Ships along the Mississippi are being attacked by a gang of pirates known as the ""Thousand Eyes"". After Jim ducks an assassin, an attractive woman, he finds the leader of the Eyes: Captain Ansel Coffin, who was blinded and now seeks revenge. His gang use false lights to lead ships astray and crash them, and then plunder them. Jim is captured by Coffin and manages to escape a cage rigged to a lightning rod. He is blinded by a powder flash, and for a time he is at a decided edge against Coffin (who has long adapted to his blindness). Coffin manages to accidentally kill his wife. Enraged, Jim is saved by his recovering eyesight: he ducks, and Coffin falls into a pit to his death.