Hopalong Cassidy #55

When a hatless drifter loses his hat to a thief, he hatches a scheme to con Whitey Whiskers out of his—setting up an elaborate trick that involves a series of slaps, punches, and increasingly absurd predicaments. But Whitey's got a trick of his own up his sleeve, complete with a hidden string attached. It's a comedy of one-upmanship where every con gets topped by an even cleverer counter-scheme.

Hopalong Cassidy faces a runaway stagecoach rescue, but his troubles multiply when a vigilante mob led by Bemis forms to shut down Honest John's gambling casino—and the Black Hood's criminal partnership with the casino owner adds another layer of danger to the powder keg. With tensions running high and the law stretched thin, Hopalong must find a way to stop the mob from taking justice into their own hands before someone gets hurt.

When a Sentry gets caught without his pants during a muddy downpour, the Captain offers him a choice between the guard house and a thirty-mile hike with the company—a deal that quickly spirals into a grueling test of military endurance and questionable logic. This 1951 humor tale plays out the misadventures of a soldier who finds himself caught between bad options and worse consequences. A clever twist on what it really means to show courage on the march.

Hopalong Cassidy closes in on the Black Hood's schemes in "The Moonless Marauder Part Three: Mob Law," racing to expose the masked villain's frame-up of Honest John before an innocent casino owner hangs for a crime he didn't commit. When Hopalong uncovers a twisted plot involving dynamite, planted evidence, and a criminal masquerading as a vigilante, he must use his wits—and his fists—to bring the real culprit to justice. It's a race against the clock to prove the truth before frontier justice takes its toll.