I agreed to bring my ax and lantern.
As they turned to leave, Rainie smirked. 'Sucker!' he said.
I made no reply.
After the Pritchard boys had gone, my grandfather looked at me and said, 'Son, I have never asked another man for much, but I sure want you to catch the ghost coon.'
I told him if the ghost coon made one track in the river bottoms, my dogs would get him.
Grandpa laughed.
'You'd better be getting home. It's getting late and your mother is waiting for the corn meal,' he said.
I could hear him chuckling as he walked toward his store. I thought to myself, 'There goes the best grandpa a boy ever had.'
Lifting the sack of meal to the back of my old mule, I started for home. All the way, I kept thinking of Old Dan, Little Ann, ghost coons, and the two ugry, dirty Pritchard boys. I decided not to tell my mother and father anything about the hunt for I knew Mama wouldn't approve of anything I had to do with the Pritchards.
The following evening I arrived at the designated spot early. I sat down by a red oak tree to wait. I called Little Ann over to me and had a good talk with her. I told her how much I loved her, scratched her back, and looked at the pads of her feet.
'Sweetheart,' I said, 'you must do something for me tonight. I want you to tree the ghost coon for it means so much to Grandpa and me.'
She seemed to understand and answered by washing my face and hands.
I tried to talk to Old Dan, but I may as well have talked to a stump for all the attention he paid to me. He kept walking around sniffing here and there. He couldn't understand why we were waiting. He was wanting to hunt.
Rubin and Rainie showed up just at dark. Both had sneers on their faces.
'Are you ready?' Rubin asked.
'Yes,' I said, and asked him which way was the best to go.
'Let's go downriver a way and work up,' he said. 'We're sure to strike him coming upriver, and that way we've got the wind in our favor.'
'Are these the hounds that we've been hearing so much about?' Rainie asked.
I nodded.
'They look too little to be any good,' he said.
I told him dynamite came in little packages.
He asked me if I had my two dollars.
'Yes,' I said.
He wanted to see my money. I showed it to him. Rubin, not to be outdone, showed me his.
We crossed an old field and entered the river bottoms. By this time it was quite dark. I lit my lantern and asked which one wanted to carry my ax.
'It's yours,' Rainie said. 'You carry it.'
Not wanting to argue, I carried both the lantern and the ax.
Rainie started telling me how stingy and crooked my grandfather was. I told him I hadn't come to have any trouble or to fight. All I wanted to do was to hunt the ghost coon. If there was going to be any trouble, I would just call my dogs and go home.
Rubin had a nickel's worth of sense, but Rainie had none at all. Rubin told him if he didn't shut up, he was going to bloody his nose. That shut Rainie up.
