Fred Dunn (introduction); the Skipper (introduction); Speed Saunders; Inspector Moran
Synopsis
Fred Dunn escapes San Sin Jail and Speed is assigned to the case. Both board a passenger ship but Dunn jumps overboard and Speed follows. They are picked up by a fishing boat. The captain refuses to put into shore, so they become crew members for the duration. Dunn saves the skipper from drowning. When they get to New Bedford Speed phones his boss, only to learn that Dunn has been cleared of all charges. Dunn returns to the ship, works hard and eventually becomes skipper of his own ship.
Indexer Notes
Gardner Fox does not begin writing until issue 18.
Squinty (villain); Dutch; Dr. Sargoff (introduction); Sonia Sargoff (introduction, his wife); Larry Steele; Hatch; Hastings
Synopsis
Larry is working with the F.B.I. to pursue a band of kidnappers. Disguised as a seaman, he meets Hatch, an old friend. Together they reach an old mansion and are amazed to find an operating room in the cellar, with four patients on separate tables. The doctor brags that these four are to be dissected and reassembled in order to create one perfect specimen. Larry and Hatch are discovered by the doctor's wife, who holds them at gunpoint.
Four bodies have been stolen from various morgues, and Cosmo is called in to help solve the case. He decides to stand vigil in the last morgue to be robbed. During the early hours of the morning the window opens, a man enters and carries out one of the bodies. Cosmo follows to an old farmhouse, and is amazed to find a well-equipped laboratory manned by the supposedly missing scientist Carl Huntley. Cosmo steps out of the shadows and Hartley sets fire to the lab. Cosmo rescues him, later explaining that strain and overwork had snapped Hartley's mind, but that he has been shocked back to sanity.
Pierre Blanc (introduction); a killer (introduction, villain); Bart Regan; Sally
Synopsis
In Washington, D. C., Sally and Bart are assigned to protect the French Envoy, Pierre Blanc. At his apartment a man answers the door and insists he can take care of himself. Sally and Bart are stubborn and sit themselves down. The man acts suspiciously and a noise is heard from the closet. Blanc is inside tied up and, at gunpoint, the man tells the two agents to join him, so that he can kill them all together. Bart kicks the gun from his hand and the pair overpower him.
Morgen (introduction, villain); Buck Marshall; The Sheriff; Rolf ; Berk
Synopsis
Out on the range Buck finds a murdered cowboy belonging to the 2M ranch. Back in town he joins the Sheriff and rides out to the 2M, where the owner, Morgen, claims that his foreman, Rolf, saw rival ranch owner Berk in the vicinity about the time of the murder. They all ride over and Berk, unwilling to be railroaded by Morgen and Rolf, pulls a gun and rides off. They catch up with him and shoot it out, but Buck cleverly arranges for Rolf to confess that Morgen killed his own rider.
Zeke Willis (introduction, villain); Lem (introduction, villain); Lucy-Belle Willis (introduction); the Willises (introduction); the Tollivers (introduction); Slam Bradley; Shorty Morgan
Synopsis
Slam foils a bank robbery, capturing Zeke Willis from the Kentucky Mountains. Willis escapes and Slam and Shorty go in pursuit. They uncover a feud between the Willis and Tolliver clans that has lasted a hundred years.
Indexer Notes
story title from next issue blurb in previous issue