“Catch her!” he shouted hoarsely, and reached her down.
His cry fixed attention on the descending woman, and she was safely caught and carefully borne to coolness and friends. But for Billy they were too late. Relieved of responsibility for others, he made no attempt to direct his fall—perhaps he could not have done so—but landed heavily in an inert heap.
They lifted him tenderly. Almost at once he regained consciousness, and asked anxiously of May Nell and her mother. It was not till he was assured by his own eyes that both were safe, and that Mrs. Smith’s hurt was from a light fall that temporarily had stunned but had not harmed her, that he realized the meaning of the limp arm at his side.
CHAPTER XVII
BILLY WINS
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.