Home / NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 8 The Hack Driver

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 8 The Hack Driver

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(Page 47)

Question 1.
Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?
Answer:
The lawyer was sent to New Mullion to serve summons on Oliver Lutkins, who was needed as a witness in a law case.
He first thinks that the place must be a sweet and a simple country village.

Question 2.
Who befriends lawyer? Where does he take him?
Answer:
A hack driver at the station, who called himself Bill Magnuson, befriends him. He told the lawyer that he knew Lutkins and would help in finding him. Bill took him to all the places where Lutkins was known to hang out. He took the lawyer to Fritz’s shop, where Lutkins played a lot of poker; to Gustaff’s barber shop and then to Gray’s barber shop; to the poolroom and several other places before finally taking him to Lutkins’ mother’s farm. However, Oliver Lutkins was not found.

Question 3.
What does Bill say about Lutkins?
Answer:
Bill told the lawyer that Lutkins was a hard person to find as he was always busy in some activity or the other. He owed money to many people, including Bill, and had never paid back anybody. He also said that Lutkins played a lot of poker and was good at deceiving people.

Page 50
Question 1.
What more does Bill say about Lutkins and his family?
Answer:
Bill told the lawyer that he knew mother of Lutkins’. He said that she was a terror. He narrated an incident when he took a trunk to her once and she almost took his skin off because he did not carry it carefully. He also said that she was very tall and bulky. She was very quick and could talk a lot. He said that Lutkins must have heard that somebody was chasing him and consequently would have gone into hiding at his mother’s place.

Question 2.
Does the narrator serve the summons that day?
Answer:
No, the narrator did not serve the summons that day.

Question 3.
Who is Lutkins?
Answer:
The hack driver himself is Lutkins but pretends to be Bill Magnuson. He tricks the lawyer to avoid the summons to be a witness in a case.

Think About It            (Page 53)
Question 1.
When the lawyer reached New Mullion, did ‘Bill’ know that he was looking for Lutkins ? When do you think ‘Bill’ came up with his plan for fooling the lawyer?
Answer:
No, ‘Bill’ did not know initially that the lawyer was looking for him.
He must have made his plan for fooling the lawyer when the lawyer told him that he was looking for Lutkins, as he knew that he was required as a witness but did not want to give his testimony.

Question 2.
Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village. How is that no one lets out the secret? (Hint : Notice that the hack driver asks the lawyer to keep out of sight behind him when they go into Fritz’s.) Can you find other such subtle ways in which Lutkins manipulates the tour?
Answer:
Lutkins never allows the lawyer to reach the place
where the imaginary Lutkins is supposed to be present at a given time. The way he weaves stories about Lutkins’ vagabond nature and the way he scares the lawyer about Lutkins’ mother are ways of fooling the lawyer devised by the hack driver. Everywhere he does not allow the lawyer to ask about Lutkins but he himself pretends to ask about him, which the villagers are knowing is a pretence. So the villagers also join in the whole drama.

Question 3.
Why do you think Lufkin’s neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?
Answer:
Almost the entire village had enjoyer Lutkins making a fool of the lawyer. Only Lutkins’ neighbours had not seen the lawyer but had come to know what happened. They wanted to see the gullible man who Lutkins had taken for a ride. That is why tin y wanted to meet him.

Question 4.
After his first day’s experience with the hack driver the lawyer thinks of returning to New Mullion to practice law. Do you think he would have reconsidered this idea after his second visit?
Answer:
No, absolutely not. After knowing how Lutkins had made fool of him, he would never return to New Mullion to practice law.

Question 5.
Do you think the lawyer was gullible? How could he have avoided being taken for a ride? CBSE 2015
Answer:
Yes, the lawyer was gullible. He believed every word of what Oliver Lutkins said. He should have asked about Lutkins from other villagers. Instead, he depended completely on the hack driver.

Talk About It     (Page 53)
Question 1.
Do we come across persons like Lutkins only in fiction or do we encounter them in real life as well? You can give examples from fiction, or narrate an incident that you have read in the newspaper, or an incident from real life.
Answer:
Persons like Lutkins are found in real life as well. They do not just appear in stories. They are very much real. Newspapers are full of reports of such tricksters. There is this famous con man in ‘David Copperfield’ written by Charles Dickens. His name is Uriah Heep. He traps a gullible, rich old man. The old man depends on him entirely. He takes advantage of his trust and takes all his money. He makes the old man an addict to alcohol. Then he forces the old man to marry his daughter to him.

