I never will forgit the mornin they come to the gate. They was a man and a woman and a boy and a girl. The littluns looked scairt as two cornered rabbits. The grownups just looked tiresome. I werent but seven or eight. Its a strong recollection.

The dogs had warned us so we was all there waitin. Daddy had his gun and so did Zeke. Momma was hangin on Daddys arm the one what held the gun. I stayed hid behind a water barrel. The stranger come up and asked fer food. Said hed been hidin out since the Collapse. All four of em looked like hell. They was dirty and shaggy and there clothes and arms and faces was tore up like theyd been runnin threw briers. Mommas eyes teared right up--I dont know if it was from the sight of em or cause she knowed what Daddy had to do. Mebbe the strangers knowed it too.

Daddy said we had nothin to spare and didnt they know it was dangerous times round here. The stranger said yeah he knowed but they just couldnt go no further without some food and medcine. Besides it was a powerful cold winter. At that his wife acted real funny and sunk down to her knees. Looked like she had the fever. Daddy said to Zeke come on and the two of em opened the gate. Stranger said please take the boy. Daddy didnt say nothin back.

They went out and took the stranger and the woman by the arms and led em over the ridge down to the ravine where we use to keep peacocks. We hered two reports one from Daddys shotgun and one from Zekes pistol. They come back real quick thinkin there might be trouble but there werent. The dogs had been runnin roundbout so we knowed they werent no one else round.

Daddy took the girl by the shoulder and led her threw the gate. He and Zeke locked it up tight and he told that boy to get the hell out and dont come back. The boy looked Daddy square in the eye then he run up toward the ravine. Momma took the girl and put her in a stable. Daddy said no one was to touch her or talk to her fer a hunnert days case she had the fever too.

That girl fattened up in no time and she didnt have no fever neither. Momma took a shine to her. I didnt have no sisters. I woulda had two sisters but they passed before I was born. Sometimes Momma would cry thinkin bout Janine and Star--that was the names o my sisters--and then the girl would cry thinkin bout her momma and theyd just hug and cry half the day away. Daddy said never you mind them women you come with me and we went out huntin and checkin snares. Once Daddy showed me where he and Zeke buried that stranger and his wife. He walked mighty fast fer a while after that.

The girls name was Ellen and she was twelve years ole. The boy Daddy run off was her big brother. She never spoke bout him but sometimes she stared at Daddy and we knowed what she was thinkin. Once the dogs brung some bones back from the woods but Ellen never would consider how it coulda been her brother. Somehow I never figgered it was him neither. Course I knowed what was out there what with the mountain lions and bears and the patrols from Fort Harding. Not to mention the haints and the wild people.

When the hunnert days had passed it was spring agin. We was out plantin patches most ever day. Back then you had to hide yer crops in little patches. It werent till later that we built the towers and put up razor wire round the garden. Times was tough. I reckon Ellens famly had got plenny of our vegtables before that day they come beggin at the gate and some of our snares was comin up empty too. Ellen never did admit to none of it. She was mighty proud considerin.

I taught Ellen most everthin I knowed from fishin to trappin to hidin the vegtables. Only thing was she hated to wait fer Daddy or one o the men to come out with us which got me into a lick o trouble moren once. Daddy whupped me but good. He said dont you never go out without a gun and a grownup and some dogs. Ellen didnt mind the dogs comin with us but she couldnt stand them guns and she didnt particular like Daddy or Zeke. Zack and Cash was the only men shed talk to. I think Cash wanted her fer a wife even back then. He already had two.

Only woman beside Momma whod even talk to Ellen was my cousin Sara. Sara was Cashs wife. She was two years oldern Ellen. Musta felt sorry fer her and mebbe a little guilty too seein as to how our kin killed Ellens parents.

Sometimes me and Sara and Ellen would go out with Zeke and Zeke usually went off by hisself fer a while. He said dont you tell yer Daddy or Ill whup you good. I believed him. Zeke and Zack was brothers and they was mean as hornets. When Zeke went off by hisself Ellen would tell us stories bout the Collapse and bout America before the Collapse. I was born right durin the Collapse so I didnt know nothin bout the beforetimes. Sara knowed a little but our kin was mighty poor when it happened so wed been livin in the woods fer years and didnt know bout what Ellen knowed. I reckon Momma knowed a good bit moren she let on seein as to how she come from the city and all. But Daddy got crazy when she talked of it. Said there werent no use in bein sintimental it werent never comin back.

Ellen done told us quite a lot bout the Collapse and even more bout the beforetimes. Her momma was a teacher and her daddy was a schoolmaster so she knowed most everthin. Sometimes I joke how Im a lucky man never havin to go to school in all my years. I reckon theys moren one kind o schoolin. Ellen went to a fancy private school which means a school fer rich kids though she swears she werent rich. When she was young Momma went to a public school which was run by the guvamint. Rest of us didnt go to no school at all on account o the Collapse.

Now accordin to Ellen the Collapse come bout right quick where she was from. She said first the guvamint got too big and then it run outta dollars--dollars was what they traded fer back then stead o barterin. Seems they took so much from the people that the people didnt have no more to give. Then some crazies started blowin up bildins and oil fineries. Then the Congressmen started disappearin and that was just the beginnin.

That summer everbody started gettin the pox and the fever. People was fightin and killin over medcine so the guvamint sent in the army. And then all hell just broke loose. They was some shootins where a lotta whites killed Nigras and a lotta Nigras killed whites just fer bein in the wrong place. Then the Nigras took over most o the big citys and drove all the white folk out into the country same time as the white folk took over most o the country and drove all the Nigras they could find into the cities.

Daddy said A-rabs blowed up the buildins and oil fineries and made it look like white folk done it. He said A-rabs spread the fever and the pox. Ive hered others say the Chinks blowed up the bildins and fineries and made it look like A-rabs done it. One feller said black folks blowed up the bildins and made it look like white folks done it but another said white folks blowed up the bildins and made it look like black folks done it. Who spread the fever and the pox aint no tellin. Whoever done one lick of it shore spilled a bag o snakes.

Ellen says they watched all this on a box called a teevee box. A teevee box showed pitchers o things all cross the country. Hard as I try I just cant pitcher what a teevee box done. No pun tended. Lotsa folks claimed they seen a white lite over Kansas what shut down all them teevee boxes and what they done called cornputer boxes too. Messed up everthang cause they was all hooked on boxes.

After the killin started the Spics all run south or west them what didnt get killed thereselfs. Nigras and white folks both killed the Spics. Course now the Spics kill everthin what moves cross the Mexican border. It aint no use tryin to run south no more or west neither cause thats all Mexico. The Colorada River is the border now and Los Angels is the capitol.

