Private Frank Austin, imprisoned for striking Colonel Kincaid, who was abusing a lame newsboy, escapes to Colorado. Meanwhile, Latin professor Thomas Doyle, his wife Mary and sister Kitty also move to Colorado because of Mrs. Doyle's health and are persuaded by Kincaid to buy a ranch that is worthless because it has no irrigation. While Mrs. Doyle gets well and Doyle's funds run out, Austin, on land bordering Doyle's, strikes gold and is blackmailed by Kincaid to let him have a controlling interest.

Tate Killaly and his daughter, Zelma, cross the river to the trading post of Henri Cocteau, located in a little Alaska town. Quig Lanigan, Cocteau’s tool and a brute attacks Zelma, but a stranger, Bruce McLaren steps in saving her from harm. Later Zelma later finds the stranger suffering from snow blindness, takes him home to her cabin and nurses him back to health over the course of which they fall in love. He admits he is a wrongfully accused fugitive from justice with a price on his head. When Tate and Cocteau become aware of the stranger's presence, they attempt capture, but Zelma helps him escape. Eventually the men are exposed, and Bruce is cleared.

Lady Jocelyn, a favorite in the court of England's King James, escapes a forced marriage to the hated Lord Carnal by fleeing to American colonies. There she meets and marries Captain Ralph Percy. Pursued by Lord Carnal, Lady Jocelyn and her new husband eventually find themselves shipwrecked on a desert island with Lord Carnal.

"Sidewinder Steve" returns to civilization to find that his ore specimens show he has discovered a turquoise mine. He wires his friend, Ace Brent, the capitalist, who has a half-interest in his discoveries, to furnish him with money to make the trip back across the desert to officially stake his claim. But "Lonney" Smith, telegraph operator at the town and secret spy for The Syndicate, Brent's rivals, informs his employers of the new "strike," and they dispatch their agent Meyers to thwart Brent. The latter, recovering from injuries received in a previous encounter with sheep herders, consents to allow Barbara to handle the affair. Her admirer, John Wallace, follows her to the desert town, fearing for her safety. The action then develops into a thrilling three-cornered race across the desert between Barbara and John, Lonney and Meyers, and a gang of local adventurers headed by "Dry Wash" Sexton, proprietor of the "saloon and hotel."

Impending trouble with the sheep herders, who are encroaching on his range, causes Ace Brent, owner of vast California interests, to warn his daughter Barbara to postpone her visit to the ranch. But Barbara is made of sterner stuff, and, following a heated discussion with her admirer, John Wallace, over woman's equality with man in the business world, she declares she will disregard the warning telegram and be at her father's side should trouble come.

Barbara, finding her automobile disabled, is forced to go to the Storms reception in a taxi. The chauffeur brings her to the wrong house, and she finds herself greeted by The Blind Mole, as "English Rose." The Blind Mole, a picturesque Central American character, takes her into his confidence regarding his plans for a revolution in Costa Blanca. Suddenly Arenzo, a rival revolutionist, arrives with his followers, and in the battle that follows The Blind Mole is killed. Arenzo also thinks that Barbara is "English Rose," and forces her to accompany him. The scenes that follow, telling in exciting manner how Wallace and a reporter succeed in unraveling the mystery of Barbara's disappearance and how that adventurous girl thwarts the schemes of the "gun runners," culminate in a spirited conflict aboard the schooner which was to bear the revolutionists' arms to Costa Blanca.

Barbara was amazed when she found out that Ripley was bringing her a Malaysian cat from the Orient. But what Ripley didn't know was that he was being followed by three Malaysians. On the night of his arrival, he handed the cat into the care of the Japanese valet Tatsu. Tatsu was murdered that same night. A mysterious wound from a poisoned dart proves that the assassin was a Malay.

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. Caught in the Web; 2. The Open Switch; 3. The Speeding Doom; 4. The Clutch of Terror; 5. The Hand of Mystery; 6. Full Speed Ahead; 7. The Crater of Death; 8. The Plunge of Horror; 9. The Fire Trap; 10. Out of the Dungeon; 11. In the Desert's Grip; 12. Hurled to Destruction; 13. The Hidden Menace; 14. The Crash of Fate; 15. Out of the Web.

Ed Wetherford becomes an outlaw and, to escape imprisonment, abandons his wife Eliza and daughter Virginia. After attending college in the East, Virginia returns to California, where she meets and falls in love with Ross Cavanaugh, a United States ranger.

Although the prominent Hollywood family prides itself on its illustrious family tree, young Winifred Hollywood exhibits a fondness for wild adventures that greatly disturbs her parents. When Winifred becomes engaged to bank official Harold Burton, his equally snobbish parents visit the Hollywood home and are shocked by the young woman's spirited outbursts and mischievous tricks, and the engagement is broken after she decides to perform bareback feats with a traveling circus.