Young Eagle #5

Mule Ears has had enough of a pesky fly buzzing around all morning—so he grabs a fly swatter and sets his sights on finally finishing the job. But when he swings, he discovers the hard way that persistence isn't always the same thing as accuracy in this quick-witted frontier humor tale from Young Eagle #5.

Old Smokey thought running a general store would be straightforward enough, but a customer's clever trade—swapping a cigar for chocolate and leaving him unpaid—sets the tone for a day of exasperating business. When a shopper asks a simple question about salt inventory, Old Smokey's frustration boils over as he reveals shelf after shelf, room after room, and finally an entire cellar crammed with the stuff—all thanks to a relentless salt salesman who visits every three months and somehow always makes a sale.

Young Eagle arrives in Nugget Valley to visit his old friend Pete Lambert, only to find the independent miners trapped in a crisis—their claims have mysteriously flooded while Floyd Tyson's rival operation remains dry, and the only drainage pump in town has just been bought up by Tyson himself. When Young Eagle descends into Pete's flooded shaft to investigate, he discovers something far more sinister than simple sabotage lurking in the darkness below.

In a lighthearted moment of frontier banter, Buckshot questions Potato Face about the cost of eggs based on how they’re cooked—only to surprise him by ordering ham, too. The exchange crackles with the kind of dry wit that makes even breakfast a showdown of wits.