- Modesty Blaine ropes Bret into a cat-selling scheme to a mining town infested with rats.
- Bret gets involved by financing Modesty Blaine's plan to sell cats to a mining town to control the rat population. But when she leaves him holding an empty bag, Bret must face the wrath of a jealous but superstitious sheriff and a hired killer willing to put cash and duty ahead of friendship.—graymatters
- Bret is walking along the Sacramento docks when he sees a blonde woman, Modesty Blaine, preparing to jump into the harbor. He pulls her back but notes that the tide is out and she couldn't drown herself. Crying, Modesty clutches at Bret, who takes her to a diner for coffee and conversation. Once she settles down, Modesty explains that two men robbed her of the $500 that she had made by selling her gold claim in Paradise. She planned to use the $500 to buy cats, because the miners of Paradise have been plagued with an infestation of rats, which are threatening to override the mining camps. Modesty explains that the 200 miners will pay $50 a cat, and Bret realizes that they can make a quick $5,000. He offers to put up $1,000 to buy the cats, and split $2,500 with Modesty, and she cheerfully accepts.
Bret and Modesty are soon buying tomcats at $2 each, and arrange for them to be delivered to Hanrahan's stables. However, Modesty warns that they can't buy black cats because Paradise's sheriff, Scratch Madden, is superstitious. Later, Bret goes to the stable and has Hanrahan load up barrels of smoked catfish to feed them en route to Paradise. Modesty arrives, using a bag of catnip to lure in more cats, and the local children are glad to sell any cats that they've captured. She thanks Bret for helping her and he gives her $20 to pay the children and $30 to get a bottle of wine. As Modesty leaves, she tells Bret that he's her knight in shining armor and gives her a kiss.
Instead of buying wine, Modesty goes to a local saloon, approaches the bartender, and offers him $20 to get rid of Bret. The bartender suggests that she turn Bret over to a local press gang and collect $40 to let him be shanghaied. Modesty agrees and gets a knockout drug from the bartender. She then gets a bottle of blackberry wine, puts the drug in it, and goes back to Bret. They share a meal and drinks, and Bret passes out. Modesty takes all of his remaining money and then has the press gang haul Bret away.
Bret wakes up at a crew procurer's office on the docks and goes to the adjoining office to talk to Captain Puget and his lieutenant, Mr. Wilkins. Bret refuses to sign the ship's articles and Wilkins threatens to whip him until he gives in. Bret knocks Wilkins down, takes his whip, and runs out. Wilkins goes after him, but Bret knocks him out, takes his gun and cap, and then turns him over to Puget's press gang, collecting $40 for his trouble.
The gambler is off to Paradise, and arrives just in time to see Modesty sell the last of the cats to the desperate townspeople with the help of Mayor Uli Bemus. Bret goes to Sheriff Scratch's office and asks for his help filing charges of robbery against Modesty. They confront Modesty, who fakes a faint. However, Bret discovers that both Bemus and Scratch consider Modesty a hero for bringing the cats. Modesty insists that she's never seen Bret before, and Scratch explains that he was the one who gave Modesty $500... and that she's his wife-to-be. Scratch tells Bret to get out of town while he can and Bret does, but promise that he'll be back.
As Bret rides out of town past the local cemetery, he runs into an old friend: Faro Jack Norcross, a black-clad gunslinger. As Scratch rides up the town, Bret prepares to run, but Faro Jack says that the sheriff won't see them. Sure enough, Scratch rides by without looking toward them or the cemetery, and Faro Jack explains that the sheriff is superstitious and won't even look at a graveyard. Bemus hired Faro Jack to kill Scratch and told him all about the sheriff's superstitious nature. He came by it because he was playing cards with Wild Bill Hickok on the night the man was gunned down, after a black cat jumped on the poker table. Scratch is corrupt and has gunned down eleven men that opposed him or even tried to vote against him.
The two men wait for Bemus to arrive and pay off Faro Jack. However, when Bemus arrives, he has Modesty with him. Bret watches from hiding as Faro Jack talks to them, and Bemus admits that Modesty was the one who decided to hire the gunslinger to kill Scratch. She realizes that Faro Jack knows Bret when the gunslinger points out that she's engaged to the man she wants killed, and Bemus explains that now that she knows how corrupt her fiancé is. As Bemus pays Faro Jack to kill Scratch, Modesty offers the gunslinger another $200 to kill Bret. Faro Jack accepts and the happy couple leaves.
