| Director | Nathan Juran |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 79 min |
| Country | United States |
Jim Harvey (Audie Murphy) is a guide and guard on a wagon train. After he saves the life of a Yaqui Indian warrior named Tigre, the wagon train is attacked. Harvey realizes their only chance of survival is if he can negotiate a truce with Tigre's father, Chief Aguila (Ralph Moody). Aguila orders Harvey to be knocked out, and tortured later, but he is set free by Tigre's mother. He goes to town and discovers the people on the wagon train were massacred, except for two sisters who Harvey insisted hide in the caves. Harvey is falsely accused of cowardice, and the townsfolk threaten to lynch him. Harvey escapes on a Cayuse horse named Tumbleweed that he borrows from Nick Buckley (Roy Roberts), and tries to prove his innocence. He eventually discovers that a white man had engineered the attack and is exonerated. The titular horse's intelligence, sure-footedness, and instinct save Harvey, and his interaction with the horse drives much of the storyline.