Corky's aunt finds out about the death of her sister, tracks Corky down, and adopts him as her own son.

Elmer, an inventor who works at the circus, designs a hot-air balloon. When his experiments in hydrogen explode, Tim orders him to burn the balloon but a forest fire soon turns Elmer into a hero.

Corky befriends the Remarkable Ricardo, an escape artist traveling with the circus. However, he soon has reason to doubt his new idol when he finds thousands of dollars in Ricardo's wagon... and a book listing banks along the same routes that the circus has taken.