Bret emerges from hiding and asks if his friend plans to kill him. Faro Jack reminds Bret of the time he beat him at poker and explains that it's a matter of professional pride. Bret convinces Faro Jack to only claim that he killed him, and Faro Jack agrees as long as Bret doesn't show his face in Paradise. Bret says that he'll make sure that Modesty doesn't see him, but he plans to make sure that he sees her again.
Faro Jack rides into Paradise and talks to the local undertaker, Floyd Gimbel. The undertaker directs him to the saloon where Scratch is playing poker. Meanwhile, Bret sneaks into Modesty's room to get his money back, but Modesty captures him at gunpoint. She tells him to leave, saying that Faro Jack will kill him, but Bret admits that that the gunslinger has agreed to shoot him if he was caught in Paradise.
Modesty takes Bret to the saloon, where Faro Jack is playing Scratch and taking his money. The gunslinger blatantly cheats so that Scratch will call him out. The sheriff does so, but is faster than Faro Jack expected and shoots the gunslinger dead. Bemus runs out in a panic and Scratch demands to know who hired Faro Jack. He suspects Gimbel, who owes the sheriff money, but Modesty blames Bret. Scratch prepares to kill Bret, but the gambler points out that with Faro Jack dead, Bret would be Scratch's unlucky thirteenth victim. He also says that the last hand that Faro Jack dealt was the same dead man's hand that Hickok died with. Scratch turns over the cards and is surprised and horrified to see that Bret is right, and Bret quickly gets out.
Gimbel goes to the cemetery to find Bret, figuring that he'd be hiding there. Bret explains that he knew what Scratch's cards were because he figured Faro Jack dealt them to distract the sheriff. Gimbel wants Bret to dispose of Scratch because the sheriff is taking 10% of all the town's profits. Worse, he's taking 25% from Gimbel since the undertaking business has been doing so well with all the people that Scratch has been killing. Before Bet can agree, Bemus and Modesty arrive for some privacy as they kiss. Gimbel explains to Bret that everyone in town knows that the couple is cheating behind Scratch's back. Bret gets an idea and tells Gimbel to bring Scratch to the cemetery.
While Bret waits, he watches from hiding as Bemus asks Modesty to marry him. She refuses, saying that Scratch is dangerous, but Bemus insists that he can handle Scratch. Scratch rides up and Bemus hides in the cemetery. The sheriff can't bring himself to go into the cemetery, but he fires at Bemus. Modesty goes out and claims that Bemus abducted her, while Bret crawls over to Bemus and points out that now Scratch wants them both dead. Scratch finally rides off, warning Bemus that he'll have to come out sometime. Once the sheriff leaves, Gimbel comes back and Bret tells Bemus that eventually he's going to have to fight for his honor. Bemus wonders why and the gambler admits that he's not sure why. However, he tells the mayor that neither one of them have anything left to lose. He tells Bemus to stay put for a half hour while he goes into town.
Once in town, Bret uses the catnip to lure the cats out to the cemetery. He then produces a bottle of black shoe polish and starts painting the cats. The next morning, Bemus walks into town, goes to the court house, and finds Scratch waiting for him. The sheriff tells Bemus that he's taking over Paradise, and the mayor challenges him to a gunfight in the main street. Scratch readily accepts and goes outside. As they prepare to draw, Bret comes out and Scratch figures that he's planning to kill him in a crossfire. Bret tells him that he's unarmed and that he's just out walking his friends. He then releases thirteen of the black cats and walks by. Scratch starts shooting at them, and the quaking Bemus manages to draw his revolver and shoot the sheriff dead.
Bret goes to Modesty's room to get his money, but Gimbel is already there and informs him that the con woman has already left town with the money.
Later, Bret boards the Sacramento Queen and plays poker. As he takes a break, he sees Modesty preparing to jump overboard. She tells Bret that she was going to use the money from selling the cats to start a mail-order bride business, and make $50,000, but someone stole her money. Bret figures that she plans to con him again and starts to walk away, and Modesty jumps into the water anyway. Unable to resist, Bret dives in after her and gets her safely to shore. As they start a fire and dry out Bret's money, Bret insists that he was thinking about the money, not her. Modesty prods him into admitting that he was thinking about her just a little.
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