 Book two, chapter three of The Crossing by Winston Churchill. This lever box recording is in the public domain. Chapter three, we go to Danville. Two years went by, two uneventful years for me, two mighty years for Kentucky. Westward rolled the tide of immigrants to change her character but to swell her power. Generals and settlements spring up in a season and flourished and a man could scarce keep pace with the growth of them. Doctors came and ministers and lawyers, generals and majors and captains and subalterns of the revolution to till their grants and to found families. There were gentry too from the tide waters come to retrieve the fortunes which they had lost by their patriotism. There were storekeepers like Mr. Scarlett and adventurers and ne'er-do-wells who hoped to start with a clean slate and a host of lazy vagrants who thought to scratch the soil and find abundance. I must not forget how at the age of seventeen I became a landowner thanks to my name being on the role of Colonel Clark's regiment. For in a spirit of magnificence the assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia had awarded to every private in that regiment 108 acres of land on the Ohio River north of the falls. Sergeant Thomas Machesney as a reward for his services in one of the severest campaigns in history received a grant of 216 acres. You who will may look at the plat made by William Clark, surveyor of the board of commissioners and find 16 acres marked for Thomas Machesney in section 169 and 200 more in section three. Section three fronted the Ohio some distance above Bear Grass Creek and was of course on the Illinois shore. As for my own plots some miles in the interior I never saw them but I own them to this day. I mention these things as bearing on the story of my life with which I must get on and therefore I may not dwell upon this injustice to the men who won an empire and were flung a bone long afterwards. It was early autumn once more and such a busy week we had had at the mill that Tom was perforce obliged to remain at home and help though he longed to be gone with Cowan and Ray a hunting to the southwest. Up rides a man named Jarrett flings himself from his horse passes the time of day as he watches the grinding helps Tom to tie up a sack or two and hands him a paper. What's this says Tom staring at it blankly. You won't blame me Mac answers Mr. Jarrett somewhat ashamed of his role as process server ain't none of my doings. Read it Davey said Tom giving it to me. I stopped the mill and unfolding the paper read I remember not the quaint wording of it say that it was ill spelled and ill writ generally. In short it was a summons for Tom to appear before the court at Danville on a certain day in the following week and I made out that a Mr. Neville coal facts was the plaintiff in the matter and that the suit had to do with his land. Oh coal facts I exclaimed that's the man for whom Mr. Potts was agent I said Tom and set him down on the meal bags draft of arm it he can have the land at the land cried Polly and who had come in upon us. Have you no spirit Tom Machesney there's no chance again the law said Tom hopelessly there's Perkins at his land took away last year and Terrell's moved out 20 more I could name and there's Daniel Boone himself most of the rich bottom he took up the critters have got away from him yield go to Danville and take Davey with you and fight it answered Polly and decidedly Davey has a word to say I reckon plus he made the mill and scared that Mr. Potts away I reckon he'll get us out of this fix Mr. Jarrett applauded her courage he had the grit ma'am he said as he mounted his horse again here's luck to you the remembrance of Mr. Potts wave heavily upon my mind during the next week per chance Tom would have to pay for this prank likewise was indeed a foolish childish thing to have done and I might have known that it would only have put off the evil day of reckoning since then by reason of the mill site and the business we got by it the land had become the most valuable in that part of the country and I know and Colonel Clark's whereabouts I should have gone to him for advice and comfort as it was we were forced to await the issue without counsel Polly Ann and I talked it over many times while Tom set morose and silent in the corner he was the pioneer pure and simple afraid of no man red or white in open combat but defenseless and such matters as this tis Davey will save us Tom said Polly Ann with the learning he's got while the corn was grinding I had indeed been reading at the mill while the hopper emptied itself such odd books as drifted into Herod's town one of these was called Bacon's abridgement it dealt with law and it puzzled me sorely and the children Polly Ann continued you'll not make me pick up the four of them and pack it to Louisiana because Mr. Colfax wants the land we've made for ourselves there were four of them now indeed the youngest still in the bark cradle in the corner he bore no less illustrious name than that of the writer of these chronicles it would be hard to say which was the more troubled Tom or I that windy morning we set out on the Danville trace Polly Ann alone had been serene I and smiling and hopeful she had kissed us each goodbye impartially and we left her with a future governor of Kentucky on her shoulder tripping lightly down to the mill to grind McGarry's corn when the forest was cleared at Danville justice was housed first she was not the serene exorable dame whom we had seen in pictures holding her scales above the jars of earth justice at Danville was a somewhat higher spirited quarrelsome lady who decided matters oftenest with the stroke of a sword there was a certain dignity about her temple with all for instance if a judge wore linen that linen must not be soiled nor was it etiquette for a judge to lay his own hands in chastisement on contentious persons though justice at Danville had more compassion than her sisters in older communities upon human failings there was a temple built to her of huge or solid logs nine inches thick so said the specifications within the temple was a rude platform which served as a bar and since justice is supposed to carry a torch in her hand there were no windows nor any windows in the jail next door where some dozen offenders languished on the afternoon that Tom and I rode into town there was nothing auspicious in the appearance of Danville and no man might have said then that the place was to be the scene of fortitious conventions which were to decide the destiny of a state here was a sprinkling of log cabins some in the building and an inn by courtesy so called Tom and I would have preferred to sleep in the woods nearby with our feet to the blaze this was partly from motive of economy and partly because Tom in common with other pioneers held an inn in contempt but to come back to our arrival it was a sunny and windy afternoon and the leaves were flying in the air around the courthouse with a familiar buzzing scene the back woodsmen lounging against the wall or brawling over their claims the sleek agents and attorneys and half a dozen of a newer type these were adventurous young gentlemen of family some of them lawyers and some of them late officers in the continental army who had been rewarded with grants of land these were the patrons of the log tavern which stood nearby with the blackened stumps around it where there was much card playing and roustering eye and even dueling of knights there's Mack cried a back woodsman who was sitting on the courthouse steps as we wrote up howdy Mack be they trying to get your land too howdy Mack said a dozen more paying a tribute to Tom's popularity and some of them greeted me is this where they take a man's land away says Tom jerking his thumb at the open door Tom had no intention of uttering a witticism but his words were followed by loud goofalls from all sides even the lawyers joining in I reckon this is the place Tom came the answer I reckon I'll take a peep in there said Tom leaping off his horse and shouldering his way to the door I followed him curious the building was half full two elderly gentlemen of grave demeanor sat on stools behind a punchy and table and near them a young man was writing behind the young man was a young gentleman who was closing a speech as we entered and he had spoken with such vehemence that the perspiration stood out on his brow there was a murmur from those listening and I saw Tom pressing his way to the front if any of you seen a fella named Colfax cries Tom and a loud voice he says he owns the land I settled and he never seeded there was a roar of laughter and even the judges smiled where is he cries Tom said he'd be here today another gust of laughter drowned his words and then one of the judges got up and wrapped on the table the gentleman who had just made the speech glared mightily and I suppose he had lost the effect of it what do you mean by interrupting the court cried the judge get out sir or I'll have you find for contempt Tom looked dazed but at that moment a hand was laid on his shoulder and Tom turned glass as he there's no devil if it ain't the Colonel Polly and told me not to let him scare me Colonel and quite right Tom Colonel Clark answered smiling he turned to the judges if your honors