Bill Boyd Western #15

A cryptic legend from the past sets Bill Boyd and his trusted horse Midnight on the trail of a mysterious band of outlaws who seem to vanish into thin air whenever they escape into the hills with their stolen payroll—but Bill is determined to uncover where these varmints are really hiding. With Sheriff Hawkins' job on the line and the town's merchants demanding results, Bill must solve the riddle of the vanishing robbers and track them to their secret hideout.

Absent-Minded Abernathy puzzles over the peculiar names folks give to money in this lighthearted western tale from 1951. When a character spends his entire paycheck and can't make sense of why currency is called "dough," the joke lands with a groan-worthy punchline that plays on the sticky nature of the real thing. A quick, good-natured gag that shows why nicknames for cash never quite add up.

When "Hard Luck" Zebulon Cornwall discovers oil on his land, he sees a chance to finally outdo his rival Meany Pike—and win the hand of Leantha. But Meany isn't about to let his lifelong competitor get the upper hand, setting the stage for a showdown over fortune and love in the Wyoming frontier town of Grangeville.

When a smooth-talking music lover named Windy spots an opera impressario from New York, he sees his ticket east—if he can convince the man he's a fellow maestro. What follows is a hilarious collision of frontier bluster and big-city opera world, as Windy spins increasingly absurd tales about his musical career, each one more ridiculous than the last. This 1951 western humor tale showcases the tall-tale tradition at its finest, with Windy's outlandish claims about opera singers, inflamed throats, and his own supposed operatic glory creating pure comic chaos.

When ranch owner Mister Yates returns home after a week away, he's startled to find Brainy Buster perched on the chandelier—and it turns out the resourceful character has been sleeping there every night for a very punny reason. This quick western humor tale delivers a gag that plays on words as much as it does on the sight of a man sleeping in the strangest place imaginable.

Crowbait poses as a barber's assistant to impress Miss Betsy and ends up accidentally giving her best customer, Jeff Meany, a disastrous haircut—one he tries to cover up with charcoal before things spiral hilariously out of control. When a crook attempts to rob Meany of five thousand dollars, Crowbait's botched grooming job becomes the unlikely hero of the day in this frontier comedy of errors.