After the Nigras took over the citys a bunch o crazies blowed up most o the bridges and factries and everthin else they could blow up specially all the autocars. Ellen said some folks was glad to blow up the stuff cause it made the air and water stink to run all them autocars. What they couldnt blow up they just burned. Parently oil burns real good. Them fires burned fer years in some places. The sky turned brown after they started blowin up and burnin everthin. Ive hered it said that internal combustin turned into external combustin.

Some other crazies burned up all the big houses they could find cause they hated rich folks. Them same people burned up all the gettos cause they hated poor folks. They was a big army back then too and the army men fought each other till most of em was dead. The ones what wasnt killed outright died o kemikals and germs. Plenny o folks died along with them army men.

Well it wound up with the army runnin our part o the country from Fort Harding but the army didnt run much. Daddy was in the army once least till they screwed him. The navy fellas run the east coast outta Baldmore cept New Yowerk where no one lives no more owin to the raydiation. Pirates run the Gulf coast outta Nawlins. Cuba runs Florda now. Chinks run the northwest outta Van Coover. Mexico fills up most o the west. Canadas the place to go if you can get there but its fillin up fast from what I here. Dont matter to me none cause Im too ole to go even if I wanted to.

Bout a year after it started the Collapse was done. All that was left o the guvamint was Fort Harding. Down where we live the Nigras had the citys and the white folks had the countryside and we all had to fight the Fort cause they didnt want nobody tradin or takin care o thereselfs. Most folks did all there tradin with the Fort and I mean ever bit of it. Plenny of others traded with the Fort but bartered underground at the same time. The ones like us what didnt trade with the Fort at all caught hell fer it.

Most folks said how the Nigras took white folks fer slaves and I know the white folks took Nigras fer slaves cause we lived downriver from Fort Harding. The Fort had white and black slaves. If you wasnt one or the other you was in trouble.

Once I met a Jew but before long Zack shot him in the head. That Jew werent a bad fella. He come to us from the river bout a year before Ellen come. Daddy was gonna kill him right off but Cash stood square in front o the guy and said no. Seems the Jew had a bible. He taught Momma and Cash all bout that bible he carried. I learned to read and write from Momma. But Cash taught me bout the bible.

The Jew musta knowed a lot cause Cash never stopped talkin bout the bible after we killed him. Mostly the Jew talked bout Abraham and Moses and them Hebrews but he taught Cash what Cash wanted to know bout Jesus too. Course Cash never could read much but he membered what the Jew told him. Afterwards hed look at that bible and tell bible stories just like he was readin ever word but we knowed better.

Ellen told us plenny bout the beforetimes. I didnt believe half what she said least not till years later. She told us bout the teevee box and the innernet and bout autocars and airoplanes. I seen airoplanes myself when I was a boy flyin up above the birds. Daddy said they was from Yerrup. I seen autocars too but they was just settin there rustin. Our barbecue pit was an ole autocar called a beetle bug turned upside down. I seen some army jeeps and a tank and when I was a boy I rode some fellas motersickles what run on corn likker from our still.

Daddy traded that corn likker fer all kinda stuff. They was a few fellas what traded between compounds on motersickles but eventual the patrols got em all. Motersickles is too loud. Horses is the way to go.

Daddy didnt see much o nothin like Ellen did. Daddy said Ellen was plum crazy half that shit never happened. Daddy said the people took the countryside back from the guvamint and that was that. Momma didnt argue but her eyes give it away how she agreed with Ellen. Whenever she talked Ellen just ignored what Daddy had to say. Sometimes she even talked right over him. No matter how loud Daddy hollered you could still here Ellen just a talkin like normal. Hed a whupped her good only Momma woulda been hard to live with if he done it.

The most amazin thing Ellen told us bout was the guvamint o the USSA. See at first it was the United States of America and that was a good place. But then the USSA took over and that wasnt no good at all. Some folks say it happened round the turn o the centry but I aint shore which centry zacktly--nineteenth or twentieth. Here we are at the end o the twentyfirst and I caint even tell the year fer shore. But I reckon theres only a few what know the time in any age.

Ellen said if you was aimin to grow a crop the guvamint would set the price at market. She said if you had a hunnert dollars you had to give fifty to a guvamint man. She said if a fella was sick the guvamint brung him a doctor. The guvamint run the army and guvamint men told white folks how to treat Nigras and vicey versy. The guvamint took care of all the Injuns cause they wouldnt live like white folks or Nigras. It was somethin the guvamint done with rocks what messed up so many folks down round the Savanna River and up Oak Ridge.

The guvamint tried to take everbodys guns away. Made folks piss in a cup on command. This aint how Ellen said it but the guvamint told folks who they could fuck and how they could fuck em. Said the guvamint divided the people up into groups all cept white men--white men was on there own. Said when the Collapse come about the people just natural stuck with them same groups.

Ellen said when the Collapse come the guvamint left five men flyin up in a box in space. Back then I told Ellen Id believe in gremlins before Id believe they was men flyin in a box in space. But now I know better cause a fella done showed me things up in the sky that dont move like stars nor planets. Unless theres space critters a floatin round up there I reckon the only way to splain it is that we put it up there ourselfs. Hard to imagine bein stuck up there while the whole world collapsed underneath you.

Now you may think half o this is crazy and so did I once. But if Ellen was wrong bout any of it it werent on purpose. Mebbe her momma and daddy fooled her with such stories tryin to keep her mind off what they went threw. They lived on the run fer years part of it in a cave. Mebbe her folks just went crazy. Mebbe thats why they come to the gate o the compound that mornin knowin all four of em was liable to get shot.

More likely her momma and daddy sacerficed thereselfs fer the children. Plenny o compounds woulda killed all four of em and plenny more woulda killed Ellens brother--the Tennessee Leprechaun--to boot. But most woulda spared Ellen cause girls what was childbearin age or close to it was particular valued back then.

Bout two years after Ellen come to us she told Momma she was with child. Daddy had a awful fight with Zeke over it. Broke Zekes arm so bad it never healed. Ellen was sposed to be fer Cash. After that Zeke and Cash never talked agin. Course Zeke died that summer. We never knowed who done it. Coulda been Cash or Daddy or even Momma. Coulda been Ellen cause she found him but I cant figger how no girl coulda got the drop on Zeke. Leastways no way a girl like Ellen coulda.

An early fall come and Ellen had a boy. Named him Alexander. She never let that boy out o sight fer one moment. She let Momma hold him but she got real fidgety when Sara or Ruth--Ruth was Cashs other wife--when Sara or Ruth asked to hold him. I held him once myself but it made me feel silly so I never done it agin till he was ole enough to play with. Alexander looked just like his momma.

