frank ( junior ) coghlan portray sonny who and along with his best pal ( kenneth howell ) and their tiny friend mary lou ( shirley temple ) decide to try prospect for gold into california high desert region and the point of which be an attempt to gain enough money for the financing of sonny tuition into a military academy which his parent can not afford for him to attend . a variety of silliness transpires during this short and much of it concern mary lou new find desert tramp friend ( huntley gordon ) who be a victim of amnesia and but the ofttimes spontaneous roughhouse between the two teen age boy along with their complete artlessness cause the viewer to forget the thinly write script .