please said he this gentleman is an old soldier of mine and unused to the ways of the court I beg your honors to excuse him the judges smiled back and the Colonel led us out of the building now Tom said he after he had given me a nod and a kind word I know this Mr. Colfax and if you will come into the tavern this evening after court we'll see what can be done I have a case of my own at present Tom was very grateful he spent the remainder of the daylight hours with other friends of his shooting at a mark nearby serenely competent of the result of his case now that Colonel Clark had a hand in it Tom being one of the best shots in Kentucky he had won two beaver skins before the early autumn twilight fell as for me I had an afternoon of excitement in the court fascinated by the marvels of its procedures by the impassioned speeches of its advocates by the gravity of its judges ambition stirred within me the big room of the tavern was filled with men and heated talk over the day's doings some calling out for black Betty some for rum and some demanding apple totties the landlord slovenly Negro came in with candles their feeble rays reinforcing the firelight and revealing the mud chinked walls Tom and I had barely set ourselves down at the table in the corner when in came Colonel Clark beside him was a certain swarthy gentleman whom I had noticed in the court a man of some 35 years with a fine fleshy face and cold black hair his expression was not one to give us the hope of an amicable settlement in fact he had the scowl of a thunder cloud he was talking quite angrily and seemed not to he doves around him why the devil should I see the man Clark he was saying the colonel did not answer until they had stopped in front of us major cold facts said he this is sergeant Tom Machestny one of the best friends I have in Kentucky I think a vast deal of Tom major he was one of the few that never failed me in the Illinois campaign he is as honest as the day you will find him plain spoken if he speaks at all and they'll have great hopes that you will agree Tom the major and I are boyhood friends and for the sake of that friendship he has consented to this meeting I fear that your kind efforts will be useless colonel major cold facts put in retler partly mr. Machestny not only ignores my rights but he was near to hang in my agent what says colonel Clark I glanced at Tom however helpless he might be in a court he could be counted on to stand up stonkly in a personal argument his retorts would certainly not be brilliant but they surely would be dogged major cold facts had begun wrong I reckon you got no rights that I know on said Tom I cleared the land and settled it and I have a better right to it nor any man and I've got a grant for it a Henderson grant cried the major his so much worthless paper I reckon it's good enough for me answered Tom it come from those who blaze their way out here and drove the redskins off I don't know nothing about this newfangled law but is a queer thing to my thinking if they am that fit for a place ain't got the first right to it major cold facts turned to colonel Clark with marked impatience I told you it would be useless Clark said he I care not a fig for a few paltry acres and as God hears me I'm a reasonable man he did not look it in but I swear by the evangelicals I'll let no squatter have the better of me I did not serve Virginia for gold or land but I lost my fortune in that service before I know it these back woodsman will have every acre of my grant it's an old story said Mr cold facts hotly and why the devil did we fight England if it wasn't that every man should have his rights I God I'll not be frightened or tweetled out of mind I sent an agent to Kentucky to deal politely and reasonably with these gentry what did they do to him some of them threw him out neck and crop and if I'm not mistaken said major cold facts fixing a piercing eye upon Tom if I'm not mistaken it was this worthy sergeant of yours who came near to hanging him and made the poor devil fleek and took it for his life this remark brought me near to an untimely laugh at the remembrance of Mr. Potts and this though I was far too sober over the outcome of the conference Colonel Clark seized hold of a chair and pushed it under major cold facts sit down gentlemen we're not so far apart said the Colonel Cooley the slobberingly negro lad passing at that time he caught him by the sleeve here boy a bowl of toddy quick and mind you brew it strong now Tom said he what is this fine tale about a hanging for nothing said Tom you tell me you didn't try to hang Mr. Potts cried major cold facts I'll tell you nothing said Tom and his jaw was set more stubbornly than ever major cold facts glanced at Colonel Clark you see he said a little triumphantly I could hold my tongue no longer major cold facts is unjust sir I cried to his Tom saved the man from hanging hey says Colonel Clark turning to me sharply so you had a hand in this Davey I might have guessed as much who the devil is this says Mr. Cold Facts a sort of ward of mine answers the Colonel drummer boy financier strategist in my Illinois campaign allow me to present to you major Mr. David Richie when my man objected to marching through the ice skimmed water up to their necks Mr. Richie showed them how God bless my soul exclaimed the major staring in me from under his black eyebrows he was but a child with an old head on his shoulders said the Colonel and his banter made me flush the Negro boy arriving with the toddy Colonel Clark served out three generous gourds full a smaller one for me your health my friends and I drink to a peaceful settlement you may drink to the devil if you like says Colonel cold facts glaring at Tom Tom Davey said Colonel Clark when he had taken half the gourd let's have the tail I'll barge you're behind this I flushed again and began by stammering for I had a great fear that major cold facts his tipper would fly into bits when he heard it well sir said I I was grinding corn at the mill when the man came I thought him a smooth mannered person and he did not give me his business he was just for wheeling me and was this Mr. McCasney's mill said he I said I Thomas Machesty I said I then he was all for praise for Thomas Machesty where is it said he he's at the far pastor said I and maybe look for it any moment where upon he sits down and tries to worm out of me the business of the mill the yield of the land after that he begins to talk about the great people he knows severe and Shelby and Robertson and Boone and the like I and his intimates the Randolph's and the Pope's and the cold facts is in Virginia it was then I asked him if he knew Colonel Campbell of Abingdon and what devilry was that demanded the Colonel as he dipped himself more of the toddy I'll come to it sir yes Colonel Campbell was his intimate and ranted if he did not tarry a week with him at Abingdon on his journeys after that he follows me to the cabin and sees Polly Ann and Tom and the children on the floor poking a possum I says he in his soft this voice a pleasant family scene and this is Mr. Machesty I'm your man says Tom then he praised the mill site and the land all over again is good enough for a farmer says Tom who holds under Henderson's grant I cried was that you wished to say an hour ago and I saw I had caught him fair by the eternal cried Colonel Clark bringing down his fist upon the table and what then I glanced at major cold facts but for the life of me I could make nothing of his look and what did your man say said Colonel Clark he called on the devil to bite me sir I answered the Colonel put down his gourd and began to laugh the major was looking at me fixedly and what then said the Colonel it was then Polly Ann called him a thief to take away the land Tom had fought for and paid for and tilled the man was all politeness once more said that the matter was unfortunate and that a new and good title might be had for a few skins he said that interrupted major cold facts half-rising in his chair he was a damn scoundrel so I thought sir I answered the devil you did said the major tut cold facts said the Colonel pulling him by the sleeve of his great coat sit down and let the land finish and then Mr. Boone had told me of a land agent who had made off with Colonel Campbell's silver spoons from Abingdon and how the Colonel had ridden east and west after him for a week with a rope hanging on his saddle I began to tell this story and instead of the description of Mr. Boone's man I put in that of Mr. Potts in height some five feet nine spare of shallow complexion and a green great coat major cold facts leaped up in his chair great jojoba he shouted you described the wrong man Colonel Clark roared with laughter thereby spilling some of his tauties a warrant he did so he cried and I'll warrant your agent went white as birch bark go on Davey there's not a great deal more sir I answered looking apprehensively at major cold facts who still stood the man vowed I lied but Tom laid hold of him and was for hurrying him off to Harrods town at once which would ill have suited your purpose put in the Colonel and what did you do with him we put him in a loft sir and then I told Tom that he was not Campbell's thief at all but I had a craving to scare the man out of Kentucky so I