Twelve-year-old Fred Sheldon is introduced as a courageous and fair-minded boy who stops a fight among his schoolmates, and when he notices a suspicious tramp watching the home of the elderly Perkinpine sisters, he decides to remain there and protect them. Although Fred attempts to prevent a nighttime burglary, the intruders escape with the sisters’ valuable silverware and money, while the arrival of a circus the following day creates further panic when a lion breaks loose in Tottenville. Fred encounters the escaped lion but overcomes his fear, traps the animal through courage and quick thinking, and rightfully receives the reward offered by circus employee Jacob Kincade, giving him hope of paying the debt on his mother’s home. When the dishonest Bud Heyland tries to seize the reward, Fred resists his deception and discovers that a knife bearing Bud’s initials may connect him directly to the robbery at the Perkinpine house.