Late that fall we had trouble with patrols from Fort Harding. Been a year since we last seen em but we never stopped lookin out fer em. We couldnt hardly do no tradin with the other compounds cause the patrols always killed the runners or blowed up the tradin posts. Everbody in our parts was sposed to trade at the Fort but lots of us just flat out wouldnt do it. We didnt see no reason we couldnt take care of ourselfs.

Them patrols from the Fort did everthin they could to make our lives misrable. They poisoned the rivers and ponds so we couldnt fish em. They did there best to hunt out the deer and they killed ever cow or hog they come across and poisoned the meat. They smelt out our ropeweed and burnt it to the ground. They even burnt our vegtable gardens when they found em.

The dogs was always the first to notice whenever patrols come round and boy did they howl like the dickens. The patrols shot folks on sight so you can figger what they done to dogs.

One mornin a man on a motersickle come to the gate half dead with a bullet in his stummick. Daddy said let him in he might know somethin portent. Turned out he come from a compound upriver from ours but downriver from the Fort. Said the patrols was out huntin a man in a green hat. Said the man had stole guns and bullets from the Fort and disappeared into the ground. Called him a leprechaun cause he could get in and out o places without bein seen and he could disappear behind a tree or into a rock. Momma tried to heal the poor fella but he died that night. It was a awful sight the way he shook and throwed up blood and all.

After that we never did go outside the compound without bringin two men and four guns--that was Daddys rule. Never go out alone and never leave the compound without a man to guard it.

I was bout eleven by then and I wanted to be reckoned with the men. I said I was tall as Cash and near as heavy. I said I knowed how to wrassle and I knowed how to cut. The menfolk didnt take me serious at all. In fact they laughed so hard I cried. Ellen didnt laugh and neither did Momma.

Daddy said we might as well leave Alexander to guard the women. I think he was drunk when he said that. I told Daddy I brung more squirrels home than any of em and he give me a hug and said I was right. He didnt do much huggin cept at night with Momma.

We had a early snow that year. Early snow is a bad omen. We spent a whole week fillin ever bucket and barrel we had with the stuff so we could melt it fer water. Daddy didnt want to send no one down to the river fer water what with all the trouble the patrols was givin us. Beside that sometimes the water from the river made us sick. Found out later Fort Harding was poisonin the river and half the cricks with all kinda shit.

Thing bout patrols is that eventual theyre gonna gitcha. Just a matter o time. Me and Ellen was out collectin snow when they snatched her. The dogs started barkin like crazy and we run to where Zack and Cash was sposed to be but they was gone. Then we hered hollerin and some gunshots so we run fast as we could back toward the compound. Ellen was behind me when that bastard jumped out from behind a tree and grabbed her. He was a scout from a patrol so I knowed we was in trouble. We never seen him till it was too late. Ellen fought and I nearly run back to help her--but then I thunk what Daddy would say bout losin one bein bettern losin two so I hightailed it back home and got there just in time. I dont reckon I coulda handled that feller anyhow.

That patrol was comin up the bluffs from a white boat with a big ole flag. Ever one o them bastards was just firin away. That boat had a big red beacon light and they was a fella looked like the captin settin on the rail. Everbody had a gun and we was poppin em off fast as we could. If Daddy hadnt o built the compound on that bluff they coulda took us easy but they was movin uphill and we was shootin downhill. Alexander cried like a screech owl. I cried a little bit too. We fought em off that night and they didnt come back. Momma took it hard that they snatched Ellen.

Alexander woulda died fer shore only Sara had got with child just after Zeke got shot so she nursed Alexander till he was strong enough to eat spittins. Sara had lost her own baby. She never did blame Ellen or Alexander she just suckled that boy like he was her own. All the womenfolk helped with Alexander but Sara and Momma done the most.

Yer probly wonderin where the Tennessee Leprechaun comes into all this. In the middle o that winter--it was the toughest winter I can recollect--Ellens brother showed up at the gate with a bearskin and a green hat and a whole mess o rifles and bullets. Daddy let him in right off. Ellens brother took it real hard that she was gone. He wanted to go off straight away to get her back but Momma talked him out of it. Next mornin he decided to stay with us fer a while. I reckon he couldnt bring hisself to leave Alexander. Fer a few days he was real quiet holdin that baby and singin to it. He was a quiet sort but he didnt take no shit like some do.

After a while he begun to open up. He called hisself the Tennessee Leprechaun and then we knowed it was him what that gutshot man had been talkin bout. Said he was born in Tennessee right by the Tennessee River and thats what we should call him--Tennessee.

Well Tennessee turned out to be quite a man. He werent but seventeen but he already had a big red beard. Considerin how hed lived those years alone in the woods Daddy wanted him to stay on real bad. Most compounds had moren three men way more. Course bein on the bluff and overlookin the rivers what kep us alive. But that aint nothin compared to how Tennessee kep hisself alive after we killed his folks.

After Daddy run him off that day Tennessee went up the ravine and seen his folks lyin there dead. He took what he could off em and headed upriver. He was lucky it was a man like Daddy what killed em cause most men woulda stripped them bodies clean. I reckon Daddy left that stuff fer Tennessee to find it.

That was wintertime and a hard winter it was so ole Tennessee nearly froze to death. As luck would have it he run up on a cave that very evenin so he crawled right in and went straight off to sleep. Next mornin he realized he had slept perty near right on top of a bear--bears sleep threw the whole winter--which give him quite a fright. Fortunate fer Tennessee that bear was one powerful sound sleeper cause he slept with it till springtime. Said it snored somethin awful but didnt smell no worsen some folks hes been round. Without its warmth he woulda died fer certain.

Bout the time he couldnt stand the hunger no longer he went out and ate some ackerns and spring lizards which give him just enough strength to hunt up some meat. He crawled deeper and deeper into the cave and found some snakes which dont sleep as sound as bears but just sound enough that a fella can slurp em down before they wake on up. He ate him some crickets and some bats too but he preferred them snakes cause they go down easy.

I didnt quite believe him when he said he was part leprechaun and knowed the king o the little people. He was part somethin though or Ill be a suckegg mule. Even said he figgered the little people had helped him out that first winter some cause ever once in a while hed found him some food what just showed up way too coincidental.

Well one day the bear started to wake up which takes sevral days owin to there size and all. So Tennessee found him a good sturdy stick and he sharpened up the point real good on some river rocks. When that bear started yawnin and stretchin Tennessee rammed that stick right down its throat which riled it up somethin awful. Said it nearly swiped his head right off but he just held onto the stick fer all he was worth. The bear reared up and pinned Tennessee to the roof o the cave--but the more it thrashed and carried on the deeper the stick went down its belly till eventual it just laid down and moaned. Tennessee felt real bad seein as to how the critter had kep him alive and all. So he slit its throat with his knife and let it die quick and easy.

