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Lisbeth Searcy
Bud Searcy is a neighbor of the Coates family. A big, red-faced man who chews tobacco and who has a reputation for being “shiftless” within the Hill Country community, Bud frequently visits the Coateses to socialize and eat. When Bud shows up a few weeks after Papa’s departure, he brings gossip and warnings: there is a “strange varmint” stealing from Hill Country families’ storehouses and vegetable patches, and there are rumors of hydrophobic (or rabid) animals staggering through the countryside. Bud seems to fancy himself a kind of town crier, yet he doesn’t do much within his own community other than spread the word about exciting, strange, or dangerous goings-on. Bud does help the Coates family later on in the novel when he brings his granddaughter Lisbeth to stay with them and help out around the house as Travis recovers from his injuries. A lazy busybody who nonetheless seems to truly care about his neighbors, Bud provides some comic relief throughout the novel.
Bud Searcy Quotes in Old Yeller
The Old Yeller quotes below are all either spoken by Bud Searcy or refer to Bud Searcy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6
Quotes
This sure looked like a case of hydrophobia to [Bud] Searcy, as anybody knew that no fox in his right mind was going to jump on a hunter.
Which reminded him of an uncle of his that got mad-dog bit down in the piney woods of East Texas. This was way back when Searcy was a little boy. As soon as the dog bit him, the man knew he was bound to die; so he went and got a big log chain and tied one end around the bottom of a tree and the other one to one of his legs. And right there he stayed till the sickness got him and he lost his mind.
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It made me mad. "You thievin' rascal," I said. "I ought to get a club and break your back—in fourteen different places."
But I didn't really mean it, and I didn't say it loud and ugly. I knew that if I did, he'd fall over and start yelling like he was dying. And there I'd be-in a fight with Little Arliss again.
"When they shoot you, I'm going to laugh," I told him.
But I knew that I wouldn't.
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Get the entire Old Yeller LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bud Searcy Character Timeline in Old Yeller
The timeline below shows where the character Bud Searcy appears in Old Yeller. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
The next day, Bud Searcy—a gregarious but lazy neighbor of the Coateses’—drops by with his 11-year-old granddaughter Lisbeth, a...
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Bud, Mama, Travis, and Lisbeth sit and talk. Bud checks in on how Mama has been...
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Chapter 10
...When the count reaches 46, he figures that he’s caught them all. One afternoon, however, Bud Searcy pays the family another visit—he says that there are a bunch of hogs Travis...
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Chapter 12
One day, Bud Searcy and Lisbeth arrive to call on the Coateses—and they have a puppy in tow....
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As Travis lies in bed, beating himself up for being dismissive toward Lisbeth, he overhears Bud Searcy telling Mama that he plans to leave Lisbeth with her to help out around...
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