During a stopover in a small Kansas town, the agents become involved in a murder investigation. After a man is found guilty and sentenced to hang, the agents uncover valuable information that points in an entirely different direction. Of course, this information puts our agents into quite a bit of danger, but, as we know, they can handle themselves relatively well in these sorts of situations.

The stress of Secret service work appears to be finally getting to Jim as his temper flares and he makes mistakes. As West is being recruited by some member of the underworld who seeks to capitalize on his misfortune,Artemus and Conel Richmond struggle to find out exactly who,for what,and why.

During Mardi Gras West is grabbed by Major Hazard: the leader of a gang of crippled Civil war soldiers seeking revenge on the camp's commandant, Mosely. Jim reluctantly agrees to help them, only to have Mosely taken from him by the soldiers. He tracks them to the abandoned camp, where it turns out that Hazard and his men aren't crippled. They were in league with Mosely, who stole a shipment of gold and hid it. Mosely double-crossed Hazard and his men, so now they want the gold. Thanks to a diversion by Artie (as a geologist who can find gold with a divining rod), Jim escapes and in the ensuing fight, Hazard is killed when the gold falls from its hiding place: the camp's water tower.

Agent West is summoned by a note from agent Gordon to the local barbershop. While waiting for Gordon, West decides to have a shave and is promptly anesthetised by a hot towel from one of Dr. Loveless's assistants, working in disguise. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a carnival funhouse where he encounters dazed-looking Justice Alonzo Fairlie. Before he can get any information from the judge, he is attacked by a quartet of gunmen. He quickly dispatches his adversaries but Justice Fairlie disappears in the confusion, leaving behined a strange clue.