Sagebrush Trail

A man wrongly imprisoned for murder, escapes to track down the real killer... Upon receiving a wire that fugitive John Brant, wanted for murder in Maryland, is aboard a train traveling near Sagebrush, Texas, Sheriff Parker searches the train for Brant, who escapes on a horse. The sheriff and his deputy chase Brant to a lake, where Brant escapes their gaze as he stays underwater breathing through a reed, but as they are about to leave, the sheriff and deputy see the reed and fire at it. Assuming they've killed Brant, they leave, but Brant emerges, and a man who identifies himself as "Jones" compliments him on eluding the law. Jones dubs Brant "Smith" and takes him to his gang's hideout at an abandoned mine, where Brant becomes the cook. Brant earns Jones's friendship by suffering a knockout blow in his effort to help Jones in a brawl. To prove to the suspicious chief, Ed Walsh, that Brant is no lawman, Jones plans to rob a safe with Brant in the Sagebrush general store. While casing the store, Brant leaves a note for the owner's daughter, Sally Blake, that unless they leave men in the store with the lights on that night, the safe will be robbed. Sally's father informs the sheriff, and when Brant and Jones enter the darkened store, the sheriff and his men fire on them, wounding Brant.