Summary
A laconic stranger, Beldon, rides into Squaredeal’s drought-bitten empire where barbed wire glints like a predator’s grin and every hoofprint smells of larceny; with his advent the night-rustling that bled the spread dry abruptly stops, as though shame itself has been pistol-whipped. Among the bunkhouse throng he recognises Cole, erstwhile Bar X wunderkind turned poison-ivy bully, slobbering over a maid—one punch later the air is thick with vendetta. Squaredeal, half-blind on trust, shoves a fat wad of cattle-money into Beldon’s cracked-leather satchel and commands a dawn deposit; the foreman, flanked by the rancher’s flame-haired daughter, trots toward town through lavender half-light only to be bushwhacked by Cole, dragged to a cedar shack, and bolted in gloom while coyotes laugh. Out in the sage the cowboys, spurred by hoofbeats of guilt, scour the badlands; inside, Beldon gnaws rope, smashes pine, and erupts into a bone-splintering grapple that ends with Cole cartwheeling off a cliff just as the rescue posse tops the ridge—dust, sunflash, exoneration, and a finale as tidy as a church bell.
Synopsis
Beldon, the new foreman of Squaredeal's ranch, arrives and with his arrival the rustling that terrorized the ranch ceases. Among those under him Beldon recognizes Cole, former manager of the Bar X ranch, whom he catches annoying a servant and knocks him down. Seeking vengeance Cole proceeds to make life troublesome for Beldon, who is entrusted with a large sum of money by Squaredeal, to be deposited in the bank. Accompanied by Squaredeal's daughter, Beldon sets out to deposit the money the next morning, is overtaken by Cole and the two are locked in the latter's shack. The disappearance results in a search by Beldon's cowboys. Meanwhile Beldon has freed himself, subdues Cole in a fight, throwing him from a cliff, just as the posse appears. Explanations follow with everybody happy.
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