Stolen Furs

 

cover artist unknown

Pick any issue of Ben Bowie and His Mountain Men at random and you'll find stories worth reading. It was simply a great comic book. Ben Bowie #11 (May-July 1957), for instance, gives us a story titled "The Treacherous Trapper." Sadly, neither the writer or artist are known. 

The story opens with Ben and his crew hauling furs back to civilization to sell. They meet up with other trappers--there's a Crow war party looking to take the furs away from them and there is safety in numbers. Already, Ben and Zeke have traded shots with the Crow and have hidden out from them behind a waterfall.

They do band together with a score of other trappers, including a Frenchman who has been hunting up in Canada--something that becomes important later on.  They travel home, though one of them makes the unwise decision to backtrack on his own when he loses his tobacco pouch. He's later found dead.

The Crow stay on their trail and one night manage to steal the trappers' horses. The trappers are now forced to haul their furs on foot. Eventually, they decide to cache the furs in a cave, agreeing that they will come back for the furs together.

That doesn't work out well. A trapper named Grimes sneaks off and tells the Crow where they can find the furs, claiming a third of them for himself.

When the trappers return to the cave enmasse, they find the cave empty. They don't suspect a traitor, but in any case, their months of hard work now come to nothing.

Back in the colonies, Ben's young apprentice Jim notices a Crow at the trading post, selling a wolverine pelt. That makes him suspicious, since the Crow don't normally hunt far enough north to bag wolverines. And, by golly, didn't the Frenchman have some wolverine pelts in his haul?

Concerned with Jim's suspicions, Grimes decides to back-shoot the boy. Jim manages to outsmart him and call Nakah for help. Not surprisingly, Nakah easily subdues the villain.

The Crows are confronted, the furs are recovered and Grimes learns that he's now despised by both the Crows and the white men. "No one is lonelier than a traitor!"

It's a great story, moving along briskly and telling the story effectively. Which is typical of Ben Bowie and one of the reasons (aside from the fun setting and historical accuracy) I consider it one of the best comics ever.

You can read this issue online HERE.

Next week, we rejoin Green Lantern.