Davy Crockett #26

Davy Crockett investigates a series of mysterious raids on local ranches—attacks blamed on Chief Fighting Lion's braves, though the frontiersman suspects something isn't quite right. When a smooth-talking rancher named Burt Burdon tries to buy up the terrorized settlers' land at cut-rate prices, Davy sets a trap to catch the real culprits and expose a scheme that's far more dangerous than it first appears.

Davy Crockett teams up with Swift Eagle to stop a band of buffalo poachers led by Wagner who are slaughtering the herds on Comanche territory—armed with what appears to be official government seals, the rustlers pose a threat not just to the buffalo but to the fragile peace between settlers and Native Americans. When Davy discovers the seals are forged and traces them to the stolen official press, he races to confront Wagner before the situation spirals into war.

Into the lawless town of Cedar Creek rides Johnny Rourke, a roving cowboy with a reputation for fighting injustice—only to find the territory gripped by the King Brothers gang, who've already gunned down nine sheriffs and now extort protection money from terrified townspeople. When Rourke disarms one of their men and the gang retaliates with a threat of all-out attack, a wounded U.S. Marshal swears him in as temporary sheriff and asks him to lead the town's defense. With a hastily formed posse of desperate citizens behind him, Rourke must decide whether to hole up and protect Cedar Creek from destruction—or take the fight directly to the outlaws' hideout.

When Davy Crockett is ambushed and arrested on a false murder charge in the corrupt town of Butte Halt, he quickly discovers the scheme is the work of a crook named Slim Granger who runs the territory with an iron fist. Forced to go on the run, Davy must outmaneuver Granger's men and rescue a friendly prospector who's been arrested to draw him into a trap. With honest folk counting on him and time running short, Crockett has to find a way to dismantle the criminal operation before Granger's grip on Butte Halt tightens any further.