Jody sees the hoof prints of twin fawns and is ecstatic; he wants to leave one for its mother and take the other for himself. Ora says there is no milk to spare. Jody, Baxter, and Old Julia set off to hunt, go to the store to trade, and stop to visit Grandma Hutto. Jody is honored to carry his father’s faulty rifle.

Baxter teaches Jody how to tell a doe from a buck and whether they are running or walking just by their tracks. They see twin bear cubs and two bucks, and Jody is able to see a newborn fawn with its mother. After lunch, Jody grazes a buck. Baxter finishes the kill and dresses the animal. They will give the hide and a haunch to Grandma Hutto, keeping a haunch for themselves. The rest they sell. In the store, Jody throws a potato at the owner’s daughter because he hates her, and Baxter is disappointed in him.

Jody feels more at home at Grandma Hutto’s than at his own home. After delivering his gifts, Jody goes swimming, watches his grandmother cook, and sits down to dinner. Visiting Grandma Hutto always fills Jody with “snugness” and Jody can barely hold everything he eats at her table. Baxter tells Jody not to be hard on Ora when he compares the two women in his thoughts, as she has never had much with which to work.

Easy Ozell comes to do Grandma Hutto’s chores; he loves her but she will not consider his suit because Ozell is a Yankee. Jody shares what Lem said about Twink Weatherby. Grandma Hutto assures him Oliver will take care of the matter when he comes home from sea. Jody wishes Grandma Hutto were his real grandmother and Oliver his real kin.