Nevada Badmen

After Whip Wilson, Jim Bannon and Texas finish up a hard day's work rounding up cattle, Jim receives a letter from his brother Bob, telling him that he has struck gold on his Opal Springs ranch. In the letter Bob asks that Jim keep the discovery quiet and rush to Opal Springs to help him stake his claim. While Whip, Tex and Jim make their way toward Opal Springs, Bob sends his gold to the U.S. Mint via the express depot and, in the process, discloses to express clerk Waller that he has struck gold. Soon after Bob tells Waller that they are the only two who know, Waller betrays his confidence by telling bank president Jensen of the discovery. Ringleader Jensen, who holds a mortgage on Bob's land, has Waller arrange for three robbers, Mert Hammond, Jess and Clint, to hold up that afternoon's stagecoach, which carries the day's mail, including Bob's gold. After the robbery, the stage returns to town with a wounded man, spurring the sheriff and his posse to track the robbers down. Meanwhile Whip, Jim and Tex arrive at the Bannon ranch just as Waller escapes, having killed Bob and ransacked the house for the map to the gold mine. Whip and Tex chase the murderer, but Waller eludes his pursuers. Instead, Whip and Tex encounter the sheriff, who mistakes them for the robbers. Despite Whip's protests that Bob's killer is getting away, the sheriff's men escort Whip and Tex to the town jail. The sheriff proceeds to the Bannon ranch, where he is met by Jim and Bob's distraught daughter Carol, who protest that he has put the wrong men in jail. Later, after Jim explains to Carol why her father was killed, he asks her if she has seen the map to the gold. Carol has not found anything but unpaid bills, the largest being the note due to the bank. The next day, Whip and Carol visit Jensen to ask for an extension on the loan without disclosing that they know about the gold, but the banker gives them only fifteen days until foreclosure. In an effort to see who will bid the highest for the ranch and therefore reveal who knows about the mine, Whip convinces Carol to auction the land off. At the auction, Jensen leaves early to avoid suspicion and has Mert out-bid everyone in his absence, but Whip furtively holds Mert at gunpoint to avoid actual sale of the land to anyone but Jim. Whip then loudly promises that the money to pay for the ranch is coming in on the next stage and sends Tex to tail Mert. Inside the ranch house, Jim shows the sheriff Bob's letter and explains their plan to reveal the murderer. Whip and the sheriff agree to stake out the trail of the stage to catch the thieves as they rob the incoming stage. However, Waller sends Clint to be a guard on the stage and he stealthily takes the cash bundle from the strong box and drops the money where Mert recovers it without the sheriff's men taking notice. The stage continues on uninterrupted and the sheriff and Whip are baffled when a holdup does not occur. Back at the bank, Jensen and his men discover that the bundle is mostly newspaper and, realizing they have fallen for a trap, decide to skip town with what they have. Tex, who has been staking out Jensen's office, decides at that moment to investigate the bank, but Mert and the boys knock him out and tie him up. Clint picks the men up in the stage at Jensen's office and drives them out of town. Bound and gagged, Tex wiggles his way up to the bank's front door, where the townspeople cut him loose just as Whip, the sheriff and his posse arrive. Tex tells them that the men just rode out of town and Whip and the posse chase the men down, forcing them to stop and surrender at the end of a grueling shootout. Later at the Bannon ranch, Carol receives a letter from the mint crediting her account with $25,000 from the gold and happily surprises Jim, Whip and Tex when she promises to split the money and any future earnings from the mine among the four of them.