and this time omitted the “thank you,” simply asking as gruffly as 
I could, ‘How far to Britt’s Landing?” He told me it was about 
three miles. I then bid my friend good-by, shook hands with him and 
proceeded up the muddy road. The booze put new life in me, it 
didn’t seem like my feet were so heavy after that and in less than 
an hour I was in Britt’s Landing. There was only one store at the 
landing, which was a sort of general merchandise arrangement. I 
bought a lunch from the proprietor and after eating, walked out on 
the gallery to look the country over. I noticed in the river three 
log rafts floating down and called to the storekeeper about them. 
He came to the door and informed me that they were logs Ben Butler 
was taking to Paduka. I asked him if he ever hired men to work on 
the rafts and when he told me they did I inquired about how I could 
find out if I could get a job. He told me to just go down to the 
bank of the river and holler at them; if they needed me they would 
come after me in a canoe. I grabbed my old wet satchel and started 
on a run for the bank. When I was directly opposite them I hollored 
at them and as soon as I got their attention I asked if they needed 
an extra man. They answered in the affirmative and asked if I 
wanted to go. When I said I did they pushed off a boat and paddled 
to the bank where I was in a very few minutes. “Fall in.” they com¬ 
manded, and I did, and we were soon back to the log raft, which we 
climbed aboard. 
I had traveled on foot 52 miles without seeing anyone much 
and now I was aboard a log raft headed for Paduka, Ky., and I knew 
if my father had any intentions of trying to overtake me and cause 
me to return he would have a hard time to strike my trail and keep 
it as this last jump would fool a bloodhound, a decidedly better trailer 
than Dad. 
The logs floated down the Tennessee River until nearly night, 
when old Ben Butler bawled out, “Boys, we will tie up at the Big 
Eddy.” We began to swing the raft to the left bank of the river. This 
was done by two long, large oars that were hinged to each end of 
each raft. 
Old Ben’s raft was the first to strike the eddy and out went two 
of the boys with a long coil of rope in their boat. They made the rope 
fast to a tree and the raft swung in to the bank. Each crew did the 
same until the rafts were all tied up. 
The next thing was supper. There was a cabin on old Ben’s raft 
made of long boards split out of good splitting timber. This cabin 
was to accommodate all three of the different crews. There was one 
man used as a cook, although he looked more like a cowboy; however 
he had cooked a meal that would stick to the ribs. He had pork and 
beans, beef and cabbage and corn bread, this was nicknamed the 
“Three Brothers,” as it was baked in a Dutch oven which would 
nicely receive three large cakes. His coffee was black and strong 
enough to walk away almost. Each man took his tin plate and cup, 
helped himself and then walked out of the cabin, found a seat on the 
raft and fell to. 
— 23 — 
