Wild Western #24 — Nick Peron

Aug 16

Aug 16 Wild Western #24

Gunsmoke Range!

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The Texas Kid has tracked down an outlaw named El Toro to a Texas town and guns him down. He then heads back toward Caliber City to change back into his alter-ego of Lance Temple before his blind father Zane can worry about him. Along the way the Texas Kid comes across some cattle ranchers who mistake him for an outlaw under the employ of a man named Creech. They start firing, drawing the Kid away from the herd.

Taking an alternate route, the Texas Kid passes through a Native American reservation and finds it a squalor. He keeps on going until he comes across a cabin. Instead of being shot at by the occupant that comes out, the Texas Kid is welcomed inside. There he is introduced to Creech who offers the Kid a job: He is the competition for a rancher named Barrett who has a contract with the agent that governs over the reservation to deliver beef by the end of the night. If he fails to do so, then the agent has the right to opt out of buying. Creech has bought out the agent and intends to prevent the cattle drive from reaching the agent. Then once the cattle are refused, Barrett would not have enough time to bring them back to graze land and would be forced to sell them to Creech at whatever price he wants. Creech was then going to sell the cattle for a larger profit.

The Texas Kid refuses and blasts his way out of the cabin before they can shoot him. He then races out to Barrett's cattle drive to try and warn them but they still think that he is a cattle rustler. Tired of getting shot at, the Texas Kid rides off and leaves both parties to sort thinks out on their own. However as the attack begins the frightened cattle try to run into the nearby woods. Realizing that Barrett's men would not be able to get the cattle out in time to get them to the reservation, the Texas Kid starts a fire in the woods to drive the cattle back and herds them the rest of the way to the reservation.

Later, he listens in on the reservation agent refusing to pay Barrett even though the cattle arrive on time. However, he finally gives in and pays Barrett just as Creech and his men burst in to steal it from him. That's when the Texas Kid barges in with guns blazing, killing Creech and his men.