Chapter 12: How a Door Came to Me

One morning, Sam is smoking some extra fish to preserve them when he encounters Baron Weasel again. He then hears a shot ring through the woods and thinks a deer has been killed. Thinking it was a poacher, he goes to the meadow and finds the dead deer; he goes back to his home to grab hemlock boughs to hide the carcass, then returns to his camp to hide evidence of his presence. Hiding in the tree with Frightful, he hears the poacher walk by and he stays in there until he hears another shot on the other side of the mountain. Believing the coast clear, Sam goes to the deer carcass he hid and skins and quarters it. As he enjoys venison steak that night, he hears the popping sound of earthworms coming out of their holes.

Notes:
Sam takes advantage of the poacher's kill and offers no judgment on either the poacher or himself. As he has become a denizen of the forest as reliant on its resources ' both the flora and fauna ' Sam likely believes he is above the laws that govern other humans in the forest. This also means there is perhaps a Darwinist streak ' survival of the fittest ' which allows him to take advantage of the mistakes of other humans he encounters. That he takes the kills of other people repeatedly is seen as seizing an obvious opportunity, as his later protest about newspaper complaints from hunters make clear.

Chapter 13: Frightful Learns Her ABC's

Sam prepares the deer hide for tanning; realizing that tannic acid is created from water and and oak chips, he uses an oak stump to tan the deerskin. When it's ready, he uses two strips to make leg straps for Frightful. He uses everything possible from the deer carcass, including bones for a spearhead so the can more easily catch frogs. With his city clothes growing threadbare, Sam dreams of a deerskin suit and sets a trap to catch another deer for this. The Baron keeps him company, but also delights when three deer escape the trap. As days pass, Sam also teaches Frightful to respond to his whistle.

One morning, Sam hears his deer trap go off but must hide as hikers pass by his home. While he waits and listens, he hears the hikers, Harold and Grace, get attacked and driven away by The Baron. He finally gets to his deer and slowly turns this one's hide into a pair of pants and pockets for carrying food he gathers. He makes flour by grinding acorns and uses that to make pancakes. Meanwhile, Frightful has become skilled enough to capture his own prey, beginning with a sparrow.

Notes:
The deterioration of the city clothes is another sign of Sam's conversion to a denizen of the wilderness, as he sheds a metaphorical second-skin of civilization-dictated attire for something made from nature. The interlude with the Baron and the hikers is one of the comedic highlights of the book, especially as the reader is forced to fill in the imagery since Sam was not able to witness what was happening visually.

Chapter 14: I Find a Real Live Man

During one of his daily summertime baths in the spring, Sam meets a raccoon he names Jessie Coon James. Jessie becomes useful for finding mussels and Sam shares a recipe for preparing them. Frightful catches small game while Sam takes care of beverages. One day, Sam hears a police siren in the distance. Frightful, who has become his personal alarm system, warns him of a presence as they near their home. There, Sam discovers a sleeping man in the middle of his camp.

Sam thinks the man is an outlaw whom the police sought. Instead of going to hide, as with the fire warden earlier, Sam greets this man when he wakes. Sam surprises the man, offering hospitality and companionship, as well as a dinner choice of venison or rabbit; the man chooses venison. The man is surprised by Frightful and by the storehouse of of foodstuff that Sam keeps. Over dinner, the man asks if he can call Sam "Thoreau", who agrees to this; in turn, Sam asks to call the man "Bando" and he also agrees. Bando is again surprised when he sees the home Sam has made, and the bed that is offered to him for the night. The next day, Sam is surprised when Bando recognizes the call of the pewee and says that he knows the man is an outlaw. Bando laughs and explains that he's merely a college English teacher who got lost while hiking. Bando offers to stay for several days, until school opens for Sam ' only to be surprised to learn that Sam intends to stay through the winter.

Bando becomes useful in the days that follow, helping to fish and gather food and care for Frightful. Bando helps to assemble a raft for deeper fishing, and makes pottery jars for storing jam created from berries they picked. Bando also teaches Sam how to make willow whistles. When the man leaves, he says he'll see Sam at Christmas. At first Sam misses Bando's company, but he resumes conversations with Frightful and is rejoined by The Baron and Jessie Coon James.

Notes:
Sam's willingness to not only greet this strange man but feed him and shelter him shows a subtle shift from his earlier encounters with humans while in the woods. He now seeks some companionship. His notion that Bando is an outlaw is interesting, as it reflects his own status as someone living outside the law ' he has more reason than Bando to fear about being caught and taken away. It also provides an added rationale to befriend the man, as he believes an outlaw would want to stay away from civilization as much as he does. As it turns out, despite not being a criminal, Bando does indeed feel this way after seeing Sam's way of life.

The fact that they give each other nicknames again shows Sam's desire for anonymity. The choice of calling Sam "Thoreau" is a clear nod to the Transcendental philosopher and writer Henry David Thoreau, who himself lived in seclusion from society as detailed in Walden. The name "Bando" seems to come from two sources: the word "bandit" and the actor Marlon Brando, known for playing morally ambiguous figures in movies such as The Wild One, A Streetcar Named Desire, and On the Waterfront.