Making Ready for the Journey

My father had two horses, on one of which mother was to ride, while the other carried the few belongings we were able to pack on his back.

Mother made up small packages of seeds in linen cloth, .and father took the tools that would be needed in the new home, as well as a bushel of meal and a side of bacon. My best linsey-woolsey dress, a change of clothes for mother, together with spare powder and bullets, made up as much of a load as the poor old horse could be expected to carry over the mountains.

Now, doesn't that seem like a sorry outfit for four people going on a long journey, to say nothing of making a new home?

Of course we would have plenty to eat, for Mr. Boone was very skillful with his long rifle, which carried forty bullets to the pound, even though the other men, including my father, might not be good marksmen.

Even Billy has sometimes brought home a deer and so many turkeys that I could hardly count them, al-though hunting on the Yadkin is not considered good. Billy declared that he could shoot enough to feed us all, and he is only thirteen years old, though large for his age, being able to hold his own at wrestling with any other of his weight in the settlements.