THIS week we have a story by Orlando Rigoni. Rigoni was a very prolific author of western and flying stories appearing in such magazines as Battle Birds, Dare-Devil Aces, Sky Birds, War Birds, Fighting Aces, Sky Fighters, Western Aces, Real Western Round-Up, Thrilling Sports, Air Trails, Western Romances, The Lone Eagle and Flying Acesamong others from roughly 1934 to 1948. He went on to have his stories appear in the slicks; wrote radio and movie scripts; write numerous western novels; and gothic romance novels using the pseudonym “Leslie Aimes.”

Rigoni was also a carpenter all his adult life and helped build Boulder Dam, the Alcan Highway, the Pacific Gas and Electric Plant in Morro Bay and Cal Poly. He was also a developer and built homes throughout the state.

It takes lead to guard gold. That’s why Tom Liston, pilot for the Roaring Buck, needed a sky-chaperon for that heavy pay dirt. He got one—Gunner Sloane, an hombre who could draw and shoot faster than a fuse can spit. But there was a debt on the books against Gunner Sloane—and when the lead began to fly, all the gold in the West wouldn’t pay it.

• Download “Gold Flies the Gauntlet” (February 1937, Flying Aces)

As a bonus, here’s a brief biography and picture of Orlando Rigoni that ran in the 4 June 1943 The Family Circle Magazine along with his story of railroading “I Want to Know Why”:

ORLANDO RIGONI, author of “I Want to Know Why” in this issue, appears at the left in a photograph taken in the Yukon last winter while he was working on the Alcan Highway, which, as you doubtless know, is the new road through Canada connecting the United States and Alaska. He is a writer by trade and was working on the road to get material for a novel for young people.

Mr. Rigoni is married, is a parent, and lives in Woodland Hills, California. His fiction has appeared largely in magazines publishing Western and flying stories. He often draws for his background on jobs he has held. He was once secretary to the traffic manager of an airline, and he has worked at railroading. Which you will readily believe if you read his story for us.