About to leave London for a much-needed holiday,
Sherlock Holmes and
Dr. Watson receive a cryptic invitation. Intrigued, Holmes accepts and is met by the prime minister of Rovenia [Rovinia], who begs him to escort Prince Nikolas home. His father has been assassinated, and, as his heir, Nikolas is now king. Holmes agrees. Arrangements have already been made for an airplane. When it develops engine problems, a smaller replacement has room only for the Prince and Holmes, leaving Watson behind. When Watson protests, Holmes suggests that he follow on a passenger ship bound for
Algiers. On the voyage, Watson reads that the airplane has crashed in the
Pyrenees and that it is unlikely that there are any survivors. Holmes, however, has an aversion to plans made by others and is aboard the ship with Nikolas. He instructs Watson to introduce the prince to the other passengers as his nephew. Though Watson suspects everyone, from singer Sheila Woodbury to exercise fanatic Agatha Dunham to a secretive pair who later turn out to be archeologists, of being killers, it is not until the ship makes an unscheduled stop at
Lisbon that the real agents come aboard: Gregor, circus knife-thrower Mirko, and a hulking mute named Gubec. First, Mirko tries to kill Holmes by throwing a knife through a porthole, then Gregor substitutes an explosive party favor, but Holmes foils both attempts. Finally, the villains succeed in kidnapping the prince when they dock at Algiers, only for Holmes to reveal that the "prince" was a decoy; the real prince had been posing as a steward, hidden in plain sight the whole time. The decoy Nikolas is later recovered unharmed. == Cast ==