Jim and Artie receive orders to help transport escaped prisoner Liston Day back to prison. While traveling with Day and the sheriff, they stop for the night and Artie goes to sleep. Day escapes and runs to the cemetery, where he finds the grave of Caroline Day and asks her help. Jim and Artie recapture him and decide to take him back to the last town, because he's dying of swamp fever. They come across a run- down mansion and decide to ask if they can stay the night. The door opens and they go inside. Inside, dust and cobwebs are everywhere. They stick Day in a parlor, where Artie notices a portrait of a lady. Artie tells Jim that Day will probably die during the night and they hear a woman sobbing. Suddenly, all the doors and windows slam shut. Jim and Artie first try breaking the windows in the outside parlor door, but all they get is more sobbing. Jim next tries blowing up the door, but that doesn't work either. Artie takes Jim's knife and starts poking the house, which makes her scream. Artie and Jim discuss going upstairs, while the chandelier starts coming unattached to the ceiling. Artie finds a scarlet ribbon under the chandelier and Jim pushes Artie out of the way as it comes crashing to the floor. Day runs upstairs, followed by the sheriff. Jim and Artie follow and find the sheriff drained of blood. They go downstairs into the parlor and Artie notices the lady in the portrait has a tear in her eye.
The next morning, Jim and Artie wake up feeling really old and all their weapons are rusted. They notice that the windows have been fixed, the chandelier is back in place and the stairs are covered in cobwebs again. In fact, except for the light, it's exactly the same as it was when they entered the night before. They go upstairs and notice the sheriff's body has disappeared. At the end of the hall, a set of double doors open. The doors lead to a woman's bedroom. On the wall is a portrait of Liston Day. The portrait swings out and they find the diary of Caroline Day, Liston's mother. Artie reads the diary and they learn that it was Liston's father who was the real traitor, Liston just took his place when the soldiers came. Jim and Artie agree to take just the diary back with them and the doors and windows fly open. A very young Day stops them with a gun and asks for the diary. Jim beats him up while Caroline sobs. As they leave, Day flicks a switch and our heroes fall through a trap door.
In the lab, Day tells them of his plan to eliminate the people of Texas by using rats that carry the Black Death in ants (?). At the stroke of twelve the walls will open and the rats will come pouring out. Artie asks Caroline to help them recapture Day. Jim and Artie grab Day, and get the key to the cage from him. Jim flicks his knife and stops the clock. Jim and Artie drag Day to the door and convince Caroline to let them go. They put Day on the porch and go to get the horses. Day (who is getting older by the second) pulls a gun and stops them. He babbles about which one he's going to kill first until he drops dead. Jim and Artie decide to say he died of swamp fever and the door closes. Artie wakes up back in the swamp. The sheriff brings back Day after an escape attempt. The group arrives at a mansion exactly like the one in Artie's dream. The door opens and they go in....
The ratings are:
Artie disguises: no stars
Jim fights: two stars
Explosions: one star
Writing God: five stars
Real diseases: four stars
Stupid mistake: negative one star (it's fleas, you
idiots, not ants!)
THE Mansion: three stars
A villain who tries
to shoot Jim and
Artie, rather than
some elaborate thing
that never works: five stars
Kris' Birthday: three stars (even if it's two days late.)
Total: twenty-two stars