Rocky Lane Western #34

Rocky Lane stumbles upon jeweler David Gouze bound and gagged in the brush near Silver City, and learns that thieves have just robbed his store—making off with a valuable necklace. When a riding whip found at the scene points suspicion toward Chuck Fenton, a gambling man who'd recently demanded to see Gouze's finest pieces, Rocky rides out to investigate the Fenton Ranch. But a seemingly innocent cup of tea and a cryptic note hidden inside reveal that Fenton and his men know exactly who Rocky is, and they're planning to silence him permanently before dawn.

Dee Dickens tangles with a couple of local pranksters bent on making him the butt of their jokes, but when their tall tales and bribery schemes threaten to drive him up the wall, the clever cowpoke has a trick up his own sleeve. It's a lighthearted showdown of wits and wisecracks in this four-page western comedy from Rocky Lane Western #34.

Rocky Lane must crack the mystery of a vanished fortune when a newly installed safe at the Pine Needle Junction Bank turns up empty—with every door locked and window sealed from the inside. Suspicion falls on the retiring bank president and the incoming sheriff, but Lane's sharp eyes catch something others missed: fresh plaster in the basement hiding a secret passage straight to the vault. This Secret Marshal will need all his wit and grit to track down the real thief and prove his friend's innocence before justice takes a wrong turn.

When a slick operator named George Brezel cheats several ranchers out of their cattle money in Culver Junction, he tries to cover his tracks by burning down his own house—but his guilty conscience won't let him rest. Rocky Lane picks up the trail of a desperate fugitive fleeing from diner to diner, and a chance encounter leads the marshal to uncover a web of lies and stolen cash. As Brezel's paranoia and panic drive him to increasingly reckless moves, Rocky closes in to bring both justice and the truth to light.