Captain David Dodd, of the good ship "Agra," set sail for home, carrying with him fourteen thousand pounds in hard cash. After nearly losing the money in a fierce battle with pirates and again during a violent storm, the captain gave a sigh of relief when he at length reached home and deposited his fortune in Hardie's Bank, a conservative institution with an iron-clad reputation. Unhappily the captain's sense of security did not last long. Richard Hardie, the president of the bank, had been caught in the maelstrom of speculation. When Dodd deposited the fourteen thousand pounds, the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy. Learning of the danger to his hard-earned money, Dodd returned to the bank on the same afternoon and demanded its return. Hardie refused on the ground that it was after business hours, and Dodd fell to the ground in a fit of apoplexy. His mind was unhinged by the blow and he was removed to an insane asylum. Alfred Hardie, Richard's son, was deeply in love with Captain Dodd's daughter, Julia, entirely against the wishes of Richard, who wished him to many an heiress. Alfred overheard the scene between Dodd and Hardie and, outraged at his father's duplicity, demanded that the money should be returned. With the money safely in his hands, and Dodd a maniac, Hardie was too hard pressed to let anything stand in the way of his argent needs. Spurred on by an unconquerable ambition he entered into an agreement with a dishonest doctor, and had Alfred inveigled from home and incarcerated in the flame asylum with old Captain Dodd. But there was another source of danger with which Hardie had not reckoned. Skinner, the old confidential clerk in his office, had slyly taken the receipt from Dodd's hand as he lay in his apoplectic fit. Hardie, who had confidently believed the receipt was lost, was stunned when Skinner suavely informed him that it was in his possession, and coolly demanded blackmail. Meanwhile Alfred Hardie and Captain Dodd bad been suffering all the torments of the outrageous insane asylum system of the day. At last, they managed to escape together during a fire, and fled to the seacoast. The sight of salt water restored the sailor's memory and he thought of his fourteen thousand pounds. Skinner's opportune death and repentance put the receipt for the money in Alfred's hands. Together he and Dodd went to Hardie's office, where they found a man overcome with remorse and shame who was only too willing to make every restitution in his power.