AustLit

Good mates Chic Williams and James Brown wake up in their Melbourne boarding house after a 'heavy night' and vaguely remember being involved in a brawl. When they hear that a policeman has been savagely bashed and that the police are looking for a James Brown, they decide to go on the run. Before they can leave, however, a private detective who is also after James arrives on the scene. The pair quickly overpower and tie him up and then make a break for freedom, travelling to Banjarro Station where Chic's old drinking buddy (played by Joe Valli) is the overseer. Hoping to lie low until things blow over, they take jobs on the outback property. Within a short time, James becomes romantically involved with Dorothy Parnham's character. The story takes a twist when the private detective arrives at the station. Rather than arrest them, the detective tells them that he has been charged with tracking down James to tell him that his uncle has died overseas and left him a large inheritance. It also soon becomes clear that the only people James and Chic bashed were a group of thugs who had assaulted the policeman; one of the thugs was also called James Brown.

Lanky and phlegmatic Chic Williams and his short and resourceful friend Joe Mulga face ten days in the stockade for absconding with five jars of rum from the Quartermaster's stores. At the same time, a British intelligence officer, Sir Guy Gough, is seeking to outwit a German spy ring, run by Von Schieling and a French adventuress. Chic and Joe, Corporal Joe McTavish, and Captain Jack Fisher help trap the spies and gain invaluable information. They are rewarded with ten days' leave in London, where Captain Fisher has a romantic involvement with a young woman named Alison.