENS as DAVID

Introducing Robert Wolders as Erik Hunter

Cliff Osmond as  Midas Mantee

This episode introduces Erik Hunter from Ranger Company A, who is assigned to go under cover to infiltrate Midas Mantee’s gang of gold thieves.  In Portrero, he tries to help the gang escape with a gold shipment but is thwarted by Reese who throws him in jail. Reese transports Erik to Val Verde in handcuffs to maintain his cover but Erik turns the tables and leaves Reese handcuffed to his saddle.  In Val Verde, while Joe & Chad watch the bank,  Erik seduces Rita, a dentist's nurse.  Rita is stealing nitrous oxide for Mantee and using it on the town banker to get the combination to the safe.  Erik & Chad stage a gunfight in front of Midas’ men in which Chad is “killed” so Erik will be accepted by Mantee..  When the Captain arrives Chad's “body” is in the ice house, Reese is in the now empty bank knocked out with the gas, Joe has tracked the robbers but is captured and Erik has been introduced to Midas by Rita.  Chad & Reese make it to Midas’ fort just as Midas is ordering Erik to kill Joe.  The four Rangers subdue the gang and pursue Midas & Rita who have raced off on the gold-laden camels Midas bought to escape across the desert.  Joe, Chad & Reese haul everyone back to Val Verde except Rita who is Erik's prisoner..

Reese is suspicious of Erik's unorthodox approach to Rangering.

Chad is concerned about competition with the fair sex.

Chad loses a staged gunfight with Erik.

And ends up stuck in an ice house as a "corpse".

This was the first of several episodes which ended with Erik in the embrace of the female villain.

NiteOwl Review:  Although Erik never totally won our hearts as part of the Laredo company of players, this was an auspicious first episode for him.  Wolders was added to the cast mainly to lighten the load on Neville Brand on whom the rigors the TV series grind had taken their toll.  In this episode he was used to good effect.  It was nice to see Chad with a rival in the competition for the fairer sex and Erik gave him someone with a literate vocabulary to spar with.  We've heard from fans who for some reason didn't start watching Laredo until the second season that they liked Erik and missed him in the first season when those episodes were rerun.