rode off to the neighbors and gave them the tail and bade them come after nightfall as though to hang Campbell's thief which they did and they were near to smashing the door trying to get in the cabin Tom told them the rascal had escaped but they must needs come in and have jigs and tauties until midnight when they were gone and we called down the man from the loft he was in such a state that he could scarce find the rungs of the ladder with his feet he rode away into the night and that was the last we heard of him Tom was not to blame sir Colonel Clark was speechless and when for the moment he would conquer his mirth a glance at Major Colfax would set him off again and laughter I was puzzled I thought my Colonel more human than of old how now Colfax he cried giving a poke to the major's ribs you hold the sequel to this farce the major's face was purple with what emotion I could not say suddenly he swung full at me you mean to tell me that you were the general of this hoax you he demanded in a strange voice the thing seemed an injustice to me sir I replied in self-defense and the man a rascal a rascal cried the major a nave a poll trune the simpleton and he came to me with no tail of having been outwitted by a stripply where upon Major Colfax began to shake gently at first and presently he was in such a gale of laughter that I looked on him in amazement Colonel Clark joining in again the major's eyes rested at length upon Tom and gradually he grew calm Machesney said he will have no bickering in court among soldiers the land is yours and tomorrow my attorney shall give you a deed to it your hand machesney the stubbornness vanished from Tom's face and there came instead a dazed expression as he thrust a great hard hand into the majors toward the land sir he stammered these varmints of settlers is getting thickest flies in july it was Polly Ann I reckon I'm obliged to you major there there said the major I thank the lord I came to Kentucky to see for myself damn the land I have plenty more little else he turned quizzically to Colonel Clark revealing a line of strong white teeth suppose we drink a health to your drummer boy said he lifting up his gourd end of chapter three book two chapter four of the crossing by Winston Churchill this lever box recording is in the public domain chapter four I cross the mountains once more is what you were right to Davey said Polly Ann and she handed me a little buckskin bag on which she had been sewing I opened it with trembling fingers and poured out chinking on the table such a motley collection of coins as was never seen Spanish mill dollars English sovereigns and crowns and shillings paper issues of the Confederacy and I know not what else Tom looked on with a grin while little Tom and Peggy reached out their hands in delight their mother vigorously blocking their intentions you've earned it yourself said Polly Ann for stalling my protest kiss what you got by the mill and I've laid it by bit by bit for your education and what do you get I cried striving by feigned anger to keep the tears back from my eyes have you no family to support faith she answered we have the mill that she gave us and the farm and Tom's rifle I reckon will fare better than you think though we'll miss you soar about the place I picked out two sovereigns from the heap drop them in the bag and thrust it into my hunting shirt there said I my voice having no great steadiness not a penny more I'll keep the bag for your sake Polly Ann and I'll take the mare for Tom's she had had a song on her lips ever since I were coming back from Danville seven days ago a song on her lips and banter on her tongue as she made me a little hunting shirt and breeches for the journey across the mountains and now with a sudden movement she burst into tears and flung her arms about my neck oh David is no time to be stubborn she sobbed and education is a costly thing ever since I found you on the trace years ago I've thought of you one day as a great man and when you come back to us so big and learned I'd wish to be saying with pride that I helped you and who else Polly Ann I faltered my heart wracked with the parting you found me as a homeless wife and you gave me a home and a father and mother Davey you'll not forget us when you're great I know you'll not he's not in you she stood back and smiled at me through her tears the light of heaven was in that smile and I have dreamed of it ever since age has crept upon me truly God sets his own mark on the pure in heart on the unselfish I glanced for the last time around the rude cabin every timber of which was dedicated to our sacrifices and our love the fireplace with its rough stones on the pegs the quaint butternut garments which Polly Ann had stitched the baby in his bark cradle the rough bedstead and the little trundle pushed under it and the very homely odor of the place is dear to me yet despite the rigors and the dangers of my life here should I ever again find such happiness and peace in the world the children clung to my knees and with a God's bless you Davey and come back to us Tom squeezed my hand until I winced with pain I leaped on the mare and with blinded eyes rode down the familiar trail past the mill to Harrodsburg there Mr. Neville Colfax was waiting to take me across the mountains there is a story in every man's life like the colonel in the shell of the hickory nut I am ill acquainted with the arts of a biographer but I seek to give in these pages little of the shell and the whole of the colonel of mine it would be unwise and tiresome to recount the journey over the bare mountains with my new friend and benefactor he was a strange gentleman now jolly enough to make me shake with laughter and forget the sorrow of my parting now moody for a night and a day now he was all sweetness now all fire now he was abstemious now self-indulgent and prodigal he had a will like flint and under it a soft heart cross his moods and he hated you I never thought to cross them therefore he called me Davey and his friendliness grew with our journey his anger turned against rocks and rivers landlords and immigrants but never against me and for this I was silently thankful and how had he come to take me over the mountains and to put me in the way of studying law mindful of the colonel of my story I have shortened the chapter to tell you out of the proper place major colfax had made Tom and me sup with himself and colonel Clark at the end in danville and so pleased had the major professed himself with my story of having out with his agent that he must needs have more of my adventures colonel Clark gave him some and Tom his tongue loosed by the tidy others and the colonel added to the debt I owed him by suggesting that major colfax take me to virginia and recommend me to a lawyer there nay cried the major I'll do more I like the lad for he is modest despite the way you've paraded him I have an uncle in Richmond judge went worth to whom I will take him in person and when the judge is done with him if he's not flayed and tattooed with Blackstone you may flay and tattoo me thus did I break through my environment and it was settled that I should meet the major in seven days at Harrods town once in the journey did the major make mention of a subject which had troubled me baby said he Clark has changed he's not the same man he was when I saw him in Williamsburg demanding supplies for his campaign Virginia has used him shamefully sir I answered and suddenly there came flooding to my mind themes I had heard the colonel say in the campaign commonwealths have short memories said the major they will accept any sacrifice with a smile Shakespeare I believe speaks of royal ingratitude he knew not commonwealths Clark was close-lipped once not given to levity and to toddy there there he is my friend as well as yours and I will prove it by pushing his cause in Virginia is your scotch anger then the devil fiend me from it a monarch would have given him 50 000 acres on the wall badge a palace and a sufficient annuity Virginia has given him a sword 8 000 wild acres to be sure repudiated the deaths of his army and left him to starve is there no room for a genius and our infant military establishment at length as Christmas junior we came to major Colfax's seat some 40 miles out of the town of Richmond it was called Neville's Grange the major's grandfather having so named it when he came out from England some 60 years before it was a huge rambling drafty house of wood mortgaged so the major cheerfully informed me thanks to the patriotism of the family at Neville's Grange the major kept a somewhat rustrous bachelor's hall the place was overrun with negroes and dogs and scarce a night went by that there was not merry making in the house with the neighbors the time passed pleasantly enough until one frosty January morning major Colfax had a twinge of remembrance cried out for horses took me into Richmond and presented me to that very learned and decorous gentleman judge Wentworth my studies began within the hour of my arrival end of chapter four book two chapter five of the crossing by Winston Churchill this lever box recording is in the public domain chapter five I meet an old bed fellow I shall burden no one with the dry chronicles of a law office the requirement of learning is a slow