Tex Taylor #4
Draw or Die, Cowpoke!
While riding through Smokey Mountain, Tex Taylor comes to the aid of Doc Carter who is almost sent over the edge of a cliff by his wild running horse. Carter explains that he was driven off by Pete Dalton and his gang when he tried to stop them from harassing Blind Charlie, a blind prospector who was able to find a gold mine with the help of his seeing eye dog Wolf. Tex agrees to ride into town and help Carter and Charlie deal with Dalton and his gang.
In town at the local saloon, Charlie is paying for his lunch and turns down the saloon owners offer to help him register the mine, Charlie telling him that he is waiting for the most honest person to show the location to. The saloon owner reports to Dalton who tells him that they must learn the location of the mine at all costs but under no circumstance does the dog get harmed.
When Tex and the Doc arrive in town they are confronted by Dalton's men, and Tex warns them that he is going after their boss. Overhearing this Dalton orders his men in the saloon to get ready. Tex bursts in with guns blazing but during the confrontation Dalton escapes. He learns from one of the survivors that the fight was a distraction while Dalton forced Charlie and Wolf to lead him to the mine.
As Wolf seemingly leads Charlie and Dalton's gang to the location of the mine, Tex and the Doc gather a posse to follow their trail. When they reach the supposed location of the gold, Dalton suddenly realized that Wolf had led them on a wild goose chase. Before he can gun down Blind Charlie, Wolf attacks him and mauls him to death. Before the rest of the gang can do anything about the situation, Tex and the posse arrive and gun down the rest of the gang before learning that Wolf led Dalton and his men in the wrong direction on purpose.
Recurring Characters
Tex Taylor
Steel
Two-Gun Terror at the Mystery Mine!
Riding into Gloryville, Tex Taylor learns that here is a masked outlaw in the area called the Roadrunner who had recently robbed the Gloryville Bank. At he saloon, Tex's conversation is interrupted by the sheriff who bursts in and tells them that the Mystery Mine is haunted and that he saw a ghost while up searching for the Roadrunner. The sheriff suddenly turns his suspicions to Tex, and accuses him of being the Roadrunner on account of the fact that he is in a stranger in town. Before Tex can plead his innocence his is pistol whipped and sent packing on his horse Fury.
Coming around near the Mystery Mine, Tex decides to go inside and investigate to learn if the stories of a haunting are true. Inside the cave he hears a strange braying and sees a ghost-like figure who warns him to leave in order to keep his sanity. Leaving the mine, Tex is confronted by the Roadrunner, who turns out to be the sheriff himself. The sheriff has him at gunpoint, but the sudden reappearance of the "ghost" frightens the sheriff long enough for Tex to knock him out. The ghost reveals himself to be actually a live man, named Alkali Ike, a gold prospector who was searching the Mystery Mine. He explains that he covered himself and his donkey Jenny in phosphorescent dust in order to scare people away from the mine. With the sheriff captured, Tex takes him back to town with Alkali deciding to follow along with him as his new sidekick.
Recurring Characters
Tex Taylor
Alkali Ike
Steel
Jenny
...The Sheriff Shoots It Out!
Blaze Carson is visited in his office by Jed Wilson and his wife Sarah who have been receiving threatening letters ordering them to leave their property and have had their house shot at in the evening.
Blaze agrees to guard their house and when the outlaws terrorizing them return for another night, Blaze climbs up onto the roof of the Wilson house and gets a drop on the gunslingers when they approach the house beating them into submission. He then forces them to talk and learns that they were trying to drive the Wilson's off their property because they had discovered that it was rich in minerals. With the caper ruined, Blaze takes the outlaws off to jail.
Recurring Characters
Blaze Carson
Breed of the West!
Tex is visiting his friend Sheriff Fred in the town of Dry Wells after Fred broke his leg. Elsewhere in town, John Bascomb has set up a meeting with Roderick the owner of the Dry Well's bank to ask for a loan of $1000 so he can send it to his sick wife in Clayhorn City. Roderick, aware that John is part Native American refuses to give him the money, calling him a half-breed. Desperate for the money, John pulls a gun and forces Roderick to hand over the money and leaves an IOU. He rushes off to the stage coach as it is leaving and hands the money over to the coach to be delivered to the hospital in Clayhorn City.
Meanwhile, Roderick has gone to the sheriffs home to demand justice be done, Tex finds the bankers contempt of John's mixed heritage troublesome. The sheriff, laid up in bed, deputizes Tex to lead a posse to track down and apprehend John Bascomb. Roderick insists on joining the posse and the group ends up tracking down Bascomb. However, before Roderick can fire a kill shot at John, Tex ruins his am and they continue their chase. In the lead, John comes across a cabin built by a Native American who has fallen ill. Unable to force himself to leave the sick old man alone, John cares for him. When the posse catches up with them, Roderick once more tries to gun down John, but he stops when the Native American man suddenly sits up in his bed and identifies Roderick as his son. Face to face with his father, Roderick admits his own mixed heritage and realizes the errors of his ways and decides to drop the charges against John. Tex tells both men that they should be proud of their heritage.
Recurring Characters
Tex Taylor
Steel
