No wonder

In Short

Set in the fictional town of Piperock, Montana, No wonder is a comedic Western short story written by W. C. Tuttle. The narrative follows Ike Harper and "Magpie" Simpkins, two seasoned locals whose peaceful lives are upended when Reginald Alfred Jackson Hilton arrives from the East. Desperate to become a Western hero and impress his sweetheart, Reginald relies on pulp novels to guide his decisions. His total lack of practical sense leads Ike and Magpie through a absurd sequence of fake hold-ups, jail explosions, and swampy misadventures, capturing the humor of early twentieth-century Western humor fiction.

The Story

The story opens in Piperock, Montana, where Ike Harper and Magpie Simpkins live a quiet life occasionally interrupted by eccentric Easterners. When Reginald Alfred Jackson Hilton arrives riding a mule that has thrown him seven times, Ike wants to send him packing. Magpie, however, takes pity on the young man, who confesses he came West after reading a book about a soft-spoken tenderfoot who turned into a "wonder." Decked out in a ridiculous outfit consisting of green-and-pink striped clothes, lavender chaps, and a .32 bulldog pistol, Reginald insists he wants to make something of himself to impress his love, Violet.

Reginald's early attempts to secure a job end in complete failure. After attempting to become foreman at a nearby ranch, he is promptly bucked off a bronc and left searching for employment elsewhere. Matters escalate when Reginald receives a letter revealing that Violet is traveling out West to marry her hero, expecting him to be a daring figure of the frontier. Terrified of being exposed, Reginald panics, as he has only two days before her arrival.

Taking pity on the boy, Magpie devises a plan to turn Reginald into a hero. Ike and Magpie decide to fake a stagecoach robbery at Wind River crossing. Reginald will carry a gun filled with blank cartridges, shoot at the fake bandits, and drive them off, thereby "saving" the stagecoach and proving his bravery.

On the day of the scheme, everything goes wrong. Instead of riding up heroically, Reginald loses control of his runaway mule, which crashes directly into the stagecoach team. The entire rig, along with stage driver Art Miller, plunges into the river. Meanwhile, real chaos unfolds when the local sheriff, Scenery Sims, mistakes Ike and Magpie for actual stage robbers and pursues them.

After a frantic chase down a steep grade that lands everyone in the river, Ike and Magpie escape back to their cabin, only to be confronted by Sheriff Sims and Judge Steele. Magpie holds them off at gunpoint, but the duo later ends up locked inside the local jail cell by accident.

While locked up, they discover Reginald outside. Reginald reveals that Violet never arrived because her family intercepted her in Philadelphia. Furthermore, Reginald casually mentions he took Magpie's advice about using a monkey-wrench to rob the Paradise bank himself, filling his saddlebags with stolen money before tossing the wrench into Moose Swamp.

Reginald then attempts to rescue Ike and Magpie by blowing up the jail with forty pounds of stolen dynamite. The massive explosion destroys the building, sending everyone flying. Reunited in the dark, Ike, Magpie, and Reginald pile onto the mule to flee toward Moose Swamp to retrieve the missing bank money. After desperately digging through knee-deep mud and mosquitoes for an hour, Magpie finally realizes that Reginald never threw the money in the swamp—he threw the monkey-wrench, leaving the saddlebags containing the fortune back on the sidewalk in town.

How It Unfolds

A wonder arrives Reginald Hilton appears in Piperock on a stubborn mule, dressed in absurd colorful gear and clutching a small pistol. He announces his intention to become a Western hero just like the characters he read about in books.

The hero scheme When Reginald learns his sweetheart Violet is coming West expecting a brave frontier hero, Magpie hatches a plan to stage a fake stagecoach robbery. Ike reluctantly agrees to participate, intending to let Reginald "save" the passengers using blank cartridges.

Chaos at Wind River The staged robbery falls apart when Reginald's mule bolts out of control into the stagecoach team. The crash sends horses, passengers, and drivers into the river, sparking a real manhunt led by Sheriff Scenery Sims.

Locked in the jail After escaping the river, Ike and Magpie are tracked down by law enforcement and accidentally lock themselves inside a prison cell. Outside the window, Reginald explains that Violet's journey was canceled and confesses to robbing the town bank with a monkey-wrench.

An explosive rescue Attempting to blast Ike and Magpie out of jail, Reginald lights forty pounds of dynamite. The resulting explosion levels the building and sends the trio fleeing together on a single unbridled mule.

Digging in the mud The group arrives at Moose Swamp, where Reginald claims he discarded the loot. After spending an exhausting hour digging through thick mud, Magpie realizes Reginald threw away the monkey-wrench instead of the money, leaving the stolen fortune behind.

The People

• Ike Harper: The cynical narrator of the story. Ike possesses a sharp tongue, strong self-preservation instincts, and zero patience for Eastern greenhorns. He continuously warns Magpie against helping Reginald, though he continually gets dragged into Magpie's flawed schemes anyway.
• "Magpie" Simpkins: Ike's tall, soft-hearted cabin mate. Magpie considers himself a mentor and a problem solver, believing he can guide misguided travelers. His overly elaborate plans to help Reginald ultimately cause catastrophic misunderstandings across the county.
• Reginald Alfred Jackson Hilton: A naive young man from the East who moves West believing pulp fiction stories reflect real life. Clad in lavender chaps and guided by misguided confidence, his earnest attempts to act like a hero result in non-stop destruction.
• "Scenery" Sims: The squeaky-voiced sheriff of Piperock. Short-tempered and easily bewildered, he spends much of the narrative trying to figure out who is breaking the law while repeatedly getting swept up in the surrounding chaos.

In Its Own Voice

"I can stand for science, but when I looks upon the fat, pink face of Reginald Alfred Jackson Hilton I know that somebody has swiped the silver lining off our cloud."

— Ike describes his initial dismay upon meeting the ridiculously dressed young traveler outside their cabin.

"There are times in my life when I’m a—a potential murderer."

— Magpie expresses his rising frustration after trying to reason with Reginald's complete lack of common sense.

"How do I know? I arrested that pro-te-jay of Magpie’s and he yanked the door shut on both of us, and then the jail rose up and left us."

— Sheriff Scenery Sims tries to explain the sudden, explosive destruction of his own jail to the townspeople.

What It's Really About

Beneath its comedic slapstick and exaggerated dialogue, No wonder parodies the popular romanticized myths of the American Old West. During the early twentieth century, pulp novels sold Eastern readers a romantic vision of the frontier where any city dweller could head out West and instantly transform into a cattle foreman, outlaw hunter, or town savior.

Tuttle uses Reginald's misadventures to mock this trope, contrasting literary fantasy with the awkward, gritty realities of rural Montana life. The story explores the foolishness of trying to live up to artificial expectations, showing how Reginald's insistence on acting like a fictional protagonist brings genuine disaster to everyone around him.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy classic American humor, Western satire, and witty vernacular narration will find No wonder a quick and entertaining read. W. C. Tuttle's writing captures the energetic, colorful voice of traditional campfire storytelling, packed with hyperbole, absurd situation comedy, and sharp banter between long-suffering partners.

The story moves at a breakneck speed, leaning heavily into physical comedy—from runaway mules and staged robberies gone wrong to accidental jail bombings. Its brevity makes it an accessible example of early twentieth-century magazine fiction.

Modern readers should be aware that the story reflects its era's dialect-heavy style, utilizing phonetic spelling and regional slang ("hombre," "sabe," "danged," "lulu") that takes a few pages to adjust to. However, the comedic chemistry between Ike and Magpie remains thoroughly enjoyable, making it a fun pick for fans of Western comedy and classic magazine short fiction.