Lash LaRue Western #17

Molasses Mouth is lovesick, pining over a picture of Daisy Mae and sighing to anyone who'll listen—but there's one problem keeping him from proposing marriage, and he's finally ready to share what it is.

Dusty heads to a hotel to compete for a hundred-dollar prize offered by a visiting Eastern writer researching the West, convinced his frontier knowledge will easily win the day. What follows is a hilarious clash of wits as the writer, Bill Hook, puts Dusty through an increasingly absurd "interview"—testing everything from his guitar skills to his grasp of algebra—in this four-page romp of comic misunderstandings and one-liners. By the time Hook decides whether Dusty's earned the job, you'll understand why the writer's real priority is catching the next train out of town.

When Lash LaRue brings his friend Squinty to visit rancher Bill Rivers, the two stumble onto a scheme—Rivers's own employees have been stashing stolen money inside his prized grandfather clock. Squinty gets trapped inside the massive timepiece while investigating its broken mechanism, and must use his wits to outwit the thieves when they return to reclaim their loot. A tale of hidden treasure, mistaken identity, and one cowpoke's determination to make a good impression, even when the odds are soundly against him.