Blue Crow, an Indian shaman, was run out of town, but returns with dark prophecies for Sheriff Wayne: his horse, gun, and rope will fail him. Wayne seems jinxed as his saddle cinch breaks, guns misfire, and a rope almost drops him and a boy to death. But the Twins follow Blue Crow to find he colludes with a livery hand, and arrest both. "You should have asked Blue Crow for a prophecy!"
Strong Bow enters a deserted village and is attacked by two lone survivors. They fear him as an evil giant from the Badlands. The Indian archer enters a deadly canyon to fight a giant version of himself - which cracks apart, a terror weapon of an old enemy.
The Fighting Fifth are surrounded by Apaches - until a balloon drops into their midst. Professor Phineas wants to sell observation balloons to the Army. The fort's Colonel rejects the idea: they'll be laughing stocks of the West. Foley accepts a flight and spots an army of Apaches riding for the fort. Shooting holes in the balloon, he flops it atop the Apaches and scatters them. Now the Colonel wants a balloon for every fort in the West!
Silk Black, a notorious killer, always posts notice before killing a man. Now he's posted one threatening to gun down Johnny Thunder at sundown. Townsfolk fret, but Johnny marches in. He scotches three killers with the aid of Lightning, his horse, and saves Kathy from Silk Black. Turns out Johnny wrote and posted the call-out note, knowing Silk Black's vanity wouldn't let him resist setting up the ambush!