The Call of the Unknown 



ensued, continuing all through my 

 youthful years. But I am ahead of 

 my story. 



The British had just relinquished, 

 at the point of colonial bayonets, the 

 soil which they themselves had wrested 

 from the French and Indians; and 

 round the evening fire strange tales 

 were told of wondrous lands and fame 

 and fortune awaiting those who had 

 the courage to cross the mountains 

 and breast the hardships of pioneer 

 existence. For, in the distant west, 

 beyond the great blue domes of the 

 Appalachian ranges, lay Kentucky and 

 the broad Ohio. The "savages" had 

 been coaxed, cajoled, beaten, bought 

 or driven out of their own great in- 

 heritance, and with them sank the 

 power of France. A Government, in 

 grateful recognition of the services of 

 soldiers of the Revolution, made gen- 

 erous grants of some of the richest 

 lands in the world, and the race was 

 on. The magnet beyond the Blue 



[I8S] 



