[“Oh, Billy, it’s no use!” Erminie sobbed, as the boat grew smaller and smaller on the gray water (Frontispiece)]

[Billy gazed down on her with tender eyes, his heart beating faster with a manly, protecting feeling new to him]

[“Weren’t you afraid?” Redtop asked when the first, busy part of the meal was over]

[“Stay where you are till I speak”]

[“What do you mean, Billy Boy, by refusing to speak to me?”]

[“Give her to me; I am fresh,” he said, attempting to take Mrs. Smith from Billy’s arms]


BILLY TO-MORROW STANDS THE TEST

CHAPTER I
EXCITEMENT IN THE FIFTH AVENUE HIGH

IT was a gray afternoon, late in April and cold enough for March, when Billy Bennett, going out of the building to the school grounds, detected a new note in the usual hubbub. There were a hundred or more boys gathered in one corner and listening to some one who was speaking.