Tom Mix Western #23

Cowboy Cal thinks he knows everything, and a fellow traveler is finally ready to prove him wrong with an impossible riddle about why the moon is called "silver"—but Cal's got an answer up his sleeve that'll leave everyone speechless in this quick-witted western humor tale.

Tom Mix investigates a string of jewelry thefts plaguing the town of Dobie, and his suspicions fall on the new blacksmith, Atlas Brawne—a man of extraordinary strength whose peculiar cork-layered horseshoes seem to hide a valuable secret. When thieves strike Tom's own ranch and make off with a shipment of jewels, the cowboy must track down the culprits before they cross the border, relying on his wits and his trusty horse Tony to uncover the truth behind those strange horseshoes.

Tumbleweed, Jr. wins a bet with little Stream through a contest of marksmanship with bow and arrows, only to face the Chief's wrath when someone shoots an arrow into the Chief's tepee—and the evidence points straight at him. As the young boy tries to convince the angry Chief of his innocence, the real culprit's scheme unravels with unexpected consequences that lead to a surprising twist of fortune.

When an angry mob descends on Slab Jones' ranch in Single Trail Valley, convinced he's swindled them out of their oil well investments, Tom Mix arrives to stop a lynching—and offers to escort Jones to retrieve the money he claims is waiting in Kent City. But when an explosion destroys Jones' house upon their return, Tom must uncover the truth hidden in Single Trail Valley's deceptive landscape to find the real culprit and recover the stolen funds.

Saddlehead's got a horse he claims is the fastest in the world—but when a skeptical friend challenges him on the claim, the cowpoke's explanation for why it hasn't proven itself is pure comedy gold. It's a quick, gag-driven story that pokes fun at tall tales and the kind of circular logic that passes for truth out on the range.

Cowboy Cal claims he's writing a book, but when pressed about his literary credentials, his boasts quickly unravel—he's read the classics, sure, but he didn't write them! This lighthearted one-pager plays up the gap between ambition and honesty with the kind of good-natured ribbing that made Tom Mix Western a fun escape for young readers in 1949.

When a would-be mayor named Big Jim Honary promises a simple fellow named Saddlehead that he'll always lend a hand, he gets a midnight test of his campaign pledge—one that lands him in the pouring rain chasing a wagon that may not even exist. It's a clever bit of frontier humor that proves sometimes the best way to read a politician's character is to take him at his word.