In this part of the book, several things happen. In chapter 16, Mrs. and Mr. Bhaer finally find a way for Dan to control his urges to run away from them and live in the wild. They do this by making him run errands, and it works for a while before Dan fights with Jack. The next task that they have for him is to cut up the roots of trees so that they have wood for a fire.
But the roots soon run out, and Dan finds a way to control his urges by taming the colt. This colt, Prince Charlie, was just caught, and still wanted to run free. Dan had always been nice to the creature, and this time he wanted to put a saddle on it. This doesn’t work out, since the horse kicks him with his hooves.
The next time he feeds the colt, he puts the saddle on, expecting the horse to hit him. He manages to even get on the horse, but the Charlie’s bucking is too much for him to handle, and he tumbles down, nearly breaking his neck.
On his final attempt, he goes for a different tactic. What he does is tie a towel over the horses back, and the horse goes off, running and kicking and bucking, trying to get the towel off. Finally, the horse comes to terms with the towel, and that’s when step 2 of Danny’s plan comes to life. All he needs is a saddle.
Mr. Bhaer provides him with one, and Danny manages to ride his favorite horse.
In chapter 17 all of the members of Plumsfield have to write a composition, and they have to be about a vegetation or an animal. Nan writes about sponges, Demi makes a poem about butterflies, and Nat talks about owls, and shows them one sort of owl. He gives the owl a hat and some spectacles, making the audience laugh.
Those are just some of the compositions that the members of Plumsfield wrote, but the highlight of the event was when Tom gives Dan the microscope that he wanted to give him, compensation for how badly they treated him for pretending to have stolen that dollar. Dan is overjoyed with his new toy, and starts showing them different objects underneath the lens, like moth wings and beetle legs.
In the following chapter, chapter 18, the students of Plumsfield gather their crops. The crops consist of things such as corn and pumpkins, to beans and flowers. Nat was the one that raised beans, but there were so many of them that he had to make the boys dance a jig to his music so that they would shake the skin of the beans loose.
Tommy’s crops turn into a disaster, coming to no fruition, but the thistles that are left serve as an excellent snack to Toby, their donkey. Daisy was the one that grew flowers, and Nan planted several medicinal herbs.
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