Infamous gambler Monte Kerlin is about to be lynched by a mob of irate ranchers when Texas Ranger Steve McKay and his sidekick Arkansas intervene. After Steve convinces the ranchers that Monte's fate should be left to the court and not the rope, the mob relinquishes the gambler into Steve's custody. Steve rides back to headquarters with his prisoner, and there learns that due to a lack of funds, the state legislature has disbanded the Rangers. Steve, no longer an officer of the law, is forced to free Monte, who prepares to leave with his younger brother Dave, a former Ranger. When Sam Schuyler, the editor of the Canyon City Chronicle , and his cronies gallop into headquarters and demand that Monte surrender to them, a fight ensues, and the Kerlin brothers escape. After things calm down, Steve and Arkansas ride off to ask Major Montgomery, the former head of the Rangers, for a job. At the Montgomery ranch, they are welcomed by the major and his daughter Bonnie, who hire them t