Bat is in Pine Junction, California in the employ of Gen. Zachary Moran who is paying Bat $5000. Bat has finished a sumptuous meal provided by Moran's private chef when the Sheriff enters. He is arrested for cheating at cards and thrown into a jail cell with notorious train robber Polk Otis. This is a ruse to give Poke Otis the idea that Bat is a criminal. Bat helps Polk free himself from his shackles with a hidden file and kills the sheriff in order to escape - but it's all part of a plan he's worked out with the lawman to recover a priceless necklace of black pearls Polk and his gang have stolen from a train's express box. Moran was taking the pearls to San Francisco for his friend Lotta Crabtree to wear at the opera opening. In freeing himself, Polk reopens a gunshot wound. They make it out of town but they have to stop. Bat leaves for supplies and a wagon meeting a woman looking for a guide but he refuses. When he returns to Polk, she follows as she is Polk's sister but not involved in the robbery. She puts them in danger when they meet the gang members.
—David Bassler