Now his knife werent too good so it took him two whole days to skin that bear. It was still mighty cold that spring so he started sleepin beside the corpse with the hide all wrapped round hisself. He started goin out wearin the hide with the bears big ole head fer a hood. Said he scairt off many a mountain lion with that hide which was a blessin but he also had to fend off a couple of over friendly bears which werent. Said he seen some people too. One even took a shot at him but he knowed bettern to mess with people.

Tennessee said thats bout when he seen the little people fer the first time too. They took a shine to him right off and showed him there hideouts and how they lived and everthin. Tried to get him to live with em and take a wife but he said they was just too wild--little people and wild people mean the same thing. He coulda told me a whole lot more but he said he swore an oath to there leader that he wouldnt give up nothin what could give em away to us bigguns. Bigguns is what they call us.

He stayed near the cave and he made him some torches so he could do some splorin. The cave hooked up to another cave which was big as a mountain and it had a river runnin threw it. Ever day hed splore a little deeper till he knowed a dozen ways in and out of it. He butchered the bear and cured the meat inside the cave and he built hisself a little hut right next to the underground river which he reckoned run out o the cave and into our river. Our river is the Coosawatchee. Thats a Injun word.

Well by the end o that summer hed learnt how to set fishin lines with bone hooks. He used the bears guts to make the string and the bears fingers to make the hooks. Fact is he used most ever part o that bear fer one thing or another. What he didnt use he ate right down to the liver and hart which was real tasty only they made him all misty recollectin the bear.

One day he seen a fella from Fort Harding pokin round the entrance to the cave. Said before he could get at the guy them little people jumped him and tore him to pieces. Never did find none o them pieces neither. Well thats when the little people said there farewells to Tennessee and headed deeper into the hills. Fore they left the leader give Tennessee a green hat and give him a name in there tongue. Tennessee wore that hat ever since and he taught me to say his name in little people speech.

I asked him once if them little people was leprechauns. He didnt say nothin back at first. Then he laughed and said hell Im the only leprechaun round here.

For the next coupla years Tennessee made hisself more and more comftable in his cave and he found that it run fer miles and miles if you knowed where to go. He set markins on them underground trails usin piles o rocks just in case he ever lost his torch. He used fresh vines fer ropes which was the scariest part of it all cause if the vine broke he coulda been stuck fer good. Them caves was full o cliffs and holes. You gotta learn to sniff em out.

Tennessee said by the time he decided to come back fer Ellen hed found openins all over the place. One was even right near the fence at the edge o the Fort. He met a Nigra slave name Marcus there hidin in that cave. Said that Nigra was just as scairt as a man could be. Told him stories bout what they done at the Fort and it werent perty. Tennessee sent that Nigra downriver toward the big city--its called Alanna--but they werent no way o tellin just then if Marcus had made it.

Fortunate fer ever one of us Marcus showed Tennessee where them bastards at Fort Harding kep a pile o guns in a bildin not far from the cave. Well it was fortunate fer all but Ellen. See that Nigra Marcus helped Tennessee steal a whole mess o them guns. Havin a gun just might of allowed ole Marcus to reach Alanna--but its an ireny cause thats what set the patrols on us and thats why Ellen got took away just before Tennessee come back to fetch her. Its mighty sad how they missed each other so close. It was a long long time before they got back together.

So thats how the Tennessee Leprechaun got his name and how he survived all alone fer three years in the woods. Thats how Ellen got took to Fort Harding and how Tennessee come to join our compound.

Before long his name was knowed all round these parts and probly halfway to the Missippi. Tennessee was quite a fella. But youll here bout that soon enough.

The spring after Ellen got took Tennessee decided to go get her back. He was fidgety all winter just thinkin bout it. Daddy didnt like it but Momma and me was willin to do whatever it took to change Daddys mind. Daddy didnt want Tennessee lightin out on his own cause he turned out to be real handy at most everthin from hidin the vegtables to huntin up squirrels. He even showed us his cave which we turned into a hideaway fer extry food and supplies. I was the only one he showed the big cave and the underground river though. I reckon he trusted me moren them others.

Alexander was plumpin up real good. He had red hair like his Uncle and he looked a whole lot like Ellen. Tennessee just loved to hold that baby. Swore that one day hed hand Alexander to Ellen even if it killed him. I didnt see no way o gettin her off the Fort but I never told Tennessee that. Course if anyone could do it it was the Tennessee Leprechaun. In the meantime Tennessee taught me more bout readin and spellin and I done what I could to teach him bout the compound. He liked Cash and Momma and all the womenfolk but he never did warm up to Daddy or Zack. I think he blamed Zack fer what Zeke done to his folks.

After we got all the vegtables planted Tennessee went out and found him a birch tree to make a canoo with. I helped and so did Cash. We burnt the tree holler then we used sand and rocks to scrub er down flat bottomed and thin. She set right perty in the water and she was light enough that Tennessee and Cash could paddle upstream. They caught big messes o fish all the time. Some o them fish was kinda funny lookin with pimples in there guts and scars on there bellies. Been a while since wed ate fish cause Daddy never let us sit by the river fer long what with the patrols and all.

Tennessee werent scairt o the patrols. Said hed played cat and mouse with em fer years. He figgered they was all dumb cause they was mostly army men before the Collapse. That made Daddy real mad cause he was a army man once. Turned out Fort Harding was a army base before the Collapse. Thats why they had all them guns and ammo and why they had jeeps to use on what was left o the roads after the Collapse. I never seen no real road till I lit out with Tennessee to bring back Ellen.

Daddy flat out refused to let Cash or Zack go off to the Fort. Said we needed all the menfolk we had and then some. I said why dont you let me go and everbody laughed cept Tennessee. He said I was a good one to have along cause I could slip all threw them caves in a pinch which none o them others could owin to there bellies. They all liked the scuppernong wine we kep in barrels to see us threw dry times and it made em kinda plump. Momma nearly broke down when Daddy said I could go. Daddy didnt like it much neither but he knowed Id go no matter what he said. I was bout twelve at the time but I was real big fer my age. I reckoned Id be big as Daddy soon enough and he was the biggest fella in those parts.

So Tennessee started teachin me all bout paddlin that canoo and he showed me how to read the signs he set to mark trails in the caves. I worked awful hard gettin strong enough to paddle upstream. It made my arms ache real bad. Daddy said it put hair on my chest but I didnt see none. Bout halfway threw the spring we was ready to go.

