The cowboys belonging to the Crescent Bar outfit, while out looking for missing cattle, catch a gang of rustlers in the act of running off their employer's stock. Charley Morton, the foreman, immediately starts for the ranch to inform the ranch owner, and the cowboys pursue the fleeing cattle thieves. Jim Darrow, the ranch owner, is the father of three lovely girls, true daughters of the West, who are fond of hunting and all outdoor sports. They have just succeeded in obtaining their father's consent to go hunting, when the foreman arrives with his news. Charley warns his sweetheart, Bessie Darrow, that hunting in the hills is dangerous while the rustlers are about. He rides away with his employer to join the boys in running down the rustlers, and the girls are left alone. Clara and Ellen prepare to carry out their original intention to go into the hills and hunt deer, but Bessie, remembering her lover's warning, is more prudent and advises her sisters to stay home. The two younger girls prevail and they start for the hills. In the meantime, Darrow and his foreman join the cowboys and start to look for the rustlers. Safely hidden among the rocks, the outlaws watch the searching party ride by their hiding place and start for the open plains beyond. After they are gone, the rustlers emerge and start on the back trail. They see the ranchman's daughters coming in the distance and plan to eke out their vengeance on the girls. They dismount beside the trail and attempt to hold them up, but meet with resistance that is as surprising as it is effective. Then the girls turn and flee with the angry rustlers in pursuit. Hard pressed, the girls leave their horses and make a stand in the hills, on the edge of a high cliff. The rustlers follow them, but from their point of vantage, the plucky girls easily hold the rustlers at bay. At last their ammunition is exhausted and it is only a matter of time until the rustlers will learn of their predicament and capture them. The girls are in despair, when a plan suggests itself to the fertile mind of Bessie. Taking her rope, she adjusts the noose to her foot and her two sisters lower her over the edge of the steep cliff. Slowly, the daring girl is lowered until her feet touch the ground below. Then she hurries away to warn her father and lover. The searching party have heard the firing and are on their way back when they meet Bessie on the trail. She mounts behind her lover and they go around the cliff to join the girls, while the ranchman and the cowboys make for the rustlers' location. The rustlers have discovered that the girls are out of ammunition; and rushing up, they secure Clara and Ellen. They attempt to drag the girls away, when their attention is attracted to the ranchman and the cowboys. The rustlers prepare to fight, when Charley comes up behind them and fells one of the outlaws with the butt of his gun; and the stricken man rolls over the edge of the cliff. The remaining rustler turns to face the foreman, and in a desperate hand to hand fight, Charley is victorious and throws the rustler over the precipice, to join his companion. Bessie runs to her lover, and her sisters thank their brave champion for their timely deliverance. -Moving Picture World, October 21, 1911, p. 238.
Split reel released with "The Caves of La Jolla"