The Ferocious Pal

Fifteen-year-old Johnnie Diggens runs away from home to see the world and, while riding a freight train, meets fellow runaway Patsy Bolivar, who is on her way to Wooltown, Oregon, to see her uncle Eb. Patsy is disguised as a boy, and when Johnnie discovers that she is a girl, he becomes upset and starts an argument. Before long, two hoboes attack the teenagers, but Patsy's dog Kazan comes to their rescue and routs the hoboes. Having fled from the train, the youths and Kazan travel by foot and are soon picked up by young Doctor Elliott, who informs them that they have reached Oregon and are near Wooltown. Doctor Elliott drives the trio into Wooltown, which is a center for sheep raising and wool production, and there Kazan is attacked by Champo, a fierce dog owned by shipping agent Dave Brownell. Although Brownell wants to see Champo finish Kazan, the town sheriff stops the fight before either dog is badly hurt. Later, Patsy, Johnnie and Kazan arrive at Eb's home and are at first rejected by the old man. When Patsy informs Eb that her stepmother in Los Angeles is marrying a young man he despises, however, Eb changes his mind and takes the trio into his heart. While Doctor Elliott then pursues a romance with Patsy, Kazan slips away from Uncle Eb's to find his enemy in town. Brownell spots Kazan and lures him into a tool shed, where he attempts to beat the dog into submission. Kazan disarms Brownell, however, and wounds him slightly in the hand. Later, Brownell reports Kazan to the sheriff and demands that the dog be destroyed. When the sheriff questions Eb, he is assured that Kazan never left the house, and Brownell's request in denied. Eventually, however, Kazan becomes a prime suspect in a series of sheep thefts and killings. Although Brownell, the sheriff and the sheep owners determine to capture him, Kazan escapes his pursuers and hides in the nearby hills. Fuelled by Brownell's offer of a $500 reward for the capture of Kazan, a mob of men scour the hills and shoot at and nearly kill the dog several times. Sure that Kazan is innocent of the crimes, Patsy, Doctor Elliott, Johnnie and Eb begin their own investigation and discover that Brownell is the actual thief and that Champo is guilty of the sheep killings. After Kazan kills Champo in a fight, Brownell is arrested on the basis of the accumulated evidence. Their dog vindicated, Doctor Elliott and Patsy then prepare for their upcoming wedding.