Before starting the comprehension questions, write a few paragraphs about what you are feeling after reading this chapter. How might you have changed the events?  Predict what you think might happen now. 

Try to think about these questions in terms of how they would influence the end of the chapter:

- What if the blue tick had not shown up?

- What if the boys had just paid up the bet with Billy?

- What would have happened if Ruben had not grabbed the axe?

- What if Billy had not tied up the dogs?

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Chapter 13 or XIII

Hunting the Ghost Coon    (End part II chapters 6-13))

1. Where was the ghost coon hiding in Where the Red Fern Grows?

2. Describe how this ghost coon could be thought of as a mythical creature to Billy and the Pritchard Boys.

3. When Rubin asks Billy, “You give up?” explain how Billy explains the only time he will ever give up.

4. Explain what “took the last resistance” out of Billy as Rubin kept wanting him to “give up,” they could pay up and go home.

5. How did Rubin respond when Billy gave him the two dollars?

6. Explain the Ghost Coon’s life saving trick.  Remember, Ann caught his scent when the wind blew and bawled at a gatepost that had stood for years.

7. Explain what Billy heard when he climbed the tree after Ann and Dan ran the Ghost Coon up into its branches.

8. Explain Billy’s reasons for not wanting to kill the Ghost Coon.

9. Explain what the Pritchard boys planned to do it Billy wouldn’t let his dogs kill the Ghost Coon.

10. Dan starts to growl because something is coming. It turns out to be Old Blue, the Pritchard’s blue tick hound.  Explain what had happened to Old Blue that made him sound like a dangerous animal tromping through the woods. Describe using text evidence, the appearance of the Blue Tick Hound.

11. When Rubin says, “Old Blue will take care of him,” explain what he’s talking about.  (127)

12. Now that Old Blue has appeared, the Pritchard boys won’t pay up. Explain why Billy believes his dog successfully won THE BET. Remember the details of THE BET.  (127)

13. Rubin has Billy on the ground. Both arms are pinned with Rubin’s knees. Explain what he threatens.  (127) Explain how Billy responds.

14. As Rubin is slapping Billy with his own hat, we hear “Rubin, They’re killing Old Blue.”  Explain why this fight surprised Billy?  What surprised him about his dogs?

15. Explain your feelings here.  Do you believe Rubin was justified in his actions as “Old Dan was tearing and slashing at the soft belly?” “Little Ann’s jaws were glued to the throat of the big hound.”  “Rubin darted over to one side, grabbed my ax from the ground and said in a loud voice, “I’ll kill them…”

16. Explain why Rainie wouldn’t talk.

17. “Everything that had happened on this terrible night was because of his very existence, but it wasn’t his fault.” (130) Explain this quote.

18. Explain why grandpa is the only man in the country that has the authority to move the body.

19. Explain the word “mackinaw.”  Use text evidence and sentence clues to figure out what it means. (131).

20. Explain why Papa says the Pritchards were “The funniest bunch he had ever seen.” (131) Think about their reaction to his story about the accident.

21. When Mama says “there are people like the Pritchards all through the hills,” what is she talking about? (133)

22. Explain what Billy had decided to change about the way he hunted. Why did his mother get “sitting-hen” mad? (133)

23. Explain the feelings Billy expressed after the accident.  At the end of the chapter, he didn’t have those “funny feelings” anymore.  Explain what changed.  What does he promise his dogs?