Manic Monday Triple Overtime--Save Those Scratched-Up Coins!

A mysterious varmint known only as The Pack Rat has been committing odd crimes:

But wait--there's more:

And the bizarre reverse-robberies continue:

Well, surely there is an explanation for such crazy behavior?

Yup, let's just listen to "a grizzled old prospector" (yes, the script literally calls him that) tell a tale of two brothers fifty years ago:

Well, you might think that's a clever plan...but it turns out they never got the gold themselves. And two generations on, the granddaughter/grandniece has only the silver dollar, with the rest of the coins scattered as you saw. Which means it was a pretty stupid plan.

Of course, we're never told how the Pack Rat figured out where the coins were. I mean, if the dime was being used in a poker game, it must have changed hands many times?  How in the world did the owlhoot track down a particular penny? And why bother to leave payment for the items you took? It was still stealing, and Pack Rat was just as hunted! The story never tells us.

But don't worry--our hero Tim Holt (a.k.a. Redmask) settles everything by punching people, and the young woman gets the gold. Hurray!

From Best Of The West #11 (1953)