Escorting a neighbor girl, Ben Cartwright barely saves them from a forest fire. Escaping with them is Rudolfo Chavez, who joins a posse hunting down bank robber Tiburico Vasquez and kills two of the bandits. He later holds Lucy Mather and Little Joe for ransom. The Cartwrights run him down and wound him, upon which he confesses that he is Tiburico Vasquez.; Bedrock Barnes attempts to aid a man crazed from thirst in the desert. The stranger repeatedly shoots at Bedrock, who finally knocks him down with a thrown rock, ties him, and gives him water from a canteen. When the sheriff arrives Bedrock learns that the stranger is a dangerous wanted bank robber.