process in life and perchance a slower one in the telling I lacked not application during the three years of my stay in Richmond and to earn a living I worked at such odd task as came my way the judge resembled major Colfax in but one trait he was choleric but he was painstaking and cautious and I soon found out that he looked to scants upon anyone whom his nephew might recommend I liked the major but he vowed him to be a roisterer and spin thrift and one day some months after my ad that the judge asked me flatly how I came to fall in with major Colfax I told him at the end of this conversation he took my breath away by bidding me come to live with him like many lawyers of that time he had a little house in one corner of his grounds for his office it stood under great spreading trees and there I was want to sit through many a summer day wrestling with the authorities in the evenings we would have political arguments for the confederacy was in a seething state between the federalist and the republicans over the new constitution now ratified between the federalists and the jack of beans I would better say for the virulence of the French revolution was soon to be reflected among the parties of our side Kentucky swelled into an unmanageable territory was come near to rebellion because the government was not strong enough to rest from Spain the free navigation of the Mississippi and yet I yearned to go back and looked forward eagerly to the time when I should have stored enough in my head to gain admission to the bar I was therefore greatly embarrassed when my examinations came by an offer from judge Wentworth to stay in Richmond and help him with his practice it was an offer not to be lightly set aside and yet I had made up my mind he flew into a passion because of my desire to return to a wild country of outlaws and vagabonds why damn me he cried Kentucky in this pretty state of Franklin which desired to chip off from North Carolina or traitorous places disloyal to Congress intriguing with a Spanish minister and the Spanish governor of Louisiana to secede from their own people and join the king of Spain bah he exclaimed if our new federal constitution is adopted I would hang jack severe of Franklin and your Kentucky and Wilkinson to the highest trees west of the mountains I can see the little gentleman as he spoke his black broadcloth coat and his lace ruffles his hand clutching the gold head of his cane his face screwed up with indignation under his white wig it was on a Sunday and he was standing by the lilac bushes on the lawn in front of his square brick house David said he more calmly I trust I've taught you something besides the law I trust I've taught you that a strong federal government alone will be the salvation of our country you cannot blame Kentucky greatly sir said I feeling that I must stand up for my friends the federal government has done little enough for its people and treated them to a deal of neglect they won that western country for themselves with no federal nor Virginia or North Carolina troops to help them no man east of the mountains knows what that fight has been no man east of the mountains knows the horror of that Indian warfare this government gives them no protection now may congress cannot even procure for them an outlet for their commerce they must trade or perish Spain closes the Mississippi arrests our merchants seizes their goods and often throws them into prison no wonder they scorn the congress is weak and impotent the judge stared at me aghast it was the first time I had dared oppose him on the subject what he sputtered but you're a separatist you whom I have received into the blism of my family seizing the cane at the middle he brandished it in my face don't misunderstand said I you've given me books to read and you've taught me what may be the destiny of our nation on this continent but you must forgive a people whose lives have been spent in a fierce struggle for their homes whose families have nearly all lost some member by massacre who are separated by hundreds of miles of wilderness from you he looked at me speechless and turned and walked into the house I thought I had sinned past forgiveness and I was beyond description uncomfortable for he had been like a parent to me but the next morning at half after seven he walked into the little office and laid down some gold pieces on my table gold was very scarce in those days therefore your journey David said he my only comfort in your going back is that you may grow up to put some temperance into their wild heads I have a commission for you at Jonesboro and what was once the unspeakable state of Franklin you can stop there on your way to Kentucky he drew from his pocket a great bulky letter addressed to Thomas Wright Esquire barrister at law in Jonesboro North Carolina for the good gentleman could not bring himself to write Franklin it was late in September of the year 1788 when I set out on my homeward way for Kentucky was home to me I was going back to Polly Ann and Tom and visions of that home coming rose before my eyes as I rode in a packet in my saddlebags for some dozen letters which Mr. Wren the schoolmaster at Howardstown had written at Polly Ann's bidding I have the letters yet for Mr. Wren was plainly an artist and had sat down on the paper the words just as they had flowed from her heart I and there was news in the letters though not surprising news among those pioneer families whom God blessed so abundantly since David Richie Machesney I mentioned the name with pride had risen above the necessities of a bark cradle two more had succeeded him a brother and a sister I spurred my horse onward and thought impatiently of the wary leagues between my family and me I have often pictured myself on that journey I was 21 years of age though one would have called me older my looks were nothing to boast of and I was grown up tall and greedy so that I must have been quite a comical sight with my long legs dangling on either side of the pony I wore a suit of gray home spun and in my saddlebags I carried four precious law books the stock and trade which my generous patron had given me but as I mounted the slopes of the mountains my spirits rose too at the prospect of the life before me the words were all aflame with color with wine and amber and gold and the hills wore the misty mantle of shadowy blues so dear to my youthful memory as I left the rude taverns of a morning and jogged along the heights I watched the vapors rise and roll away from the valleys far beneath and saw great flocks of ducks and swans and cackling geese darkening the air in their southward flight strange that I fell in with no company for the trail leading into the Tennessee country was widened and brought into the young belief and everywhere I came upon blackened fires and abandoned lean twos and refuse bones gnawed by the wolves and bleached by the weather I slept in some of these lean twos with my fire going brightly indifferent to the howl of wolves in chase or the scream of a panther pouncing on its prey for I was born of the wilderness it had no terrors for me nor did I ever feel alone the great cliffs with their clinging gnarled trees the vast mountains clothed in the motley colors of the autumn the sweet and smoky smell of the indian summer all were dear to me as I drew near to jonesborough my thoughts began to dwell upon that strange and fascinating man who had entertained polyanne and tom and me so lavishly on our way to Kentucky captain john sevier for he had made a great noise in the world since then and the wrath of such men as my late patron was heavy upon him yes john sevier nala chuck it jack had been a king in all but name since I had seen him the head of such principality has stirred the blood to read about it comprised the watoga settlement among the mountains of what is now tennessee and was called prosaically as is the want of the anglo saxon the free state of franklin there were certain conservative and unimaginative souls in this mountain principality who for various reasons held their old allegiance to the state of north carolina one colonel tipton led these loyalist forces and armed partisans of either side had for some years ridden up and down the length of the land burning and pillaging and slaying we in virginia had heard of two sets of courts in franklin of two sets of legislators but of late the rumor had grown persistently that nala chuck it jack was now a kind of fugitive and that he had passed the summer pleasantly enough fighting indians in the vicinity of nickah jack cave it was a court day as i rode into the little town of jones burrow the air sparkling like a blue diamond over the mountain crests and i drew deep into my lungs once more the scent of the frontier life i loved so well in the streets currents of excited men flowed and backed and added backwards men and farmers in the familiar hunting shirts of hide or home spun and lawyers in dress less rude a line of horses stood kicking and switching their tails in front of the log pattern rough carts and wagons had been left here and there with their poles on the ground and between these piles of skins were heaped up and bags of corn and grain the log meeting house was deserted but the courthouse was the center of such a swirling