That's a Lot of Money!

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #133

With the last piece of fiction in the May 1927 issue of Frontier Stories, we finally get to the cover story.

"Cross and Double Cross," by Martin Stevers, is set along the Missouri River in 1840. Captain Andy Corbin of the steamboat Eagle is setting out for St. Louis, heading for the Dakotas.

He has to face the usual obstacles inherent in the journey: snags and sandbars on the river and the tendency for pro-slavery passengers to get into brawls with free soil passengers. 

But it's a last minute request from a bank to transport a half-million dollars in cash that really makes the trip dangerous. You can't keep that amount of money a secret and a particular gang of outlaws--the Turnbills--is bound to make a try for it.

Andy suspects--with good reason--that a rival has arranged for the money to be aboard and is probably even helping the Turnbills by putting some of his own guys in among the passengers. But Andy knows his rival would depend just on the outlaws. Andy is confident of his ability to win a fight. So the rival must have an alternate plan--something sneaky set to happen along with the outlaw attack.

Andy is a great protagonist, smart and tough. When, late in the book, he finds himself facing off with a bunch of bad guys without help for several minutes, we have come to believe that he can hold his own. 

The plot flows along swiftly, with Andy convinced he's figured out the plot, then having to deal with a setback that seems to indicate he was wrong, then realizing he was right all along and act just in time to come out on top.

Most of the tales of this issue of Frontier Stories have been pretty good. "Cross and Double Cross" is a worthy finale. Great action, clever story construction and a protagonist who can both out-think and out-fight his opponents make is a fun read. 

Also, it's set on a riverboat. Riverboats are inherently cool.