Published in 1903 by A. L. Burt Company, Publishers, this adventure story is about Bernard Brooks, a fifteen-year-old orphan, who is sent to Ezekiel Snowdon's rural boarding school by his New York guardian, Cornelius McCracken, who has secretly appropriated $10,000 belonging to Bernard.
Bernard runs away from the school to avoid undeserved beatings. He meets many characters along his travels, and is rewarded for helping them with their troubles. Bernard attempts another try with his guardian, but is met with extreme anger. Bernard must survive the obstacles thrown in his path by his guardian and succeed in his own goals so that he may have a better life and reclaim what is rightly his.