crowd as i had often seen at harrods town now there are brawls and brawls and i should have thought with shame of my kentucky bringing up had i not perceived that this was no ordinary court day and that an unusual excitement was in the wind tying my horse and making my way through the press in front of the tavern door i entered the common room and found it stifling brawling and drinking going on a pace scarce had i found a seat before the whole room was emptied by one consent all crowding out of the door after two men who began a rough and tumble fight in the street i had seen rough and tumble fights in kentucky and if i have foreborn to speak of them it's because there always has been within me a loathing for them and so i sat quietly in the common room until the landlord came i asked him if he could direct me to mr right's house as i had a letter for that gentleman his answer was to grin at me incredulously i reckon you weren't from these parts said he writes out of town what is the excitement i demanded he stared at me nala chuckie jack's been here and jones burrow young man said he what i exclaimed colonel sevillar i sevillar he repeated with martin and tippton and all the carlini man right here having a council of millicare officers in the courthouse he enrides jack with his frontier boys like a furrow win he bent a fear of them and a bench warring out again perhaps reason never seen such a recklessness never had such a jamboree since i kept the tavern they within this year room most of the day and there was five fights before they sat down to dinner and colonel tippton i said oh tippton said he he ain't a fear neither but he ain't got man enough and where see if you're now i demanded how long have you been in town was his answer i told him well shifting his tobacco from one shallow cheek to the other i reckon he and his boys wrote out just before you come in mark me he added when i tell you there'll be trouble yet tippton and martin and the carolini folks is burning mad with chuckie jack for the murder of corn tassel and other peaceful chiefs but jack has a wild lot with him some of the nala chuckie cave traders and there's one young lad that looks like he was a gentleman once i reckon jack himself wouldn't like to get into a fight with him he's a wild one great galia exclaimed running to the door if there ain't a going to be another fight never seen such a day in jones borough i likewise ran to the door and this fight interested me there was a great black bearded mountaineer farmer desperado in the midst of a circle pouring out a torrent of abuse set a tall young man that there's hump gibson said the landlord genuinely pointing out the black bearded ruffian and the young lawyer fella he's get a judgment against him he's got spunk but i reckon hump will tire the innards out of him if he stands there great wild you'll get judgment against me your carolini sprinter will you yells mr gibson with an oath i'll pay bill wilder the skins when i get ready and all the pin hook lawyers in washington county won't budge me of might you'll pay billy wilder or go to jail by the eternal tried the young man quite as angrily whereupon i looked upon him with a mixture of admiration and commiseration with a gulping certainty in my throat that i was about to see murder done he was a strange young man with a rare marked look that would compel even a poor memory to pick him out again for example he was very tall and very slim with red hair blown every which way over a high and towering forehead that seemed as long as the face under it the face too was long and all freckled by the weather the blue eyes held me in wonder and these blazed with such prodigious wrath that if a look could have killed hunk gibson would have been stricken on the spot mr gibson was however very much alive skin out of here for a kill ya he shouted and be charged at the slim young man like a buffalo while the crowd held its breath i who had looked upon cruel sights in my day was turning away with a kind of sickening when i saw the slim young man dodge the rush he did more with two strides of his long legs he reached the fence ripped off the topmost rail and his huge antagonists having changed his direction and coming at him with a bellow was met with the point of a scaffolding in the pit of his stomach and mr gibson fell heavily to the ground it had all happened in the twinkling and there was a moment's lull while the minds of the onlookers needed readjustment and then they gave vent to ecstasies of delight gray goliath tried the landlord breathlessly he shat him up just like a jackknife all struck i looked at the tall young man and he was the very essence of wrath unmindful of the plaudits he stood brandishing the fence rail over the great writhing figure on the ground and he was slobbering i recall that this fact gave me a twinge to something in my memory come on hump gibson he cried come on at which the crowd went wild with pure joy witticisms flew thought you was going to eat him up hump said a friend you ain't had your meal yet hump reminded another mr hump gibson arose slowly out of the dust yet he did not stand straight come on come on cried the young lawyer fellow and he thrust the point of the rail within a foot of mr gibson's stomach come on hump howl the crowd but mr gibson stood irresolute he lacked the supreme test of courage which was demanded on this occasion then he turned and walked away very slowly as though his pace might mitigate in some degree the shame of his retreat the young man flung away the fence rail and thrusting aside the overzealous among his admirers he strode past me into the tavern his anger still hot hooray for jackson they shouted hooray for andy jackson andy jackson then i knew then i remembered a slim wild sandy haired boy digging his toes in the red mud long ago at the wax hall settlement and i recalled with a smile my own fierce struggle at the schoolhouse with the same boy and how his slobbering had been my salvation i turned and went in after him with the landlord who was rubbing his hands with glee i reckon hump won't be crowing around here anymore caught days mr jackson said his host but mr jackson swept the room with his eyes and then glared at the landlord so that he gave back where's my man he demanded your man mr jackson stammered the host great jahoba cried mr jackson i believe he's afraid to race he had a horse that could show heels to my nancy did he and he's gone you say a light seemed to dawn on the landlord's countenance god bless you mr jackson he cried you don't mean that young daredevil that was with seavier with seavier says jackson i says the landlord he's been a fighting with seavier all summer and i reckon he ain't afraid of nothing anymore than you wait his name was temple nick temple they called it nick temple i cried starting forward where is he gone said mr jackson he was going to bet me a 640 he has a nash burrow that his horse could beat mine on the greasy cove track where is he gone gone said the landlord apologetically molly chucky jack and his boys left town an hour ago is he a man upon or isn't he said mr jackson fiercely lord sir i only seen him once but i've staked my oath on it do you mean to say mr temple has been here nicholas temple i said the bewildered landlord turned towards me helplessly who the devil i used her cried mr jackson tell me what this mr temple was like said i the landlord's face lighted up they the thoroughbred horse says he said nostrils and such a gray eye with the devil in forego yellow-haired and as tall as mr jackson here and you say he's gone off again with seavier they rode into town he lowered his voice for the room was filling snapped his fingers that tipped in and his warrant and rode out again my god but that was like nala chucky jack say stranger when your mr temple smiled he's the man i cried tell me where to find him mr jackson who had been divided between astonishment and impatience and anger burst out again what the devil do you mean by interfering with my business sir because it's my business too i answered quite as testily my claim on mr temple is greater than yours by jahova cried jackson come outside sir come outside the landlord backed away and the men in the tavern began to press around us expectively gallop into him andy cried one don't let him get near no fences stranger said another mr jackson turned on this man with such truculence that he edged away to the rear of the room step out sir said mr jackson starting for the door before i could reply i followed perforce not without misgivings the crowd pushing eagerly after before we reached the dusty street jackson began pulling off his coat in a thrice the shouting onlookers had made a ring and we stood facing each other he and his shirt sleeves will fight fair said he his lips wetting very good said i if you're still accustomed to this hasty manner you have not asked my name my standing nor my reasons for warning mr temple i know not whether it was what i said that made him stare or how i said it pistols if you like said he no said i i met a hurry to find mr temple i fought you this way once and it's quicker you fought me this way once he repeated the noise of the crowd was hushed and they drew nearer to here come mr jackson said i you're a lawyer and the