Billy decides it is time to collect his puppies, so he walks to the depot. Upon arriving, he looks inside and sees the stationmaster at work. He becomes very anxious and paces back and forth along the platform. The stationmaster notices him and comes out. To break the ice, the stationmaster strikes up a casual conversation with Billy about the weather. Then he scans the boy’s appearance and asks him where he lives. When the narrator tells him, he informs him that he is waiting for a boy from that area named Billy Colman to take delivery of two hound pups. He answers that he is Billy Colman. Then the stationmaster takes him inside the depot to get his puppies.

When the stationmaster shows Billy his puppies, he feels paralyzed with excitement. The puppies walk up to him, and he embraces them for a few minutes. Then he cuts two holes in the sack he is carrying and places the puppies’ heads through the holes so they can breathe as he carries them home. He leaves the station and begins his journey home. As he exits the town, several boys gather around him and corner him in a doorway. One after the other, the boys fight Billy. Although he defeats three of them, he realizes that he cannot win the fight because there are simply too many of them. The boys overwhelm him and beat him until the town’s sheriff arrives and chases them away.

The sheriff helps Billy up from the ground and takes him into one of the marvelous shops for a strawberry soda. As Billy enjoys the first soda he has ever had, the sheriff asks him a few questions. When he realizes that Billy has walked more than thirty miles to retrieve his puppies, the sheriff is concerned that it is an unsafe distance to travel alone. Billy reassures him that he is very familiar with the territory and that he can travel the distance safely. He gathers his pups and the gifts he purchased for his family and leaves the town.

Billy walks out of the town and through the hills and forests on the way home. At nightfall, he makes camp in a cave, where he and the puppies will spend the night. He builds a fire and feeds his puppies. Then he eats his evening meal. As he watches his puppies, he notices that the boy pup and the girl pup manifest differences in personality. The boy pup is courageous and impetuous, while the girl pup is deliberate and shrewd. Billy continues to watch them until he falls asleep.

During the late hours of the night, the boy and the puppies are awakened by a shrieking howl. A mountain lion is outside the entrance to the cave. The puppies bark and howl, determined to protect themselves and their owner from the big cat. Billy remembers that his father once told him that mountain lions fear fire, so he begins to heap wood onto the fire, and the blazing flames frighten the cat away.