On Desert Sands (1915)
When the West was young, the government appointed among others, Cameo Clark, a range rider and crack shot, to scout the Middle West and watch the Indians. Cameo lived in a log cabin with his mother, whose love for her only son dominated her later years. From an Eastern state, John Walton travels with his wife and child by prairie schooner to seek riches in the West. Indian massacres and uprisings occur on his journey. One evening, while stopping for a night camp, Walton sees Indians riding over the desert in his direction. A flash of Cameo and his pals shows that he is ever on the lookout in the Government service. Walton tries in vain to protect his wife and baby against the onslaught of the Indians. He is shot. The horses attached to the Walton schooner become frightened, and the little mother and her baby seated in the wagon have no time to escape, as the frightened horses start on the run with them. Cameo sees the pursuit through his field glasses and follows. A shot from an Indian's rifle brings the runaways to a standstill and they fall in their tracks, overturning the schooner, killing the mother and leaving the baby girl inside the over-turned wagon unhurt. The Indians surround the schooner. The chief cuts his way into the wagon top. returning with the child. Cameo, in pursuit of the Indian raiders, draws his gun and watches. The schooner, now in flames, reveals the chief taking the child, when a shot from Cameo's gun fells him. The child is unharmed. Cameo rescues the baby and, taking her in his arms, rides away in the night. His crude campfire and blankets make a warm bed for the little orphan. Olaff, the freighter, who has been drinking, lashes his horses as he tries to harness them. The same dawn finds Cameo asleep. The child is awake and wanders about the camp and into the desert. Olaff stops his horses near a water hole and, taking his canteen for water, leaves his wagon, which is covered with a small quantity of hay in the bottom. The little child sees the covered wagon with its bed of straw, climbs in and goes to sleep. Olaff returns and drives away without seeing the baby in the wagon. Cameo awakens, calls for the child, then rushes, gun in hand, in search of her. Mile after mile he runs over the desert sands, but in vain. He then returns to his mother's cabin to tell her of the child of the desert whom he found but only to lose again. Olaff, arriving at his cabin, unpacks his load and finds the little intruder. He is enraged and shakes her. Fifteen years elapse. Cameo and his aged mother leave for the settlement, Olaff tells Juanita to go with him to town, and half-frightened by his cruelty, the girl, now 20 years old, mounts the wagon and sits beside the drunken, brutal Olaff. In a barroom Olaff gambles his last dollar away. Then, seeing the child, Juanita, through an open window waiting for him, he wagers her against the winnings of his companions, one of them, a Mexican. Cameo sees Juanita and, as he enters the barroom hears the wager made, a human life pitted against gold. Cameo watches the Mexican win the girl. Springing into the midst of the men seated at the gambling table, he offers to stake all he wins against the girl. The cards are shuffled and played. Cameo wins. He takes Juanita home to his mother. During the brief time that passes, Tom Manning, a young man, falls in love with Juanita, who secretly loves Cameo, but has never told him of her love. Tom asks her to be his wife. She will consent if Cameo is willing, but love dominates and at the close of. the day Juanita lays her little head upon Cameo's shoulder and his mother beams her approval upon the match.
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GenresAdventure
Drama
Short
Western
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Sydney Ayres | Director |
| Sydney Ayres | Writer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Sydney Ayres | |
| Doris Pawn | |
| May Bensen | |
| Edith Miller |
