 Events in the airmail mystery are rapidly nearing a climax. Jimmy Gifford, roving newspaper reporter, in one of Trans-American Airlines' fastest planes is hot on the trail of one of the airmail thieves. He is flying at night in bad weather over dangerous country when motor trouble starts forcing him down. Irene Delroy of the Department of Justice and Sergeant Fitzgerald hear Gifford report trouble. With Andy Andrews, crack pilot at the controls, they are flying to his aid. Prior to this flight, Gifford, Miss Delroy and Fitzgerald were investigating the mysterious wrecking and robbing of Trans-American male planes. Ernest Powers, general manager of Trans-American, is also working to bring about the conviction of the male robbers, which has cost his company its airmail contract with the government and the lives of two of his employees. Just as the plane bearing Miss Delroy and Fitzgerald nears the location of Gifford's last radio report, a few lines to the motor breaks and Fitzgerald goes out under the wing to repair the line in full flight. How's this making out, Ernest? He has the line feeding again. We'll pull through yet. Good boy, Sergeant. Fitz always delivers in the pinches. How is he getting along now? He's still on the landing strut. Look, he's trying to attract your attention. Open your window and you can see him. What do you want, Fitz? He can't hear you. He's too near the motor. He's pointing down to something. What is it, Fitz? I think he wants you to drop another flare. All right. I'll go with him and see if that's it. There. That's what he wanted. He's nodding his head. Say, what's he doing? He's ripping his shoot. Now, if it'll only open. Get open! Oh, Andrews, will he make it down safely? If we're not over the canyon, he will. Hey, look out. What was that? A ship, a gyro. A gyro? A bandit used a gyro to land in the canyon. Quick, where did it go? The darkness swallowed it up. I've got a little flare. That's the ship we want to follow. No. We've only two flares left. We'll need them for landing. This whole trouble will soon be out of gas. We lost a lot from that broken line. We'll have to hunt a level place and set down and we can't waste any time doing it. It's our last flare, Andrews. I can make it now. The ground looks level enough. You better pull in on your belt. We're down. How far are we from where Fitz jumped? Only a couple of miles, I'd say. We doubled back. Where are you going? I want to find Fitz, hurry. I'll be right with you. It'll soon be daylight. So much the better. I never did relish climbing around over rocks in the dark country anyway. Well, let's start. We have a big job in front of us. There's a lot of searching, if there is. You know, Andrews, this is the strangest case I've ever worked for. I'm tired. I've never walked so far in my... Wait a minute, Andrews. What's that over there? It's a ship, ma'am. Washed out. Gifford's ship. Oh, no. No, don't worry, Ms. Delroy, it ain't her. Oh, what? Where are you? Here, ma'am, on top of this rock, I've been watching that ship for an hour, hoping to get somebody snooping around it. Any luck, Sergeant? Yeah, look what I caught. All right, you'll get gone. Get gone. Come on, before I make you miss me now. Fith, I was never so glad to see anyone in my life. I thought I'd never see you again. You had me worried to death. Yeah, you ain't got nothing on me, ma'am. When I jumped, I remembered to count 10, but I was, well, so scared I couldn't get past three. Now, who's this bird? Oh, him? He's one of them. One of the male feed? Yeah, he says he ain't, but he is. Ain't ya? Uh, I don't know nothing. See, I told you he was one of them. You robbed that plane last night, didn't ya? I don't know nothing. Huh? See, admit that. Wait a minute, Sergeant. How do you know you've got the right man? I caught him snooping around Gifford's plane, ma'am. Oh, I was just trying to see if anybody been hurt. Yeah, don't give me that or I'll bust your nose in. Need a minute, Fith. Yes, ma'am. What's your name? Smith. Yeah, I bet his first name's John. What are you doing around here? Well, I was out looking for some stray cattle. When I seen a light coming down out of the sky, and pretty soon I seen his airplane fall, and its wheels bust off. I see. And you came over to investigate. Is that right? Yeah. I figured is how somebody might have been hurt. Kui, don't let them put that line over on ya, ma'am. Don't worry, Fith. Listen, Smith. I want to know why you're over here looking around this ship. What are you so interested in? I don't know nothing. Oh, so you're doing that again, eh? I'll bust your nose. I'll tell you what he was doing, ma'am. There were three guys in that auto gyro. He was one of them. How do you know that, Fith? Because I seen him. I saw the gyro on the air, Fith. Yeah, landed just after I jumped. Say, Fith, why did you make that jump? Because when you dropped that first flare, ma'am, I saw a Gifford ship below us. And I didn't want to waste any time. You sure took the quickest way down, Sergeant. Yeah, I was afraid it was going to be too quick. I never jumped in one of them things before. What happened, Fith? Well, I landed