Fools and mules

A deputy is chosen to carry a miners' payroll through deep winter snows and insists on riding a fast horse rather than the mule the bank recommends. He rides a hazardous mountain route at night, coping with exhaustion, blinding glare, and treacherous footing, and then meets a lone rider on a large white mule who may be an outlaw. The piece mixes brisk frontier action, local humor, and the tension between recklessness and prudence as the messenger confronts natural and human threats.