Vigilante Hideout

After rescuing businessman Jim Benson from a mysterious explosion near the town of Cottonwood Springs, stranger Allan "Rocky" Lane meets privately with Nugget Clark, an eccentric inventor who has been blasting the area in search of water. Rocky explains that he is the range detective Nugget had summoned to investigate the repeated thefts of his cattle herd. When Nugget reveals that his herd consists of three cows that reside in a corral behind his office, Rocky is embarrassed and annoyed. Rocky advises Nugget to consider who was in town on the nights his animals disappeared, and Nugget concludes that freight operator Muley Price is his most likely suspect. Nugget then confronts the brutish Muley, and when Muley threatens the inventor with his whip, Rocky intervenes. Rocky wins the ensuing fistfight, but later, Benson convinces Muley to run off Nugget's cows so that he can lure the detective out of town and exact revenge. Benson pays Muley to do the job, intimating that, with Rocky out of the way, he, Benson, can continue his illegal activities undisturbed. Despite the alarm that Nugget rigs to their pen, Muley manages to sneak away with the cows and, as hoped, Rocky and Nugget pursue him. Rocky soon overtakes Muley but, suspecting that he was drawn out of town on purpose, lets him go, then returns with Nugget to Cottonwood Springs. While inspecting Nugget's office for signs of a break-in, Rocky discovers a piece of copper ore on the floor, which Nugget speculates came from one of the many abandoned mines in the area. Soon after, Muley and the men who work for him storm into town, yelling drunkenly and firing their guns. Unknown to Rocky and Nugget, Benson has paid Muley to create a ruckus so that he can finish his work near Nugget's place. Rocky subdues Muley, then, still suspicious, goes with banker Ralph Barrows to check out the bank. Once again, Rocky finds copper ore on the floor and, the next day, rides with Nugget to the old mines. When Rocky finds nothing unusual, Nugget tries to explode some of his dynamite in hopes of uncovering water, but discovers that the sticks are stuffed with copper ore. Meanwhile, lunchroom operator Howard Sanders, who once was involved in a vigilante scheme with Benson and is a wanted man, is blackmailed by Benson into helping him rob the bank using a mine tunnel that runs underneath Nugget's office to the bank. Benson, who is romantically involved with Howard's daughter Marigae, plans to blast open the bank's vault, which contains $25,000 he solicited from the townspeople to build an aqueduct. While Benson is out of town with Marigae, Howard plants a dynamite-laden wagon between Nugget's office and the bank, but Rocky and Nugget anticipate the blast and drag the wagon away before it explodes. Benson uses the incident to demand that a vigilante committee be formed, then tries to arrest Nugget for refusing to turn over his dynamite. When Rocky prevents Benson from shooting the fleeing Nugget, Benson accuses Rocky of being in league with Nugget and forces him out of town. Rocky and Nugget meet on the trail and conclude that whoever was driving Nugget's cows off also tried to blow up the bank. Nugget still believes that Muley is guilty until Rocky reminds him that the freight line was headed north when the wagon exploded. When Nugget then remembers that he is expecting a shipment of dynamite up north in Sullivan, he and Rocky sneak back to Cottonwood Springs to confer with Marigae about Muley's exact destination. After Marigae recalls that she overheard Muley's men discussing a pick-up in Sullivan, Rocky and Nugget are spotted leaving town. During the ensuing commotion, Benson shoots Howard, who has been protesting Benson's use of violence, and Nugget is captured. Benson entrusts Howard to guard Nugget, but Howard decides to confess all on Nugget's recording machine. Just after implicating Benson, Howard is murdered by Benson, who then rides to collect Nugget's dynamite from Muley. Rocky, meanwhile, intercepts the wagon carrying the dynamite and is pursued by Muley and his men. Rocky finally forces Muley to surrender and makes his driver deliver the dynamite to the mine. There, Rocky and Nugget chase Benson, who is carrying a box of dynamite, into the mine tunnel and watch in horror as he trips and sets off a deadly explosion. Afterward, Rocky and Nugget emerge through a hole created by the explosion and are startled to find themselves in Nugget's corral. Moments later, torrents of water rush underneath them, having been released by the blast. Later, Rocky bids farewell to Nugget, who is busy inventing a flying machine.