Lash LaRue Western #4

Wagonwheels helps a man named Barton solve a puzzle that's been keeping him up at night—finding just the right names for his newborn twin babies. When Wagonwheels hears the problem, he jumps at the chance to lend a hand with a bit of frontier wisdom that's sure to get a laugh. It's a lighthearted bit of Old West humor from 1950 that proves sometimes the simplest solutions come from the most unexpected places.

When roving marshal Lash LaRue arrives in Arid Valley to investigate a mail-fraud scheme, he arrests the man behind the alias Roy Massey—only to discover the culprit may be innocent, caught in a dangerous web of mistaken identity and deception. With a lynch mob closing in and the real criminal still at large, Lash must use his wits and his famous whip to uncover the truth before an innocent man hangs.

When a brash recruit named Dusty barges into a Captain's office with nonsense and wisecracks, he's offered a chance to prove his "army experience" through a series of increasingly ridiculous tests. As Dusty fumbles through questions about military protocol and nearly shoots the Captain with an "empty" rifle, the exasperated officer gives him one final assignment to demonstrate he's officer material—with hilariously catastrophic results.

Lash LaRue springs into action when bank robbers strike Montado Gulch, one of the wildest stretches in the Old West—but a cunning inside job and a suitcase of dynamite force him to make an impossible choice between stopping the thieves and saving the town. When a second attempt at the bank unfolds under cover of darkness, Lash sets a trap that tests his quick wits and his legendary whip as the outlaws make their final, desperate move.

When Molasses Mouth spots Jim at the river's edge, he's got a peculiar question about how long a man can hold his breath underwater—and an even stranger reason to celebrate his friend's twenty-minute disappearance beneath the surface. This lighthearted western tale plays with expectations in the best tradition of frontier humor.