Rod Cameron Western #16

Rod Cameron has his portrait taken by photographer Frank Lowry, but the simple sitting turns into a desperate race against time when the banker's evidence of a bank robbery surfaces—and a crooked deputy will stop at nothing to destroy it. With the trail growing hot and danger closing in, Rod must track down the real culprits before they slip away for good.

Ambling Andy heads to the hills with an unconventional mission: he's determined to strike it rich so he can build himself a solid gold bathtub. His reasoning is as offbeat as his ambition, rooted in a hilariously peculiar vanity that only a frontier character like Andy could dream up. It's a quick, witty tale that captures the humor and tall-tale spirit of the Old West.

When Hoghead comes down with a sore throat, a helpful suggestion to try salt water puts him in high spirits—until his reasoning for why it'll work so fast gets a skeptical reaction from a friend. This one-page western humor story delivers its punchline through pure frontier logic.

When a stranger refuses to pay for his drinks at a Crazy Horse Corners saloon, Rod Cameron steps in to help—only to get punched for his trouble. But Rod quickly realizes the real con: the troublemaker started the brawl as a distraction so a robber could slip inside and empty the cash till. With his faithful horse War Paint at his side, Rod picks up the thief's trail and runs him down for a final reckoning. This quick western tale proves that sometimes the best way to mind your own business is to catch the crook who's minding everyone else's.

Li'l Buck proves to be a demanding customer when he visits a toy store, carefully examining nearly every item before deciding to spend his penny—but the shopkeeper's patience is tested as the picky young buyer keeps finding reasons to reject each toy he's shown.

Sheriff Sam's peace and quiet takes a hit when his neighbor Derrick shows up with an ear-splitting hog call that has the whole town on edge—and Sheriff Sam particularly annoyed. What follows is a battle of wits between the two, as Derrick's peculiar logic and tall tales about his carrier pigeon clash with Sam's exasperation at every turn. In this 1952 western humor tale, their back-and-forth banter spirals from noise complaints to unlikely schemes, with neither man quite getting the upper hand.

Rod Cameron rides to the Double T ranch to help rancher Chad Branch capture Flash, a wild stallion blamed for stampeding the herd—but Rod soon discovers the real culprit is Tex Tappen, Branch's own foreman, who's been using Flash as cover for his horse-stealing scheme. When Tex forces Rod into a deadly trap in Box Canyon, it takes all the courage of Rod's loyal mount War Paint to even the odds and expose the treacherous plot.