As soon as Papa has recovered a little from his injuries, he wants to talk to Mama about money. The Logans will have to sell livestock to keep up on their mortgage payments until they sell their cotton crop in September. Mama says the family can rely on garden produce instead of buying flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and coffee. She suggests asking Hammer for money, but Papa does not want to tell his brother about the attacks. Papa is afraid that Hammer will attack the Wallaces and cause more trouble.

The Logan kids ride along with Mr. Morrison on an errand. On the way home, Mr. Morrison spots a beat-up pickup truck and orders Cassie to get in the back of the wagon. Kaleb Wallace parks the truck across the road, blocking Mr. Morrison’s path, and threatens revenge on Mr. Morrison for hurting the other Wallace brothers. Mr. Morrison climbs down from the wagon, checks to make sure Kaleb does not have a gun, and lifts the truck out of the way.

When Mama hears about this incident, she is frightened. She wants Mr. Morrison to go away to protect himself, but Mr. Morrison says he loves the Logan family like his own. He is willing to take any risk to stay with them.

During the summer, the Logan kids sometimes spend time with Jeremy in the forest. As always, the Logan kids have trouble finding a comfortable topic of conversation with Jeremy. Jeremy wants to know how Papa is healing, but the Logans feel awkward talking about Papa because they cannot discuss how he was injured. Jeremy asks about T.J., but the Logan kids have heard that T.J. and Jeremy’s brothers are stealing, so they do not feel right talking about that either. Even the beauty of the land is a difficult subject. When Jeremy wants to show the Logan kids the view from his tree house, Stacey bluntly refuses to go onto the Simms’s property.

One afternoon Mr. Morrison comes home from Strawberry, where he went to drop off the Logans’ monthly mortgage payment, and gives Papa the news that the bank has called in the loan. They say the Logans’ credit is no longer any good. The Logans know Harlan Granger is behind this, trying to get their land, but they also know that they would not get a fair trial if they took the matter to court. Papa calls Uncle Hammer, who promises to get the money to pay off the loan.

Uncle Hammer arrives during the summer revival, the biggest social event of the year. The kids run out to meet him and learn that he sold his car in order to pay off the mortgage on the farm. After the men pay off the mortgage, Hammer offers to stay in town to help earn money and keep everyone safe. Papa says the family will do fine for money as long as the cotton crop is good, and all the adults agree that Hammer’s notorious temper will likely get people hurt if he stays in Mississippi. They say it is safer for everyone if Hammer goes back to Chicago.

On the last night of the revival, T.J. arrives with the elder Simms brothers. T.J. brags that the Simms brothers are better friends than the Logans ever were, but the Logan kids refuse to acknowledge him. Even when T.J. says that the Simmses have promised to get him the pearl-handled pistol he covets from the store in Strawberry, the Logan kids remain unimpressed. T.J. seems confused and saddened by their lack of reaction. When the Simms brothers tell T.J. to come along with them to Strawberry, he runs to join them.