gentleman and so am i i do not care to be beaten to a pulp but i'm not afraid of you and i'm in a hurry if you will step back into the tavern i will explain to you my reasons for wishing to get to mr temple mr jackson stared at me the more by the eternal said he you're a cool man give me my coat he shouted to the bystanders and they helped him on with it now said he as they made to follow him he back i would talk to this gentleman by the heavens he cried when he had gained the room i believe you're not afraid of me i saw it in your eyes then i laughed mr jackson said i doubtless you do not remember a homeless boy named david whom you took to your uncle's house in the wax halls i do he exclaimed as i live i do why we slept together and you stumped your toe getting into bed and swore said i at that he laughed so heartily that the landlord came running across the room and we fought together at the old field school are you that boy and he scanned me again by god i believe you are suddenly his face clouded once more so what about temple said he ah i answered i come to that quickly mr temple is my cousin after i left your uncle's house my father took me to charlestown is he a charlestown temple demanded mr jackson for i spent some time gambling and horse racing with the gentry there and i know many of them i was a wild lad i repeat his exact words and i ran up a bill in charlestown that would have filled a folio volume faith all i had left me was the clothes on my back and a good horse i made up my mind one night that if i could pay my debts and get out of charlestown i would go into the backcountry and study law and sober down there was a mr braden in the ordinary who staked me 200 dollars at rattle and snap against my horse yeah sir that was providence i won i left charlestown with honor i studied law at solsbury in north carolina and i've come here to practice it you seem to have a talent said i's smiling at the remembrance of the hunk gibson incident that's my history in a nutshell said mr jackson and now he added since you're mr temple's cousin and friend and an old acquaintance of mine to boot i will tell you where i think he is where is that i asked eagerly i'll stake a cowbell that seavier will stop at the widow browns he replied i'll put you on the road but mind you you are to tell mr temple that he is to come back here and race me at greasy co i want him to come said i were upon we left the end together more amicably than before mr jackson had a thoroughbred horse nearby that was a pleasure to see and my admiration of his mount seemed to set me as firmly and mr jackson's esteem again as that gentleman himself sat in the saddle he was as good as his word rode out with me some distance on the road and reminded me at the last that nick was to race him end of chapter five book two chapter six of the crossing by winston church hill this labor box recording is in the public domain chapter six the widow browns it was not to my credit that i should have lost the trail after mr jackson put me straight but the night was dark the country unknown to me and heavily wooded and mountainous in addition to these things my mind ran like fire my thoughts sometimes flew back to the wondrous summer evening when i trod the nala chuckie trace with tom and polyanne when i first looked down upon the log palace of that prince of the border john seavier well i remembered him broad shouldered handsome gay a courtier in buck skin small wonder he was idolized by the wataga settlers that he had been their leader in the struggle of franklin for liberty and a small wonder that nick temple should be in his following nick my mind was in a torment concerning him what of his mother should i speak of having seen her i went blindly through the woods for hours after the night fell my horse stumbling and weary until at length i came to a lonely clearing on the mountain side and a fierce pack of dogs dashed barking at my horse's heels there was a dark cabin ahead indistinct in the starlight and there i knocked until a gruff voice answered me and a tousled man came to the door yes i had missed the trail he shook his head when i asked for the widow browns and made me share his bed for the night no i would go on i was used to the backwards there upon he thought a little kicked the dogs and pointed where the mountain dipped against the star studded sky there was a trail there which led direct to the widow browns if i could follow it so i left him once the fear had settled deeply and missing nick at the widow browns i put my mind on my journey and thanks to my early training i was able to keep the trail it doubled around the spurs ported stony brooks and diagonals and often in the darkness of the mountain forest i had to feel for the blazes on the trees there was no making time i gained the notch with the small hours of the morning started on with the descent criss-crossing following a stream here and a stream there until at length the song of the higher water ceased and i knew that i was in the valley suddenly there was no crown cover over my head i had gained the road once more and i followed it hopefully avoiding the stumps and the deep wagon ruts where the ground was spongy the morning light revealed a milky mist through which the trees showed like phanoms then there came stains upon the mist of royal purple of scarlet of yellow like a mandarin's robe peeps of deep blue fading into azure as the mist lifted the fiery eye of the sun was cocked over the crest and beyond me i saw a house with its logs all golden brown in the level rays the withered corn stalks orange among the blackened stumps my horse stopped of its own will at the edge of the clearing a cock crew a lean howl and prostrate on the porch of the house rose to his honches sniffed growled leaped down and ran to the road and sniffed again i listened startled and made sure of the distant ring of many hoofs and yet i stayed there irresolute could it be tipton and his men riding from jones burrow to capture seat here the hoof beach grew louder and then the hound in the road gave tongue to the short sharp bark that is the call to arms other dogs hitherto unseen took up the cry and turning in my saddle i saw a body of men riding hard at me through the alley in the forest at their head on a heavy strong legged horse was one who might have stood for the figure of turbulence and i made no doubt that this was colonel tipton himself colonel tipton once secessionist now champion of the old north state and arch enemy of john seabird at sight of me he reigned up so violently that his horse went back on his haunches and the men behind were near overriding him look out boys he shouted with a fierce oath they've got guards out he flung back one hand to his holster for a pistol while the other reached for the powder flask at his belt he primed the pan and seeing me immovable set his horse forward at an amble his pistol at the cock who in the hell are you he cried a traveler from virginia i answered and what are you doing here he demanded with another oath i've just this moment come here said i as calmly as i might i lost the trail in the darkness he glared at me purpling perplexed you see via there said he pointing at the house i don't know said i tipton turned to his men who were listening surround the house he cried and watched this fellow i rode on perforce towards the house with tipton and three others while his men scattered over the cornfield and cursed the dogs and then we saw in the open door the figure of a woman shading her eyes with her hand we pulled up five of us before the porch in front of her good morning mrs. brown said tipton roughly good morning carnal answered the widow tipton leaped from his horse plung the bridal to a companion and put his foot on the edge of the porch to mount then a strange thing happened the lady turned deftly seized a chair from within and pulled it across the threshold she set herself down firmly an expression on her face which hinted that the late limited mr. brown had been a dominated man carnal tipped and stopped staggering from the very impetus of his charge and gazed at her blankly i've come for carnal severe he blurted and then his anger rising i'll have no trifling ma'am he's in this house la you don't tell me answered the widow in a tone that was wholly conversational he's in this house shouted the carnal i reckon you've guessed wrong carnal said the widow there was an awkward pause until tipton heard a titter behind him then his wrath exploded i have a warrant against the scoundrel for high treason he cried and by god i will search the house and serve it still the widow set tight the rock of ages was neither more movable nor calmer than she surely carnal you would not invade the house of an unprotected female the carnal evidently with a great effort throttled his wrath for the moment his new tone was apologetic but firm i regret to have to do so ma'am said he but both sexes are equal before the law the law repeated the widow seemingly tickled at the word she smiled indulgently at the carnal what a pity mr tipton that the law compels you to arrest such a good friend of yours as carnal severe what self-sacrifice carnal tipton what nobility there was a second titter behind him where at he swung round quickly and the crimson