Badman's Gold

After a series of stagecoach holdups near Goldfield, experienced marshal Johnny Carpenter is called on to assist local sheriff Masters in arresting the bandits. Teaming with lawmen Bess and Bob Benson and their dog Daisy, Johnny heads to Goldfield. Just before the next robbery, holdup ringleader Rance is concerned that the site is too close to the abandoned mine where he is storing the stolen gold and orders his right-hand man Shorty to kill the guard and driver to ensure secrecy of the gold's location. Later, after a long chase and shootout on the trail, the gang intercepts the stagecoach, then unloads the gold in the mine. Back at Rance's office, he explains to his men that to put the gold back into circulation, he has freed a convicted felon called the Professor, who will set up a laboratory to melt the gold into the mine's quartz so they then can legally mine the gold. Shorty warns them that an old miner has recently filed a claim on the mine, so Rance orders the gang to run him off. At the mine, the gang attempts to force the miner to leave but Johnny, Bob and Bess arrive and a fistfight ensues among the men. One of the gang attempts to draw his gun, but Daisy sees the action and barks to warn Bess, who shoots the gun out of the villain's hand. After Bob and Johnny win the brawl, Bess orders the villains off the property and she, Johnny and Bob head for town. On Goldfield's main street, Bob and Bess recognize the Professor as an escaped convict, who their lawman father had jailed years ago. Later that night at the town telegraph office, Johnny and Bob try to contact the marshal to get more information on the Professor but are interrupted when Rance's gang arrives. After a brief scuffle, Johnny and Bob are forced to take the telegraph equipment with them and connect the device to an outside line to receive the marshal's message that the Professor had outside help in his escape from the federal penitentiary. Rance's men find Bob and Johnny, but Bess comes to their rescue, holding the gang at gunpoint until the gang flees. The next day the Johnny, Bob and Bess do some investigating on the trail, where Daisy whines, sniffs and sneezes upon meeting a skunk. Johnny and Bob then return to town, leaving Bess to clean up after the dog. Later, in town, Johnny introduces himself to the Professor as sharpshooter Red River Johnny and threatens to go to the sheriff if he is not given a cut of the gold. The Professor takes Johnny to the mine to show him the laboratory, but the gang arrives and, wary that their new partner is lying, put him to the test. Johnny proves his skills sharpshooting and whipping cards from Shorty's hand. That night, in Goldfield, Bob and Bess sneak into the claims office and learn that the mine was recently transferred from the miner's name to another person. Just as Bess deduces that the missing gold is in the mine, Rance's gang arrive, abducts Bob and Bess and locks them into an empty cell in the sherrif's vacant office. Rance and his men then ride to the mine and, finding Johnny plying the Professor with liquor, fight Johnny and tie him up. Back at the jail, Daisy finds the keys to the jail cell and frees Bob and Bess, after which Bess leaves to find the sheriff and Bob rides to the mine to help Johnny. Meanwhile, Rance decides to dynamite the mine, but after he lights the fuse and leaves Johnny for dead, Johnny calls to his horse, who picks up the dynamite in her muzzle and throws it clear of the mine. Bob arrives and unties Johnny, and the two join Bess and the sheriff, then head back to Goldfield to confront Rance's gang. Johnny wants to take the ringleader alive so Rance can "settle the score with the law," but Shorty has sent for reinforcements and ten more men are waiting for the trio when they arrive on Main Street. The sharpshooting trio gun down Rance's men one at a time. Just as the Professor is about to shoot Bess, Daisy attacks him. John then wounds Rance in the arm and the sheriff takes him into custody. Later, Bob and Johnny telegraph the marshal's office that the case is closed, and Daisy follows up with her own message, operating the telegraph key with her paw.