Two-Gun Kid #25
Two-Gun Kid
While riding through a wooded area the Two-Gun Kid is shot at. Rushing the shooter and knocking them down the Kid is surprised to find that it is a woman. The girl accuses the Kid of being a killer and rides off. Soon the Kid is greeted by Sheriff Luke French and Banker Bradley who inform him that the girl is Jane Halliday whose father put a big mortgage on his ranch which foreclosed and they were coming to evict her family from the property, but they have faced resistance especially with outlaw Riff McCoy has sided with them. They offer the Two-Gun Kid some money to deliver the court order for them and the Kid takes the job.
As it turns out, Two-Gun Kid and Riff McCoy are old friends, but when Jane notices the Kid has the displacement papers Riff tries to defend her, but the Kid easily disarms them and convinces them to talk things out. The Kid learns that Jane's father had mortgaged the ranch to buy a lakeside property but was bushwhacked the next day and nobody knew why he bought the property. Then Jane's uncle Josh joins the conversation, telling them that his brother was a fool for buying a useless stretch of water.
The trio then go up to the lake to investigate and find pipes that are being fitted and the Kid realizes that they are being used to sift through gravel to loosen gold, suggesting that Jane's father had a secret mine. Just as they are investigating the sheriff and his posse arrive to arrest them all, but the Two-Gun Kid escapes in order to get to the bottom of the mystery. That night he sneaks into town and pays a visit to the banker, and arrives just as an attacker had finished wounding him, the Kid tries to shoot at the intruder before he escapes but misses.
The Two-Gun Kid then goes to the sheriff's office and finds that Riff and Jane haven't been locked up. He tells them what happened at the bankers house and asks the sheriff to let out that he has a copy of his map in his roll up desk. However before they can set this plan into motion a lynch mob comes for Riff. In order to protect Riff and Jane they are locked in their cell and the Two-Gun Kid hides in the roll up desk while waiting for the plan to go into motion. However, the lynchers start a fire in the jail. Much to his surprise, the roll up desk is opened by Josh and the Kid catches him red handed. He helps the sheriff free Riff and Jane and take Josh prisoner. The Kid reveals that he found the map hidden in the desk for real and that Josh was working with Bradley to murder his brother and buy his land on the cheap in a foreclosure auction so he could own the mine as well.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Cyclone
Two-Gun Kid
While riding the Western Prairie line, the Two-Gun Kid helps defend it from bandits who are identified as the Cortez Gang, attack the train. After successfully routing the attackers the Two-Gun Kid arrives in Railtown. After putting Cyclone up in a stable for the night the Kid runs into Turk Corbal -- one of the Corbal brothers who own most of the ranching land in the area -- in a scuffle with the local sheriff. The Kid easily shoots the guns out of Turk's hands and send him packing. The elderly sheriff thanks Two-Gun for his help, and explains how the Corbals -- also known as the Black Corbals -- have been buying up all the ranch land in the area boasting that the railroad will spend a fortune to buy passage rights through their land. However the railroad instead decided to purchase land through Don Cortez's land, the only land the Corbal brothers could not buy. Recalling that being the name Cortez as that of the gang who attacked the train, the Kid learns how Cortez's son Pedro is a wild one, but the sheriff does not believe that Pedro is that wild. When the sheriff compares the attacks to that of the Blaine brothers, Two-Gun finally recognizes him as Anson Frost, the sheriff who brought the Blaine brothers to justice.
Soon words passes around that Pedro Cortez was captured by the local marshal with the help of the Corbal brothers. While Don professes that his son is innocent the crowd turns nasty until the Two-Gun Kid intervenes to get people to stand down. The Marshal and Pedro explain that he was arrested before the most recent attack and could not have been responsible, although they believe the boy innocent they decide to put him in jail for his own protection. Two-Gun then goes to an inn for the night his sleep troubled with the thought of Pedro Cortez and Sheriff Anson Frost. When he wakes up the next morning he learns that someone broke Pedro out of jail in the night. Going to the jail the Kid learns that the Marshal is forming a posse to capture Pedro as there is a train due to leave with a load of gold.
Two-Gun races to the train and hops aboard when the train is attacked, Two-Gun dives one of the attackers, knocking him off his horse, and revealing him as Turk Corbal. Realizing that the Corbal brothers are behind the frame job, the Kid tries to defend himself but is pistol whipped from behind. Before the Black Corbals can silence him forever the Two-Gun Kid is saved by Sheriff Frost, who seemingly finds his youthful exuberance of old to take down the gang and force them to surrender. As the Corbal brothers are being taken away the Marshal arrives and explains that Pedro was found tied up elsewhere as part of the Corbals plot to frame Pedro for their crimes.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Cyclone
Two-Gun Kid
The Two-Gun Kid gets a letter from his friend Bill Rainey tells him to giving him ownership of Bill's ranch in order to thwart Bret Cannon a local gunny who has been trying to take Bill's land. That night as the Kid re-reads the letter at Bill's house he is visited by Bret Cannon and his men who demand that he leave, but the Kid refuses and a fight breaks out. Forced to retreat, the Kid finds cover in the hills and drives Bret and his men away with his rifle. Returning to the ranch house, the Two-Gun Kid is met with a woman who tells the Kid for his own safety to leave while he still can before departing herself.
The next morning the Kid goes into nearby Jacktown to inform the sheriff about what happened the night before only to learn that the sheriff does not have jurisdiction outside of town and that there is no Marshal keeping law in the outlying territories. Spotting Cannon and his gang riding through town, the Kid spots the woman he met the night before among them and asks the sheriff who she is. He learns that she is Dina Martin, Bret's ward who owns ranch land in the area, and as her guardian Bret's been claiming that he has been buying up land from other ranchers on her behalf, but the sheriff suspects that she is a virtual prisoner on her own land until she comes of age. The sheriff goes on to explain that Dina is from out east and that her father bought the land but never visited it. She had a brother who ran away from home to this area and after her father had died she came out looking for him and ended up in her current predicament. The Kid then goes into the local saloon for a drink where he is confronted by another one of Cannon's men. He quickly disarms him and holds those coming into the saloon at bay with his guns until he can escape on his horse Cyclone.
Returning to Bill's ranch, he is surprised to find Dina waiting for him there. She explains that Bret has fetched the local parson to force him to marry her so he can take control of all her land. Before the Kid can do anything he is knocked out by one of Cannon's men and takes Dina. Recovering the Kid races off and intercepts the parson and explains that he is being tricked into a forced marriage. The Kid then races to the ranch to confront Bret Cannon. When Cannon threatens to shoot the Kid while using Dina as a hostage, one of his men -- Rock Mantrell, whom the Kid clashed with in the saloon -- suddenly shoots his boss dead. The Kid then disarms the others, but not before Rock takes a bullet in the arm. In the aftermath of the battle, Rock explains that he is Dina's long lost brother and that they have decided to run the ranch together. The Kid wishes them luck and rides off to tell his friend Bill that it is safe to return to his home now that the crisis is over.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Cyclone
