This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Chuck Warner is a born liar with a grand imagination, and when he spots a newspaper story about the missing heir Ashburton De Puyster—supposedly worth ten million dollars—he sees his chance. With Magpie Simpkins and Ike Harper at his side, he launches a wildly improbable scheme to pass himself off as the lost heir and claim a fortune. Magpie invents an absurd backstory involving Indians, a prospector, and a long journey home, while Ike is transformed into a painted, costumed "Indian" father for the trip east. Their departure from Piperock is pure chaos, and the plan immediately collides with prejudice, suspicion, and slapstick humiliation on the train. From there, the trio blunders through hotel lobbies, reporters, photographers, police, lawyers, and plenty of liquor, turning every encounter into a comic duel of bluff and bravado. Chuck's gunfire, Magpie's reckless wit, and Ike's miserable disguise keep the deception teetering between farce and disaster. As they drink, boast, and brawl their way toward the De Puyster home, the story builds a lively Western comedy of mistaken identity, frontier nerve, and outrageous confidence colliding with modern respectability.
