A Land Remembered, Volume 1, page 7
Keith Tiger said, “We must start early too. We have been traveling mostly at night. It is best that no one sees us. But I am glad we came to your fire. If we had not recognized you, we would have remained in the darkness.” He then handed the sofkee spoon to Tobias. “Take this as a gift to your woman. Perhaps she can make use of it. We have many more of them at the village. And if you ever have need of my people, go to the far shore of the great lake Okeechobee. From there, walk south. You will not see us, but we will know you are there.”
Tobias took the spoon and put it into his saddlebag. He said, “I thank you for this. It will make Emma proud, and I know she’ll have use of it. I’m glad you stopped here for the night, and I wish you much luck with the trading.”
“We’ll have more food together before we depart at sunup,” Tiger said.
Tobias then climbed into the wagon and lay down on the palmetto bed, thinking for a long time of the strange word Ishmaelite.
CHAPTER NINE
The morning after Tobias arrived home from the trading post he left the house early and strode briskly through the woods toward the cow pen. Zech had to trot to keep up with him. He said excitedly, “Where we going in such a hurry, Pappa? What we going to do?”
Tobias felt good, his stomach full of koonti biscuits. His lanky legs covered three feet per step. When he reached the pen he gazed for a moment at the cow, then he opened the gate and propped a stick against it to keep it open.
“What you doing, Pappa?” Zech asked anxiously, completely puzzled by his father’s actions. “You going to turn him loose after all that ruckus we had catching him?”
“If I don’t he’ll die.”
“How come? He looks fine to me.”
“Look there at the ground,” Tobias said, pointing. “Not a blade of grass left, and we sure don’t have any hay or corn to feed him. He’s got our mark. I’ll turn him loose now so’s he can eat, then we’ll catch him again later. Go back to the house and fetch the horse and the branding iron. We’ll catch another one this morning and mark him right there in the woods.”
Zech turned and ran toward the clearing, still not understanding what had come over his father.
The cow too seemed puzzled. It stood still, eyeing the man and the open gate. Then it shook its horns and backed into the far side of the pen.
Tobias went inside and circled the cow. When it still did not move he said loudly, “Shu! Shu cow! Git!”
The cow backed further against the fence and snorted.
Tobias said, “Dang critter! As much as you fought getting in here, now you won’t go out!”
Then he started jumping up and down, flailing his arms wildly, shouting, “Git! Git! I said git!”
The cow watched Tobias for a moment more, then it rushed forward, bounded out the gate and into the woods, bellowing loudly.
Just then Zech came back, riding the horse at full gallop. He reined up, got off and said, “I got the iron, Pappa. But if you’re going to turn them loose, how come we got to catch another one?”
“Just do it, Zech,” Tobias said. “Let’s go down by the hickory flat and see what’s there.”
When they reached the grove of hickory trees Tobias mounted the horse. They remained very still, listening. After a few minutes Zech whispered, “I hear one, Pappa. He’s over to the right in the brush.”
“I’ll go after him,” Tobias said. “If I can get up to him I’ll jump off and grab him by the horns. Then you run in and help me.”
Tobias moved the horse toward the sound, and when he came around the side of a clump of huckleberry bushes, a runty black bull was standing there. It immediately turned and ran.
When Tobias kicked it in the flanks, the horse bounded forward quickly. For fifty yards horse and rider rushed after thebull, then the bull made a sudden turn to the left. The horse crashed headlong into a thick growth of muscadine vines and became entangled. It kicked and bucked, trying to break free, then it threw Tobias right over its head and into the vines, entangling him even worse.
Zech ran up and said, “Gimme your hand, Pappa! I’ll pull you out!”
The horse continued to buck as Zech pulled and strained, and finally Tobias popped free. They broke the vines from around the horse’s legs and backed it out of the entanglement. Tobias then shouted, “Idiot! Fool! You could have turned with the bull!”
Zech said, “It ain’t all his fault, Pappa. I was watching. You didn’t try to turn him quick enough. You got to give him better directions so he’ll know what to do.”
“Maybe so, but this ain’t going to work. I tell you what, Zech. You get on the horse, and I’ll climb up in a tree. Try to turn the bull under the tree and I’ll drop down on top of him and catch him. It just might work.”
Zech got on the horse and rode off into the brush as Tobias climbed the nearest tree. As soon as he found the bull, Zech circled slowly to the right and came up behind it. Then he charged, herding the bull back the way it had come.
Tobias sat on the limb, watching. The bull was coming straight to him, with Zech in hot pursuit. Just as the bull reached the tree, Tobias turned loose, dropped down and landed solidly on the bull’s back. He grabbed the horns with both hands and locked his long legs round its stomach.
The bull continued running full speed for twenty yards, then bull and rider crashed to the ground. The breath was knocked from him, but Tobias managed to shout, “Get the fire going, Zech! Hurry! Get the iron hot! I don’t think I can hold him for long!”
Before Zech could even start gathering sticks for a fire, the bull jumped up, bucked around and around, and started running again. Tobias tightened his legs and hung on. The bull changed directions twice, and then it ran under a low-hanging limb that caught Tobias in the chest. He let go the horns and grabbed the limb, and for a moment both bull and rider left the ground and hung suspended in midair; then Tobias’ legs turned loose and he flipped backward, hitting the ground upside down as the bull dropped down and bounded away.
