Desperate Journey!

Kid Colt arrives in the town of Dorado and sees a mob of angry people gathered outside of the Tyler and Simms Bank, which is closed, demanding that the bank give them their money back. The sheriff and his deputy soon arrive on the scene to keep the peace and the owner of the bank comes out and tells them that the bank’s main branch in St. Louis has failed and this has affected other branches. He tells them that they don’t have enough cash on site to pay everyone but they will be able to honor all withdrawals once the situation has been settled. As the crowd disburses, Kid Colt ends up talking to a man from Mesa Flats who lost his entire savings. As he rides away from the bank, Kid Colt passes by a saloon as a man named Kirkland is tossed out onto the street. When Kirkland draws his guns, Kid Colt warns him that the men inside mean business. Still, Kirkland doesn’t want to be cheated out of the five thousand dollars he won in a card game, especially after he sold a bunch of cattle and was given a bad cheque written by Rig Hanna. The cheque, as it turns out, was payable by the Tyler and Simms Bank. The cattleman figures that Hanna probably knew that every Tyler and Simms branch is being shut down. With Kid Colt at his side, the cattleman goes back into the saloon and demands that Hanna pay. When Rig Hanna’s men draw their guns, Kid Colt out draws them and shoots the guns out of his hands and demands that Hanna pays up. Kirkland tells the Kid not to worry about it right now he knows that sooner or later Hanna will pay.

That’s when Kid Colt remembers that the Tyler and Simms branch in Staghorn doesn’t have a telegraph set up and they can probably get there to cash the cheque before they get orders to close. The Kid figures they can beat the mail wagon by cutting across the river rapids at Grizzly Point. As the pair race against time, Rig Hanna gathers his posse and tells them to try and cut them off at Pine Hill Trail. By the time the Kid and Kirkland reach the river their horses are about done. After crossing the river and leaping over a falling tree, the two men stop in Totem Ridge to change horses. They ride all night and arrive in Staghorn at dawn and have enough time to check into a nearby hotel and clean themselves up before going to the bank. Kirkland cashes the cheque just moments before Rig Hanna’s men arrive to tell the teller that the bank is being closed. Outside, some men try to rob Kirkland but Kid Colt is faster at the draw and sends them packing. Thanking the Kid for his help, Kirkland offers him half the money but Kid Colt declines, saying he got his money’s worth for sticking it to Rig Hanna.

Recurring Characters

Kid Colt, Steel

Devil Dust

While riding through the Painted Desert, the Black Rider comes across a man walking alone in the scorching heat and rides to the man after he collapses. Once he gets close enough the masked hero recognizes the man as the outlaw known as Yellowjack Bates. He gives the man some water and when he’s able to talk he tells the Black Rider he wants nothing to do with something he calls devil dust. However, before the Black Rider can get an explanation Yellowjack passes out. The Black Rider rides back to Leadville where he changes back into Matthew Masters, country doctor, to examine Yellowjack. Checking his patient’s eyes, Masters discover that he is suffering from inflammation caused by silica glass. When Bates wakes up he tells the doctor to have him locked up quick. When Matthew tries to get answers he doesn’t get any, all Yellowjack can talk about is getting away the devil dust that he’s afraid of.

After taking Bates to the sheriff, Masters thinks about the situation and wonders if Yellowjack encountered something in the desert. With reports of a coming windstorm, he decides to patrol the area as the Black Rider. Riding out so he can get a good view of the town he notices that this time the usual windstorm is blowing dust into town for the first time. He wonders if this was the devil dust that Bates was worried about. That’s when he hears shots coming from town and races his horseback. In town, the sheriff and his men can’t see much because the dust stings worse than glass. However, the robbers are surprised when the Black RIder is able to shoot the bags of loot out of their hands. Their leader — Spike Clumber — tells the rest of the gang go back to their hideout while he goes to the jail and deals with Yellowjack Bates, since he must have talked.

However, when Spike tries to shoot Bates in his cell, the sheriff and his men are there to stop him. After Clumber is arrested, Yellowjack explains everything. Spike Clumber and his gang were gathering the dust off the cliffs in Cyclone Canyon and used it to create the devil dust. When the windstorm started they kicked loose the sand so that it would be blown into town. Protected by special eyewear, the crooks would then rob the bank and nobody would be able to stop them. When Yellowjack Bates refused to go through with this plan they blinded him with the devil dust and set him loose in the desert without a horse. That’s when the rest of Clumber’s gang comes back and tries to get the drop on the sheriff. Luckily, the Black Rider is there to shove the sheriff out of the way. After shooting the guns out of their hands the sheriff thanks the masked hero for his help.

Recurring Characters

Black Rider, Satan

Bait for Boot Hill!

Hearing someone crying for help, the Ringo Kid finds a man being swept downriver. Riding downstream, the Ringo Kid manages to catch the man in his lasso and haul him to shore. He discovers that the man is a US Marshall named Sam Yarby and that he’s been shot. After his wounds are treated, the Marshall explains that he was ordered to move Buck Slade and Slim Murtag out of the Alamos jail before the rest of their gang breaks them out and so they had men bushwack him before he could deliver the order. Since he can’t make the rest of the trip, Yarby asks the Ringo Kid to go in his stead.

The Kid rides out to Alamos and as he arrives he sees a flair getting shot into the sky and figures that Slade and Murtag’s friends beat him there. Rushing to the sheriff’s office the Ringo Kid explains why he has come to move the prisoners. Unfortunately, when they go to their jail cell they discover that both men have vanished. While the officers search the town, the Ringo Kid examines their room and discovers that someone dug a secret tunnel under their cell. Telling the sheriff to billow smoke into the hole, the Ringo Kid rids out of town and locates the exit hole from the smoke coming out of the other end of the tunnel.

When Slade pops up to get some fresh air, the Ringo Kid orders him to go back the way he came but he’s ambushed from behind by the gang who pistol whips him over the back of the head. By the time the sheriff and his men arrive at the scene the outlaws are escaping. The sheriff orders his men to get a posse together while he checks on the Kid. Later that day, the posse comes back empty-handed. By this point, Marshall Yarby has arrived in town and both her and the sheriff suggest that Ringo leave while he can because Buck Slade is not a man to forget a grudge. Just then someone tosses a rock through the window with a note attached to it. The note contains a challenge to the Ringo Kid to meet Buck Slade up by boot hill.

When the Ringo Kid arrives at the graveyard he is ambushed by Slade’s men. Running for cover, the Ringo Kid does some fancy shooting so two of the outlaws are pinned under a shattered tombstone and the others are trapped under a fallen tree. With the battle over, the law takes over and has four new occupants in the Alamos jail.

Recurring Characters

Ringo Kid, Arab