Set Free (1927)

"Side-Show" Saunders, a wandering western troubadour, who makes his living doing stunts with his trained horse, Buddy, and dog, Rex, comes to the small western town of Kelson. There he meets Holly Farrell, owner of the general store, who shames him into getting a job and he goes to work in her store. She also owns a deserted mine and Burke Tanner, a visitor who has managed to extract a promise of marriage from Holly, discovers gold in the mine. But Saunders discovers that Tanner is a low-life and is marrying Holly only for her mine-holdings. He encounters Tanner in the mine, and is knocked unconscious by Tanner's henchmen, and is trapped in the mine.