Trailin' Trouble

When he stops to remove an irritating object from the hoof of his limping horse Tarzan, John "Friendly" Fields hears a gunshot and sees in the distance outlaw Blackie Burke robbing passengers in a stagecoach. Friendly arrives too late to help, and he is then held up himself by Blackie. Learning that Friendly has no money, Blackie demands his black hat, which Friendly throws in Blackie's face. They struggle and Friendly retrieves Blackie's bag of loot, but Blackie gets away with Friendly's hat. Friendly vows to get it back; however, when he returns home to his mother, she commands him never to raise a hand against his fellow man. After Friendly's pal, Acey Ducey, tells him that he has left his job as foreman of Patty Blair's ranch, Friendly goes to the ranch, where his hat is shot off. He chases and kicks the culprit only to find her to be Patty, who has been practicing shooting. When he asks for the job of foreman, Patty, furious at being humiliated and disliking Friendly's boastfulness, tells him that he could write his own ticket if he returns with fifty-two head of her cattle, which rustler Tom Crocker has on his land. Crocker, mistaking Friendly for Blackie, pays him seventy-two dollars per head for the cattle, which he says he has mistakenly shipped off. After Friendly leaves, Crocker sends his men to get him, but Friendly ties a rope between trees and trips their horses. At Patty's ranch, Friendly, now foreman, fires one rider, Shorty, who objects to whitewashing a fence and leads the others to work hard. Patty is impressed until her friend Mrs. Dunn warns her that Friendly really is Blackie Burke. When Friendly asks permission to ride to the Green River Valley, hoping to arrive there ahead of the other ranchers to claim needed range land for Patty's cattle, she readily agrees so that he will leave her alone. At Green River Valley, Friendly finds that Crocker and other ranchers have already bought the land, but because they think that he is Blackie, they offer him any plot he wants. Patty arrives and that night tries to shoot Friendly, but she is unable to pull the trigger on his gun. The next day at the schoolhouse, Friendly, who has ordered the ranchers to check their guns, leads a meeting to divide the land. When Shorty arrives and calls Friendly a momma's boy and a liar, Friendly hits him. Patty, now thrilled with Friendly, tells him so. After he gives her first choice of the lots of land because she is a lady, the others express discontent. When Friendly's worried mother arrives and reveals his identity, the ranchers rush him to retrieve the contracts they have just signed. Friendly fights them off and gives Patty the deeds to take them to be recorded. Blackie arrives and Friendly fights him until Blackie gives up his hat. After Blackie is arrested, Friendly and Patty view the cattle headed for the new range. She tells him he could now write his own ticket with her, and they hold hands and ride off.