The Crooked Trail

Outlaw Harve Tarlton, who has killed many Mexicans, is chased into the badlands and abandoned, then passes out. Estaban Solano rescues Harve, but when he tries to steal Solano's water, it drains into the sand, and Solano knocks him out. Cowpuncher Jim Blake and prospector Tex, en route to Patchy Creek, rescue Solano and Harve. Jim, who has a reputation for reforming criminals, makes Harve his prospecting partner, believing that he will reform. In town, crooked gambler Lanning runs card games at the Carter Hotel and plans to marry Carter's daughter Helen. Harve immediately agrees to help Lanning steal gold and robs Tex and prospector Grimby's cabins. When Lanning catches Jim with Helen and insists that he is engaged to her, she says nothing out of fear. The prospectors meet at Carter's saloon to discuss law and order in their camp, while Lanning, playing poker, drops Tex's stolen pouch and accuses Harve of stealing it. Harve in turn blames Lanning and gets shot in the arm, and Jim, naïvely believing Harve to be innocent, appoints himself marshal on the spot, fights Lanning, and runs him out of town. Helen then confesses to Jim that Lanning was forcing her to marry him and that he threatened to kill her father if Carter exposed Lanning as a thief. Harve then watches jealously as Helen and Jim embrace. Jim and Helen marry, but after a month, Helen is unhappy knowing that Harve is using Jim. Claiming his arm wound is still not healed, Harve lets Jim dig for gold and shares the profits. When Helen approaches Jim about Harve's treachery, Jim refuses to believe her and continues to deposit gold nuggets in a safe at Carter's. Then, while Jim and the local prospectors fight a gang of outlaws, Harve asks Helen to run away with him and she goes, hoping to prove Harve's duplicity to Jim. Harve steals the gold from Carter's safe, knocks Carter out, wounds Tex and escapes with Helen. When Jim returns, Tex tells him that his wife and partner are headed for the badlands. In El Descanso, the couple stops at a house for food, and Solano, the owner, recognizes Harve and holds him up in order to retrieve a note Helen had left for Jim to come after her. Jim arrives and as Helen runs to him, Harve shoots her. Jim then follows Harve and kills him in self-defense. Jim rides home past Solano, who shows him Helen's letter. Entering Solano's cabin, Jim is relieved to find Helen alive and still in love with him.