Arizona Manhunt

While the citizens of Mesquite in the Arizona territory are preoccupied with the aftermath of an explosion, the Willard gang easily robs the bank, just as Scar Willard had planned when he set the dynamite. However, as the gang leaves, they are spotted by Sheriff Tom White's young grandson Red, who follows them and hears Scar order his men to meet later at a mine shack. As Red rounds up his grandfather and the deputy, Jim Brown, Scar deposits the most recently acquired loot in a secret hole in a cave wall. By the time Red and the lawmen arrive at the mine shack, Scar is already there and shoots as they approach. Jim and Tom return the fire, but after Scar's rifle falls out of the window, Jim enters the shack and finds Scar dead. As they look for the stolen money, a little girl runs out of the building and rides away. Tom sends Red after her, while he and Jim search for the other robbers. Later, Scar's brother Pete is arrested, and Clara Drummond, who is the secretary to the banking commissioner, but is secretly involved with the gang, arrives to take statements. Once she and Pete are alone, he tells her that Scar hid the money and only their orphaned niece, Judy Dawson, whom Scar had been rearing, might know the hiding place. They are also concerned that Judy might identify the members of the gang to the lawmen. As Clara is leaving, she overhears that Judy was found in a cave and is being treated for exposure and possible pneumonia. Due to Judy's sickness, Tom refuses to let Clara question her, so Clara suggests to Pete's henchmen that they abduct the girl while Tom and his men are out searching for the money. Meanwhile, the town's doctor, Sawyer, who believes that love will make Judy better, puts together a marimba with Red's help after he learns that Judy's mother taught her how to play. Tom's niece, Jane Rowan, also helps by teaching Judy to knit. The outlaws unsuccessfully attempt to abduct Judy, and over the next three weeks the sheriff and his posse flush out the rest of the gang. Clara spends the time getting official custody of Judy from the juvenile court by arguing that Judy, who was part of the gang, must pay her debt to society. While Jim is looking over the custody papers she presents, Clara steals his jail key and slips it into the pocket of a coat she bought for Judy. Jim tries to convince Clara that Judy is happy in her new home and innocent of the gang's deeds, and Clara pretends to relent on the condition that Pete sign a statement claiming that Judy took no part in the robberies. After Clara maneuvers to get Judy alone with Pete, he frees himself and his cohort Charlie with the key from Judy's pocket and locks Jim in the jail cell. Before the three outlaws leave with Judy in a hijacked stagecoach, Tom and Red show up. Tom is taken hostage to convince Judy to lead them to the hidden money, but while saying goodbye to Red, Judy makes a veiled reference to the cave in which she was found. After they leave, Red is unable to find Jim, so he tells Jane that the outlaws may be headed for the cave and then, before she can stop him, proceeds there. At the cave, he sneaks past the guard and unties Tom and Judy. Meanwhile, Clara and Pete find the hidden money and shoot Tom as they leave in the stagecoach. Jim rides up, having been released by Jane, and Tom sends him after the outlaws. After catching up with the coach, Jim jumps on and fights them. He then unhitches the horses and throws the strongbox containing the money off the coach. However, just as the coach rolls past a sign warning of a broken bridge ahead, he is pushed out, and the coach continues onto the bridge and into the water with the outlaws trapped inside. Sometime later, the courting Jim and Jane announce that they have filed to adopt Judy, and Tom claims that he has done the same. To stop them from arguing, Judy suggests that they all live together in Tom's big house as one family.