Lash LaRue Western #2

Wagonwheels, a boastful cowboy, tries to impress his friends with his latest claim to greatness, only to be met with their sudden, dramatic retreat. They confess they’ve grown tired of his constant bragging, prompting him to admit he’s finally overcome his old conceit—though his new self-image may be just as hard to take.

Riding into Stone Mountain, Lash LaRue stumbles upon a mine where a band of outlaws, led by a man named Turgid, are hiding a stolen silver shipment. When the outlaws mistake Lash’s horse for a decoy and try to eliminate him, he fakes his death and escapes into the wilderness, tracking the gang’s movements while they set a trap for the posse he’s sent to hunt them.

Molasses Mouth tries to solve an arithmetic problem in a way only he can—by interpreting it literally. When challenged on how five can go into one, he confidently claims it’s simple: every morning he puts five toes into one stocking.

In the dusty town of Hedge City, a bumbling outlaw named Biff Calhoun tries to steal the combination to Sam Driscolle’s safe while pretending to start a fight, only to be foiled by the sharp-eyed Lash LaRue. When Lash discovers that his old friend Squinty—whose poor vision makes him a walking comic disaster—is working at Driscolle’s Lazy K Ranch, he’s both exasperated and protective, leading to a series of slapstick mishaps involving hay bales, branding irons, and a very angry jackass.

Saddlehead mistakes two young Wilkin twins for a long-lost twin brother, claiming his uncle once showed him a picture of him as a child. The sheriff, baffled by the claim, tries to help Saddlehead find his missing brother, but the search leads to more confusion than answers.

Dusty heads into town to get a shave and haircut as ordered by his boss, Mr. Saunders, only to find the barber is an unorthodox practitioner with a surprisingly chaotic approach to his craft. As the barber’s enthusiastic apprentice attempts to practice on him, Dusty quickly realizes that a simple trim may not be so simple—especially when hot towels, questionable skill, and a dog with a strange interest in the process make for a messy session.

Lash Lareue and Sheriff Dick Payson track the notorious Cleery gang across the frontier, only to discover the outlaws are using the Ulster Gulch jailhouse as a secret hide-out, escaping to commit robberies under the guise of being imprisoned. As Lash closes in on the gang’s latest scheme in Cactus Junction, the real mastermind—posing as Sheriff Barton—tries to outwit him by keeping him distracted while the gang slips back into their cells.