Wild Western #38
Kid Colt Outlaw
Answering a call for help from his friend Alice Ferguson, Kid Colt arrives at her ranch as she is being terrorized by a group of masked outlaws calling themselves the Night Riders. The Kid manages to fend them off and send them packing and asks Alice what the trouble is. Alice tells him that the Night Riders have been coming to force people off her land and that she is now considering selling her property to her lawyer Jay S. Sloane of 5 thousand dollars. The Kid tells her that does sound like a good deal, but offers to stick around should the Night Rider's cause her any trouble.
The Kid follows the Night Rider's back trail and it leads them directly to the office of Jay Sloane. Spying through the window he overhears Sloane chastising his men for failing in their job. He also overhears that Sloane is attempting to force Alice to sell as he knows that the local railroad is looking to build their line through the land and will be offering to pay a large sum for it. Before the Kid can act on this information he is knocked out from behind.
When Kid Colt comes around he finds himself tied up in Sloane's officer. The leader of the Night Riders suggests that they eliminate the interloper, but Sloane recognizes him as Kid Colt and decides to turn him over to the sheriff in order to collect on the reward on the outlaw's head. Turned over to the local sheriff, the law man won't listen to Kid Colt until he mentions that Alice is in trouble. This distracts the sheriff who is smitten by her, and is knocked out by Kid Colt.
Kid Colt races back to the Ferguson ranch where he finds it under attack again by the Night Riders. There the Kid mows down most of their gang, but when their leader tries to shoot the Kid in the back, he is gunned down by the sheriff who has made a timely arrival. As a romance blooms between Alice and the sheriff, Kid Colt quietly rides off happy that the couple have a bright future ahead of them.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt
Steel
The Vengeance Trail!
The Ringo Kid returns to the Comanche village that was the birthplace of his mother and is horrified to find that they were force off their land by white raiders. Investigating their trail he finds that they at least had enough time to bury their dead before fleeing their land.
He follows their trail and hurries when he spots buzzards circling in the sky. Beneath them he finds Keeta, an elderly Comanche woman whom helped raise him as a boy. He learns that their people were forced off their land by white men who killed their game, destroyed their crops and poisoned their wells forcing them to flee after a losing battle. Keeta fled with a group of women and children but soon saw herself as a burden to the others and decided to stay behind and wait for death allowing the young to continue on and keep their tribe alive. Unable to leave Keeta to die, the Ringo Kid takes her to Caleb a trapper friend for care and learns more about the attackers and then races off alone to deal with them.
Meanwhile at a saloon not far away the men responsible -- under the leadership of Hatchet Harmond -- plot to track down the remaining Comanches and wipe them out. Not far away from there is the group of Comanches that were part of Keeta's party have stopped. Slowed down further by two children who have grown ill, the warriors guarding the women and children decide to stand their ground and fight to the death instead of leaving anymore behind. That night some of Harmond's men prepare to ambush the Comanches but they are in turn ambushed by the Ringo Kid who slays them all.
He then convinces the Comanches to stand their ground and goes out to gather the other separated groups to form an army of warriors. They then work together to track down Hatchet Harmond and his gang and ambush them at their camp. Although Harmond is nowhere to be found. The Kid tells them to stay there, while not far up ahead Hatchet sends the last of his men to force the Comanches to a nearby watering hole. There Hatchet poisons the water, but the Ringo Kid catches him in the act and guns him down.
After the rest of his gang is wiped out it begins to rain giving the Comanches the fresh water they need to rebuild their destroyed village.
Recurring Characters
Ringo Kid
Comanches
Arab
Arrowhead
Arrowhead is riding through the plains cautiously as he is still being hunted by both his people and the white settlers. He spies on Black Buffalo, believed to be the bravest and most handsome of his people's warriors and figures that Black Buffalo would not try to capture him for the reward that is on his head. He approaches Black Buffalo who tells him that their people are being terrorized by a gang of white men who have been scaring away their herds in the night and that he is now out seeking to find the men responsible. Arrowhead wishes Black Buffalo the best of luck and sends him on his way.
As Arrowhead goes his own way he suddenly hears a gun shot and decides to go and investigate its source. He comes across a gang of white men who had just shot Black Buffalo and after they leave him for dead, Arrowhead goes to check on his friend. He finds Black Buffalo is still alive and takes the wounded warrior back to his cave to heal his wounds. However when Black Buffalo revives from is injuries he has been driven mad. Black Buffalo attacks Arrowhead and escapes, and Arrowhead pursues after him.
Following Black Buffalo's trail, Arrowhead finds that the warrior has been indiscriminately killing any white person he comes across and decides that his friend must be put down for good to insure peace in the region. Along the way Arrowhead almost shoots his friend Andy Crockett who tells him more about Black Buffalo's rampage who asks Arrowhead to stop Black Buffalo. Arrowhead agrees and continues searching for his old friend. One night he is attacked by the insane Black Buffalo and the two battle to the death. Arrowhead is able to best Black Buffalo, and is forced to slay him in order to end his rampage.
Recurring Characters
Arrowhead
Andy Crockett
Eagle
Killer at Large!
The Black Rider interrupts a gang of outlaws led by a man named Tulsa Tighe who are pressuring Bill Desmond to turn over his Heartache mine to them. The Black Rider easily disarms them, wounding one of Tulsa's men and orders them to leave, suggesting that they should take their wounded to Dr. Matthew Masters in Leadville for medical treatment.
The Rider returns to town and changes back into his alter-ego of Matthew Masters, and finds himself conflicted over treating a wounded outlaw. After treating Tulsa's men, Matthew finds them unwilling to pay the bill and they storm off to plot revenge against Bill Desmond, telling his men to spread the word that Desmond is going to be murdered. When the news reaches Matthew Masters, he resolves that he cannot stand idly by and let a man be murdered and decides to prevent the killing as the Black Rider.
He rides to Demond's home and finds a man stalking around outside and shoots him dead. However when the Black Rider goes inside to check on Bill he finds him wounded by a gun shot on the ground. The Black Rider is horrified, blaming himself for his bullet ricocheting off Bill's would-be killer and striking him as well. The Black Rider rushes Bill to town and changes back into Matthew Masters to treat him for his wounds. When Masters tells the locals that Bill is going to be okay, he finds that they are highly critical of the Black Rider, suggesting that he should have taken more care to insure Bill wasn't hurt.
When Bill comes to the next morning he tries to reassure Masters that he didn't think it was the Black Rider's bullet that struck him. Later when Masters checks on Bill he is shocked to find him dead and blames himself. Having felt that he lost the confidence of the people of Leadville, Masters decides to leave town in disgrace. However suspecting foul play, he comes back at night as the Black Rider. Searching his office, the Black Rider finds that Bill's drinking water was laced with arsenic, realizing that somebody else murdered Bill. He then rushes back to the Desmond property and finds evidence that there were others at the scene of the crime. When he goes inside to look for more clues he is found by Tulsa Tighe and his men.
Tulsa explains that he was hiding inside Desmond's home waiting for the Black Rider to eliminate his assassin. At the same time that the Black Rider killed the hired gun, Tulsa had shot Desmond at the same time. The Black Rider then easily guns down Tulsa and his men and returns to Leadville to tell the people the truth of Bill Desmond's death. When he later returns in his alter-ego of Matthew Masters he finds that the people of Leadville have organized a welcome back party.
Recurring Characters
Black Rider
Satan
