The Cowboy Guardians (1912)

• 85%
• 1912
• Western
• Charles Inslee
• Sylvia Ashton
• Wallace Reid

A pioneer caravan is attacked by Indians, who greatly outnumber the pale faces. The whole party are massacred, with the exception of a year-and-one-half old baby, who being hidden by its mother, escapes detection. Whitey is a big, bashful cowpuncher, who secretly worships at the shrine of the only eligible woman in camp, a buxom widow. She, in her turn, has made up her mind to overcome Whitey's bashfulness. Whitey is among the cowboys who find the baby. They take it back to camp and resolve to adopt it. The experiment is not altogether successful, for all the boys want to monopolize the babe's attention. They draw lots as to who shall be the child's father and Whitey wins. So far so good, but the other boys come to the conclusion that the baby should have a mother, and they bring the widow and Whitey together and congratulate themselves upon a marvelous stroke of diplomacy. The marriage takes place and all is merry as a marriage bell, when the smiling babe is placed in Mrs. Whitey's arms. She is interested and asks whose it is. The cowboys tactfully tell her it is Whitey's and therefore hers. Three hundred and thirty pounds of grief-stricken and horrified avoirdupois falls in a faint, which turns to joy when the situation is properly explained.