Momma cried like I knowed she would. We left early in the mornin and we paddled all day. My arms practical fell off that night. Next day I could hardly move em. We paddled like that fer ten whole days sleepin one at the time so the patrols couldnt catch us unawares. I seen a bridge and it was a beautiful sight. It crossed the river high as a tree and it stood on four rock pillers what was sunk right to the bottom o the Coosawatchee. After we passed it we hered a awful noise and three jeeps went cross it fastern lightnin. They left a horrible smell behind. They was the first jeeps I ever seen runnin on a real road.

Tennessee said them jeeps was full o patrols and that if I ever seen more I should lay real low. We didnt see no more though. On the tenth day out we come up on the Fort bout sundown. We hid the canoo in some kudzu and clumb a ridge on the far side o the river. Tennessee took somethin out o his pack called noculers. Said they made him see things far away like the teevee box only the teevee box worked a lot better. I figgered mebbe Ellen wasnt so far off after all bout that stuff. He let me look threw them things and shore nuff I could see clear cross the valley.

Fort Harding was huge. It covered the whole valley on the other side o the river. They was fields as far as a body could see and ever one of em was full o Nigras. Them Nigras had it mighty rough. I seen a man whippin one till he fell down. I dont know if he ever got back up agin. Tennessee didnt let me look fer long cause it was bout to get dark. He done showed me the mansion which was where the bosses lived. He showed me the barrax where everbody else lived. Them barrax looked like some big ole barrels cut in half like we use to keep chickens in. We never knowed who the big boss was least not fer a while. Tennessee looked a long long time and then he give a start.

I asked him is it Ellen and he said yes. Then he started shakin. Said she was out by the pond which was made o cement and set right next to the mansion. He seemed real shook up. Never did tell me what he seen. We camped that night on the ridge.

Next mornin he woke me up way before sunrise. We clumb down the ridge and uncovered the canoo. I was scairt real bad. We crossed the river in the dark but somehow they knowed we was comin cause they sounded the alarm. Tennessee turned upriver and said paddle fer all yer worth which I woulda done anyhow. Why he went upriver stead o down I couldnt figger but it worked. They sent a patrol after us but it headed downriver. They musta had a canoo what run like a jeep cause it made a racket and it smelled bad like them jeeps on the bridge.

Well we paddled all that day runnin right next to the bank. Bout suppertime I hered a racket a hunnert times as loud as them jeeps. We hid up under some kudzu and then I seen the queerest airoplane you ever imagined. It could hover like a humminbird I swear to God. Tennessee called it a hellchopper. Said they had five of em and if we couldnt bring em down things would go real bad fer us. Just who he meant by us I didnt find out fer a while yet. We stayed hid till nightfall and then we paddled half the night away till I fell asleep and nearly swamped us.

Just in time we run up on some shoals near where Tennessee said they was a openin to the cave. I could hardly believe it cause we was a far piece upriver from the compound and from where he killed that bear. We hid the canoo and hiked up a ravine and there at the base of a little cliff was some boulders. They was kudzu growed up all round the place till it practical swallered up everthin. Shore nuff between two o them boulders was a little hole in the ground. Tennessee slipped down that hole and I set there alone fer a spell. I musta fell asleep cause he shook me awake round noontime.

Hed fetched him a bag o somethin out them caves. Said it was some splosives which I soon found out is real powerful stuff like what the patrols used to blow up our tradin posts. Said it was made out o yella rocks all mixed with pulp from a particular plant. We loaded the splosives into the canoo and slipped into the current not paddlin at all but actual dippin the paddles so as to hold us back. Tennessee said we didnt want to reach Fort Harding before nightfall and we didnt.

We seen a hellchopper agin that day. Seems them bosses at Harding wanted Tennessee real bad. They musta seen his green hat. Bout nightfall we run up on the bank agin only we was still a little ways from the Fort. We hid the canoo in some brush and then we hiked to another openin in the cave. This one was even smallern the last. It was where Tennessee met Marcus. Tennessee told me to hide up a tree and then he slid into that hole and didnt come back fer a spell.

While I was waitin a patrol come along and passed right under me. Them was some big ole men and real mean lookin. Most ever one was practical bald. They had a leader they called Yessir and he werent so big but he musta had somethin to scare them others real bad cause they treated him like there daddy. They stopped and ate right underneath me. They was lucky I didnt wet on em I was so scairt. I reckoned ole Yessir musta been crazy cause he talked into a box and then they all up and left.

Not long after that it got real dark and I hered somethin like thunder only it come up the river stead o from the sky. Tennessee showed up after a while. He was carryin a box like the one Yessir had. Said that thunder was them splosives and wed best get the hell outta there. We uncovered the canoo and lit out downriver toward the Fort which nearly made me wet myself agin. But Tennessee was a smart fella. He figgered the patrols would be lookin upriver this time cause thats where we went last time and he was right.

Lucky it was a moonless night dark as them caves cause bout the time we come up on Harding we passed another one o them canoos what sound like jeeps. I never will forgit that awful smell or the noise neither. We run up on the far bank and turned our canoo upside down so it looked just like a ole birch log. That patrol had some powerful torches so powerful they lit up the whole river just like it was daytime. We barely got out in time to roll up under the canoo or theyd o had us.

My heart was shore poundin when we got back in the canoo and headed on downriver. Bout the time we got past the Fort Tennessee run up the bank agin only this time it werent the far side o the river. We was right beside the dadburn place and they was folks all over. We rolled the canoo over agin and Tennessee told me to get underneath of it and stay put no matter what. Then he took off his hat and pulled a coat out of his pack what looked just like the coat Yessir wore. I reckon Tennessee stole it so he could fool them fellas.

I figgered he was goin in after Ellen which was crazy. Mebbe he figgered the same but he had to try. He carried more o them splosives with him. I laid up under that conoo most o the night with folks passin by so close I could smell there socks. Ole Yessir musta been there cause I hered his name spoke moren once. I hered them hellchoppers too and they sent another canoo screechin upriver. Then I hered the thunder agin.

Tennesse showed up right behind the thunder which I knowed by then was them splosives. He crawled up under there with me and when it didnt seem like no one was round we lit into the river and laid down in the bottom o the canoo. Ever once in a while Tennessee would stick his head up fer a lookabout but we never paddled lessin we got stuck on a shoal.

We run like that all night and the next day we hid up under the canoo from sunup to sundown. Them canoos from Harding passed us four times twice goin downstream and twice goin up. We hered hellchoppers too which they only had three now that Tennessee had blowed up two. I laughed thinkin what ole Yessir would think o the Tennessee Leprechaun sneakin up and blowin hell outta them two hellchoppers. Turned out Yessir was meanern Zeke judgin by what I hered of him.

