Dad tries to placate him by saying they wanted to get the dog well before bringing him back. Judd storms into Marty’s home and demands to know why they’re keeping his hunting dog. All is well until a neighbor tells Judd about seeing a beagle at the doctor’s office. Dad says they will have to give him back to Judd, but Dad allows them to keep him while he recovers. Even his parents, Ma in particular, seem smitten with Shiloh. Marty’s family keeps it in the house and loves it back to health. The doctor arrives the next afternoon with the patched-up dog. His parents argue about what to do, but they’re clearly both concerned for Shiloh’s welfare. Marty is concerned now that his whole family and the doctor know he’s been keeping Judd’s dog. The doctor doesn’t know if he can save Shiloh, but he keeps him and says he’ll report back soon. Dad helps Marty bundle up the nearly dead Shiloh, and they drive him to the doctor. Marty races up to Shiloh’s pen, where a neighbor’s German shepherd has attacked the beagle. That night, the family hears horrible cries.
She plays with Shiloh and gives Marty a day to think of a solution before she tells Dad. One night, Ma follows Marty and discovers his secret. Marty wrestles with God and his conscience as he tells lies and half-truths to keep the dog hidden. He spends his days secretly rolling around, running and playing with his new best friend. He saves food from his own meals, even though he’s sometimes hungry, to feed Shiloh. Marty builds a covered pen for Shiloh on the hill near his house. When he finds Shiloh again a few days later, he vows he’ll never return him to his cruel master. Marty has a hard time sleeping, always thinking he’s hearing the cries of the dog he’s named Shiloh. Judd says he will beat and starve this dog until it learns to obey him.
Marty and his father take the dog to Judd and confirm it is his. He’s seen Judd swindle shopkeepers and hunt illegally, so Marty wouldn’t put it past the man to harm a dog. He suspects the dog has been abused and wonders if he belongs to neighbor Judd Travers.
One day while playing in the woods, Marty finds a skinny, skittish beagle that follows him for the rest of the afternoon.
Eleven-year-old Marty Preston lives in the hills of West Virginia with his parents and two younger sisters, Becky and Sara Lynn.
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