Chapter 8 Summary

Levi Zandt receives a visit from Oliver Seccumbe, one of the small party who had traveled with him from the east on the trip originally bound for Oregon. Seccumbe proposes that the two enter into a plan to claim a large tract of land through the Homestead Act and to bring cows to the land. He proposes Texas longhorns and Levi suggests John Skimmerhorn - son of the man who had led the massacre of the Indians— as the man to go get the cattle. Levi and Lucinda had now rebuilt their trading post and agree to the plan. Skimmerton accepts the job and travels immediately to Texas where he begins to despair because most men refuse to consider a drive so far to the north, citing desperados and Indians.

One night, Skimmerhorn smells the enticing odor of onions, meat and peppers...