Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

While Tracy faces off against Jack, Gertie is having problems of her own, but she's not going to go down quietly.  No sir!  If she has to go, she's going to do it with guns-a-blazin', and who should be at her door, but the one, the only, Ace, mysterious leader of one criminal endeavor or another.  (Hey, they never have revealed what this whole thing is about, so I'm not going to jump to any conclusions.  Bad for the knees and back, you know.)  So I guess Gertie is more of a threat than Tracy at the moment, or at least Ace deems her to be more important.  I guess I can't blame the guy.  I mean, she is sitting on a pile of money that probably belongs to him, so it makes sense that he would want to go and personally oversee the operation to get it back.  Therefore, he's brought along the best hired goons that money that buy.  (Unfortunately, that's not saying a whole lot, but they've got heart, so that's got to count for something, right?)

And now for the ending.  The ending is confusing.  I hope that that guy has merely stepped into a bear trap and that Gertie isn't biting his leg at this very moment after discovering that those guns she was so intent on using were either empty or only shot water.  Of course, it could be something else entirely.  It could be the triumphant return of the demon dogs.  (For all we know, B.O. picked them up cheap, or is running some sort of dog rehabilitation and rescue thing on the side, or maybe they're left over from his life of crime.  The fact is, we just don't know, but I kind of hope that they are the demon dogs.  Sure, they were bloodthirsty and mauled their last master, but they were kind of cute in their own special way.)  Only time will tell what the real answer is, and only time will tell if Ace is ever going to step out of the shadows so that we can get a good look at his face, if he has a face, and it's not just a giant playing card.  (No, he has a face.  We saw it from afar many strips back, unless it was just a mask...)