Chapter 2 Summary

At the age of ten, Billy is stricken with puppy love, the real kind, terribly in need of a dog. To make matters worse, he insists that he must have two dogs, and they must be "coon hounds." His father offers a collie puppy, but that offer is rejected. The family cannot afford to buy hounds, however, and his mama confirms Papa's decision.

Billy lives in the best hunting land in the country, though, in the Ozarks of Oklahoma. The family lives in a log house on the Illinois River, a wonderland to a ten-year-old boy. Billy roams the hills and tracks coons like a "young Daniel Boone." Finally his desire for two hunting hounds makes him cry and lose his appetite, and Mama insists something must be done. Overhearing his parents' discussion of their cash shortage, Billy opts for one hound only...