A Land Remembered

With the help of Nip, Tuck, and Ishmael, Tobias and Zech are finally able to catch wild cattle with relative ease. Of Ishmael, Zech says, “I think he’s part cow himself. He sure knows what a cow is going to do” (73).

One day, the dogs corner a black man in his 30s named Skillit. Born into slavery in Georgia, Skillit was sold to a plantation in Tallahassee at the age of four. When the war ended, Skillit built a cabin and started a farm, but members of the Ku Klux Klan burned down his house and drove him off his land. In return for helping him build another smokehouse, Tobias offers Skillit food and shelter.

After finishing the smokehouse, Skillit stays on indefinitely to help the MacIveys catch and brand cattle, proving himself indispensable. Tobias says, “Lordy, Skillit, with you here we can brand as many cows in a half hour as it used to take me and Zech a week” (78).

One day, the three hail down a steamship on the Kissimmee River. While the captain isn’t in the market for beef, he will buy gator hides for $2 apiece. The group successfully slays a gator, but both Tobias and Skillit are nearly killed in the process.