"Death Might Be Waiting Ahead for Him, or Be Riding Beside or Behind Him"

"Undercover Santa Claus."

By Johnston McCulley (1883-1958).
Genre: Western.
First appearance: Exciting Western, January 1948.
Reprinted in Exciting Western (U.K.), November 1954.
Short story (11 pages).
Online at the Pulpgen Archive (HERE).

It's almost Christmas when Joe returns to his hometown, unsure of whether the local
Santa Claus might not want to shoot him on sight—and blissfully unaware that he's
about to acquire a new family . . .

The bottom line: