Fool's Gold

Just as his partner, Lucky Jenkins, complains about their new, dull life as ranchers, Hopalong Cassidy is visited by his former commanding officer, Col. Jed Landy. Landy asks Hoppy to retrieve his son Bruce, a fiery-tempered Army lieutenant who was arrested for fighting with a superior officer and went AWOL to avoid a court-martial, from a gang of outlaws and gamblers. Although Hoppy has sworn to settle down, he agrees to help his friend and asks for a photograph of Bruce. Hoppy leaves for the gang's hideout in Twin Buttes without telling Lucky and their other partner, California Carlson, about his mission, but Lucky and California soon deduce his destination and follow. Just outside Twin Buttes, Hoppy spends the night camped next to the cabin of Sandler, an unfriendly old man, who snoops through his saddlebags and steals a slip of paper from him. The next day, Hoppy enters the inhospitable Twin Buttes and, posing as a cattleman named William Cassidy, asks for a room at the local inn. Having received the stolen paper, on which is written the name "Capt. William Thompson," from Sandler, the inn's wary owner, Jessie Dixon, accuses Hoppy of deceit and turns him away. After Hoppy departs, Jessie meets secretly with Bruce, her sweetheart, and tries unsuccessfully to dissuade him from going through with a planned robbery the next day. Hoppy, meanwhile, intercepts a runaway wagon outside Twin Buttes, rescuing Jessie's father, "Professor" Dixon. When Dixon, an amateur spider collector, hears that Jessie turned Hoppy away, he insists on returning to the inn with him. Pressured by her father, Jessie gives Hoppy a room, and Hoppy settles in, unaware that Dixon, a former Army officer, is planning to use Bruce to steal $200,000 in gold from the Cavalry as revenge for the ten years he spent in an Army jail. Soon after, Lucky and California arrive at the inn, posing as itinerant peddlers. While Dixon's men are buying up their guns, Lucky and California get word from Hoppy to meet later at a nearby wooded lake. There, Lucky, California and Hoppy conclude that they must find Bruce that night. Later, at the inn, Jessie sneaks into Hoppy's room and, seeing Bruce's photograph among his belongings, assumes that Hoppy has been sent by the Army. Jessie races to Bruce's cabin and tells him about Hoppy, and Bruce finally agrees to turn himself in. As he and Jessie are about to leave, however, a gun-toting Dixon appears to "remind" Bruce about his robbery commitment. Back at the inn, Hoppy spots a tarantula crawling across his headboard and shoots it, then tells Lucky that he suspects Dixon had planted it. The next day, after Bruce has returned from stealing a small amount gold from the Army, Hoppy is ambushed by Dixon and taken, unconscious, to the lake. Before Dixon's henchman can drown Hoppy, however, Lucky and California come to his rescue. Hoppy then realizes that Dixon was faking the runaway wagon in order to keep him away from some crags and heads there with Lucky and California. The men soon discover Dixon's cabin, which is filled with bottled spiders, copper and a gold-plating machine. Hoppy deduces that Dixon and his gang are planning to steal real gold brick, then exchange it for fake and deliver it to an unsuspecting Army detail while dressed as Cavalry soldiers. Hoppy and California then ride off to find Bruce, and on the trail, are met by Jessie, who begs Hoppy to arrest Bruce. Jessie leads Hoppy and California to Bruce's cabin, but just after Hoppy explains his mission to Bruce, Dixon and his men burst in and tie the two men up. A bound Lucky, who was caught snooping at the inn, is then forced to join his friends, but while Dixon, who is threatening them with one of his deadly spiders, is momentarily distracted, Hoppy breaks free and overwhelms the professor. After leaving a bound Dixon to die with his spider, Hoppy, Lucky and California race to warn the Army detail about the phony gold. Having tampered with the road sign directing the detail to the rendezvous point, the outlaws and Bruce arrive first, however, and dressed in his officer's uniform, Bruce easily deceives the soldiers. Before the outlaws can get very far with the gold, Hoppy, California and Lucky show up and engage them in a gunfight. Bruce tries to prevent the gold-laden wagon from being driven off, then Hoppy lassos the driver and retrieves the gold. Having become suspicious, the Army detail returns to the rendezvous spot and stops the gun battle. Later, the devoted Jessie joins Bruce as he goes to face his court-martial, and Hoppy, California and Lucky head back to their quiet life.