Monte Hale Western #35

Betsy rides her bicycle across the dining table, causing chaos when she knocks down the chandelier—much to her father’s dismay. When he questions why she cut it down, she explains it kept bumping her head, revealing her playful, if reckless, antics.

Old Slick claims it's too hot to work, prompting his fellow cowpokes to agree—until he insists it’s not just hot, it’s broiling. He then tells a tall tale about a day so sweltering he saw a coyote chasing a jackrabbit… both walking.

Monte Hale arrives in Jewel Valley seeking his old friends Baldy Benson and Chuck, only to discover they’ve been captured and forced into slavery by Hi-Jack and his gang, who have seized a hidden diamond mine. Trapped and bound, Monte must devise a plan to free himself and the other prisoners before the gang can exploit the mine further.

Old Slick, proud of his new book on arithmetic, claims he’s becoming an expert—much to the amusement of a skeptical companion who challenges him with increasingly absurd math questions. When asked how many make a million, Old Slick delivers a wry, offbeat answer that underscores his folksy wisdom.

When Gabby Hayes develops a severe toothache, he’s taken to a traveling dentist known as Doc Yankum, whose methods are anything but gentle. As the gas takes effect, Gabby’s mind spirals into a wild hallucination where posters become flags, pies turn into people, and the sheriff’s office is a scene of mistaken identity and chaos. Amid the confusion, Gabby unwittingly thwarts a robbery—though he’s not sure if he’s the hero or just confused.

Colonel Hollis, haunted by a traumatic past, arrives at Fort Lagoché with a rigid resolve to purge the frontier of all Native people, despite the presence of friendly tribes. When a series of brutal raids occur, Monte Hale uncovers evidence that white renegades—posing as Indians—are behind the violence, but his warnings fall on deaf ears as Hollis prepares to launch a deadly assault on a peaceful village.