Gunsmoke #9

When Gunsmoke and his pal Pedro stumble onto a scheme to drive an old nester off his land, they discover a dangerous secret worth killing for—one that forces them to uncover the truth before a dawn raid seals the old man's fate. With the law against them and time running short, this pair will need more than quick draws to expose the real culprit behind the terror.

A criminal masquerading as the Masked Marvel has turned the town's champion lawman into the most-wanted fugitive in Crossbone—and only the real Marvel, hiding in plain sight as the mild-mannered Chet Fairchild, can expose the imposter and clear his name. With the sheriff convinced he's chasing the genuine article and a copycat loose with stolen bank money, the Masked Marvel must outsmart both the law and the fake in his own costume to prove which hero is the real deal.

Repeated holdups are draining the Golden Eagle Mine of its gold shipments, and suspicion falls on Dan Harnett when he shows up wounded on the day of another robbery—but the real culprit is someone far closer to home, orchestrating the crimes to force the owners to sell. When Dan finally discovers the mother lode he's been searching for, the truth about the robberies emerges in the depths of the mine, along with a desperate final act of betrayal.