Chapter 19 Summary

Three weeks later, Billy and his dogs have continued their usual hunting pattern. Tonight the dogs are hot on the trail of some wily animal, and Billy decides, by its behavior, it must be a bobcat. When they tree the cat for the fourth time, Little Ann runs to Billy and whines as Dan sits under the tree, looking up. Now Dan does something he has never done before. He curls his lip, bares his teeth, and growls deeply at the animal up in the tree. Billy is afraid, but Dan will not leave, so Billy picks up his ax and walks toward Dan, hoping to grab his collar and drag him away. The creature in the tree moves, and Billy recognizes "the devil cat of the Ozarks, a mountain lion." Old Dan bawls a challenge and the huge cat leaps at him...