Charlie and Mortimer travel to the Moon on some bad medical advice. Then, the boys try to find new schemes to get rich quick.
Synopsis
Charlie McCarthy's Rocket Ship
While trying to sell some telescopic services to Skinny Dugan, Charlie sees Mortimer sleepwalking atop a building. Mortimer wakes up as he falls and he is saved by a springy canopy. Charlie takes Mortimer to a sleep doctor to cure this very dangerous practice. The boys can hear the doctor with another patient as he explains the cure for sleepwalking. The doctor, however, hears their plans of eavesdropping and offers some bogus advice: the only cure is by a trip to the Moon.
Mortimer is disheartened, but Charlie thinks a trip to the Moon is completely possible. He builds a rocket out of Grampaw Snerd's hot water heater. Skinny Dugan arrives with the "fuel" and Charlie lights the rocket. He and Mortimer go flying.
Mortimer gets blasted off the rocket but Charlie whips around and picks him up. The two blast into space and, after 60 hours, land on the Moon. They survey their surroundings and find that they are not the only visitors. Another far more advanced rocket ship is already there. The boys reckon that they must not be alone. Sure enough, they spot the other visitors. They try to introduce themselves but realize that they are cannibals that previously tried to eat them. The boys run and find a hiding place. That hiding place is a cooking pot. The cannibals begin cooking. The meal is never realized, however, as someone shoots at the cannibals and they leave the boys.
The boys meet their hero, the Man In the Moon, a boy their age. He takes them to his hide-out and explains that the cannibals have been after him ever since they arrived on the Moon. The cannibals follow the boys and see the hide-out. They shoot a message in that they will wait until the boys have to come out. Charlie asks the Man In the Moon to use his gun but they learn that he is out of bullets.
Mortimer goes to sleep and begins sleepwalking. Charlie is bummed that the Moon didn't cure him but decides to use his friend as a remedy. He puts the gun in Mortimer's hand and lets him walk out of the hide-out. The cannibals see Mortimer walking towards them without any fear and a steady gun and they lose their nerve. The leave the Moon and take Charlie's rocket with them.
The Man In the Moon helps the boys get back to Earth by letting them use his magic flying carpet. They fly home but the carpet begins malfunctioning. A pretty lady tries to calm Charlie down by giving him a big kiss.
Charlie awakens to find that he has not been kissed by a pretty lady, but that he is on Earth and being licked by Bessie the cow. The boys had never left Earth and Mortimer still sleepwalks. Charlie does come up with one last idea: he covers Mortimer's floor with tacks.
Story Two
The boys make a royal ruckus in the library as they try to find a book. The Head Librarian finally steps in and helps the boys find the book they are looking for: King Midas. Charlie reads fervently in hopes of finding how to make everything he touches turn to gold. Schuyler shows up and explains how it is impossible to turn things to gold by touch. Bummed, the boys try to find another way to make some money.
A rich woman drops her pearl necklace and Charlie picks it up in hopes that a fat reward will accompany its return. Sure enough, the woman wants to reward the boys but Mortimer states that one isn't needed. Charlie is miffed but decides to start his own pearl company. He acquires two oysters and tries to irritate them enough to produce a pearl. Nothing happens so he trades the oysters to Skinny Dugan for some silk worms. The worms are to start Charlies scheme to sell fancy silk, but they end up being ordinary worms, so Charlie uses the worms to catch some fish, which he hopes to sell.
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