THE beautiful house and its contents vanished before their eyes. The fire department arrived only in time to prevent the fire from spreading. Yet Mr. Smith said that the timber that would otherwise have gone was worth twenty times the value of the house, save for its sentiment. And even that was not what it would have been for an older home; the family treasures were at the town house.

It was enough, the magnate said, to receive into his arms when he raced out from town, his loved ones safe, and except for shaken nerves, unhurt.

It was not possible in the long trial that followed to find the “man at the top.” The poor ignorant foreigners who had been inflamed against Mr. Smith, and, while he slept, had entered his house and laid the train to its destruction, paid the penalty; while the one who tried to blow up the viaduct died from the tramp’s bullet. Billy’s evidence decided the coroner’s jury, for none of them ever saw the tramp after that night.

The Tum-wah people could not be directly identified with the outrages, but investigation proved enough to cause the revocation of their franchise, and incidentally Alvin Short finished his career in stripes.

Billy was taken to the hospital where his injuries—except the broken arm—were soon healed. Here Mr. Smith came and more than once poured out his gratitude.

“This ends it, Billy. We’ll have no more nonsense about working till you’ve taken aboard your tools, your equipment of education and travel. It’s school now; you begin with the term. Hear?”

Billy smiled his thanks. Later, when he was on his feet, would be time enough to explain that his life must be lived according to his own idea of duty.

A few days after the fire Mrs. Bennett was surprised to receive an urgent call at the telephone in an unknown voice begging for an immediate interview; and a little later an excited young woman was at her door.

“I’m Erminie Fisher,” she explained. “I’ve come about Billy. How is he?”

“He’s doing well; will soon be out of the hospital.”

“And he won’t be crippled, scarred?”

“No. In a few weeks he will be quite recovered.” Mrs. Bennett could not throw cordiality into her tone. Loyal as Billy had been to Erminie his mother divined far more than he suspected of the part this girl had played in his life.

“Oh, Mrs. Bennett, he’s the best boy in the world. He’s done so much for me. I saw in the paper what a hero he was at the fire, and I came right home. I—I—was so afraid I couldn’t clear up everything, but now that I’ve seen Mumps—Sydney Bremmer—and heard a lot from him, I think I can.”

“Sit here, where it is cooler,” Mrs. Bennett invited, pushing a chair to the open window. “Now tell me what you wish,—only that don’t distress yourself.”

The kinder words and tone cheered Erminie. She told the story of her acquaintance with Billy, of the picnic, of the attitude of the school bully, of the letter, the money, and of her growing conviction that the letter was a forgery, and the taking of the money a theft.

“And I came back to tell you, Mr. Wright, Professor Teal,—anybody who can help tell the truth for Billy. I’ve been a fool, I know it now; but Billy sha’n’t suffer another day for that.”

Mrs. Bennett took Erminie’s hands in her own. “You are a brave girl. It has not been easy for you to do this, nor has it been easy for me to look on helpless, and see Billy’s life so early burdened.”

“He could have put himself right any day if he had told on me.”

“How is it you dared come home, since your father was so—so angry—” Mrs. Bennett hesitated.

“I would have dared anything. I had made up my mind to set Billy right, no matter what happened to me. But my Uncle Henry fixed it. Anyway, after what Mr. Short did to dad, he was glad I didn’t marry the man, and dad’s as pleased as ma to have me home again.”

“You—wish Mr. Wright to know—what you’ve told me?”

“Yes, yes! I want Billy to be cleared of everything, to go back to Fifth Avenue High respected as he deserves to be.”

“Yet if—if you do this it will be hard for you. It’s past, and a pity for you to be exposed to censure when you were only the victim of circumstances.”

“Mrs. Bennett, Billy never hesitated to bear censure for me; now it’s my turn. Besides—” She stopped and for the first time showed embarrassment. “I want you to know this,—Billy taught me some of the best things I know; and I loved him—I love him still. But now I know that it is not the kind of love a girl—a girl should have for the man she marries. I—I’m not going back on Billy, Mrs. Bennett. It’s—it’s—”

Mrs. Bennett reached over and gently stroked her hair. “You need not hesitate. I quite comprehend.”

Erminie caught her hand. “It’s perfectly lovely of you to say that. I’ve been feeling so mean—untrue to Billy—even while I’ve been loving him all the time. But I’ve met a—a man, a good man, much older than Billy, and—and—”

“Yes, a man. Billy’s only a boy, but you are a woman.”

“It was Billy who set me to thinking. He told me many things you have said, and I began to see that even if I had loved Billy as—in the right way, it would have been wrong for us to marry.”

“That is over now. Look to the future, and—I hope you will be very happy.”

“And may I bring Will—Mr. Harrington, to see you? He’s anxious to meet you, and Billy—all the family. And I want him to before—before I change my name.”

Mrs. Bennett made the girl happy by her sympathy. Erminie summoned Sydney by telephone to meet them at Mr. Wright’s office, and there the two told their story. Mr. Wright sent a command to Jim Barney that brought him while they waited. He soon found his small knowledge of law and trickery no match for the astute lawyer, and he was very glad to accept immunity from prosecution on more than one charge by a full confession of his misdeeds, and the payment to Billy of the money he had induced Erminie to take.

When the interview was over Erminie and her lover went to the hospital, where she saw Billy first alone.

