trunk is sent to the sanatorium, where Lake awaits its arrival. Lake opens the trunk and realizes that there has been an accidental switch of trunks. He contacts the attorney, Kilgore, telling him that Norton is not available for an interview that day. Stan and Ollie go to the theater and pay back what they owe to Dante. They are so silly that Dante finds them very amusing. He hires them on the spot, as assistants and comic relief added to his magic act that very night. Lake finds out that the trunk with Mason has been sent to the theater, and goes there to collect it. Lake is tailed by henchman Morgan and another guy named Dixie Beeler. They suspect Lake of trying to double-cross them in some way. Kilgore goes to the sanatorium to talk to Lake about his patient Norton, and finds the magician's trunk, full of handbills. Confused by this, he also goes to the theater to see if he can find out what is going on. He arrives to the theater just as the show begins. Stan and Ollie have been given orders from Morgan to find Mason, who they have lost. They run around the theater as best they can in search of the right trunk. As the show begins they discover the trunk involved in the first trick, standing directly in front of the audience, where they can not reach it without making a commotion. Dante performs his trick (with the aid of a hypnotized Stan), and discovers Lake's dead body in the trunk when he opens it. Stan and Ollie are separated from each other in the theater. Ollie starts searching for Stan. A police officer, Lt. Foster, arrests the stage manager Tommy White and Dante for the suspicion of murdering Lake. Ollie finds attorney Kilgore knocked out on the floor of the theater. Mason knocked him out when he was suspiciously wandering around the theater. Ollie explains to Kilgore how the three men he works for are looking for the coffin, and that he told them to exit the theater unnoticed. Tommy finds out about the mishap and explains that the exit Ollie showed the three men leads to a trap door into the lion cage in the basement. They realize that the gangsters have fallen into the lion cage. They rush down to the basement and find Mason and his