Captain Midnight #48

Captain Midnight tests his latest invention—a compressed water bomb designed to fight fires—just as a raging forest blaze breaks out in the Northwest timber country, giving him the perfect opportunity to prove its worth. But when the flames are mysteriously extinguished, he spots a figure in an asbestos suit deliberately spreading the fire, and a tense pursuit into the woods leads him to Kit Kimball, a young timber-land owner caught between a dangerous arsonist and the unwanted attentions of her late father's rival's son. With the real fire-bug still at large and clearly willing to kill to finish the job, Captain Midnight settles in to stand watch—only to find himself walking straight into a deadly trap.

In "Captain Midnight Visits the Golden Asteroid!" from Captain Midnight #48 (1947), an amateur astronomer's discovery of a gold-laden asteroid 50,000 miles from Earth sets off a high-flying dispute. Captain Midnight and Icky escort the man to claim the treasure, only to find themselves at odds with the astronomer—and his armed men—over who deserves the prize. The real surprise? The gold is nothing more than fool's gold.

When Freddy decides to enter an archery contest to impress a girl, he finds himself facing off against Ace, the campus archery champion—and Freddy has never picked up a bow before. With a little help from an unlikely ally and a fortunate accident, Freddy stumbles into a shocking victory that even he can't quite explain.

Captain Midnight joins his old wartime comrade, Commander Ted Steele of the Coast Guard, to pursue the ruthless pirate Black Bailey, whose gang has terrorized the North Pacific under cover of wartime chaos. When Bailey's vessel flees into the fog-shrouded waters, Albright takes to the air in his seaplane to locate their hidden stronghold—only to discover the legendary Thieves' Harbor, a centuries-old pirate refuge bristling with shore batteries. With reinforcements en route, Albright devises a daring scheme: disguise the Coast Guard destroyer as a fishing vessel, slip into the harbor, and lure Bailey's entire fleet out into open water where the trap can spring.