Zech shouted, “You done good, Pappa! You was really riding him till he run under that limb!”
Tobias got up and examined himself to see if anything was broken. He said, “I wasn’t trying to ride him! I was trying to throw him! What we need is a rope. When I get one on the ground you can tie his legs, then he can’t get up afore we put the mark on. Next time we’ll bring rope.”
Zech was awed by his father’s performance. He said again, “You done real good, Pappa. You had that bull going some before he knocked you off. Hadn’t been for that limb you could have rode him slam back to the house. We going to try it again?”
“Maybe tomorrow. I’m a mite sore just now. But there’s got to be a way if we can figure it out.”
***
It was early morning a month later when Zech ran into the clearing, shouting, “Come quick, Pappa! Hurry! Down to the cow pen!”
Tobias rushed outside and followed the fleeing boy, having to run full stride to catch up with him. When they reached the pen Zech shouted, “Look there, Pappa! Look!”
Inside the pen there was a small black stallion, its sleek body glistening with muscles. On its back was mounted a McClellan saddle. Tied to the outside of the fence there were two dogs, both tall, gray and shaggy, looking almost exactly like wolves.
Zech jumped up and down with excitement. “Where’d they come from, Pappa! Who brought them here?”
“Can’t say,” Tobias said, “but that horse didn’t put himself in there. That’s for sure. But I think I know. He’s a marshtackie.”
Zech ran into the pen and leaped onto the saddle. He whirled the horse around and around, shouting, “Look here, Pappa! He can turn quicker than a rabbit!” Then he kicked it in the side, bounded the fence in one leap and made a wide circle through the woods.
When he came back to the pen, Zech jumped off and said, “He flies like a bird, Pappa. We’ll get cows now. Ain’t no cow can outrun him, even in the swamp. He needs a name. What we going to call him?”
Tobias thought for a moment, and then he said, “Ishmael. We’ll call him Ishmael. That’s a good name for a horse.”
“What about the dogs?” Zech then asked. “What we going to name them? A dog’s got to have a name when you call him.”
“We’ll name one after ole Tuck. And the other Nip. Nip and Tuck. How’s that!”
“That’s fine. That’s real fine.” Zech then went over and patted one of the dogs on the head, causing its tail to wag vigorously. He said, “You’re Nip. And you’re Tuck. I’ll bet you can keep them wild hogs out of the garden.”
“I expect they will,” Tobias said. “They look like they could take on a bear. But I swear they could pass for wolves.”
“They ain’t, Pappa. They’s good dogs. I can tell.”
“We best go on back to the house now and tell your mamma about this. You scared the life out of her when you come running into the clearing, shouting like you was. She don’t know what the ruckus was about. We best go tell her so she won’t worry.”
Zech untied the dogs, jumped back on the horse and bounded away. The dogs took after him, barking loudly. Tobias said, “If that sight don’t put Emma up a tree, nothing will.”
When Tobias reached the clearing Emma was outside, looking at the horse. The dogs were circling her, their tails wagging. She said, “What is all this, Tobias? Has someone lost their horse and dogs?”
“Well, it looks like Christmas done finally come for us. Let’s go inside and talk about it.”
Zech galloped away as they went into the cabin and sat at the table. Tobias said, “The Indians brung them. It couldn’t be nobody else.”
“Why? Why would they do this? They owe us nothing.”
“They think they do. For what we did for them in the scrub. And it could be they just wanted to do it. Whatever the reason, it’s a blessing. I could have never bought that horse and them dogs, not in a hundred years. There ain’t that many coons in the swamp.”
“Are they wild, the horse and the dogs?”
“Don’t seem to be. They’re probably trained real good. Keith Tiger told me his people had great herds of cattle before the soldiers took them away, and the horse they used was the marshtackie. They’ve probably been keeping some of them horses and dogs all this time, hoping that someday they would have cattle again and be able to use them. But that ain’t likely to happen, at least not anytime soon. I guess they wanted somebody to put the horse and the dogs to use again.”
“First the flour, and now this,” Emma said. “I wish they would have come to the house. We could have given them something to eat and thanked them.”
“I would have liked to see them too. Maybe they just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. It could be the Indian way.”
“I still wish we could have thanked them. I know this means a lot to you and Zech.”
“Emma,” Tobias said, putting his hand on hers, “it means more than you know. At least we got a chance now. Before this we didn’t have no chance at all. We were just fooling ourselves, me and Zech, and I knowed it. I just didn’t have the heart to tell him. But now we got a chance.”
CHAPTER TEN
The two dogs ran straight to the bull, as if they knew beforehand exactly where they would find it. Nip rushed in and grabbed it by the nose, and Tuck sank his teeth into its left rear leg.
Zech was riding just behind them, the small horse darting effortlessly around trees and jumping over vines. Tobias followed on the other horse.
When the bull tried to break free, Nip sank his teeth in deeper, causing a trickle of blood to stain the tip of his nose. Then the bull stood motionless, its eyes wild and staring downward at the dog.