veins in his face looked as if they must burst he saw me with my hand over my mouth you warned him damn you he shouted and turning again leaped to the porch and tried to squeeze past the widow into the house i dare you sir she shrieked giving him a vigorous push backwards the four of us his three men and myself laughed outright tipton's rage leaped its bounds he returned to the attack again and again and yet at the crucial moment his courage would fail him and he would let the widow thrust him back suddenly i became aware that there were two new spectators of this comedy i started and looked again and was near to crying out at sight of one of them the others did cry out the tipton paid no heed ten years had made his figure more portly but i knew at once the man in the well-fitting hunting shirt with the long hair flowing to his shoulders with the keen dark face and cordially bearing and humorous eyes yes humorous even now for he stood smiling at this comedy played by his enemy unmindful of his peril the widow saw him before tipton did so intent was he on the struggle enough she cried enough john tipton tipton drew back involuntarily and a smile broadened on the widow's face shame on you for doubting a lady's word allow me to present to you colonel sevier tipton turned stared as a man might who sees a ghost and broken to such profanity as i have seldom heard by the eternal god john sevier he shouted i'll hang you to the nearest tree colonel sevier merely made a little ironical bow and looked at the gentleman beside him i have surrendered to colonel love he said tipton snatched from his belt the pistol he might have used on me and there flashed through my head the thought that some powder might yet be held in its pan we cried out all of us his man the widow and myself all save sevier who stood quietly smiling suddenly while we waited for murder a tall figure shot out of the door past the widow the pistol flew out of tipton's hand and tipton swung about with something like a bellow to face mr. nicolas temple well i knew him and oddly enough at that time riddles word of long ago came to me god helped the woman you love or the man you fight how shall i describe him he was thin even to seeming frailness yet it was the frailness of the racehorse the golden hair sun tanned a rye across his forehead the face the same thin and finely cut face of the boy the gray eyes held an anger that did not blaze it was far more dangerous than that colonel john tipton looked and as i live he recoiled if you touch him i'll kill you said mr. temple nor did he say it angrily i marked for the first time that he held a pistol in his slim fingers what tipton might have done when he swung to his new bearings his mere conjecture for colonel sevier himself stepped up on the porch laid his hand on temple's arm and spoke to him in a low tone what he said we didn't hear the astonishing thing was that neither of them for the moment paid any attention to the infuriated man beside them i saw nick's expression change he smiled the smile the landlord had described the smile that made men and women willing to die for him after that colonel sevier stooped down and picked up the pistol from the floor of the porch and handed it with a bow to tipton but first tipton took it seemingly without knowing why and at that instant a negro boy came around the house leading a horse sevier mounted it without a protest from anyone i'm ready to go with you gentlemen he said colonel tipton slipped his pistol back into his belt stepped down from the porch and leaped into his saddle and he and his men rode off into the stump-lined alley in the forest that was called a road nick stood beside the widow staring after them until they had disappeared my horse boy he shouted to the gaping negro who vanished on the errand what will you do mr. temple asked the widow rescue him ma'am cried nick beginning to pace up and down i'll ride to turners cosby and evans are there and before night we shall have made jones burrow too hot to hold tipton and his cutthroats la mr. temple said the widow with unfainted admiration i never saw the like of you but i know john tipton and he'll have colonel sevier started for north carolina before our boys can get to jones burrow then we'll follow says nick beginning to pace again suddenly at a cry from the widow he stopped and stared at me a light in his eye like a point of steel his hand slipped to his waist a spy he said and turned and smiled at the lady who was watching him with a kind of fascination but damnably cool he continued looking at me i wonder if he thinks stay out ride me on that beast look you sir he cried as mrs. browns negro came back struggling with a deep ribbed high crusted chestnut that was making half circles on his hind legs i'll give you the aid to the woods and lay you a 640 against a pair of moccasins that you never get back to tipton god forbid that i ever do i answered fervently what he exclaimed and you hear with him on this sneaks errand i'm here with him on no errand said i he and his crew came on me a quarter of an hour since at the edge of the clearing mr temple i'm here to find you and to save time i'll ride with you he gave you'll have to ride like the devil then said he and he stooped and snatched the widow's hand and kissed it with a daring gallantry that i had thought to find in him he raised his eyes to hers goodbye mr temple she said there was a tremor in her voice and may you save our jack he snatched the bridle from the boy and with one leap he was on the rearing wheeling horse come on he cried to me and waving his hat at the lady on the porch he started off with a gallop up the trail in the opposite direction from that which tipton's men had taken all that i saw of mr nicolas temple on that ride to turners was his back and presently i lost sight of that in truth i never got to turners at all for i met him coming back at the wind's pace a huge swarthy determined man at his side and four others spurring after the spume dripping from the horse's mouths they did not so much as look at me as they passed and there was nothing left for me to do but to turn my tired beast and follow it any pace i could make towards jonesborough it was late in the afternoon before i reached the town the town sat down among the hills like a cauldron boiling over with the wrath of franklin the news of the capture of their beloved sevier had flown through the mountains like seeds on the autumn wind and from north south east and west the faithful were coming in cursing tipton and carolina as they rode i tethered my tired beast at the first picket and was no sooner on my feet than i was caught in the hurrying stream of the crowd and fairly pushed and beaten towards the courthouse around it a thousand furious men were packed i heard cheering force and fierce cries threats and imprecations and i knew that they were listening to oratory i was suddenly shot around the corner of a house saw the orator himself and gasped it was nicolas temple there was something all impelling in the tall slim boyish figure that towered above the crowd in the finally wrought passionate face and the voice charged with such an anger as is given to few men what has north carolina done for franklin he cried protected her no repudiated her yes you gave her to the confederacy for a war debt and the confederacy flung her back you shook yourselves free from carolina's tyranny and traders betrayed you again and now they've betrayed your leader will you avenge him or will you sit down like cowards while they hang him for treason his voice was drowned but he stood immovable with arms folded until there was silence again will you rescue him he cried and the roar rose again will you avenge him by tomorrow we shall have two thousand here invade north carolina humble her bring her to our knees and avenge john seavier pandemonium rained hats were flung in the air rifles fired shouts and curses rose and blended into one terrifying note gradually in the midst of this mad uproar the crowd became aware that another man was standing upon the stop from which nicholas temple had leaked cozy someone yelled cozy the cry was taken up to say for close me he'll lead us into carolina he was the huge swarthy man i had seen riding hard with nick that morning a sculptor might have chosen his face and frame for a type of iron-handed leader of pioneers will was supreme in the great features inflexible indomitable will his hunting shirt was open across his great chest his black hair fell to his shoulders and he stood with a compelling hand raised for silence and when he spoke slowly resonantly men fell back before his words i admire mr. temple's courage and above all his loyalty to our beloved general said major cozy but mr. temple is young and the heated councils of youth must not prevail my friends in order to say jack seavier we must be moderate his voice strong as it was was lost to hell with moderation they shouted down with north carolina we'll fight her he got silence again by the magnetic strength he had in him very good he said but get your general first if we lead you across the mountains now his blood will be upon your heads no man is a better friend to jack seavier than i leave his rescue to me and i'll get him for you he paused and they were still