Ringo Kid #7 — Nick Peron

Sep 11

Sep 11 Ringo Kid #7

Ringo Kid

While riding through the desert, the Ringo Kid sees a mirage of his father being attacked by some men, but only realizes that it is an image only after he tries to rescue his father. Knowing that his father is in danger, the Ringo Kid rides out to look for him and eventually ends up in the lawless town of Vista Del Toro. Searching the town, he spots the two men that attacked his father in his vision. When the Ringo Kid tries to ask them about his father, they tell the Kid that strangers are not welcome in town and warn him to get lost. The Kid hides out and then follows the two men to a nearby saloon.

That night the Ringo Kid sneaks in and finds his father a chained prisoner. Cory Rand tells his son that the men are led by an outlaw named Grizzly who learned that Cory knew the location of the lost Aztec treasure of Visto Del Oro that was hidden by the Spaniards that first settled the area. Before the Kid can free his father, the men who captured him return forcing the Ringo Kid to fight his way out and escape. Rounding up his friend Dull Knife, the Ringo Kid learns that his vision was Pa-Ki-Wanta the "life mirror" a secret that only the god Manitou knows. The pair track Grizzly and his men and easily defeat them, leaving them tied up for the authorities and freeing Ringo's father.

Recurring Characters

Ringo Kid
Cory Rand
Dull Knife
Arab

The Marshal and the Outlaw

The Ringo Kid is riding along the plains when suddenly a buffalo charges at him. He tries to shoot the beast with his rifle, but it dry fires. Before the outlaw hero can be trampled to death, the buffalo is shot dead by a US Marshal who has come with a warrant from Dry Creek for the Ringo Kid's arrest. Not one to fight authority, the Ringo Kid agrees to surrender.

On the way to Dry Creek they are confronted by an army of Paiute warriors. The Ringo Kid convinces the Marshal to let him deal with it and learns that the Paiute had come to rescue him, but he tells them to stand down and that he will clear his own name. Later the pair set up camp for the night and while the Marshal is asleep the Ringo Kid detects a panther and uses the Marshal's rifle to kill it surprising the Marshal that the Kid didn't try to escape. The next morning the Marshal awakens to find the Ringo Kid gone and suspects that he escaped when suddenly the young man returns with a deer that he shot for them to eat. Taking a moment to get to know his prisoner, the Marshal learns how the Ringo Kid became an outlaw following the murder of his mother at the hands of evil men and begins to question why he is bringing the Ringo Kid in.

When they arrive outside Dry Creek two hours later the pair are confronted by a posse who want to lynch the Ringo Kid. The Marshal gives Ringo back his guns and the Kid easily disarms them and sends them packing. When the Ringo Kid turns over his guns and surrenders to the Marshal again, the lawman decides to let him go -- suddenly "remembering" that there is a Dry Creep in Arizona and that perhaps the Ringo Kid is wanted there instead. The Marshal then jokingly tells the Kid to send his regards to the Marshal that lives there.

Recurring Characters

Ringo Kid
Arab

Man-Trap

The Ringo Kid rides into the town of La Paz where he suspects that he is being followed. Tying up his horse Arab in order to get supplies, the Ringo Kid is confronted by a pair of men who tell him his father is in trouble and give him a letter that Cory Rand apparently wrote to his son asking for help. The Ringo Kid takes it and leaves, but questions why his father would write him a letter and entrust it to strangers.

Unknown to the Ringo Kid, the letter is a forgery and part of a trap for a group of lawmen seeking to capture the Ringo Kid and are planning a dragnet to capture him on his way to his meeting place with his father. However, the Ringo Kid soon suspects what is going on when he notices that the law is trying to pen him into town. Running out into the street, the Ringo Kid shoots down a banner that trips up the men on horses that are after him. He then rushes into the inn across the street and leaps out an upstairs window onto the waiting back of Arab and rides away. Getting the lead, the Ringo Kid jumps up into a tree, sending Arab ahead to lead the posse astray and then waits for Arab to return to him.

Meanwhile, not far away Dull Knife meets with Cory Rand to warn him of the trap set out for his son. They rush to his aid and Dull Knife then leads them another way across a rickety rope bridge, by showing them how to safely cross it. Watching them go across unharmed, the lawmen decide to give up and let the Rand's and Dull Knife go.