Question 2.
Who is a ‘con man’, or a confidence trickster?
Answer:
A ‘con man’ or a confidence trickster is a person who makes a fool out of other people. He wins their trust first and then, he gets from them whatever he wants.

The Hack Driver Extra Questions and Answers Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet

Extract Based Questions [3 Marks each]

Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Question 1.
I was sent, not to prepare legal briefs, but to serve summons, like a cheap detective.
(a) At what post was T working?
(b) Why was he not given legal briefs to prepare?
(c) Find a word meaning ‘court order’ from the given extract.
(d) What is the present tense of ‘sent’?*
Answer:
(a) T was working as a junior assistant clerk.
(b) Probably because he was inexperienced, he was not given legal briefs to prepare.
(c) ‘Summons’ from the extract means ‘court order’.
(d) ‘Send’ is its present tense.

Question 2.
He was so open and friendly that I glowed with the warmth of his affection. I knew, of course, that he wanted the business, but his kindness was real.
(a) Who is ‘he’ in these lines?
(b) Give an instance of his kindness.
(c) Find a word from the extract which means ‘a gentle feeling of fordness’.
(d) What is the opposite of kindness?
Answer:
(a) ‘He’ in these lines is Bill Magnuson, the hack driver.
(b) He offered to take the narrator through the village and find Lutkins.
(c) ‘Affection’ from the extract means ‘a gentle feeling of fondness’.
(d) Cruelty’ is the opposite of ‘kindness’.

Question 3.
So we pursued him, just behind him, but never catching him, for an hour till it was past one o’ clock,
(a) Who was pursuing whom?
(b) Why were they pursuing him?
(c) Which word in the extract is a synonym of ‘followed’?
(d) What is the opposite of ‘behind’?
Answer:
(a) The narrator and Bill were pursuing Lutkins.
(b) They were pursuing him because the lawyer had to serve him a summons.
(c) ‘pursued’ in the extract, is the synonym of‘followed’.
(d) ‘ahead’ is its opposite.

Question 4.
What really hurt me was that when I served the summons, Lutkins and his mother laughed at me as though I were a bright boy of seven.
(a) What hurt the narrator?
(b) Why did the two laugh?
(c) Which word in the extract is a synonym of ‘delivered1?
(d) What is the opposite of ‘bright’?
Answer:
(a) The laughter of Lutkins and his mother hurt the narrator.
(b) The two laughed because they had been successful in fooling him.
(c) ‘served’ from the extract is the synonym of ‘delivered’.
(d) Its opposite is ‘dull’.

Question 5.
I had to go to dirty and shadowy comers of the city to seek out my victims. Some of the larger and more self-confident ones even beat me up. [CBSE 2013]
(a) Who is ‘I’?
(b) What was the nature of Ts job?
(c) Find a word from the extract which means find’.
(d) What is the opposite of ‘dirty’?
Answer:
(a) ‘I’ is the young lawyer who is the narrator of the story.
(b) The nature of his job was to serve summons on people who were required to present themselves in the court.
(c) ‘Seek out’ from the extract means ‘find’.
(d) Its opposite is ‘dean’.

Question 6.
When I got to New Mullion, my eager expectations of a sweet and simple country village were severely disappointed. Its streets were rivers of mud, with rows of wooden shops, either painted a sour brown, or bare of any paint at all. [CBSE 2015]
(a) Who is T?
(b) Why was T disappointed?
(c) What does the word ‘expectations’ mean?
(d) What is the opposite of ‘disappointed’?
Answer:
(a) ‘I’ is the young lawyer who is the narrator of the story.
(b) T was disappointed because he did not like the muddy streets and unpainted looks of the shops.
(c) It means ‘a brief about how good something will be’.
(d) Its opposite is’‘pleased’.

Short Answer Type Questions [2 Marks each]

Question 1.
Why did the narrator call his work unpleasant?
Answer:
The narrator was sent to serve summons. He had to go to all sorts of dirty and dangerous places. At times, he was also beaten by those very people. That is why he called his work unpleasant.

Question 2.
Describe the hack driver’s appearance in your own words.
Answer:
The hack driver looked to be about forty years in age. His face was red. He wore dirty and worn out clothes but he was cheerful.

Question 3.
Why does the hack driver offer to ask about Oliver Lutkins? [CBSE 2012]
Answer:
The hack driver was none other than Oliver Lutkins himself. He did not wish to take the summons and go as a witness. So, he pretended to be a hack driver. He offered to help the lawyer so that the lawyer could not come to know about him from someone else.

