Gerry Conway, story - Dick Ayers & Romeo Tanghal, art - Luis Dominguez, cover
Just hours since last issue Scalphunter comes strolling into the hotel in the midst of a sudden February snow storm. The huge sack of gold hoisted upon his shoulder, he startles the folks inside who are stoking the fire in the pot-belly stove. A man with a pistol quickly turns and draws his weapon, telling the others to stay back. He tells Scalphunter to stand still or he'll blast him to heathen hell. Scalphunter stares into his eyes and starts to snarl when Nancy Wilson comes from the back room, saying that Ke-Woh-No-Tay works for her husband.
Ke-Woh-No-Tey slowly smiles and says that he does, indeed, work there. Nancy looks at him and says that she needs his help...in the kitchen. Scalphunter walks past the others (Benson, the man with the gun; Doc; Kantor; David and his wife; a young girl, and a servant, Luella.). The others converse about their current state affairs, how the engineer put them onto the wrong track onto this dead end spur and then the freak snowstorm whips up, and now this crazy woman and an Indian. But, no matter what, they are stuck there.
In the kitchen Nancy asks Scalphunter if Wilson, the fat pig, is dead. He doesn't answer verbally but only nods. She asks "What about....?" and Scalphunter empties the bag of gold onto the kitchen table. She stands there aghast, plunges her hands into the coins and then breaks down weeping. After all the years of her hating him, he beating her and the abuse, now he is gone and here is all of the gold. She asks if he is going to steal it, is some of it actually hers? Scalphunter shrugs, the question ot worthy of an answer and she breaks into laughter, the relief bursting like a dam.
Scalphunter starts to go back into the lobby and knows he has no use for the people there either so he steps outside into the screaming storm. He sees lights in the caboose indicating the engineer and the conductor are there. He looks down at the graves he help dig just the day prior of the two robbers who had brought with them the story of the gold. He hears the sound of snow crunching under horses hooves and sees mounted men approaching through the storm. He ducks behind a wood pile and he overhears them talking. They are Confederate soldiers who are supposed to meet their agent here in order to steal the Union locomotive.
It was all part of the plan, a broken signal-switch, a brand new engine stuck on a dead end spur and all they have to do is kill everyone and pretend to be Yankees and steal the train. Suddenly one of the soldiers think they see someone and the whole of them gallop off as Scalphunter steals past them in the blinding storm. He enters the hotel and tells the others of the soldiers and their plan to kill everyone and steal the train. The darkness is broken by screams and Scalphunter says that was probably the engineer or the conductor. Benson says he'll get to the bottom of things and opens the hotel door.
He stands their, outlined by the interior light, and sees two men carrying the dead conductor. They quickly drop the body and open fire, just as Scalphunter grabs Benson back into the hotel. But not before he is struck in the shoulder by a bullet. Scalphunter tells everyone to barricade the doors and windows. Just then Nancy comes out of the kitchen worried that the gunfire means folks are coming to steal her gold. She yells out the window for everyone to go away. She is quickly gunned down.
Outside the Confederate Lt. tells his men to quit firing at shadows at the windows, but inside, Nancy lies dead at Scalphunter's feet. The Captain is on the locomotive and chastises the Lt. for the gunfire. He says the Sergeant is working on getting the engine up to steam which should take about thirty minutes. He says they should be ready to leave by then. The Lt. understands and starts on the mission to kill everyone.
Inside the hotel, folks are starting to panic, the young girl says that her daddy is a Southern gentleman and she breaks away from Luella and heads for the door. Doc grabs her and administers several swats to her bottom, saying that he had to give her a 'sedative' with a big grin on his face. David breaks down, saying they are all dead. His wife reminds him that he said he wouldn't go to pieces anymore but he says it is no use. Scalphunter tells him to be quiet, tears are for woman.
The Confederates fan out and surround the hotel while Scalphunter sneaks out of an upstairs window. Doc asks if he wants Benson's pistols and Scalphunter says that guns make noise and he must be a silent as the night. He drops to ground and runs to the caboose. He throws open the door suprising the soldier there and just as quickly, buries a knife in the man's chest. The dead soldier falls backward onto the dead engineer that he had killed earlier. Scalphunter fills a metal pail with coals from the stove in the caboose.
Back at the hotel, Doc and the woman are toppling the kitchen stove and David protests, saying it will burn down the hotel. In the lobby Luella knocks over the pot belly stove and as fire eats away at the hotel, everyone rushes up the stairs away from the flames. Outside, the soldiers are astounded to see the hotel burst into flames. The Lt. tells his men to cover the back, since this is a distraction for everyone's escape. They all run around the hotel, leaving the captain as the lone soldier between the hotel and the train.
We see Scalphunter running across the tops of the box cars and just then we see the people in the hotel knock out an upper window and make their way onto the roof, much to the surprise of the Captain.
Scalphunter jumps into the locomotive, throws the hot coals onto the soldiers there, lighting them ablaze. They jump off the train trying to put out the flames in the snow. The Captain draws his pistol when Luella punches him in the back of the head, knocking him out.
They all jump aboard the train and start backing out of town. By the time the soldiers get back around the hotel, the train is out of range so they mount up and head home. On board the train Doc is talking to Scalphunter and says it looks like they are in the clear, but what about the agent the soldiers were talking about. Just then Benson steps forward and says that he is going to earn his pay and HE is taking the locomotive to the Rebels like he was paid to do. Just then David steps forward and shoves Benson off the train. His wife is overjoyed that he took action.
Doc says that it looks like David left his cowardice back at the hotel, and maybe Doc left a bad part of himself there as well. He asks Scalphunter if HE left anything there and Scalphunter replies that he left nothing of value, nothing of importance (as we see the gold melting in the inferno of the hotel).
Statistics for this issue
Men Killed by Scalphunter - One and burned two soldiers severely, but we can't count those as deaths
Running Total - 129
Compared to Jonah Hex - 28th appearance and Scalphunter has 129 vs Jonah's 110 (in JH #1)
Scalps Taken - 0
Running Total - 20
Injuries - None
Timeline - This probably covers an hour to ninety minutes
This issue was dedicated to the films of John Ford and while it doesn't conjure one particular film, it reads just like one of his tales. The varied folks trapped in a location, each person dealing with their own inner demons and each having their own personalities. Of course, in a two hour film, everyone would have been fleshed out in a much better fashion but having 17 pages Gerry Conway can only do so much. I liked this one quite a bit, always enjoying snow storms as a plot device and huge fires as well. The cover was top-notch, even though the train wasn't moving when Scalphunter burned those two guys.
Ads included:
Batman, Robin and Hostess cupcakes defeating Catman on the Prowl!!
The winners of the Wonder Woman contest (It was Orlando Watkins of Detroit, Michigan) who got a Wonder Woman Weekend in New York along with an afternoon at DC Comics. 25 folks won watches, 50 people got sleeping bags, and 100 folks got lunchboxes.
A bunch of in-house ads
A Spalding ad drawn by Jack Davis featuring Rick Barry and Julius Irving.
Next Issue: A really good story with the main secret revealed on the cover! Sheesh!