Texas Buddies

Famous World War I flying ace Ted "Gat" Garner returns home after the war to discover that only his father's old buddy Si remains. His aunt has died, his girl friend has married, and his horse has been sold to a man named Kincaid. While taking Si's old "tin lizzy" across the desert to do some mining, they find the skeleton of Cyrus Hellner at Coyote Springs, who was robbed and killed. A note left on the body asks the finder to take care of his niece, June Collins, whom he never met but who expects to arrive soon. The stagecoach has been replaced by a biplane, on which June is a passenger. Kincaid and his cohorts, Blake and Burns, plot to give the plane insufficient gas, to force it to land in the desert where they can rob it. Si and Ted see the plane land, and the pilot, Greg, shot. The robbers shoot June in the arm, but get away before robbing the plane because they see Si and Ted approach. The pilot and June survive, and Ted and Si pretend that Si is her uncle to save her more grief. They plot with the sheriff to entrap the bandits by pretending that Greg died and having Ted fly the route, this time with the sheriff waiting for the robbers when the plane lands. Ted wins his horse back from Kincaid in a poker game, and bets him that in two weeks Kincaid's horse will not be able to outrun his horse. Later, Ted finds Hellner's coat jacket in a stable with bullet holes and a note in the pocket to Kincaid from Burns that incriminates the two men, and implicates Kincaid in Hellner's death. During the horse race, Kincaid knocks Ted out, but Ted wins nonetheless, and later, the sheriff deputizes he and Si. Ted and Si find out that Kincaid has withdrawn all his money from the bank, which he had previously turned in as golddust, and they speculate that this had been Hellner's gold. After June is taken hostage by Kincaid when she goes for a ride in the desert, Burns confesses to Ted his involvement in the robberies with Kincaid and Blake. Ted forces Burns to accompany him on the flight planned with the sheriff and once over the desert, Ted cuts the plane engine and pretends he must force a landing, knowing that Kincaid and Blake are waiting to rob him. Unfortunately, the sheriff is stuck with Si, whose car refuses to start. Kincaid and Blake shoot Burns, and Ted chases Kincaid until, at Coyote Springs, he kills him in a duel. The money is recovered and Ted bests Blake in a fistfight, leaving himself and June free to pursue their romance.