That night we took to runnin the river agin only this time we paddled like they werent no tomorra which far as I could tell they werent. I never seen so many patrols as I seen that day. Whatever was in them splosives was okay by me.

By sunrise we was close enough to the compound that I could reconize that part o the Coosawatchee. Strange thing was they was dead fish all roundabout and the water smelled nasty as a skunk. It didnt take long gettin home considerin we had the current behind us and we was paddlin fer our lives. We made it round noon and boy was the folks glad to see us. Even Zack give me a big hug. Daddy shook Tennessees hand and after a while Tennessee shook back. Momma and Sara was awful hurt that we didnt bring Ellen home. Not half as hurt as Tennessee.

Everbody fretted over Ellen. Alexander fretted most of all even if he didnt really know what was going on. Cash played a little on his ole fiddle. Daddy cooked up some venison--he called it Bambicue--and we musta drunk half a barrel o scuppernong wine. First time I ever drunk it and boy was I sorry next mornin.

Turned out the patrols had been givin the compound a whole mess o trouble ever since the day o the splosions. Cash said he figgered they had us and so did Zack but Daddy and Momma never give up hope.

The day after we come back the river stopped smellin so bad but the fish just kep on dyin. Bout noon the river turned a ugly shade o red almost like dry blood. Daddy said mebbe they up and killed a bunch o Nigras. Cash said mebbe it was somethin else and he put his hands together. Cash treated Tennessee real good after that.

Tennessee tried to splain how the Fort had been messin up the fish all along by dumpin shit in the river. Not just shit neither but stuff called kemikals what they used in there fields. Said hed blowed up all them kemikals when he blowed up the hellchoppers. Said the red colorin was a algee bloom but we all knowed how algees green. Daddy knowed what Tennessee meant but didnt no one else. Mebbe its army stuff. I never seen nothin like it. The river just turned red and stayed red fer days. Cash made out like it was a sign and so did Ruth and Sara and even Zack. Tennessee didnt say nothin one way or the other cause after that he had second say after Daddy. Daddy had first say but he always counsulled with Tennessee.

Coupla days later Cash give Sara to Tennessee fer a wife. Zack didnt much like it probly cause Tennessee had already got second say. Werent nothin Zack could do bout it anyhow. Besides Zack had already got Zekes wife Angel plus his own which was Anna. Alexander loved the new setup and so did I cause Sara loved to cook fer me and Tennessee. Sara loved Alexander like her own and when he started talkin he called her Momma--least till we put a stop to it. Ellen was his momma and after the incident with the river we all figgered Tennessee would get her back some day.

I shore hoped so cause I loved Ellen and the longer she was away the more I loved her. I cant splain it no bettern that.

So thats the story of how me and the Tennessee Leprechaun raided Fort Harding and how he turned the Coosawatchee River red. You may not believe it but that dont matter none. Folks believe what they wanna believe. Tennessee turned that river red just as shore as Im settin here tellin this story--and that aint all he done neither.

Things settled down fer a while after the river went back to green. Sara was happy as shed ever been and so was Ruth. We built new shacks fer all the men--up till then wed been livin in two shacks one fer men and the other fer women which caused too much commotion. Now we had four and all of em was made tight with mud in the cracks and all four had little fireplaces to keep warm by.

Thats the summer we planted a mess o ropeweed right inside the compound. Tennessee said we could use it to make splosives and rope and clothes too. Momma used the flowers fer medcine and the menfolk smoked em all ceptin Tennessee. Tennessee said smokin that stuff made you stupid. Said here try some o this and pulled out a water pipe made o stone. We smoked a little ole flower no biggern yer fingernail and boy did I get happy after that. Felt like I was floatin on a cloud. Felt like I had a pillow inside my head. What the hells that I said. Thats some special ropeweed says Tennessee. No way I say. Tennessee called that stuff jackhare and he said it come from some ole fella name of Emry. Told me that Emry sumbitch was just like Johnny Appleseed only fer ropeweed stead of apples. If that shit was ropeweed it was some ropeweed what was growed in heaven. I growed it ever since which done made me one popular fella round these parts.

That ropeweed growed to near on twenny feet in one summer and it was bout halfass fer firewood too. We might not o made it threw the winter without it. Tennessee said the Constitute o the original USA--the United States of America--was printed on paper made outta ropeweed. Said the guvamint paid fellas to grow it fer rope durin the Big War.

Said the USSA guvamint used to put people in cages fer smokin them ropeweed flowers. I reckoned he was just pullin my leg bout them cages but later I found out how he was right on. Tennessee always said God bless the USA God damn the USSA. I know myself how much difference that extra S made in the guvamint cause thats the guvamint what screwed my Daddy. I shore do wonder what the beforetimes was like specially what it was like before the USSA took over.

Toward the end o the summer Tennessee finished diggin a big ole hole behind the stable. We built a outhouse on top o the hole and Daddy put a door on it with a half moon carved in it. Everbody laughed when it was done. It was right nice not havin to go outside the compound and it didnt smell up the place no worsen the stables did. We called it the doo-doo hole.

Tennessee dug another doo-doo hole to put all the hog and chicken shit in but we didnt build em no outhouse. We let the shit dry on up a bit then we throwed it in the hole. Tennessee got the women to weave a big ole round ropeweed lid to cover it up. That lid was sealed up with mud and moss and it floated on top o the chicken shit without touchin none of it. Tennessee tried to splain his reasonin but didnt no one get it. Said they was gas in the doodoo hole which we coulda figgered out ourselfs. Said that gas could run somethin called a raydeo box which I never hered of. It all sounded crazy to me and Daddy said it was the biggest bunch o plum foolishness hed ever hered tell of.

Next thing me and Tennessee went out huntin up a bunch o wires and scraps from ever rusty jeep within ten miles o the compound. We kep it all in a pile by the doo-doo hole the one full o chicken shit. It had somethin to do with that box Tennessee stole from the Fort. Tennessee said he wanted to talk into that box. Almost cost him his second say cause Zack said he was goin crazy and Cash said he was talkin blasfeme. Daddy stayed real mad but what with the ropeweed and the doodoo hole we just kep quiet and hoped somethin good would come o the whole mess.

It was fall when the ropeweed put on them flowers and then it started to die. We made rope and jackets out the bark which was real strong and stringy. We made fishin lines and nets and snares too. Best thing we made was hammocks which everbody fought over like it was the end o the world. We used the rope to climb the ponderosa pine in the middle o the compound and we wove it in with the stalks to build a lookout way up near the top. The lookout was hung round the tree sort o like a hammock.

