We begin with Hawk, Son of Tomahawk in "The Rusty Ranger" by Robert Kanigher and Frank Thorne. When the townspeople come to Tomahawk's ranch to ask for help fighting a band of thugs that has killed the sheriff and threatening the town, Tomahawk refuses to help, saying his time of fighting for others is over. That night Tomahawk sneaks away and rides into the gang's camp and is surprised to find the gang's leader is his old friend, Cannonball.
Cannonball explains that after the war ended and Tomahawk left the Rangers, those remaining had a hard time finding work, Cannonball being told he was too old to be of much good. So he gathered a gang of younger men together and they were going to take what no one would give them.
When the two friends become chummy, the gang of young men begins to think Cannonball's loyalties might be changing, so they draw o the older men. The two old men head for the high ground putting the sun behind their backs. As dawn arises and the gang attacks the two old friends, they wipe them out to a man. Cannonball confesses that he had nothing to do with the murder of the sheriff and Tomahawk lets him go and then sneaks back into his house before his family wakes up. The next day, Hawk comes back from town with tales of the town's posse finding the gang murdered and nobody knowing who done it.
Next is a two-page "Wild Frontier" on the Cowboy and his Saddle by Sam Glanzman.
That is followed by Firehair in "Contest" written and drawn by Joe Kubert. When Firehair kills a bison, he brings the meat to a nearby village and shares what he has with the others. Still in need of more meat, Firehair and the village's braves go in search of more bison. When the drunk white men of a nearby town learn the braves are on the move they attack the village and kill the old men left there before having their way with the squaws left behind.
Hearing gunshots from the village, the braves return and kill the white attackers. He offers to stay and help a little girl, whose mother was killed but is told that won't be necessary and in the morning he leaves the village.
The book ends with a reprint, "Pathway to Doom" drawn by Jim McArdle and reprinted from Tomahawk #27 (1954). When a brave is captured by the Seneca he must prepare to run their gauntlet of braves with hatchets and bows in the morning. That night he prays to a wooden carving for deliverance. In the morning the Seneca are surprised when the brave makes it through the gauntlet unharmed. It is then revealed that he wore the hollowed-out wooden carving as a suit of wooden armor.
Edited by Joe Kubert.
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