Plaid Jabbs, a retired sea captain, being accustomed to the motion of his ship to lull him to sleep, finds it impossible to rest ashore. He therefore devises a specially constructed room which he has built into his house and which operated...See morePlaid Jabbs, a retired sea captain, being accustomed to the motion of his ship to lull him to sleep, finds it impossible to rest ashore. He therefore devises a specially constructed room which he has built into his house and which operated by levers gives the same effect as the motion of a ship at sea. While he is peacefully enjoying his sleep in the rocking room with the lever at the point which operates the effect of a calm sea, Pokes, the new butler in the family household, while making love to Ethel, the Captain's daughter, accidentally releases the lever which controls the effect of the hurricane motion. The violent pitching and tossing of the room causes Captain Jabbs to be burled out of his bunk and in a rage he discharges Pokes. Later, Pokes is induced to join a correspondence school for burglars and is subjected to the various tests for courage and endurance which are called for by the curriculum of the school. Having successfully passed these tests, two of the band lead Pokes out for some practical instruction in the art of entering and robbing houses. Pokes is routed from the first house which he attempts to burglarize, and the conspirators then lead him to the home of Capt. Jabbs for a second attempt. When Pokes learns that the house which he is to rob is the home of his sweetheart, he tries to induce the conspirators to select some other house and failing in this, he flatly refuses to follow their orders. However, terrified by their threats of dire punishment if he should refuse to follow their instructions, Pokes musters sufficient courage to climb in through the window of the house leading into the rocking room. The other two conspirators, not trusting Pokes, decide to follow him and enter the room after him. In the room is which the levers are located, Capt. Jabbs is entertaining some friends and for their benefit decides to demonstrate the wonderful possibilities of the rocking room. Pokes and the burglars are dismayed at the violent motion of the room when the Captain operates the levers from without, but the climax is reached when the professor's boy to whom the Captain is demonstrating the levers accidentally breaks the lever, which causes the machinery controlling the room to run amok and Pokes and his fellow villains are left to their fate whirling round and round in the now rapidly revolving room. Written by
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