Question 4.
‘But he was no more dishonest than I’. Explain.
Answer:
The narrator meant to say that the hack driver was as dishonest as him because he was getting paid for riding the narrator on his cart on the pretence of helping him.

Question 5.
The narrator was happy though he had not found Lutkins. Why?
Answer:
The narrator had hated city life. This ride through the village made him very happy. He was overjoyed to meet the hack driver. So he was happy though he had not found Lutkins.

Question 6.
What impressed the narrator most about Bill? Mention any two things.
Answer:
The first quality that struck the narrator was that Bill was a cheerful, friendly and helpful man. Secondly, he loved Bill for his simple and philosophical wisdom.

Question 7.
How did the chief react when the narrator returned to his town?
Answer:
The chief was furious at the narrator’s failure to serve summons on Lutkins. He decided to send a man who knew Ltutkins with the narrator the next day to serve summons on Lutkins.

Question 8.
How does the narrator find Lutkins eventually?
Answer:
The narrator’s companion had seen Lutkins. When the narrator pointed opt the hack driver to him, he told him that the hack driver was Lutkins himself. In this way, the narrator found Lutkins eventually.

Question 9.
Why did Lutkins pretend to be Bill Magnuson? [CBSE 2015]
Answer:
Lutkins pretended to be Bill Magnuson as he did not want to accept the summons and be a witness in the case.

Question 10.
What did the hack driver tell the narrator about Lutkins’mother? [CBSE 2014]
Answer:
The hack driver told the narrator that Lutkins’ mother was a real terror. He described her as a large and hefty lady with a fierce temper. He also said that she was quick as a cat.

Question 11.
How did the hack driver befool the lawyer?
Answer:
The hack driver was able to befool him as he had not seen Lutkins before. He took him around the village on the protect of searching for Lutkins.

Long Answer (Volue Based) Type Questions [8 Marks each]

Question 1.
The narrator strikes us as a romantic idealist, Do you agree? Support your answer from the text.
Answer:
The narrator is definitely a romantic idealist. He is fresh out of law school. He wants to have a real case. But, as a part of training, he is sent to serve summons. He finds it difficult to understand. He simply dislikes his job as he has to go to all dirty places. Further, he has a very romantic | view of the country. He believes that villages are all pure and peaceful. There is no ugliness of the city in them. He I also thinks that villagers are very honest and decent people. He has a habit of trusting people blindly. He believes in whatever someone says. In fact, he is very gullible. Later on, he realises that a village can also be ugly. He also experiences that villagers are not always simple and honest.

Question 2.
Describe ‘Bill’ as seen through the eyes of the narrator.
Answer:
The narrator was much impressed with Bill. He first meets him at the station. He finds him to be friendly and cheerful. Bill is very helpful in his eyes as he offers to take him around in search of Lutkins. The narrator admires him when he goes looking for Lutkins on his behalf. Bill is full of a wonderful village charm. The narrator finds Bill to have a unique country wisdom. He admires him as a story teller. He appreciates him a lot when Bill even goes to Lutkins’ mother’s place to find him. For the narrator, Bill is a friendly man who helps others generously. He is so impressed by Bill that he decides to settle down in the village.

Question 3.
‘Appearances are often deceptive’. Comment on the statement in the light of your reading of the story.
Answer:
Things are not always what they seem to be. Appearances are often deceptive. The narrator reaches a village in the search of Oliver Lutkins. He meets a hack driver at the station. The driver warns him about Lutkins. He takes him on a tour of the entire village in search of Lutkins. He tells the narrator about his experiences and about the village and its people. The narrator likes him for his helpful and kind nature.
He even forgets all about Lutkins. But, the next day he finds out that the hack driver was Oliver Lutkins himself. He realises that a simple and kind person was a trickster in reality.

Question 4.
Do you think Lutkins was right in befooling the lawyer and earning money by using unfair means? What precautions should one take to avoid a situation like the one in which the lawyer was placed? [CBSE 2014]
Answer:
Lutkins was not right in befooling the lawyer and earning money by using unfair means. This shows that Lutkins did not care for the law at all. If we are in the lawyer’s place, we should not believe in things as they are seen. We should judge every action taken by the other person carefully before accepting it. Instead of depending on others, we should carry out our enquiries ourselves. The lawyer was befooled because he let Lutkins do the finding and questioning and did not do anything himself. This resulted in his failure to serve the summons on Lutkins.

