Plot

Banker Shultz has not had a vacation for over thirty years. His doctor advises a rest or a breakdown will soon result. But it is impossible for Shultz to leave the affairs of the bank a moment. At last he hits on a great scheme. That of getting his friend, Detective Duck, to impersonate him. His old friend, the famous sleuth, Detective Duck! But before Shultz takes leave he acquaints Duck with the fact that Tom, one of his poor clerks, is persistently asking for the hand of his daughter, Lillian. He admonishes Duck to keep this pair apart under all circumstances. Then Shultz departs, and no one penetrates the disguise of the pseudo banker. Detective Duck's troubles soon start when Tom appeals to him for his daughter's hand in marriage. The Mysterious Lady Baffles, in search of loot, with her mystic manner, enters the private office of the bank. Even she does not recognize her old enemy, the famous detective. But she witnesses the mean way he kicks the ardent Tom out and orders him about his business. Baffles is touched with womanly sympathy by Lillian's sobs. She takes exception to the supposed crabbed old Shultz's manners to the loving couple and determines to use all means within her power to make this old fossil accept Tom as a son-in-law. That night the bank is entered by Lady Baffles. With her secret preparation, Steelburnite, Lady Baffles gains entrance to the great vaults and robs them clean. Imagine Detective Duck's chagrin when the faithful watchman calls him up in the dead of the night with the awful news. The newspapers get wind of it and the next morning there is a wild-rush on the bank. Detective Duck finds a mysterious note, which reads: "When youse get ready ter hitch up yer Lill with dat guy Tom, just hang a sock in yer window. (Signed) Lady Baffles." Detective Duck locks Lillian up and fires Tom off the job. The howling bunch of frenzied creditors piling into the bank make him sincerely wish he had never meddled with Shultz's job. This sincerity is intensified when the real Shultz, after reading the awful news, arrives. The stampede of creditors becomes terrifying. Baffles is grimly waiting from a lofty roof cornice taking it all in with a telescope. She patiently waits for the sock signal she knows is sure to come. And sure enough it does come. Banker Shultz, thoroughly disgusted with Duck, overrules the latter's objections and hangs out the sock. Immediately he receives the message: "Marry the parties at once." At this Shultz balks. Then he hears the howling mob outside. That settled it. A minister is soon secured from the frenzied line and the joyous young couple are married. Immediately comes another message to Shultz: "Take a glimpse in the waste-paper basket." And sure enough! The big basket is filled to the brim with the bank's funds. The day is saved.—Moving Picture World synopsis