THE CROSSING

CONTENTS

BOOK I. THE BORDERLAND

I. THE BLUE WALL
II. WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
III. CHARLESTOWN
IV. TEMPLE BOW
V. CRAM'S HELL
VI. MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES
VII. IN SIGHT OF THE BLUE WALL ONCE MORE
VIII. THE NOLLICHUCKY TRACE
IX. ON THE WILDERNESS TRAIL
X. HARRODSTOWN
XI. FRAGMENTARY
XII. THE CAMPAIGN BEGINS
XIII. KASKASKIA
XIV. HOW THE KASKASKIANS WERE MADE CITIZENS
XV. DAYS OF TRIAL
XVI. DAVY GOES TO CAHOKIA
XVII. THE SACRIFICE
XVIII. "AN' YE HAD BEEN WHERE I HAD BEEN"
XIX. THE HAIR BUYER TRAPPED
XX. THE CAMPAIGN ENDS


BOOK II. FLOTSAM AND JETSAM

I. IN THE CABIN
II. "THE BEGGARS ARE COME TO TOWN"
III. WE GO TO DANVILLE
IV. I CROSS THE MOUNTAINS ONCE MORE
V. I MEET AN OLD BEDFELLOW
VI. THE WIDOW BROWN'S
VII. I MEET A HERO
VIII. TO ST. LOUIS
IX. "CHERCHEZ LA FEMME"
X. THE KEEL BOAT
XI. THE STRANGE CITY
XII. LES ISLES
XIII. MONSIEUR AUGUSTE ENTRAPPED
XIV. RETRIBUTION


BOOK III. LOUISIANA

I. THE RIGHTS OF MAN
II. THE HOUSE ABOVE THE FALLS
III. LOUISVILLE CELEBRATES
IV. OF A SUDDEN RESOLUTION
V. THE HOUSE OF THE HONEYCOMBED TILES
VI. MADAME LA VICOMTESSE
VII. THE DISPOSAL OF THE SIEUR DE ST. GRE
VIII. AT LAMARQUE'S
IX. MONSIEUR LE BARON
X. THE SCOURGE
XI. "IN THE MIDST OF LIFE"
XII. VISIONS, AND AN AWAKENINGS
XIII. A MYSTERY
XIV. "TO UNPATHED WATERS, UNDREAMED SHORES"
XV. AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF A MAN

AFTERWORD




THE CROSSING




BOOK I. THE BORDERLAND




CHAPTER I. THE BLUE WALL

I was born under the Blue Ridge, and under that side which is blue in
the evening light, in a wild land of game and forest and rushing waters.
There, on the borders of a creek that runs into the Yadkin River, in a
cabin that was chinked with red mud, I came into the world a subject of
King George the Third, in that part of his realm known as the province
of North Carolina.

The cabin reeked of corn-pone and bacon, and the odor of pelts. It had
two shakedowns, on one of which I slept under a bearskin. A rough stone
chimney was reared outside, and the fireplace was as long as my father
was tall. There was a crane in it, and a bake kettle; and over it great
buckhorns held my father's rifle when it was not in use. On other horns
hung jerked bear's meat and venison hams, and gourds for drinking
cups, and bags of seed, and my father's best hunting shirt; also, in a
neglected corner, several articles of woman's attire from pegs. These
once belonged to my mother. Among them was a gown of silk, of a fine,
faded pattern, over which I was wont to speculate. The women at the
Cross-Roads, twelve miles away, were dressed in coarse butternut wool
and huge sunbonnets. But when I questioned my father on these matters he
would give me no answers.