over there about a quarter of a mile. And I see this gyro coming down. Well, I ducked behind those big rocks, and I watched him. Two of them got out and went over to the ship. This guy was one of them. Ah, that's a lot. Cut up, you dumb cluck. These two mugs go over to the ship and break open the baggage compartment and pull out a couple of heavy boxes. Well, what's so funny, Andrews? They fell for it. What? Fell for what? I was supposed to take this ship out tonight. I purposely laid a trap for these boys. I had a bank downtown order a gold shipment through our lines. Them boxes contain gold? No, Sergeant. Them boxes contain bricks. Oh. And these mugs thought it was gold, huh? Somebody at the airport must have tipped them off. Right, Sergeant. And I have a hunch who did it. Who? Can't say right now, Sergeant. There isn't enough proof. You say this man was one of the two who loaded the gyro. I was not. All right, listen. One more yap out of you, and I'm going to bust your head on them rocks. Now shut up, will you? Sergeant. Well, I mean it. This guy's getting on my nerves. That's all he's been saying. I seen him when he got out. I seen him carry one of the boxes over to the gyro, and when they took off, I seen him go poking around some more in the ship. I sneaked up on him and jabbed a gun in his ribs. Oh, but Sergeant, you left your gun in the ship. Well, it didn't make no difference. He thought it was a gun. What was it? The monkey rinses I used to pick that gas line. You are. You are to be commended, Sergeant. Thank you, ma'am. Now, the next question is, where is Jimmy? Oh, I don't know, ma'am. There's the ship he was flying, but he ain't in it. Are you sure he wasn't hurt in that landing? I don't know. There's no blood around. Say, come to think of it, you know, I saw some marks there behind the ship that looked like automobile tracks. I didn't give it a thought at the time. If Jimmy wasn't hurt, he's been kidnapped. There's something fishy. I don't believe there are any automobiles around here as a general room as Delroy. It's miles over the highway. If Jimmy had been OK, he'd have left some sort of note in the ship. Did you look for one fifth? Yeah, but these guys were there before me. Maybe they took it. I was feeling that they have something to do with Jimmy's disappearance, too. Well, why don't you try to get something out of this bullet-head mug here? It might be worthwhile. Listen, Smith, you're mixed up in a mighty serious business. If you know what's good for you, you'll start talking and do it quick. I don't know. You better reconsider. As I said, you're in a pretty bad fix. Three robberies and two murder charges hanging over your head. Murder? Yes, murder. Two murders. You, I don't say you're stringing me. You're trying to get me to talk. Well, I don't know nothing, say? I'll string you up by the ears if you don't talk. All right, come on, spill it. Where's Geffrey? I don't know nothing. You want me to pop him, ma'am? May I speak to the fellow privately, Miss Delroy? If you care to. Step over here a minute, Smith. You're pretty chummy with that guy. He may be able to get him to talk, Fitz. We must find Jimmy. I'd get making talk if you'd let me. Smith has decided to tell his story, Miss Delroy. Well, I'll be. Very good, Smith. You were in that gyro, weren't you? Yes, ma'am. And the fellows you were working with, they were the men who robbed the ship that was then crashing down into this canyon, weren't they? Yeah. But I didn't know they'd go as far as murder. They told me to. Never mind. Do you know what has become of Jimmy Gifford? Yes, ma'am. They took him. They who? Smith and Jenkins in the gyro. They caught him as soon as he landed, because he recognized one of them. They flew him over to the hangout, and well, then we flew back for the gold shipment. I thought your name was Smith. My name is Denny. I do the cooking and chores at the hangout. You say they have Jimmy at the hangout? If that's the guy who was flying this ship, they got him. Yes. Was he hurt? Not when I left, he wasn't. You mean he might be in danger? Well, Jenkins was pretty mad, because the guy recognized him. Jenkins was someone Gifford had seen before, eh? Yeah. Just where is this hangout? It's the first ranch south of us, just a house and a barn. How many are you much farther? Four. Three others. And you'll let me off now, won't you? Won't you, ma'am? I didn't know there was going to murder anybody. I didn't. Honest, I didn't. I haven't anything to do with that, Denny. Why did you remain here after the others left? They couldn't carry me with all that gold in the gyro. You mean all those bricks. There'll be plenty sore. I didn't know they was going to murder. Honest, they said they'd be back in the car and get me. You've got to get me away before they get back. They'll kill me for sure for talking. I don't think they do that. You don't know Jenkins, ma'am. He's mean. You say Jenkins is the leader of your gang? Is that his real name? Yes, ma'am. He don't use that name, though. Do you know who he is? Yes, ma'am. So do you. Quick, what is his name? Who is the man behind the airmail patches? His name is.