All the other boys attending with their fathers are quite amused when Rusty starts fighting with another dog, and the luncheon is abruptly interrupted.

The calamity that ensues enrages Hugh and disintegrates the chances of father and son coming closer.

Instead Danny becomes friends with an eccentric traveling veterinarian, Dr. Francis Xavier Fay, who arrives to town.

In the night, Danny run away with his dog, taking refuge in the doctor's camp in the woods.

Ethel suggest they leave the boy alone for a while, and Danny gets to live in a tree house at the doctor's, with his dog.