Gabby Hayes #52

Born John H. Holliday in Georgia and schooled as a dentist, Doc Holliday heads west to the high plains seeking relief from consumption—but when his coughing drives away his patients, he turns to gambling and guns instead. This tale follows the ash-blonde gunfighter's transformation from failed dentist to formidable fast-draw, including his deadly first gunfight over a disputed cards game in Dallas, Texas.

Gabby Hayes devises a clever scheme to transport fifty thousand dollars in gold safely to Rawhide by melting it down and casting it into wagon wheels, then painting them to look ordinary—reasoning that no bandit would bother stealing empty wheels. But when the plan goes awry and the miners suspect him of theft, Gabby finds himself locked away while the real crooks make off with the loot, forcing him to engineer a daring escape and pursuit to recover the golden wheels and expose the true thieves.

A would-be challenger rides out to prove Chief Gray Matter isn't as clever as folks claim, only to discover the old sage's mind is still sharp as a tack—and his riddle-solving skills haven't dulled one bit. This lighthearted tale delivers the kind of quick-witted humor that made frontier folk legends worth talking about around the campfire.

When a shady character named Pesty Buggs threatens to unleash a devastating locust plague on the ranches of Rawhide unless they pay him off, Gabby Hayes refuses to bow to blackmail—but when Pesty proves he can actually control the swarms, the ranchers begin to lose faith. Gabby hatches a daring plan involving gulls from nearby Salt Lake and a wagon full of fish to turn the tables on the extortionist and save the Bar Nothing Ranch from ruin.

Young Falcon discovers that the Onadontas tribe has lost every young brave attempting the traditional trial of slaying a grizzly bear, and he volunteers to hunt the beast and uncover why. As he tracks the creature through the wilderness, careful observation reveals a cunning truth that will determine whether the inexperienced warriors have truly been outmatched—or if something far more dangerous is at work.

Gabby Hayes takes on the job of tax collector when no one else in Rawhide will face down the ornery, wealthy miser who's already sent the entire collection squad to the hospital. Armed with his reputation and stubbornness, Gabby storms the miser's heavily guarded ranch to collect the school tax—but he's quickly outmatched by guards, a wildcat, and the miser's own refusal to part with a dime. When young Tippy spots a flaw in the miser's business dealings, it just might give Gabby the opening he needs to finally make the stubborn rancher see reason.