Terminally ill Mr. Lane is drawn into a murder mystery and helps out a young woman. As they solve the case, Lane is constantly being watched by a Fate-like character. In the end, a higher power intervenes and the helpful Mr. Lane is allowed to live on.; Mad art painter Charles Craven tells his story to a reporter: How he could only paint when using fresh blood for the brilliant reds in his pictures.; Lumber tycoon Horace Turner employs a circus swami to experiment with thought transmission. The swami almost gets killed in the process.; Imprisoned wife murderer Michael Carter tries to escape the electric chair by pretending to be insane. Put into solitary and playing with a shirt button, he really goes insane.; The survivors of a French foreign legion battallion attacked by Arabs struggle through the desert and kill each other for water.