When we began our trip through the pages of the May 1927 issue of Frontier Stories, we discovered the magazine's definition of "Frontier" wasn't confined to the Wild West or the days of colonial expansion in America, but would feature stories set anywhere along the edges of Western civilization. The first story, for instance, was set in modern-day North Africa.
"Wanted--?," by Eugene Cunningham, is the second appearance of a 19-year-old Texas Ranger known as Ware's Kid. The Kid's first appearance had been in the March 1927 issue. He'd go on to star in eight more tales in this magazine throughout 1927 and 1928, the last of which was novel-length. Ware later popped up twice in Detective Fiction Weekly and, in the late 1940s, returned twice in Zane Grey's Western Magazine.
"Wanted--?" is the only one of these I've read and I enjoyed it enormously. Ware's Kid is an interesting protagonist. His youth and small size make him seem non-threatening, but early on in the story he stares one man down with his "icy greenish eyes" and gives a bully twice his size an expert beating. All this quickly tells us that he's a man you don't want to mess with.
But there are other things about him that make him interesting and three-dimensional. He's smart--capable of Sherlockian deductions. And his courage isn't a reckless one. At one point in the story, he's fired at from ambush and elects to run for it rather than take on what he deems as poor odds if he stays and fights.
In this story, he's pursing a man wanted for murder and robbery. While on this trail, he teams up with a deputy sheriff of a small town to stop a train robbery. The ensuing fight scene is short, but fun and usual. The battle takes place at night, with everyone shooting at rifle flares rather than definite targets. And the Kid makes an embarassing mistake that almost gets him killed when he hastily reloads his rifle in the dark with the wrong caliber bullets.
The deputy sheriff saves his life, which is further embarassing when the Kid realizes that the deputy is the man wanted for murder. But, as I mentioned, the Kid can use deductive reasoning and he figures out his new friend is innocent. That means starting from scratch to track down the real killer. This, in turn, leads to an ambush and an encounter with Apaches.
I think a lot of attentive readers will tumble to who the real killer is before the revelation at the story's conclusion, but it's a satisfying ending all the same. "Wanted---?" is a great yarn with a strong protagonist and several excellent action scenes.
This issue of Frontier Stories can be read online HERE.
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