Rawhide Kid #14
Code of Honor!
The Rawhide Kid is riding into Shotgun City when he spots a young man named Jimmy Alton just as he appears to be escaping from a bank robbery. As the boy tries to escape, the Kid notices that he is highly skilled in the tricks of the trade, but still manages to capture him and bring him back anyway. As it turns out as Jimmy was intending to rob the bank, he backed out at the last minute and tries to make his mistake. Realizing that the boy was forced into a life of crime, the Rawhide Kid convinces the owner of the bank and Sheriff Yarby to release the boy into his custody to give him a second chance at life by going straight.
On the way back to his ranch the Rawhide Kid learns that young Jimmy thought the whole world was against him after his parents died and he was taken in by a guy named Chad, however the young man is reluctant to talk about his past. When Jimmy is introduced to the Kid's ward, Randy Clayton, they become fast friends and Randy is taken in by his stories and eagerly learns all the tricks that Jimmy teaches him.
On day while Jimmy is working alone in the barn, he is confronted by Chad, who managed to track the boy down. He demands Jimmy to help him finish the bank job in Shotgun City and threatens to harm both the Rawhide Kid and Randy if he doesn't comply. Jimmy keeps this encounter a secret from the Kid and tells him that he has to move on and leaves. However the Kid finds something suspicious about Jimmy's sudden departure.
Soon, Chad and Jimmy arrive in town and Chad orders Jimmy into the bank, Jimmy goes in at first but then decides to stand his ground against Chad and begins walking out. To his surprise, the Rawhide Kid is in the bank waiting for him and encourages Jimmy to stand up to Chad. The two go out and the Kid easily disarms Chad with his superior shooting skills. With Chad in the custody of the law, the Rawhide Kid helps Jimmy start a new life by getting him a job as a shotgun guard for a stagecoach company.
Recurring Characters
Rawhide Kid
Randy Clayton
Sheriff Ben Yarby
Apache
The Lost Spur!
The Rawhide Kid and his ward Randy Clayton spot a fire that is raging on Professor Scott's ranch and come to the aid of the Professor's family. However they are too late to stop the fire from destroying Scott's home, but the Professor and his family manage to escape. Scott explains to the Rawhide Kid that some masked men burned his home to the ground. As the fire had destroyed their home, Professor Scott has hit rock bottom on the hard times that he and his family have been facing and decide to leave Shotgun City. The Kid tells Scott to stay around until he can get to the bottom of things and offers up his own home for them to stay in the meantime.
Searching the ruins of the decimated farm house, the Rawhide Kid finds a broken spur and suspects that it belongs to one of the men responsible for burning down the Professor's home. The Rawhide Kid then calls in a town meeting with city officials and tells them what happened and convinces everyone to pitch in to build Professor Scott and his family a new home. Gathering supplies they head off to rebuild. Meanwhile, up in the remote mountains near by, Barrow -- the leader of the gang responsible for burning down Scott's house -- is informed of what the locals are planning to do and orders his men to blow up the pass to block their passage to the Scott property. The Rawhide Kid and the others fight off the attackers and take them prisoner, however they are unable to capture their leader.
Unaware what the locals are doing for him, Scott has travelled into town to sell off his property to Barrow -- unaware that he is responsible for destroying his property. About to sell his land for a cheap price, Scott is stopped by the Rawhide Kid who recognizes Barrow from his broken spur and takes him prisoner. The Kid explains that the rest of the gang told him Barrow's plot: That although Scott's land is worthless for ranching or farming, a local railroad was willing to pay a hefty price for passage rights through it, and tried to force Scott and his family off before they could make a deal.
Recurring Characters
Rawhide Kid
Randy Clayton
Sheriff Ben Yarby
Apache
King
Race Against Time!
Hearing that Faro James was plotting to rob the Gold Cost Express which was carrying a large sum of gold, the Rawhide Kid races to the train on his horse Apache and jumps aboard.
The Kid doesn't know what Faro looks like so he begins provoking other passengers to see if they will reveal themselves as James, but none of them do. When the conductor notices that the train is going faster than scheduled, the Rawhide Kid realizes that Faro is in the engine and races to the front of the train. There he subdues Faro and learns that his gang is waiting further down the line to help rob the train.
The Kid uses the train's headlight to blind the outlaws and shoots the guns out of their hands and takes them into custody, foiling Faro's plot.
Recurring Characters
Rawhide Kid
Apache
Rawhide Kid
The Rawhide Kid is riding across the range when he comes across a dead panther and it's surviving cub. Unable to see the young panther starve in the wild, the Kid decides to take it back to the ranch, thinking it would make a great surprise for his ward Randy Clayton. When he gets home he is met by Sheriff Yarby and the two begin talking about poachers operating in the area and the cub as well. As the Rawhide Kid talks about how he can't keep the young cub forever because it will grow too big and become too costly to feed, Randy returns home and overhears only part of the conversation. Thinking that the Rawhide Kid is talking about him, Randy is heart broken and decides to ride off and fend for himself.
Along the trail, Randy runs into two men who demand to know what Randy is doing out alone. When they become aggressive toward him, Randy uses Winchester and his shooting skills impress them enough to invite the boy to work with him. However soon Randy realizes that he is working for poachers and refuses to work with them, so they force him anyway.
Randy waits until night fall and when the poachers are asleep he grabs boxes of ammo and tosses them into the fire. When the bullets begin to go off, the poachers wake up and try to flee thinking a posse is after them. The exploding bullets also attract the attention of the Rawhide Kid who is out looking for Randy. The Kid comes to Randy's rescue and upon capturing the poachers the misunderstanding is straightened out. Taking Randy back home to show him the panther cub, the Rawhide Kid tells Randy that he intends to keep the cub after all.
Recurring Characters
Rawhide Kid
Randy Clayton
Sheriff Ben Yarby
Apache
King
