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CHAPTER I - AMBUSH

_ U ~»E BRAWLINfi,«OLD-CRA2ED BCOW TOWN OP
RIRNACg VALLiY, LAW ANP OBPM WK! WOWS
TO »I SCCWIP AT/ INNOCENT PEOPLE WXRE R.EECID
ANDOMLV TWOSe THAT WERE QUICK WITH Tn£-ni;SGB«.
aURVIVED.' TEX WTTlR.THe iSflPHIPiMS TWom5TE3
RANSCttCF THE PLAtNS,WASCAIJSHTlN THIS WHIRL-
pool of lawlessness and hot l6ad, slit tsx'6
colloastous challenge became a winning hawi7
iSmaelsthcw 01= evil:

lOH*lN& BOOM TOAM

TEX RITTER WESTERN

PULU USAGES
MCtVMJNPCKA

emat. i*asu*£-J
FIRIM

„ <sive the K>v» \

MAP THIS COWINd/THS SH3WALTO BUSH /I
y THAT TROUBLE -MAKK I

TEX BITTER WESTERN

TEX RITTER WESTERN

HOW L'O.-Hk

..GOT TD Thinking. KITTBH 19
UCThiM SET awaV (OUT TO G£T KViPENC£THAT
BOSS; HE'S .J/WILL HANSUS.' WE'Ve SOT

TCXKBH--BUT VTO eeTR|[3 C*HIM, BUT
w« COULD HAVE IN A WAY THAT HE
GUNNED HIW; y-I CAN'T FIC3MT SACK

TEX RITTER WESTERN

•jo morse-raising farm last kmk. he breeds
amd raises some mighty fine horseflesh out there,
and what i 5aw wade me wish that 50metwe& human folks
wrre as smart as horses.

OUTSIDE HOWARDb BUS DOUBLE GATE I WATCHED AN HOMBRE OVER-
LOADING HIS RACK HORSE. BUT THAT fMK HORSE JUST KNEELED
DOWN AND REFUSED TO BUDGE . SHE KNEW SHE WAS CARRYING TOO
BIG A LOAD, KNEW SHE COULD NEVER MAKE IT THROUGH THE HILLS
WITH (T, AND THE HOM*RE HAD TO TWOS. SOME OP IT OFF AFORE
SHE'D SO ALONG WITH HIM.

THEM, AS PURV AMD I WATCHED THE YOUNG COLT* FRISKING
ASOUT ON THE NEW GRASSi E HAD TO NOTICE HOW, WHEN THiY SOT
TIRED PLAYING, THEY STOPPED TO REST. ANO VOL! DIDN'T CATtW
ANY OF THBM EATING TOO MANY OF THE GRHEN APPLES ON; THB
GROUND ORDRINKINO THEMSELVES SICK AT THE WATER TROUGH.
NO, THIlR "HOREE SENSE" WOULDN'T LET THEM . YES, IT MADE fflE
THINK OP HOW OPTTSW PYE SEEN YOUNG TWO-LEG3ED COLTS PLAY
TILL THEY WERE EXHAUSTED AND DO A LOT OF SUCH °TH«™NSS
THAT DIDN'T SHOW MUCH "HORSE SENSE," SO REMEMBER.. FRIENDS,
WHEN YOU'RE ON THE VERSE OF RUNNING OR PLAYING OR EATING
YOURSELF SICK , BLOW DOWN — - DON'T OVERDO THINGS . IN SHORT,
USE A LITTLE "HORSE SENSE,.* UNTIL NEXT MONTH. ADI05i FARM*.
YOUR SADDLE FRIEND,

TEX RlTTER WESTERN

Tex Rif te

^ Lawless
^urnace Walley

CHAPTER.!-*- DEATH'S GRIP.'

TEX RITTER WESTERN

TEX RITTEft WESTERN

ITCAN KKKl: NOW
LiSTEN, BO¥ft--7WiS 14
MOW WE'LL WORK. "

TEX RlTTER WESTERN

tBJI

TTMB APPOINTED HOUR...

AM. R'.Ght WHO ELSe

ect scwewowEv
tmev want to err on

RITTER? I'MTAKInS ■

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\ PUT UP-*6u«l FIFTY \
JMONEVOR J DOLLARS i

; shut up; rrru-BETowy

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VSIN3HJ5 ShOulDERS
SE CONSiOEREC THE

Cut SSCCNPS SLG..-.