before us i will get him for you he retreated slowly or north carolina will pay for the burial of james cozy there was an instant when they might have swung either way how will you do it came in a thin piping voice from somewhere near the stump it may have been this that turned their minds others took up the question how will you do it major cozy i don't know cried the major i don't know and if i did know i wouldn't tell you but i will get nala chuckie jack if i have to burn morgenton and rake the general out of the cinders five hundred hands flew up five hundred voices cried i'm with you major cozy but the major only shook his head and smiled what he said was lost in the roar fighting my way forward i saw him get down from the stump put his hand kindly on nick's shoulder and lead him into the courthouse they were followed by a score of others and the door was shut behind them it was then i thought myself of the letter to mr right and i sought for someone who would listen to my questions about his whereabouts at length the man himself was pointed out to me a ringing and excited crowd of partisans in front of his own gate some twenty minutes must have passed before i could get any word with him he was a vigorous little man with black eyes like buttons he wore brown homespun and white stockings and his hair was clubbed when he had yielded the ground to another orator i handed him the letter he drew me aside read it on the spot and became all hospitality at once the town was full and though he had several friends staying in his house i should join them was my horse fed dinner had been forgotten that day but would i enter and partake in short i found myself suddenly provided for and i lost no time in getting my weary mount into mr right's little stable and then i sat down with several other gentlemen at mr right's board where there was much guessing as to major cosby's plan no other man west of the mountains could have calmed that crowd after that young dare devil temple had stirred them up declared mr right i ventured to say that i had business with mr temple faith then i will invite him here said my host but i warn you mr richie that he's a trigger set on the hair if he does not fancy you he may quarrel with you and shoot you and he's in no temper to be trifled with today i'm not an easy person to quarrel with i answered to look at you i shouldn't say that you were said he we're going to the courthouse and i'll see if i can get a word with the young hot spur and send him to you do you wait here i waited on the porch as the day waned the tumult of the place had died down for men were gathering in the houses to discuss and conjecture and presently sauntering along the street in a careless fashion his spurs trailing in the dust came nicholas temple he stopped before the house and stared at me with a fine insolence and i wondered whether i myself had not been too hasty in reclaiming him a greeting died on my lips well sir he said so you're the gentleman who's been dogging me all day i don't know one mr temple i replied bitterly well not quibble about words said he would it be impertinent to ask your business and perhaps your name did not mr right give you my name i explained he might have mentioned it i did not hear is it of such importance at that i lost my temper entirely it may be and it may not i retorted i'm david richie he changed before my eyes as he stared at me and then ere i knew it he had me by both arms crying out david richie my davie who ran away from me and we were going to kentucky together oh i've never forgiven you the smile that there was no resisting belied his words as he put his face close to mine i never will forgive you i might have known you you've grown but i value you're still an old man davie you renegade and where the devil did you run to kentucky i said laughing oh you traitor and i trusted you i loved you davie do you remember how i clung to you in my sleep and when i woke up the world was black i followed your trail down the drive and to the crossroads it was not in gratitude nick i said and you were all i had in the world and then i faltered the sadness of that far-off time coming over me in a flood and the remembrance of his generous sorrow for me and how the devil did you track me to the widow browns he demanded releasing me a mr. jackson had a shrewd notion you were there and by the way he was in a fine temper because you had skipped a race with him that sorrow-topped lantern-headed mr. jackson said nick he'll be killed in one of his fine tempers damn a man who can't keep his temper i'll race him of course and where are you bound now davie for louisville in kentucky at the fall of the ohio it's a growing place and a promising one for a young man in the legal profession to begin life when do you leave said he tomorrow morning nick said i you wanted once to go to kentucky why not come with me his face clouded i do not budge from this town said he i do not budge until i hear that jack saviour is safe damn cosby if he had given me my way i should have been 40 miles from here by this i'll tell you cosby is even now picking five men to go to morgenton and steal saviour and he puts me off with a kind word he'll not have me he says he thinks you too hot it needs discretion and an old head said i ega then i'll come in you to him said nick now i said it's time for you to tell me something of yourself and how you chance to come into this country it was dawnley's fault said nick dawnley i exclaimed he whom you got into the duel with i stopped abruptly with a sharp twinge of remembrance that was like a pain in my side it was nick took up the name with harry riddle he spoke quietly that was the terrifying part of it david i've looked for that man in italy and france i've scoured london for him and by god i'll find him before he dies and when i do find him i swear to you that there'll be no such thing as time wasted or mercy i shuddered and all my life had never known such a moment of indecision should i tell him my conscience would give me no definite reply the question had haunted me all the night and i had lost my way in consequence nor had the morning's ride from the widow browns suffice to bring me to a decision of what used to tell him would riddles death mend matters the woman loved him that had been clear to me yet by telling nick what i knew i might induce him to desist from his search and if i did not tell nick might someday run across the trail follow it up take riddles life and lose his own the moment made for confession as it was past they've ruined my life said nick i curse him and i curse her hold i cried she is your mother and therefore i curse her the more he said you know what she is you've tasted of her charity and you're my father's nephew if you've been without experience i will tell you what she is a common i reached out and put my hand across his mouth silence i cried you shall say no such thing and have you not manhood enough to make your own life for yourself manhood he repeated and laughed it was a laugh i did not like they made a man of me my parents my father played faults with the rebels and fled to england for his reward a year after he went i was left alone at temple bow to the tender mercies of the niggers mr mason came back and snatched what was left of me he was a good man he saved me an annuity out of the estate he took me abroad after the war on a grand tour and died of a fever in rome i made my way back to charlestown and there i'd learn to gamble to hold liquor like a gentleman to run horses and fight like a gentleman we were speaking of darnley he said yes of darnley i repeated the devil of a man said nick do you remember him with the cracked boys and fat calves at any other time i should have laughed at the recollection darnley turned wig became a continental kernel and got a grant out here in the cumberland country of three thousand acres and now i own it you own it i explained rattle and snap said nick i played him for the land at the ordinary one night and won it is out here near a place called nash borough where this wild long-faced mr jackson says he's going soon i crossed the mountains to have a look at it fell in with nala chuckie jack and went off with him for a summer campaign there's a man for you davie he cried a man to follow through hell fire if they touch a hair of his head will sack the state of north carolina from morganton to the sea but the land i asked oh a fig for the land answered nick as soon as nala chuckie jack is safe i'll follow you into kentucky he slapped me on the knee eagad davie it seems like a fairy tale we always said we were going to kentucky didn't we what's the name of the place you're to startle with your learning and calm by your example louisville i answered laughing by the falls of the ohio i shall turn up there when jack seavier is safe and i've won some more land from mr jackson we'll have a rare old time together though i have no doubt you can drink me under the table beware of these sober men eagad davie you need only a wool sack to become a full-fledged judge and now tell me how fortune has buffeted you it was my second night without sleep but we set burning candles in mr right's house until the dawn making up the time which we had lost away from each other end of chapter six