Edward Farrington is elected magistrate in a city in Southern California. Of late the community has been overrun by hordes of tramps. It is therefore decided to arrest each hobo coming into the territory, and to sentence each one to the chain gang. Judge Farrington, a widower has a son in his early teens and a five-year-old daughter; they are his greatest love and little Betty is his pet. One day while Betty is romping in the garden an old tramp comes to the gate and asks for food. Betty gives him a big heaping plate. Before he leaves he gives her a silver whistle as a remembrance. The whistle is engraved with a peculiar coat of arms. The next day Betty goes for a walk with her dog, and goes up into the nearby foothills, where she lies down for a nap and falls asleep. Night comes on, and when she tries to find her way home she becomes lost. Her father and brother search for her but are unable to find her. Early in the morning she is found by Old Bill, the tramp she has fed, and he takes her to her home. Her father and brother ask her where she has been, and she tells of the kind old man who, before taking her back home, gave her as much food as he could. But Old Bill, knowing the new edict against tramps, has taken the advice of his cronies and hurried off. A few days later in a nearby town Old Bill is arrested with his two pals and brought before Judge Farrington. All three are sentenced to 60 days on the chain gang. The old man takes it pretty hard, and when he is finally led to the road where the gang is at work, the toil proves too much for him and he tries to rest when the deputy is not looking. But for this he is driven to harder work, until he falls from exhaustion. Betty is motoring with her brother Teddy at this time and passes the gang just as Old Bill falls to the ground. She has the car stopped and goes to succor her rescuer. Betty and her brother demand the release of the old man, but the deputy refuses. That evening the children tell their father about it. Betty shows him the silver whistle the old man gave her, and when he looks at it he gasps with astonishment. Memories return and he wonders how the tramp came into possession of the engraved toy. The next day he sends to the sheriff and orders the old tramp brought to his home. When the tramp is led to the gate and sees the judge, he fears some new calamity has befallen him. But the magistrate treats him kindly, and sends for his daughter. Betty comes out with Teddy, and the old man looks at the boy with wondering eyes. The judge questions Old Bill, and asks him where he got the whistle. The tramp tells his story: Years before he had been a servant in the home of John Farrington "way back East," and one of his chief duties was to look after his employer's son. The father gave to each a silver whistle, so that when they were out hunting or on long tramps, if they got separated they could call to each other. His employer failed in business, and Old Bill lost his position. He worked at various trades, but with the oncoming years he had become physically unable to do hard labor, and knowing no skilled trade, he had had a hard time of it and had gradually fallen into the ways of a tramp. The judge listens to the story, and when he is through asks Bill if he doesn't remember him. The judge tells Old Bill that he (the judge) was the boy he looked after years before, and that from now on he can watch over his boy and girl. The judge rises and goes into the house, leaving the children with Old Bill. He returns and shows the mate to Old Bill's whistle. He gives this to the old man, and tells him to use it as in other days, and that Betty will carry the whistle Bill has given to her.