The Straits Settlement Rubber Company is going to lose twenty-four thousand tons of rubber unless Smith puts an escaped convict back in prison. The man, Kolo, is a former member of the board of directors who used insider information to set up hijackings. He has outstanding contracts with buyers and will fill them by scheming with one of Straits Settlement's planters. One planter, Gresham, has an unexplained black mark against him in the company's books and has arrived unannounced in Singapore, perhaps to deal with Kolo. Smith presents himself to Gresham as a crooked rubber dealer and is righteously shown the door. But in Gresham's rooms, Smith meets a winsome Eurasian woman who seems to be more than a stenographer. All the principals end up on a train back to rubber country and Smith is offered a bamboo coffin.