Chapter 9 Summary

Travis doesn't sleep the first night after Sanderson tells him about the hydrophobia plague, but the next day he heads out to round up and mark hogs and forgets all about the plague. The hogs are turned out onto the range to fend for themselves, just like the cattle, and they do things as a herd to protect themselves. The hogs eat plants and berries but also meat, such as a newborn calf if the mama cow could not keep them away. Hogs will attack humans for meat, and this is why Mama is afraid of wild hogs. Travis heads out to mark all the pigs the sows had the previous year, and Mama is nervous. Travis assures her that he has Old Yeller but she still worries about Travis getting cut up by the hogs.

A cornered hog is dangerous because they...