Tobias jumped from his horse and grabbed the bull by its horns, putting all his strength into a twisting motion that finally sent the bull sprawling on its side. As Zech tied its legs together, the dogs turned loose and backed away.
Tobias started a fire, and when the flames were burning brightly he put the branding iron into the center. He said, “It seems to me we’re still doing this wrong, running around all over the woods and making a fire ever time we put on a mark. We ought to build a pen down here and wait till we get five or six cows in a bunch, then brand them all at one time.”
“It do make sense,” Zech replied. “And I bet you that Nip and Tuck could bring in cows by themselves, without no help at all from us. I already seen them do it. They can make a cow go any way they want to. All we’d have to do is show them the pen and say git ’em.”
“We’ll start a pen tomorrow. Fact is, we’ll build two, and put them about a mile apart. That ought to be even better.”
“I can bring them in by myself too, Pappa. The other day Ishmael made a cow walk a straight line right through the brush. Seemed he knowed ever move that cow was going to make, and then he made it first. I think he’s part cow himself. He sure knows what a cow is going to do.”
When the iron glowed red, Tobias took it from the fire and pressed it to the bull’s side. Smoke boiled upward from burning hair as the iron seared the letters MCI into the bull’s hide. He kicked twice and tried to get up, then Tobias released the ropes. The bull struggled to its feet and ran off into the woods.
The dogs watched attentively, awaiting a signal for them to hunt again; then Tobias patted one on the head and said, “Go git ’em, dogs! Git ’em!” They immediately streaked away into the brush.
Zech said, “Them dogs is a sight, ain’t they, Pappa?”
“They surely are. I don’t know how we ever got along without them. They keep this up they’s going to be MacIvey cows all over the place. You best put out that fire now. And do it real good. Seems like a fool idea to be running around building fires all over the swamp.”
The sound of yelping came from a half mile away and Zech said, “They done struck another one already.”
“Sure sounds like it. They don’t even give us a chance to rest. Let’s ride on over and see to it.”
This time they did not race the horses, knowing that the dogs would hold the cow, even to sundown if necessary. When they reached the spot, the dogs were running around and around a thick clump of palmetto, barking and growling at the same time.
Tobias watched for a moment, and then he said, “That sure ain’t no cow they’ve got in there this time. Don’t go in yet. It could be a bear in them bushes.”
The dogs continued circling and growling, and Tobias took the rifle from the saddle holster. He said, “Whatever it is, it sure don’t want to come out. Must be something besides a bear else the horses would have done smelled him by now and put on a show. Ain’t no horses nowheres going to stand still for a bear, not even Ishmael.”
For five minutes the dogs continued circling the palmetto, then Tobias said “We’re going to have to flush it out, whatever it is. Get a big stick and throw it in there. I’ll keep the gun aimed.”
Zech dismounted and picked up a hickory limb. Tobias said to him, “Don’t go any closer. Throw it from as far back as you can.”
Zech whirled around and around; then he released the limb. It arched upward and crashed down right into the center of the palmetto clump.
Nothing happened for a moment more, and then they heard a rustling sound, as if something were crawling. Then a black head peeked through a frond.
The black man crawled forward slowly, watching the dogs, his eyes pure terror. He glanced upward and saw the rifle pointing at him, and then he said, “Don’t shoot me, mister. And call off them critters. I don’t mean no harm.” His voice trembled as he spoke.
Tobias and Zech were both so surprised they did nothing but stare. Finally Tobias said, “Get the dogs away from him, Zech. Make them hush up.”
Zech called the dogs to him and held them as Tobias dismounted, the rifle still in his hand. He said, “Fella, what are you doing hiding in there? I could have shot in there blind and killed you.”
“The dogs,” the black man said, his voice still shaky. “They got to me before I could go up a tree, and there weren’t nowhere else for me to go. I thought they was wolves.”
“They do favor wolves a mite,” Tobias said. “But they won’t hurt you now. You can come out of there. We don’t aim to do you any harm.”
When the black man stood up he was even taller than Tobias, at least six and a half feet, and his forearm was as large as Tobias’ thigh. He was dressed in a tattered blue shirt and had on a pair of pants that seemed to have been made from a feed sack. He appeared to be about the same age as Tobias, and he was the blackest black man Tobias had ever seen. When he spoke, his white teeth gleamed like elephant ivory.
He said, “You ain’t got a little scrap of food, has you? I ain’t et since day befo’ yesterday.”
“Don’t have nothing here,” Tobias said, “but there’s vittles back at the house. We’ll be glad to feed you. Where’d you come from, anyway?”
“Just to the south of Tallahassee.”
“Tallahassee?” Tobias repeated. “You mean you walked slam down here from Tallahassee?”
“Sho’ did. I been driftin’ now for nigh on a year. I been shot at and stomped and chased by dogs, but this the first time I been treed by wolves.”
“They ain’t wolves,” Zech said, listening curiously. “They’s dogs.”
“Well, you could ’a fooled me. I would have swore fo’ God they was wolves.”
Tobias said, “I’m Tobias MacIvey, and this is my boy, Zech. Who be you?”
