Beyond the Quiet Hills (46 page)

“His stepsister? I wonder why?”

“Mr. Spencer just said that the girl has had a hard time. He thinks the trip will help her.” He studied Annabelle carefully. “You never really quite got over Jake, did you?”

“Don't be foolish, Tom.”

“I know you pretty well. You shed your suitors like a tree sheds leaves in the fall.”

“That's a very poor metaphor.”

“It isn't a metaphor. It's a simile,” Denton laughed, “and I'm right, too. I'll tell you what. We'll have a party for Jacob when he gets here, and for his sister, too. Maybe she'll be a pretty, virtuous young lady that I can pay attention to.”

Annabelle was only half listening. She waited until Tom had finished teasing her, and after he left the library, she turned and went to stare out the window. It was hot outside, and hardly a breeze was stirring. The grass was green, however, and she watched distractedly as a white cat with emerald green eyes strolled by outside and disappeared around the corner of the house.

“Jacob Spencer,” she whispered to herself, and her mind went back to the days when she had fancied that young man somewhat. “He's grown up now. He ought to be rather interesting. He won't be a backwoodsman. He's got a good education—and he always was a handsome thing.”

As the brilliant summer sun beat down on the city of Williamsburg, Annabelle Denton remained in front of the window staring out. Once, she reached up and drew her hand across her lips at some memory, then a half smile came to her face.

“Jacob Spencer,” she murmured, and then smiled as if some secret thought passed through her mind.

Notes to Our Readers

Well, here we are again at the close of another chapter of T
HE
S
PIRIT OF
A
PPALACHIA
. We want to thank you, the readers, for making the first book such a success! God has blessed us both so much with this collaboration. Thank you also for all of the kind letters you sent about
Over the Misty Mountains
. We appreciate every one.

We hope you have enjoyed this second journey,
Beyond the Quiet Hills
. We have really enjoyed telling the story of Jacob. Many of you wrote that you hoped there would be more about him and Hawk, so we hope you were pleased. We wanted to wait until the second book to deal with their relationship, as a quick resolution would not have been true for the situation. Jacob needed to deal with his feelings about being abandoned. He portrayed himself as a victim until he was faced with someone who had gone through worse circumstances. He was then able to see how God had worked to bring good out of the wrongs that had been done.

Once again we felt that you might want to know the real events of the book. The history of this area is so rich and fascinating. If you have enjoyed these books, you might want to check your library for books about the real people who settled in Watauga.

The settlers of Watauga did meet with the Cherokee in 1772 and did lease the land from them. They had set up their own governing body to make this contract legal. Even though they did not declare themselves independent of any colonial ties, they did govern themselves, and for all practical purposes, they were the first self-governing group on the continent.

The members of the Watauga Court given here are the true members. The name of the first sheriff was not given, so we thought it would be fun to make Hawk the sheriff. Many of the challenges Hawk dealt with as sheriff really happened. A man named Shoate did steal a horse and was hanged for his deed. Other punishments for horse stealing consisted of branding the guilty with an “H” and a “T” on the cheeks. The “Bread Rounds” incident also is real, although the name of Hiram Younger is fictitious.

There really was a celebration with the Cherokee in the spring of 1774 to mark the agreement between the two groups. William Crabtree did shoot and kill Cherokee Billie at the festivities, which led to bad feelings toward the settlers by the Cherokee. This tragedy did lead some of the Cherokee to participate in Lord Dunmore's War later that year. The settlers' victory did open Kentucky for settlement, led by Daniel Boone.

The Transylvania Company negotiated to buy the lands of western Can-tuc-kee, now Kentucky, from the Cherokee in March 1775. The Wataugans used this meeting to negotiate the purchase of their own lands. Chief Attacullaculla led the Cherokee in agreeing to the purchases, but his son, Tsugunsini, Dragging Canoe, was vehemently opposed. At the meeting, he did make his famous “bloody ground” speech. He helped his prediction come true by going on the warpath with other Cherokee warriors the following year when the British did elicit the help of the Cherokee against the frontier settlers during the beginning of the American Revolution.

The Wataugans did form a committee of safety known as the Washington District. This was the first area named after George Washington. This allied the settlers with the colonists against the British and the Cherokee. Knowing that if the British won they would be forced off their lands, the Wataugans established Washington County and made themselves a part of North Carolina. They prepared for war by building new forts and fortifying the old ones.

Nancy Ward proved her friendship with the settlers when she warned them of the planned attack by the Cherokee. Her warning gave the settlers time to take refuge in the forts, and many lives were saved. The stories of John Sevier, Catherine Sherrill, Ann Robertson, and Lydia Bean around the siege of Fort Caswell are all true. Mrs. Bean was saved by Nancy Ward and returned to her family after teaching some of the Cherokee women how to sew and do other things that the settlers did. The Cherokee chief Old Abram withdrew from the fort after hearing of the defeats of the other bands of Cherokee. Dragging Canoe did set up raiding parties after his defeat. After the Cherokee were defeated by the forces of William Christian and they signed a peace treaty on June 20, 1777, Dragging Canoe refused to honor the peace and took his followers to the Chickamauga area.

The celebration at Fort Patrick Henry on July 4, 1777, was held to honor America's first birthday. Many Cherokee warriors did attend and join in the festivities. The frontier had been secured for the new nation, and now the settlers could turn their attention toward the East. They would come to play a major role in the struggle for freedom against the British, as will be seen in future volumes of the series. We hope you will join us for the future expeditions. Again, write and let us know what you think of our book. And keep reading!

Gilbert Morris &
Aaron McCarver

GILBERT MORRIS spent ten years as a pastor before becoming Professor of English at Ouachita Baptist University of Arkansas. During the summers of 1984 and 1985, he did postgraduate work at the University of London. A prolific writer, he has had over twenty-five scholarly articles and two hundred poems published in various periodicals. He and his wife live on the Gulf Coast of Alabama.

AARON McCARVER teaches drama and Christian literature at Wesley College in Florence, Mississippi. His deep interest in Christian fiction and broad knowledge of the CBA market have given him the background for editorial consultation with all the “writing Morrises” as well as other novelists. It was through his editorial relationship with Gilbert that this book series came to life.