Rocky Lane Western #12

Rocky Lane discovers a dying man in the desert, then follows his trail to a waterhole that’s been poisoned and turned into a deadly business scheme. As the sheriff, he uncovers a conspiracy where a pair of crooks are selling water at extortionate prices by poisoning the natural source, forcing travelers to buy from them. Now on the trail of the criminals, Rocky plans a clever trap to expose them—using their own poison against them.

Chuck, sporting a new hat, brags to Sagebrush about his purchase, only to be outwitted when Sagebrush reveals he got it—right off Chuck’s own head. The joke lands with a laugh, leaving Chuck flustered and the trickster smug.

In the remote Timberline lumber camp, a mysterious attack on a worker sets off a chain of events that draws in an undercover marshal disguised as a lumberjack. As threats escalate and a fellow worker vanishes, the marshal must unravel a conspiracy within the camp before the next deadly accident unfolds.

Slim Pickens, posing as a lawyer, takes on a client who wants to sue a stagecoach for running him down, leading to a series of increasingly absurd misunderstandings about evidence and identification. When another client arrives, dressed in his father’s suit for a cattle rustling trial, Slim accidentally confuses legal terminology—like "suit" and "case"—with literal meanings, escalating the comedy. The story ends with Slim facing a fine for his dog’s expired license, using the dog’s death as his only defense.

In the dusty frontier town of Cliffside Junction, prospector Lucky Benson stumbles upon a promising gold vein in the abandoned Lorelei Mine, unaware that two greedy outlaws are tracking him. When a dynamite blast triggers a cave-in, undercover marshal Rocky Lane barely saves Lucky from being buried—but the collapse traps them both underground, setting off a chain of perilous events. As the two men struggle to survive, the outlaws plot to seize the gold, but their schemes unravel when Rocky begins to piece together the truth.

Rocky Lane encounters Gopherface, who is loudly imitating an animal with a series of exaggerated "99-CLOP" sounds. When Rocky questions the attempt, Gopherface proudly claims he's mimicking a centipede with one wooden leg, leaving Rocky baffled by the bizarre performance.

Colonel Corn tries to avoid paying his overdue hotel bill at the Podunk Hotel by fabricating a series of increasingly absurd complaints about the elevator, the towels, and the service. As his antics escalate, the hotel’s owner, Korny Kobb, grows increasingly exasperated—until the Colonel attempts a last-minute compromise that backfires spectacularly.

Rocky Lane, posing as an undercover marshal, follows a trail of coyote hides to uncover a dangerous scheme: a pair of outlaws are staging fake coyote attacks across the border to collect bounties on hides they never actually killed. As the bounty hunters return with their stolen goods, Rocky sets a trap, only to find himself outnumbered and outgunned when the real threat—his own horse Black Jack—races to his rescue.