Billy awoke to the light of day with the sound of a strange car going
by. The road through Sabbath Valley was not much frequented, and Billy
knew every car that usually travelled that way. They were mostly
Economy and Monopoly people, and as there happened to be a mountain
trolley between the two towns higher up making a circuit to touch at
Brooktown, people seldom came this way. Therefore at the unusual sound
Billy was on the alert at once. One movement brought him upright with
his feet upon the floor blinking toward his window, a second carried
him to shelter behind the curtain where he could see the stranger go
by.

Billy had reduced the science of dressing to a fine degree. He could
climb into the limited number of summer garments in less time than any
boy in the community, and when he saw that the car had halted just
above the house and that the driver was interviewing Jim Rafferty, he
reached for a handful of garments, and began to climb, keeping one eye
out the window for developments. Was that or was it not the Chief's car
out there? If it was what did it want?

Billy was in socks, trousers and shirt by the time the car began to
puff again for starting, and he stove his feet into his old shoes and
dove down stairs three steps at a stride and out the door where he
suddenly became a casual observer of the day.