Rocky Lane Western #43

Rocky Lane steps in as a last-minute substitute for an injured ex-champion, facing the brash young boxer Jawbreaker Jones in a high-stakes, winner-takes-all fight. As the crowd watches, Rocky uses quick thinking and skill to outmaneuver Jones, even after being hit with hidden brass knuckles, turning the tide in a dramatic and surprising bout.

A young man named Fletch is invited by Sagebrush to witness a bizarre spectacle: Cronin, the cook, being forced to drink a mixture of turpentine, vinegar, and hot sauce while five others hold him down. Fletch balks at the idea, horrified by the cruelty, but learns the event requires an audience of six—because Cronin himself doesn’t enjoy it either.

A young man wakes up his friend Gopherface, who’s sleeping on the floor, claiming it’s to keep his blood pressure down—leading to a moment of surprised disbelief and a humorous exchange about the logic of the idea.

In a lighthearted western tale, Dee Dickens boasts to Joe about buying a battleship for five dollars from sailors who claimed it was stored with a man named Davey Jones. Joe quickly points out the joke—Davey Jones is a mythical figure tied to the ocean floor—and reveals Dee’s purchase was a scam. As Dee tries to settle his debts, the story unfolds with a series of escalating, circular money exchanges, all centered around a single dollar bill, leaving the characters in a comically tangled web of owed sums.

A young man named Brainy Buster tries to solve the world's problems by convincing everyone to get a horse, believing that having a horse would bring stability to a chaotic world. The idea baffles a grizzled old timer, who can't fathom how a horse could fix such widespread unrest.

A young man returns to his hometown of Green Ridge, a place so small it’s practically unknown, and shares stories of its peculiar charm with his friend Sagebrush—like a dog and cat chasing each other while blindfolded—only to find that even the smallest towns can hold surprising secrets.

Secret Marshal Rocky Lane stumbles upon a murdered man in the hills, only to discover the killer’s plan for a double burial—when he realizes he’s the second grave. As he tracks down the truth behind a stolen gambling chip, the criminals who killed the first victim now target him, dragging him into the same deadly fate.

Sagebrush is frustrated when he’s blamed for a mess he didn’t make, recalling how even as a baby he was unfairly held responsible. When the boss asks Gopherface to count stacks of cash, Sagebrush’s anxiety grows as the counting goes on, and he’s left wondering if he’ll be blamed again.