Nick Peron

View Original

Texas Kid #6

The Talking Guns!

In Carbine City, Lance Temple and his father Zane are seeing off their friend Johnny Destry who owns the town's smallest shipping company who is about to go on an expedition. Lance warns Johnny to be careful because the last two caravans out of town were attacked and burned. Johnny's wife Kathy and her brother Steve Warner also caution him, with Steve offering to buy Johnny's company. Johnny refuses, telling his wife Kathy that he wants to make something of his business to earn a living for them. Johnny's caravan is later attacked by what appears to be a band of marauding Native Americans. One of the riders manages to flee back to town and dies telling all gathered that they were attacked and that Johnny was killed. This prompts everyone to decide to stop using caravans to ship their goods out for sale, threatening the financial stability of the town.

Lance tells his father that he is going to scout out and try to find Johnny. Riding to Hidden Valley, Lance changes into the Texas Kid and ride out the rest of the way. Surveying the destruction, the Kid then buries Johnny and the others and vows to avenge their death. The Texas Kid examines the battle scene and determines that the "Native Americans" who attacked the caravan were fakes. Suddenly, the phony Natives attack, pinning the Texas Kid behind some rocks. He holds his own when suddenly his friends Emilio and Red Hawk arrive and drive the attackers away. The two offer their aid to stop the attacks on the caravans and as they head back into town, Texas Kid formulates a plan...

Back in town, the other caravan owners have decided to sell out to Warner as they no longer want to be involved in such dangerous business when suddenly the Texas Kid arrives. The Kid tells the caravan owners not to sell out just yet, asking them to give him a chance to stop the raiders. The Kid offers to accompany the next caravan, Warner agrees to supply men to help as well. When the caravan travels out it is attacked by by the phony Natives. When the Texas Kid orders him to fight, the leader of Warner's men tells them to stand down. The Kid realizes that something is up and knocks the leader of Warner's men out and with the help of the other men, fights off the fake Natives.

Texas Kid follows after them and they lead him right back into town and to Warner's shipping company. There the Texas Kid overhears Steve Warner berating his men for failing in their task. Texas Kid storms in and gets the drop on them, he is surprised when Kathy walks in, at first in tears over her brothers "betrayal" and then when she pulls out a gun and reveals that she was the mastermind behind it all, blackmailing her brother into working with her. Finally having had enough, Steve shoots Kathy dead and the Texas Kid guns down her opponents.

Later, back in his civilian identity, Lance learns how the caravan made it's delivery thanks to help from the Texas Kid.

Recurring Characters

  • Texas Kid

  • Zane Temple

  • Emilio Diaz

  • Red Hawk

  • Thunder

Blind Man's Bluff!

In New York City, two outlaws named Gyp Correlli and Broadway Becker flee the law and hop a train which takes them down to Texas. When they are discovered by a rail engineer, they jump out of their freight and flee into the Texas range land.

Spotting the Temple Ranch they burst in on Lance and Zane Temple while Lance is about to prepare supper and his father is cleaning his Winchester rifle. They get the drop on them and when Lance tries to protest their intrusion is pistol whipped for his trouble. The two crooks learn from Zane that any neighbors are far away and that they are about 40 miles from the Mexican border. They order Lance to prepare some horses and keep Zane as a hostage, threatening to shoot the old man if he tries anything. Lance rushes out and plans to diffuse the situation as the Texas Kid.

Meanwhile, back inside the ranch house, Zane has realized that the two hoods have not noticed that he is blind and tries to take advantage of it. Knowing that the men will kill Lance was he guides them to Mexico he grabs his Winchester while they are distracted and threatens to shoot them. However when they knock over the lamp and Zane doesn't register it, they suspect that he's blind. They prove their suspicions by throwing a chair across the room. When Zane turns to shoot at the sound they are about the hoods are about to pounce when suddenly the Texas Kid enters the house. Shocked by the sudden appearance of the masked hero, the two criminals are gunned down. Realizing that he was saved by the Texas Kid, Zane tries to thank him but the hero has already left.

When Lance returns moments later, Zane tells him what happened and swears that the Texas Kid sounded familiar to him. Lance dismisses the idea, telling his father that it was probably just his imagination.

Recurring Characters

  • Texas Kid

  • Zane Temple

  • Thunder

Robber's Roost!

Mr. Cartright and his daughter Evelyn arrive in Caliber City by coach having moved there from England to live on a ranch. They are unaware that they are being watched by some outlaws who know about Cartright's wealth who are plotting to exploit the wealthy man. They go back to their hideout in Robber's Roost and inform their boss who intends to bilk Cartright for everything he owns.

A few days later after the Cartright's have moved into their new ranch, Zane Temple sends his son Lance out to introduce himself to their new neighbors. Meeting the Cartrights, Evelyn asks Lance to show her around and he agrees to do so. As they are riding across the land, Lance tells her how he made a promise to his father that so long as he carried the Temple name he would not use guns against another man. Shortly afterward, they are confronted by the outlaws who have come to take Evelyn and hold her for ransom. Evelyn tells Lance to do something, but as he is unarmed there is nothing he can do, which upsets Evelyn greatly and she calls Lance a coward as the crooks take her away. When Lance rides back to the Cartright ranch and tells Evelyn's father what happened he is equally upset by his inaction.

Lance then rides off to Hidden Valley to change into the Texas Kid in order to rescue the girl. Along the way he runs into his friends Emilio and Red Hawk and gets them to join him in the rescue mission. They track the outlaws to their hideout and the Texas Kid changes back into his civilian identity to try and talk the outlaws into letting her go. However they beat him into unconsciousness and they go into their cabin to force Evelyn to make them a meal. When Lance regains consciousness, he is pulled back to safety by Emilio and Red Hawk. Changing back into the Texas Kid, Lance leads them on an attack of the ranch house and slaughter the outlaws saving Evelyn's life. Changing back into Lance Temple, the Kid brings Evelyn back home where he is thanked for his bravery in facing the outlaws alone and unarmed. He is humble about it however, telling them that the Texas Kid should be the one who is really thanked because he did all the work.

Recurring Characters

  • Texas Kid

  • Zane Temple

  • Emilio Diaz

  • Red Hawk

  • Thunder