The Lone Rider Crosses the Rio

Now that he and his partner, Tom Cameron, also known as "The Lone Rider," have engineered the arrest of corrupt sheriff Briggs, Fuzzy practices proposing marriage. Before Fuzzy can propose to his girl friend, however, Tom insists that they go into hiding across the border because Briggs's trial has been postponed. As Tom and Fuzzy near the border, they encounter a man sleeping by his wagon, and leave him a pouch of money and a note from The Lone Rider in exchange for his wagon and Mexican-style clothes. Tom and Fuzzy easily pass the border guard into Mexico, although the guard has been forewarned to watch for them by Briggs's gang. Wagon owner Pedro introduces himself to Tom and Fuzzy at the Alta Mesa cantina where his daughter Rosalie dances. The cantina also serves as a hang-out for Briggs's gang. Aware that Tom is The Lone Rider, Pedro asks his help in bringing the notorious outlaw known as "El Puma" to justice. Tom and Fuzzy are soon forced to escape from the cantina when Briggs's chief deputy, Hatfield, and cantina owner Ward Jarvis pick a fight with them. Outside, however, Tom reunites with his old friend, Torres, the Alta Mesa mayor, who protects him from Jarvis and Hatfield. Torres fears losing his position because he has not caught El Puma, and is unaware that his friend Jarvis is the outlaw. Jarvis, who has looted the entire territory, wants to move to a more lucrative area, and decides to frame Tom for El Puma's crimes so that suspicion will not follow him. At a party thrown in Tom's honor, Torres confides in his old friend his disappointment that his son Francisco has fallen in love with the lower-class Rosalie. Tom offers to help dissuade Rosalie from thoughts of marriage by pretending to have Francisco kidnapped, and he asks Jarvis to help pull off the scheme. This fits right into Jarvis's plans, and he and his men actually kidnap Francisco, then convince Torres that Tom is El Puma. Torres turns on Tom, who escapes with Fuzzy before he can be arrested. That night at the cantina, Pedro convinces Rosalie to listen in on Jarvis' conversation for Francisco's sake. Rosalie reports back to Pedro, Tom and Fuzzy that Jarvis plans to kidnap a gunsmith to build up his arsenal so that he will be ready when the authorities come after Francisco. Tom then asks her to pretend that she no longer loves Francisco and encourage Jarvis' advances in order to learn the location of his hideout. After Pedro secures gunsmithing equipment from a friend, he accompanies Tom and Fuzzy, who are disguised as Mexican traveling salesmen. They are soon stopped by Jarvis' men, who take them back to the hideout to fix their weapons. After Tom proves his skill, the entire gang turns over their guns to him. Rosalie, meanwhile, agrees to run away with Jarvis after he promises to free Francisco. Jarvis takes Rosalie to the hideout, where he is surprised to find Tom and Fuzzy, but instead of killing them, he plans to frame them for a bank robbery. Before this happens, however, Tom knocks out the guard holding them hostage and, while Fuzzy and Pedro free Francisco, Tom escapes on horseback and rides to Torres' house. Torres and his men follow Tom back to the hideout, where Tom apprises them of the situation with Jarvis, and reveals that he has fixed their guns so that they cannot fire, or will merely shoot water. Jarvis and his gang are arrested, and when Torres learns that Rosalie helped save Francisco's life, Torres consents to their marriage and apologizes to Tom for suspecting that he was El Puma.