In this episode, pen manufacturers across the land are panicking because it is 1902, and the Great Ink Drought has hit. The public is requested to keep calm and not fill their fountain pens unless absolutely necessary. To find a new source of ink, blotting-paper manufacturer Henry Crun sends an expedition to drill the inkwells in China. However, financial lizard Sir Bernard Seagoon has bought shares in ink and has disguised himself as John Chinaman to thwart the expedition.