*5THe CRUSHER'S POWERFUL, MUSCULAR ARMS

flCBK TO GET AGRirCWTEX'S LlTHEBOPy.'

ii 7

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uiK finish, ritter; ^^H

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TEX SAC* AS
HShOlCSHimiN

A VISE -LIKE
GRIP. THE PAIN
15 OUENPURAiLE-
THECONSlWllMS
BLANKET OF UN-
CONSCIOUSNESS

PlUNGE TEX INTO

its Blacktop;

5 THIS THE

end of the
trail forth!
courageous

plain&ww:se<!
chapter in at-

LAWLESS

VA14.1V;

THAR'S JIWfftY COOTE, THE TERRIBLE TAP DANCER.'
I HOPE HE DOESN'T SEE /.£!! KATE TO HEAR n\/t
CRYING THE BLUES/

TEX RITTER WESTERN

TEX RITTER WESTERN

INCIDENT BY THE CREEK *

DHlKIFF CLINT EDWARDS rode hard
■^through the scattered mesquite, lathing his
buckskin with a slinging quirt. At he reached
the fork of the Manamtas Creek, the sky was
flooded with yellow-blue light, It waa dawn in
the cattle country. Dawn— and a man waa
dead!

Ahead of him, the aheriff law three men
standing, darkly silhouetted against the rising
sun, They held their battend Stetsons in their
work-hardened hands, and they stared down
grimly at a sprawled figure lying on the creek
bank. Clint Edwards reined in hard, and flung
himaelf from the buckskin. Stiff from the long
ride, he hobbled over to the waiting men. He
recognized them— Rancher Jed Slocum, a cat-
tleman along the Mansnitas, and two of hi*
waddies.

"Howdy, Slocum," the sheriff nodded, "One
of your boys juat rode into town. Told mi you
had trouble— a dead man! So I figgered I'd
come up pronto!'

He stared down at the corpse lying by tut
creek.

"Zeke Dawson, eh?" he grunted. "Your old
handyman! What happened? He fall in the
creek and drown?"

Bancher Jed Slocum shook hit high-cheelc-
Ooned head, his eyes dark with anger. He was a
man who had carved his living out of this hard
land for fifteen years with little more than hit
bare hands and a cheat fill of courage. Hia lip*
twisted and he spoke for the first time.

"Drowned? Not old Zeke!" he husked. "He
was on his way back from town lust night— and
he must have stopped here at the creek far a
drink of water. It wat his lait! He waa poi-
soned." Slocum flung hia head up at the <Jta-
balief in the .he riff's eyes "Yes, poisoned! If
you don't believe me— sniff the water— and
taite It!"

fat

The sheriff dropped quickly 1
They were at a stretch of the it
ther* was little current, and the >

"Arsenic >." he nodded slowly. "Someone
must have poured a tack of it in there last
night! But who? And why?"

Suddenly, the aherlff frowned.

"Hold on!" he grunted. "Isn't this thl road
that i* used to drive cattle up from the
Panhandle? And isn't Alamo Bates planning
on coming through right soon with. a passe) of

The Mananiias rancher answered slowly.
weighing each word.

"That's right! Bates and hi. Panhandle cat-
tle are due any time. Mebbe today ! They aim to
ship out on the railroad up the creek! Why?"

The sheriff stood atock still, but there was
a world of thought going on behind hi* veiled
eyaa. Old Clint Edwards had worn the law-
badge for thirty ruckus-filled years, bul hi ttill
had a young man's imagination. He began to fit
the elements together in hia mind. Alamo Bates
coming up from thl Panhandle with a herd of
beef cattle. Bate* wa* hated by avery rancher
in the creek country, and especially by Jed
Slocum. And now, ihn arsenic planted in the
creek, where Bates' herd would have to pass,
where the thirsty mavcricka and steers would
want to drink.
' The sheriff talked softly.

"You don't Itk* Alamu Bates, do you, Jtd?
You've been feuding with him for the last
couple of years, tinct he ran his tattle across
your spread. And you knew he was coming
through today!'

"Hold on !" Jed Slocum's fact flushed darkly.
"If you're laying that I planted this arienic in
the creek to poison hia herd, it's a blamed lit."

The words were cut off In the rancher's
throat, as one of hia cowboya caught his arm
and pointed off in tht distance. "Look!" the
man broke in, "Dust! It'* caul* coming up and,
moving fait! It mun fit Alamo Bate* and hi*

TEX RITTER WESTERN

dogies!" Slocum's fist* clenched- "You're
right!" he half-shouted. "They're coming fast
and they want water. But if they drink from
the creek anywhere along here they'll be poi-
■oned! We've got to stop them!"