The lookout wrapped all the way round the pine and if you clumb up to it you could see clear cross the river to the foothills beyond which was more or less south. You could see the mountains up north. They was more mountains to the west and to the east the river run out onto the plain. I liked to set there and watch the sunset. Even the womenfolk liked to climb up once in a while cept Momma who was scairt o most everthin.

Once me and Sara clumb up there. She showed me what the menfolk and womenfolk done when they was huggin at night. I found out why they made such a racket when they done it. Made me want Ellen to come home moren ever. Sara said not to tell nobody what we done but I think they all figgered it out cause I smiled fer days after.

Alexander got plenny o compny that fall. Angel had a baby girl and so did Ruth. Momma had another boy but it died. Daddy said we needed boys and right after that Anna and Sara both had boys one right after the other. I hated it cause the womenfolk stopped cookin so much and the menfolk got ornery. Been years since we had babies round ceptin Alexander.

That was a good fall all round. We filled the root cellar with vegtables and all kinda dried berries. We dried a whole mess o fish and squirrels and venison too. The pigs and rabbits preciated that special. We didnt dress but one hog and we didnt eat no rabbits at all. Them babies just loved them rabbits. Everbody started gettin along with everbody even Daddy and Tennessee though Daddy still thunk Tennessee was crazy fer collectin all them wires and scrap.

Momma got sick early that winter. Stayed inside most the time. Worried me somethin awful. She got pale and skinny and no matter what herbs we give her she just werent herself. Daddy reckoned it was from losin that baby which Momma named but she never told no one the name. They was a Injun summer that year too. Probly saved Momma cause she perked up a little then.

Bout that time Tennessee went on a little trip down the river. When he got back he started workin on the chickenshit doo-doo hole agin. He hooked a bunch o wires together and he used some ropeweed--ropeweed is holler--to run tubes out the middle o the lid. He hooked the wires to a contraption he got from some traders downriver which Cash said dont touch it itll blast you like the Ark o the Covnent. Tennessee said Cash was right. Then we tied the ponderosa pine all up with wires and scrap fer a tenna which reminded Momma of a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree was a little pine tree all covered with perty stuff and candles. Momma membered em from before the Collapse and considerin her condition Daddy let her go on and talk bout it. After a while the weather turned cold agin. On the day o the new moon Tennessee hooked them wires up to the box he stole from the Fort.

You might member I said ole Yessir talked into a box which I figgered was crazy. Well Tennessee started talkin into that box the same way till we all said he was losin it. He didnt pay us no mind cause he knowed what he was doin. He talked to that box fer a long long time till even Sara got irked at him. Alexander would cry and cry when Tennessee ignored him to talk to that box.

I seen Cash talkin to his bible bout the same time. That didnt seem quite so crazy cept to Daddy. Cash asked God to help Tennessee which apparent he done cause one day Tennessee was talkin to that box and it talked back. You may think Im crazy but not only did the box talk back it talked in a bunch o differnt voices like they was people right inside of it. Sara and Ruth prayed a lot after that cause they said it was God what done it and them voices was angels. Angel herself quit flirtin with all the menfolk fer a while. The fear o God is powerful stuff.

Cash called that box the voice o God but Tennessee called it a raydeo. I reckon Tennessee werent far off cause them voices said some things what God probly wouldnt be sayin. Turns out the raydeo was like the teevee box only stead o seein things far away you could here em. They was raydeos all over some of em at the Fort cause we could here what Yessir and his boys was up to. Tennessee only talked at certain times which was determined by the moon. Seems he had hisself a whole mess o friends therebouts and all of em musta had doo-doo holes and raydeos just like ours.

I wanted real bad to go meet his friends cause they talked all the time bout havin meetins and races and tradin all sorts o stuff I never hered of. They even traded wives sometimes cause Tennessee talked to a woman once and he shore knowed her which got Sara so mad she moved in with Cash fer three nights. I wanted a wife real bad but me and Sara never talked of it.

That whole winter nothin much happened. Momma got better but she never was the same. Alexander started talkin real early even if what he said didnt make no sense. He knowed his name and Tennessee taught him to say doo-doo hole which none o them babies ever used. I aint so shore I want no babies. Our pigs smelled a far sight bettern them babies did.

Come early spring it was a big camp meetin takin place among all the folks with raydeos. They was real careful not to talk bout no location cause they reckoned Yessir might be lissenin in. Tennessee didnt tell no one at the compound where the meetin was not even me though I was figgerin on goin myself. I had to fuss fer days before Daddy said I could go. We decided on takin a couple dogs too which I chose Hush and Bolt cause they was the smartest dogs we had. Bolt was my dog and she was a longhair. She knowed a lot o words cause I taught her. She was born just after the Collapse and I loved her moren most anythin ceptin Momma and Daddy and Ellen. Hush only knowed one word which was his name which he got as a pup when hed howl all night. Hush was big though and all the dogs bowed down to him even free roamin dogs.

We packed up real good takin everthin us and them dogs could carry includin the raydeo which Tennessee said would run fer a few days without the doo-doo hole. We left at night after talkin to some o Tennessees friends. It was a full moon. Springtime was slow comin that year and they was a big halo round the moon which meant snow on the way. Shore nuff it snowed the next day which made fer slow goin. Course the snow didnt lay on the ground fer long. We walked fer six days climbin right up into the mountains then we follered a ridge what run threw some o the pertiest country I ever seen.

Twice we seen long rows of e-lectrick towers which was biggern trees. In the beforetimes Tennessee said they run e-lectrick wires cross them towers to most everbody what wanted it. We come cross a town what use to be called Claytown. They was houses and bildins everwhere but they was all burnt down and they was roads practical runnin right into each other. Them e-lectrick towers got all crossed up in Claytown and we seen somethin called a railroad track.

They was one house what werent total burnt down so Tennessee brung me inside of it. Damned if them folks didnt have it easy. Werent much o nothin left in that house but they was boxes everwhere. They was little boxes what used to be full o food and they was big boxes what was full of e-lectrick wires. Tennessee said them big boxes was teevee boxes and such. Said ever box there was made by some fellas called craporations. Said craporations practical ruled the country before the Collapse.

On the edge o Claytown they was a big ole pile o boxes big as a mountain where everbody use to toss there ole boxes. I figger them folks loved boxes perty good but Tennessee said what they loved was what come inside them boxes. They was a box fer smushrooms which I figgered smushrooms is free so why put em in a box unless you like the box. Thats how I see it.

