In Politics at Lonesome Lizard, Robert E. Howard once again unleashes the mighty Breckinridge Elkins into a chaotic mix of frontier politics, personal grudges, and brutal slapstick violence. The story begins when Breckinridge receives a letter from his old acquaintance Abednego Raxton, pleading for help against both rustlers and a sheepman named Ted Bissett. Breckinridge, loyal and strong as ever, rides into Lonesome Lizard only to find himself embroiled in local conflict and mistaken intentions.

He rescues a damsel from a cougar, only to learn she is Margaret Brewster—engaged to another man, but not too firmly. At the Red Warrior saloon, he encounters “Big Jon,” a massive foreign-born sheepherder imported by Bissett, and a spectacular brawl ensues. Things go from bad to worse when Breckinridge is arrested for shooting Bissett (after being provoked), but this arrest is more of a favor to the local sheriff, Johnny Willoughby, who needs a boost in his reelection campaign.

Johnny proposes staging a fake lynching to raise his political stock, but the plan is hijacked by Bissett’s gang, who try to actually hang Breckinridge. The attempt fails spectacularly when Breckinridge tears free and thrashes the mob. The story ends with the exposure of the real rustler ring—headed by Bissett himself and aided by deputy Bige Gantry—clearing the air just in time for the election. But the final twist leaves Breckinridge heartbroken when he learns that Margaret Brewster is the promised bride of the very sheriff he was helping. His violent emotional outburst that concludes the story is both humorous and a fitting cap to the series of betrayals and farcical mishaps that precede it.