Captive of Billy the Kid

After rescuing Nancy McCreary from gunmen who are chasing her wagon, Allan "Rocky" Lane escorts the reticent woman to the town of Junction. From there Rocky sends a telegraph message, which piques the curiosity of a local rancher, Van Stanley, who introduces himself. Rocky responds that he is a detective working on a case, then continues with his business. Soon after, Stanley meets with Piute, the gunman who tried to abduct Nancy. They believe that she possesses a portion of a map showing the location of Billy the Kid's hidden loot. Nancy's father tore the map into five pieces, and because he wanted the money returned to the rightful owners, distributed the pieces to different individuals for safekeeping. Stanley, who has one of the pieces, wants them all, and has already had Piute kill McCreary for his piece, though the inept henchman failed to find it. Knowing that two men who also have pieces of the map are expected on the noon stage, Stanley orders Piute to round up their men for an ambush. Meanwhile, Rocky goes to the ranch of elderly Skeeter Davis, former owner of the Wonder Carnival, and finds Nancy there. Skeeter explains that he sent for a detective because he fears he and Nancy are in danger. The owners of the map, Nancy, Skeeter, his neighbor Stanley, Randy Brown and a man named Gorman, are meeting at Skeeter's ranch to retrieve the treasure together, but as Nancy's father has already been killed, Skeeter assumes more trouble will follow. After confiding to Skeeter that he is actually a deputy marshal working undercover on McCreary's murder, Rocky decides to meet the stage in town, but on the way he encounters Piute's ambush in progress. After stopping the gunmen, Rocky discovers that one passenger, who he presumes to be Randy, has been killed in the skirmish, and that Gorman is not on the stage. The second passenger, Paul Howarth, later admits that he won Gorman's piece of the map in a poker game, so Rocky takes him to the ranch. Stanley also proceeds to the ranch, and after everyone has gathered, Randy shows up, saying that he paid the man who was killed in the ambush to ride in his place. Acting on orders from Stanley, Piute attempts to hold up the meeting and steal the map, but once again fails. Realizing that the map holders will continue to be in danger until the money is retrieved, Rocky suggests that they travel together the following day to the town of Remargo, which according to Skeeter's map, is near the buried treasure. In preparation, Rocky goes into Junction to send another message. Stanley secretly meets Piute and tells him to learn the contents of Rocky's message from the telegraph operator, and then follow the group to Remargo. The next day, the group begins the two-day journey, but Rocky senses they are being followed. Despite Rocky's precautions, Stanley is able to kill Randy during the night, and after Randy's body is found, Piute and his cohort Sam start a shootout to divert everyone from searching for his map piece. Rocky pursues the gunmen and catches Sam, but Piute shoots his cohort to keep him from identifying Stanley as their leader. Upon reaching Remargo, Stanley learns from Piute that Rocky telegraphed for two detectives to meet him, so Piute and his cohorts ambush the men before they reach Remargo. Later at the hotel, Rocky pretends to steal the map pieces, hoping that the outlaws will be surprised into revealing themselves. As the other men search for him, Rocky meets Skeeter and gives him all the pieces. Piute's henchmen approach Rocky, posing as the detectives he is expecting, but Rocky is not fooled and a shootout erupts. After Stanley, whom Skeeter trusts, learns that Skeeter has the map pieces, he grabs them and rides away. Pursued by Rocky, Stanley tries to escape into the hills on foot, but Rocky catches up, and they fight until Stanley falls to his death. Later, Paul, Nancy and Skeeter learn that they will be sharing the reward for the return of the loot. With the outlaws apprehended and McCreary's murder solved, Rocky rides away, as Skeeter dreams of starting a new carnival with his hard-earned money.