"I was walking along whistling when I heard the dogfight", Billy starts the story. He rescued an
redbone hound dog and took it home. This brought memories back to his mind. It all happened
This is a story about friendship between two coon hounds and a boy named Billy Colman. Billy
is ten years old and lives in the Ozark Mountains. He had long straw-colored hair that was
He wore patched and faded coveralls. Billy did not wear shoes during the summer. He was a
boy and worked hard to help his mother and father. His family lived in a farm on a Cherokee land
because his mother was part Cherokee Indian. Billy's mother taught Billy reading, writing and
arithmetics. They lived in a log house near the Illinois river. Billy loved the nature and roamed
hill and river bottoms. He knew every game trail and every animal track. He was most fascinated
by the tracks of a river coon. "I was a hunter from the time I could walk", he tells. He hunted
lizards, rats, frogs and other animals. He wanted to have dogs but his mom and dad did not have
the money. A pair of coon hound would cost $ 75. Billy's father bought him three small steel
Billy started to trap the next morning and caught their cat Samie. Very soon the cat was limping
all four legs. After he caught his mom's chicken he had to set the traps in the forest. He caught
opossums, skunks, rabbits and squirrels, but he wanted to have a coonskin.
One day he went to Shannon Ford where the fishermen camped. He found things the fishermen
behind. He had found a knife and a fishing pole and other stuff. Now he found the magazine. In
Billy remembered a passage from the bible that said: "God helps those who help themselves " and
slowly saw the plan began to form. He could sell stuff to fishermen and save money.
Billy had 23 cents which he put in an old can and started to work. He caught crawfish and
and trapped opossum, squirrels and skunks. He picked up blac...