Blaze Carson #2
Rustler's Roundup!
At the farm owned by John and Mary Hankin, one of their cattle has given birth to a calf. After a time the calf begins to look sickly, and so the couple begin letting the calf come into their house until it gets its strength up. One night, rustlers come onto their land and steal all the cattle, save for the baby calf which was sleeping inside the house as it happened.
The Hankin's call sheriff Blaze Carson to investigate the theft, and does something that surprises them: deputizes the baby calf and convinces them to let him take it to find the stolen cattle. Following the cattle's trail, Blaze finds himself at the L-Bar-L Ranch owned by Hoot Larrabee. Blaze then questions Larrabee who claims all the cattle are his, and is about to kick Blaze off his property when the little calf finds its mother and begins nuzzling her. This proves to Blaze that the cattle were all stolen from the Hankin's and quickly outdraws Larrabee's ranch hands and then beats Hoot into submission, forcing him to release the stolen cattle which he returns to John and Mary, who are happy to have their property back.
Recurring Characters
Blaze Carson
Justice Rides the Range!
A pair of masked gunmen rob a local bank and make a run out of town on horseback. They are chased by sheriff Blaze Carson, who manages to use his lasso to snag one of robbers off his horse. Removing the bandanna, Blaze is shocked to find the robber is Joe MacKey, the son of his friend Ned. Soon a posse arrives to backup Blaze, with Ned among their numbers. He is angry to see that his son has taken up a life of lawlessness and is about to shoot the boy dead when Blaze convinces him otherwise.
They take Joe back to town and lock him in a cell. There Blaze tells Joe a story about two brothers who were both courting a young woman named Miss Connie a number of years ago. After the trio parted company, one brother was approached by a shady character who sought to hire him for a stagecoach robbery that Wednesday. His other brother attempted to talk him out of it, but he refused, and told his brother not to tell anyone. That night the honest brother went to a dance with Miss Connie and asked her to marry him, and she accepts.
That Wednesday, the would-be outlaw brother assists in the stage coach robbery, but is shot dead. Ironically enough, his brother was riding shotgun on the coach, and tragically Miss Connie was inside and took a fatal shot and was killed herself.
With the story over, Ned tells his son Joe that the brother who survived was himself, and that Miss Connie was the woman he loved before he met Joe's mother. Realizing the damage being an outlaw can do, Joe realizes he made a terrible mistake. Blaze releases Joe into Ned's custody and the two leave, Blaze then muses that Joe will turn out all right after all.
Recurring Characters
Blaze Carson
The Killer of Red Rock Valley!
Big rancher Jack Cuddy and the locals have had their mares stolen by "The Killer", a wild Pinto Stallion. In order to try and stop the Killer from stealing his prized mares, Cuddy builds a fence around his horses. However, Killer comes anyway and is able to leap over the fence and force the mares into leaving with him.
Undiscouraged, Cuddy has put out a call to his old friend Tex Morgan to deal with the problem of the wild Pinto. Soon Tex and his pal Lobo ride into the area and begin their search for the Killer. Spotting the wild horse, Tex sends his horse Lightning charging at the creature, giving it chase. Tex is knocked off his horse when it runs him into a tree branch. When the Killer bores down on Tex, attempting to trample him to death, Lightning gets into the way. The two horses spar, but eventually Lightning beats the other horse to death, ending it's threat. They then take the stolen mares back to their owner and ride off into the sunset.
Recurring Characters
Tex Morgan
Lobo
Lightning
Cloud
Guns Roar on Boot Hill!
Blaze Carson is confused when he is approach by a man named Ross Leggett who informs him that he has taken over the bank from Sam Randel. Leggett explains that Randal had blown town after selling him the bank and has now come to ask the sheriff to assist him with evictions of some of the locals. Their palaver is interrupted when Randel's dog starts biting at Sam's leg, prompting the man to kick the cur away. Not liking Ross' treatment of animals, Blaze punches him out and sends him on his way, and then wonders why Sam would abandon his pup.
Ross Leggett then gathers a posse and sends them to local ranches to repossess properties, those who resist are shot down in cold blood. The locals become angry and begin to form a lynch mob, but Blaze talks them down, telling them that law and order must prevail. When they baulk at him, Blaze pulls his guns and orders them to disburse. Blaze goes to another ranch where another rancher is being turned loose from his property and orders them to stop. When the draw their guns instead, Blaze shoots them dead and then decides to pay a visit to Ross at the bank.
There he sees two strange sights: One of Ross' men carrying a tray of food into the bank, and Sam's dog hanging around. When Ross once more kicks the puppy, Blaze beats him into submission and then locks him up for abusing an animal, knowing that Sam will ultimately be released. Deciding to get to the bottom of the mystery, Blaze tracks down the pup and breaks into the bank. There he lets the critter follow a scent to the vault. Blaze then uses a blow torch to melt away the safe and break in. Inside he sees what he suspected all along, but suddenly Ross (having been freed by his posse) gets the drop on him. However, Blaze gets the draw on him and shoots him dead.
Roused by the gunshots, Sam Randel comes out of the vault, explaining that Leggett forced him to sign over his bank and then locked him up in the vault, planning on killing him once he had evicted everyone off their lands.
Recurring Characters
Blaze Carson
