Weary and worn, yet with an active, full-sized appetite, Ike, a village character, mooches along the street. He is an out-and-out “bum,” with a chronic indisposition to anything in the nature of honest work. An empty stomach, however, will work miracles; Ike is actually looking for a job. He goes to the boss of a large circus that happens along and asks for something to do. The boss turns him over to the tender mercies of the chief animal trainer, who seems to be somewhat less stony-hearted. Ike is offered twenty-five dollars if he will go into the arena with three lions during the afternoon performance, and be accepts the offer. Cringing with fear, but fortified a little by a drink, Ike enters the cage for a preliminary rehearsal, at the end of which he is led off in a fainting condition. When the time comes for the public performance, he cannot be found. A search reveals him hiding behind the tents and he is dragged into the limelight and forced to fulfill his contract. A little more whiskey gives him the necessary courage and he enters the cage in front of a tent full of people. All goes well until he is left alone, when his nerve suddenly evaporates and he is about the most scared man in all creation. In his hasty exit from the cage he lets the lions loose and immediately everything is in an uproar. Ike rushes at full tilt down a passage, the lions in pursuit of him and two or three keepers in pursuit of the lions. He dashes through the living tents of the circus people and creates a general panic and turmoil, finally taking refuge up a tree, to which he clings for dear life. The keepers come up and take possession of the beasts, dragging them back to their cages. Ike comes down, rubs himself carefully to see if he is all there, and satisfied to get away with a whole skin, beats it as rapidly as his size permits.