William S. Hart in “The Bargain” on Mount Pony

A free silent western screens Saturday on Mount Pony and that’s quite “The Bargain.“

The 2 p.m. matinee will also feature live music by Andrew Simpson in the Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater on Mount Pony.

William S. Hart (1864-1946) stars as bandit Jim Stokes in “The Bargain (Paramount, 1914)“—the tale of his stagecoach robbery gone wrong.

Wounded fleeing the scene, the bandit recuperates at a ranch and presently falls in love with the rancher’s daughter (Clara Williams), and they get married. Wanting to get back on the straight and narrow for his new bride, Stokes attempts to return the money he stole from the stagecoach but instead gets mixed up in a high-stakes bargain with the county sheriff (F. Frank Burke).

One hour and 10 minutes long, “The Bandit” is one of Hart’s earliest silents. The William S. Hart Ranch & Museum online says the silent star, born in New York, didn’t come to Hollywood until aged 49—a year before he made the western film showing Saturday on Mount Pony.

Throughout the rest of the teens and midway through the 20s, Hart made more than 60 silents, according to the museum, the last being “Tumbleweeds” in 1925.

Also on the program for the Saturday matinee are these silent shorts: “The Great Train Robbery” (Biograph, 1903) and “Roping a Bride” (Sellig, 1915).

Make reservations: Mon-Fri 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. one week in advance at (540) 827-1079 ext. 79994, or show up early to get on stand-by; remaining tickets will be distributed 10 minutes prior to showtime.