The gold mine belonging to "Gun" Barlow (Edward Keane) is worked out, and Barlow attempts to buy adjacent land, with the hopes his gold vein will continue, from town postmistress Marion Saunders (Rosalind Keith) who, keeping a vow she made to her father on his death-bed, refuses. Marion also owns the local stage line, and Barlow, "Bull" Feeney (Al Bridge) and Steve Hickman (Ben Welden) hatch a plot to have mysterious accidents happen to the mail coach, hoping that Marion will give up and sell out. They hire two henchmen, Slim (George Chesebro) and Shorty (Art Mix), to do the dirty work and they wreck the coach by causing a huge rock-slide, and stage-driver Andy (Arthur Stone) is hurt and left to die. A mule skinner named Jim Bradley (Charles Starrett) comes along, picks up Andy and the mail and heads for town, where he tells Marion his name is "Skinner" and offers to run the mail while Andy is recovering. Barlow and Bull drop by and rag him about his mules, and they force a bet that their horses can beat his mule-team in a race. If he loses, "Skinner" will be put to work in Barlow's mine. He wants to get into the mine so he can look things over, as part of his job as a postal-inspector working undercover. Complications arise but none that Jim Bradley can't handle.—Les Adams <[email protected]>
Gold mine owner Gun Barlow hopes to extend the boundaries of his property and attain a greater vein of ore by purchasing land adjacent to his, which is owned by post-mistress Marion Saunders. Marion, however, has promised her father that she would not sell the land, and she refuses Gun's offer. As a result, Gun decides to get the land through treachery and plans a number of mysterious mail coach "accidents" designed to force her to sell to him. Gun's partner, Bull Feeney, enlists the help of outlaws Slim and Shorty in their scheme. The mail coach is eventually wrecked by one of Gun's campaigns, and the coach's driver, Andy, is left for dead on the road. A passing mule skinner, who calls himself "Skinner," finds Andy and takes him to town for treatment. Later, Skinner sees two men, one riding a pinto pony, fleeing from the scene of the mail coach wreck. While Andy recovers, Skinner takes over his job and soon comes face-to-face with Gun and Bull, who force him to accept a wager that his mules cannot beat their horses in a race. If Skinner loses, he and his mule team will be required to work on Gun's mine. When Skinner is insulted by Bull at a saloon, a fight ensues and Bull shoots him in the shoulder. While Marion dresses his wound, Skinner tells her about the wager and she becomes angry. Realizing that the pinto hitched outside of the saloon was being ridden by Gun, Skinner deliberately loses the race so that he can get a look at Gun's mine. One night, Skinner is caught by Shorty and Slim snooping around Marion's property, and they engage him in a fight. Skinner manages to escape but loses his badge, which identifies him as an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gun then realizes that Skinner is really the well-known peace officer John Bradley and decides to kill him. While Gun's gang is on their way to hold up Marion's coach, Skinner beats them there and trades places with Andy, who is sent to town for reinforcements. When the coach is ambushed by Gun's men, Skinner surprises them and, after a violent battle, succeeds in capturing them. With the gang in the custody of the sheriff, Skinner, now revealed to all as John Bradley, seeks a minister to marry him and Marion.
