Beaver Traps and Renegades

 

cover artist unknown

The second Ben Bowie story in Dell's Four Color #513 (November 1953) has Ben and his crew working for a living--they are trapping beaver.

Like the first story, this one was written the the super-prolific Paul S. Newman and drawn by Bill Overgard. Also like the first story, it's a well-constructed, tightly-written adventure story with lively art.

A fun mini-lesson on how to trap beaver gives the tale historical verisimilitude before Ben and his men realize someone is stealing the beavers from their traps. This leads to young Jim hiding out for a night at the entrance of a beaver dam, on the lookout for the thieves.

He spots them--a white renegade and a band of Algonquian Indians. Jim is spotted by the bad guys and captured. But he feeds them a story about a cache of beaver pelts nearby. This divides up the bad guys, so when Ben, Zeke and Nakah find Jim, half the bad guys are away looking for those pelts.

Jim is rescued and the rest of the bad guys are pursued. A battle ensues, with Ben winning a final victory when he knocks out the renegade.

Typical of Newman's scripts, this one moves at a fast pace from Point A to Point B and so on in a logical manner, telling a exciting story in an efficient and entertaining manner.

Read it yourself online HERE. 

Next week, we'll learn what happens when Santa gets lost at sea.