Chapter 10 Summary

Mama turns Billy's first coonskin into a hat for him, and he goes "coon crazy," hunting every night and having the time of his life. The price of coon hides rises to as much as $10, and Billy keeps the smokehouse plastered with hides. He gives all the money he makes to his father, feeling that he has what he wants in his dogs and his freedom to hunt. Billy does not question what Papa is saving for. The dogs are now Billy's life. They accompany him everywhere but to Grandpa's store where other dogs lurk and try to pick a fight with Dan. Still, he can hardly outsmart them well enough to carry his hides to the store; they seem to read his mind. Sometimes he has to scold a little, but he "could no more have whipped one of them than I...