For more than a generation Kentucky itself had been, in the strife between the savages and the settlers, the same "dark and bloody ground" which it had been for ages before the white men came, in endless struggles for its hunting-grounds, between the warring tribes of the red men. It was yet to become the scene of bloodier battles, the causes and magnitude of which could not then have been imagined by any man. The especial cause existed and was fast increasing; but it is worthy of note that there were but a few score of negro slaves in the broad reach of country then known as Hardin County, and which contained the several temporary residences of Tom Lincoln; also that the emigrants from Kentucky and other slave States into Illinois and Indiana did not go to escape contact with human servitude, and did not even become antislavery men, to any extent, in their new homes.

Abraham Lincoln was in no sense whatever born or reared as an abolitionist, and such prejudices as his father may have had were not opposed to any one particular kind of labor.

Tom Lincoln came back, and he came by land and on foot, and he had a tale to tell when Nancy asked him how well he had sold his cargo.

"Sold it? Wal, ye-es, I sold what thar was left of it. The best part on it went off down the Ohio, 'bout the time that thar flatboat of mine got twisted into an eddy and upBot."

"So ye kem back afoot, an' nothin' to show for it."

"Not quite so bad as that. I saved my kit of tools, and my rifle, and some of the barr'ls. I got the boat righted too, and I sold her, and I fished up some of the other things and I sold 'em. B-ut Nancy, I tell ye, I've located!"

"Found a place?”

"Best kind; and not a soul to interfere. It's jest about sixteen mile back from the Ohio River, and a sweeter spot you never seen. We'll light outen this to-morrer."

"I don't keer how soon we go."

It was not in Tom's nature to really move so promptly, and some days went by before the departure took place.

Transportation of some sort was a necessity, and horses were of small price in Kentucky in those days, except for the higher grades. Somehow or other, and by whatever title, Tom managed to obtain the services of two, such as they were. They were at all events good enough to carry what property he now had remaining, and there was little need of any wagon to roll behind them. That, too, was just as well, considering the nature of the roads to be traveled and the seasoned toughness of the bare feet of Tom Lincoln and his sad-faced wife, and of their boy and girl. There was no thought of tempting again the perils of Rolling Fork and Salt River and the Ohio on any kind of boat or float. Tom had had all the water he wanted.

Over in the graveyard, near Hodgensville, there was a very small green hillock, to which Mrs. Lincoln paid a visit, taking Abe with her, during those days of waiting. All she said to him about it was that if the little boy lying there had lived, he and Sally would now have a brother to travel to Indiana with them.

The day for departure came at last, and the route to be traveled had been determined beforehand. Towns and villages were scarce enough in all that region, and the few wayside taverns were on the lines of the more frequented highways. Little, however, did Tom Lincoln or his wife care for that, and the children did not know enough to give such things a thought. The whole forest, from Knob Creek to the Ohio, and as far beyond that river as any one might choose to go, was one grand hotel, open by night and day, and wherein there was no danger of being elbowed by other guests. Whenever a day's journey should be completed it would only be necessary to unpack the tired horses and turn them loose to pick their own supper. A fire could be kindled with flint and steel, and Mrs. Lincoln and Sally could fry a little bacon or cook such game as Tom's rifle might provide. They were almost sure to fall in with eatable wild creatures in the course of each day's march.

The burdens of the horses were not so heavy that they could not now and then take on also a human weight, and there was no special demand for haste.

It would be a mistake to describe the Lincoln family as undergoing hardships or privations in such a journey as they were now making. It was more like a prolonged "picnic” than anything else. At night, a bed of boughs with a blanket thrown over them was as soft and comfortable a resting-place as they had ever known. There was plenty to eat and drink; the autumn weather was fine; there was no shadow of peril; and as for any other matter, it was as Nancy had said, and any kind of change offered a reasonable hope of bettering their condition. So they went on through the woods and opens until they came out in sight of the Ohio River.

"Yonder's Thompson's Ferry," exclaimed Tom. "I knowed we was on the right track. We'll git across afore sundown. I left all the truck I didn't sell right over thar, with a feller named Posey. Now, Nancy, hurrah for Injianny! What does it look like to ye?"

"Most like any other piece of woods ever I seen."

So it did; and so did all the country north, and the country west of it, to the great prairies; and so did the Northwest, all the vast region which has since been carved into States and occupied by so many millions of happy and unhappy human beings.

A mere piece of woods, to look at; but in among the trees and thickets, between the Ohio River and the lakes and the British boundary-line, there were worse than wild beasts for a settler to contend with. These, too, were there in great abundance: bufalo, elk, deer, panthers, bears, catamounts, wild turkeys, small animals innumerable; these might even be regarded as a resource and a perpetual harvest. There, however, wandering in hunting and war parties or gathered in their villages, were the Sioux, Sacs, Foxes, Pawnees, and a score of other terrible tribes. Among the many chiefs and leaders of these was the mighty Black