MCQ Questions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 8 The Hack Driver with Answers

Question 1.
Who was Oliver Lutkins?
(a) Fritz
(b) Gustaff
(c) Bill
(d) Gray

Answer

Answer: (c) Bill


Question 2.
From where did they get lunch?
(a) Community meal
(b) Bill’s home
(c) cafe
(d) restaraunt

Answer

Answer: (b) Bill’s home


Question 3.
According to Bill, Oliver owed him fifty cents for a game of ___
(a) chess
(b) poker
(c) horse race
(d) all of them

Answer

Answer: (b) poker


Question 4.
The summons for Lutkins were for what case?
(a) theft
(b) murder
(c) cheating
(d) as a witness

Answer

Answer: (d) as a witness


Question 5.
What vehicle did Bill have?
(a) Autorickshaw
(b) cab
(c) hack
(d) cart

Answer

Answer: (c) hack


Question 6.
How many times did he have to visit New Mullions?
(a) 1
(b) 2
(c) 4
(d) 5

Answer

Answer: (b) 2


Question 7.
Was he able to serve the summon to Lutkins?
(a) yes
(b) no
(c) maybe
(d) None of the above

Answer

Answer: (b) no


Question 8.
What did Oliver’s mother have in her hand while she ran after them?
(a) a pistol
(b) a knife
(c) an iron rod
(d) None of the above

Answer

Answer: (c) an iron rod


Question 9.
Where did they go for lunch?
(a) Wade’s hill
(b) Bill’s home
(c) Oliver’s home
(d) Oliver’s mother’s farm

Answer

Answer: (a) Wade’s hill


Question 10.
Where did they go after visiting Swede’s shop?
(a) Gray’s barber shop
(b) Gustaff’s barber shop
(c) poolroom
(d) his mother’s farm

Answer

Answer: (a) Gray’s barber shop


Question 11.
“Bill seemed to _____ Lutkins’ talent for dishonesty. ”
(a) dislike
(b) hate
(c) criticise
(d) admire

Answer

Answer: (d) admire


Question 12.
What was the only pleasant sight?
(a) delivery man
(b) the weather
(c) raw shops
(d) None of the above

Answer

Answer: (a) delivery man


Question 13.
How did he travel to New Mullions?
(a) Car
(b) Train
(c) Rickshaw
(d) Bus

Answer

Answer: (b) Train


Question 14.
What did he hate?
(a) unpleasant work
(b) the side of city it revealed to him
(c) both of these
(d) None of the above

Answer

Answer: (c) both of these


Question 15.
What job did he get after doing his graduation?
(a) partner in a law firm
(b) lawyer
(c) senior associate
(d) junior assistant clerk

Answer

Answer: (d) junior assistant clerk


Question 16.
Who is the writer of the story ‘The Hack Driver’?
(a) Guy de Maupassant
(b) Sinclair Lewis
(c) K.A. Abbas
(d) Claire Boiko

Answer

Answer: (b) Sinclair Lewis


Question 17.
Was the narrator successful in serving a summons on Lutkins on his second visit?
(a) yes
(b) no
(c) maybe
(d) may not be

Answer

Answer: (a) yes


Question 18.
Why was the narrator ordered back to New Mullion once again?
(a) to arrest Lutkins
(b) to serve the summons on him
(c) to live permanently in New Mullion
(d) all of the above

Answer

Answer: (b) to serve the summons on him


Question 19.
Oliver’s mother rush after the narrator in her hand.
(a) an iron rod
(b) a gun
(c) a stick
(d) a stone

Answer

Answer: (a) an iron rod


Question 20.
Who gave himself a false name ‘Bill’?
(a) the narrator
(b) Oliver Lutkins
(c) Fritz
(d) Gustaff

Answer

Answer: (b) Oliver Lutkins


Question 21.
Who was the Hack Driver actually?
(a) Fritz
(b) Gustaff
(c) Oliver Lutkins
(d) Gray

Answer

Answer: (c) Oliver Lutkins


Question 22.
How was the delivery man to the narrator?
(a) friendly
(b) haughty
(c) indifferent
(d) cold

Answer

Answer: (a) friendly


Question 23.
The narrator went to New Mullion by :
(a) bus
(b) train
(c) plane
(d) hack

Answer

Answer: (b) train


Question 24.
The narrator was sent to New Mullion to serve a summons on:
(a) Fritz
(b) Gustaff
(c) Oliver Lutkins
(d) Oliver Lutkins’ mother

Answer

Answer: (c) Oliver Lutkins


Question 25.
What job was assigned to the narrator in the law firm?
(a) serve summons
(b) prepare legal briefs
(c) fight cases
(d) all of the above

Answer

Answer: (a) serve summons


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