Swiftly, the lanky rancher sprang onto his
waiting bay horse, pulling a revolver from his
hip holster. "Quick! Hit leather, you rannies!
Let's cut those beaft off!" Wheeling the bay,
he sped toward the on-coming herd with the
ether men and the sheriff close behind him. As
the Panhandle cattle approached, eager to
drink the water they scented, Slocum fired hii
gun repeatedly in the air, and shouted, "Back!
Git back, you ornery critters! Stay away from
that creek!" All along the line of oncoming
steers, the other men and the sheriff did the
same, beating their sombreros against the
sides of the dust-stained herd and shouting
until they were hoarse. Finally, puzzled, be-
wildered, and discouraged, the herd slowed to
a halt. The oattle stood there, legs apart,
breathing heavily and howling with thirst.

Suddenly, a pair of riders appeared, riding
hard through the dust cloud that had eddied
behind the steers. The first man was Alamo
Bales, and the second was his sidekick.

"I heard shots," the Panhandle man called
sharply. "What happened? Were you gents
running down my steers? I'll — "

"Take it easy!" Sheriff Clint Edwards raised
a calming hand. "We just saved your herd ! The
creek was poisoned with arsenic and they
would have died, every one, if they'd reached
it!"

"Poisoned!" Alamo Bates swung toward Jed
Slocum. "I'll bet you were behind this, Slocum!
Trying to kill off my herd "cause of that scrap
we had a while back — and to keep my beef
from competing with yoursl I'll fix you—"

"Wait!" Jed Slocum moved forward until he
was scant Inches from the Panhandle man. "I
saw a track on the creek bank a while ago, but
1 didn't understand it! It was the print of a
pack mule !" He pointed up at a laden mule that
followed behind Bates and the other Panhandle
man. "Might have been left by that mule— last
night!" Slocum reached a hand forward toward
a half-empty sack that lay across* the mule's
back. It had white traces on it that might have
been flour, or might have been . . .

"Arsenic?" whispered Slocum. He touched
the sack with his fingers, brushed off a few
specks of the white powder. "Mind if I taste

this?"

Alamo Bates sprang back, his face working
in fury.

"Taste it? Don't bother," he snarled. "I'll
rigger an easier way for you to die, Slocum!
This way!" His hands clawed at the shotgun
that hung by his saddle. Swiftly, they pulled
the snub-nosed weapon free, raised it, and
sinewy fingers tightened on the trigger! Then
was the sound of a shot, and then another—
and a crow that had been resting on the
branches of a nearby tree flew awiy with a sud-
den cawing. Alamo Bates dropped ths shot-
gun and slumped slowly forward, like a mound
of sand with its base eaten away by rushing
water. His friend moved only long enough to
raise his hands to the bright sky ; then h< stood
still.

Jed Slocum thruat his still-smoking Colt
back into its holster

"Shotgun against a waist weapon." He shook
his head disapprovingly. "He gave me two sec-
onds. Shouldn't have tried it. I almost hand io
shoot but he'd have killed me. So . . ."

The Sheriff shook his head slowly.

"I don't get it." he said. "You mean that
Bates came up last night sad poisoned the
creek himself— and then rode back to his here 1 .
But why? Why would he want to poison hit
own cactle? What was in it for him?'

The_ Mananitas rancher made a gesture
toward the waiting herd. "Look at his cattle
and you'll see the answer." he replied. "They're
lick, every one of them. Red eyei. bony, stag-
gering, covered with ticka, They've got the
Texas fever— and got it bad! Not half of them
would last to the railroad — and then no one
would buy them. Bates worked up this icheme
to poison them . . , and then put the blame on
me! Prob'ly he planted some arsenic at my
ranch, that ht figgered yuu'u turn up, when
investigating the poisoning,"

JED SLOCUM grinned momentarily. "He
probably reckoned that hi could prove I
did it, and make me pay him for the entire
herd— which was as good as worthless any-
way." Then his face grew dark and sad again.
"If it hadn't been for old Zeks taking a drink
of water at the wrong time, it might have
worked! And Bates might havt beih heading
for Easy Street right nuw inuead of a grave in
Boot Hill I"

THE END

TEX RlTTER WESTERN

TEX RITTER WESTERN

TEX RITTER WESTERN

ALL KWHT , YOU
VMM1HT.' ILL
WUTO

TEX R1TTER WESTERN

TEX RITTER WESTERN

TEX RITTER WESTER

TEX RITTER WE5TERN

...H( LEAPS THE ) ,\

cow across •?. i,: 7 '.".' ■

THE STAGE II" *