Never had she seemed so dear and sweet to him as when she stood beside him telling the story of what she had done for him. And when, after a moment’s absence she brought her Cousin Will, looking so happy, and proud of him, Billy felt his heart bound with a great joy, the joy of freedom.

“Here’s the dearest man in the world, Billy, and the best, next to you.” She looked sidewise at the well-made but rather short man beside her, with a trace of her old coquetry lurking in voice and manner.

Billy shook the firm hand with his left one. “She has it twisted, Mr. Harrington. You’re the best man; I’m—I’m just a kid.”

“I wonder she ever looked at a man, then,” the other returned generously, waving his hands apart in recognition of the six feet of muscle and vigor that surmounted even the background of a hospital cot.

Two weeks later the great day came; the day when the City of Green Hills paid court to her young citizens; when the Scouts marched by the reviewing stand, twelve hundred strong, and later performed their feats of skill in the competition for honors; when the Young Citizens’ Clubs, boys and girls, each club led by its own band, in song and speech celebrated some great event in the history of their city, or prophesied her future greatness.

Mr. Streeter told the multitude that this was but the beginning of a campaign for the promotion of civic pride, a pride that should foster art and beauty and civic honor, to the end that the City of Green Hills should be known throughout the land as the best as well as the most beautiful city in the world.

“These things will make it the greatest. Do you think when it is known that this is the cleanest, the most beautiful, and the best governed city in America, that any power can withhold people from coming here? The American city that makes commercialism second to these three things will in ten years outgrow all others. Humanity hungers for such civic ideals and doesn’t know it.”

Then came the explanation of the flag competition and the announcement of the winner. Billy thought the highest possible note of joy had been sounded,—for his design had won.

There above them all, at the moment of Mr. Streeter’s announcement, the banner was run up the tall pole and beneath the Stars and Stripes flung out to the breeze, the official flag of the City of Green Hills.

Cheers upon cheers! And Billy was called. When he stepped to the platform, his arm still in the sling, but otherwise rosy with health and joy, the audience rose, and cheers from the men, and fluttering handkerchiefs from the women, made Billy wonder if this was just plain earth or some other more glorious planet.

After an almost imperceptible silence came the yell of his school, given with a gusto that told him he had been reinstated in their favor.

He made his bow and a modest speech. In the crowd near the platform were May Nell and Erminie. And as he finished, it was into May Nell’s eyes he looked, and knew who held his heart.

The exercises were over, the crowd began to move. He went down and took her hand. And at that moment came again a ringing cry, “What’s the matter with Billy To-morrow? Billy To-morrow’s Billy To-day! He’s all right! Rah, rah, rah, Billy!”

“It is a powerful story, the scene of which is laid in California after the great earthquake. It is admirably told, and makes a strong appeal to all that is best in a young person’s nature.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger.

“A splendid story of a boy’s love and courage.”—Hartford Courant.

“This is a good story of a California boy who learned lessons of manliness and chivalry from a little refugee girl received by his mother after the great fire. The boy reader may be trusted to enjoy it and without having his pleasure spoiled by the suspicion of a moral.”—The Argonaut.

“All in all it is a splendid story for boys.”—Education.

“Sarah Pratt Carr has invented a lovable young hero in her bright story, ‘Billy To-Morrow.’ So full of incident is the story that it will hold the interest of boy and girl readers from the first chapter to the last.”—Des Moines Capital.

“The story is full of life and action and good sense.”—Spokane Spokesman-Review.

“Should appeal to every full-blooded youngster.”—San Francisco Bulletin.

“Here are a crowd of real boys in a delightful vacation camp. The interest is sustained from the beginning to the end. The publishers have done their part to make the book attractive, paper, type, binding and illustrations are all of the best, and the picture of Billy on the cover almost equals our ideal of him. Mrs. Carr is to be congratulated on having given to American young people one of the best books which has been written for them since the death of Miss Alcott and one which places her in the very front rank of writers of juvenile fiction.”—The Week-End (Seattle).

“A good, exciting, and wholesome story of a group of boys who ‘camp out’ on the shores of Puget Sound, and have lots of fun and some troubles.”—Cincinnati Times Star.

“It gives in an interesting style the adventures of a boy with a big heart and unusual courage. The fascinations of camp life are well portrayed. A good wholesome story for boys.”—The United Presbyterian.

“A boy’s book, full of all the exciting incidents that belong to a camping-out life by a group of bright lads who are bent on enjoyment of the freedom of the woods. There are many things which would naturally happen to a bright young lad in camp and which many bright young lads not in camp will delight to read.”—Journal of Education.

“A lively and vivacious story which will gladden any sort of boy.”—The Post Intelligencer (Seattle).

“Here is a new hero in boy literature, though not entirely new, as this is his second appearance between book covers. The popularity and success of the earlier book, ‘Billy To-morrow,’ and its adoption as the title of a series indicates that this manly, full-blooded, lovable young character is to be with us some time. The story has much life, action, and withal, good sense, and it carries the best sort of moral along with an enjoyable story without the reader the least expecting it. ‘Billy’ has a promising career ahead of him.”—The Normal Instructor.

“The story is a jolly one of outdoor camping experiences, with the boy’s practical devices for comfort which young readers may find helpful for similar occasions.”—The Continent.

• Transcriber’s Note:
  • Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
  • Unpaired quotation marks were left as the author intended.
  • Typographical errors were silently corrected.
  • Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book.