 Jody becomes acquainted with his best friend Fodderwing, who is the youngest of the Forresters and keeps a menagerie of pets, and Lem Forrester trades with Penny by giving him a new shotgun in exchange for the mongrel Perk.One day, while tracking down their missing hogs that had been stolen by the Forresters, a rattlesnake bites Penny before he kills it with his new gun.Penny kills a doe and uses its liver to draw out the venom.