Gene Autry Comics #18 (1948)

Gene Autry takes in a young easterner named Bobby whose father is busy with work, and allows the boy to stay at his ranch while Bobby's sister Betsy attends the Widder Shaw school. When Gene and his friend Thripp must ride out to meet some ranchers, they leave Bobby in the care of the sheriff, but the boy sneaks away on horseback. Gene discovers that Bobby has taken a horse without proper saddling and sets out to find him, eventually locating the boy and teaching him a lesson about responsibility. A secondary story, "The Greenhorn," depicts a young eastern boy at the Triangle-C Ranch who must prove himself to the foreman Brick Tabor by learning to rope and ride, ultimately earning respect through determination and willingness to learn.