Few days later Tennessee said we was in the Blue Ridge portion o the Smokies which described the place real good. Them mountains is blue as far as you can see and ever mornin and ever evenin the smoke just rises from the hollers like they was Injun fires all roundabout. I seen trees tallern any back home and they was stumps left o trees what musta touched the sky. Them stumps was big as our shacks back at the compound.

Hush got all excited the further we gone but Bolt was hangin her head and lookin all fuzzy in the eyes. I shoulda knowed she was gettin on in years but she never whined or nothin. Once we had to cross a river and we lost our packs. Bolt swum downriver and drug em to shore. She was the best dog I ever seen. We camped by the river that night and next mornin she was okay.

That day we made fer the ridge opposite the one wed been travelin on. We had to fight threw so much kudzu we nearly got turned in circles. When the kudzu run out we was in briers which is worsen kudzu. On the other side o that ridge was a high valley shaped like a bowl which Tennessee called Cades Cove. Said yer in Tennessee now boy. Fer a spell I fancied the place was named after the fella but its the other way round you know.

They was horses in Cades Cove hunnerts of em. Tennessee took out some rope and tried to snag one but they was too fast. We went on tryin to snag one fer days only they was too smart. Hush and Bolt tried roundin em up but dogs is dummern horses or so it seemed at the time. We was just bout to give up when Tennessee said holy shit that looks like Powder. He give a whistle and damned if a big blue lookin horse didnt shake its head and come runnin right on up to us. Tennessee hugged that horse like it was a woman and the horse licked him square on the mouth.

Turns out Powder was Tennessees horse before the Collapse. Tennessees daddy left there horses in Cades Cove but didnt no one spect Powder to still be there. We noticed how all the other horses come round after Powder like he was there king. Thats how we snagged a chestnut colored mare which Tennessee give to me. I named her Elanor. Mommas name was Elanor but didnt no one call her that not even Daddy. She was named after another Elanor herself. That horse was right lucky to be named after such folks.

It took me a while to learn to ride that filly. She throwed me moren once. By the time we got back on our way Tennessee was worryin bout makin the meetin in time. Bolt was doin better and her and Hush was real preciative bout not havin to carry no packs. So was I. Tennessee decided to take a shortcut the next day and we ended up on a road which made them horses mighty jumpy. Made me jumpy too.

That road was a sight to behold. It run threw them mountains like a ribbon on a perty girl. They was bridges everwhere some of em without even a river beneath. Things was goin real good when we come up on a bridge what use to span a narrow gorge. It was one o them bridges what was blowed up durin the Collapse. It werent but ten feet to the other side and they was a trail down below what Tennessee said was another railroad track. Said they use to be things called trains what was longern a valley and they run on them tracks. That was in the beforetimes. Said they made a sound like God whistlin and they hooked up one behind the other till you couldnt see the end of it from the beginnin even on the great plains.

We set there fer a spell tryin to figger out how to get cross. They werent no way but to turn round and go back a few miles and pick a way threw the gorge. Bout that time Elanor reared up and Bolt started barkin and pointin up the road. Shore nuff we hered some jeeps comin and they was close up on us. Tennessee said foller me and he rode a ways right toward them jeeps. Then he picked Hush up by the ears and set him on top o Powder and I done the same to Bolt.

We seen the jeeps bout that time and they seen us. I reckon they seen Tennessees hat cause they opened up on us right off firin as they come. I hered a bullet go right past my head. Damn that Yessir I said and then Tennessee slapped Powder on the butt and he took off fast as he could go. I never seen such a thing. That horse run straight at the gorge and at the last moment he jumped far as he could which was just barely far enough. Tennessee jumped down and fired back at them jeeps which was bearin down on me too close fer comfort.

I slapped Elanor on the butt and she run after Powder only she werent so shore bout jumpin that gorge. I slapped her mighty hard and before long I was bouncin practical off her back. It was all I could do to hold on which is why I let go o Bolt. That was the hardest thing I ever done but I member Daddys voice in my head sayin you gotta do what you gotta do. Bolt hit the ground real hard--I hered her hit--and she let out a yelp.

Elanor jumped that gorge. So did I but not on Elanor. When she took off I went flyin and when I hit the other side she was already up with Tennessee who was hidin behind a big ole tree shootin at them jeeps. I thunk bout Cash cause I figgered God had throwed my ass clear o the gorge. I scrambled up and got with Tennessee but I couldnt hardly look back cross the gorge.

Tennessee told me what happened. He said Bolt shook her head and saw what was happenin and she charged the first jeep like a bear. She always did look like a bear thats what Daddy said. Called her Pakibear sometimes. So she charged that first jeep and she run right up under it. I reckon she died quick. I reckon it was her time too and she musta been proud o what she done. That jeep spun in a circle and throwed them boys clear off the side o the road which was a long fall onto the rocks. Killed em fer shore. The next jeep run into the first and both o them jeeps went off the edge.

They was a third jeep and it bounced out the way o the first two and fell slap into that gorge. Werent no one left to shoot at so we hopped on the horses and took off fast as we could go. Hush howled like a ole hoot owl. He loved Bolt much as I did mebbe more. I seen him lookin back but he werent stupid. Bolt was bettern most people I know which aint sayin much.

Thats the story of how the Tennessee Leprechaun brought us the doo-doo hole and the raydeo. Thats how my dog Bolt killed twelve men and saved our lives. And thats how I come to learn why some dogs is worth moren people and why horses is bettern jeeps.

We took Bolts death real hard but we was runnin late fer the meetin so we left her there. Woulda done the same if itd been me. That night we hered another hellchopper and it had a powerful bright torch what lit up the whole mountainside. Me and Tennessee hid up under the horses which Elanor didnt much care for. Powder done whatever he was told. Hush howled at that hellchopper probly cause he knowed it was them what killed Bolt.

Tennessee was real worried bout that hellchopper cause we was hopin didnt nobody know where the meetinplace was. Said whatre they doin here aint nothin round these parts but woodpeckers and peckerwoods. Said if Yessir and his boys found the meetinplace all them plans would go fer naught. I didnt know nothin myself special bout them plans. If I had Id o gone on anyhow. I was learnin to hate Fort Harding somethin awful. Tennessee never said what they done to Ellen but I reckon I knowed.

We rode them horses all night and into the next day climbin another ridge highern any Id ever seen. Tennessee called it Mount Sterling. Up top o Mount Sterling the hellchopper come back round and Tennessee got right ornery. We was drawin up close to the meetinplace so he reckoned they was plenny o folks headin there fer em to see. We come up on a bald near the summit and Tennessee urged Powder right out into the open which I figgered was crazy as hell. But he knowed what he was doin.

Before long that hellchopper spotted us and down it come shootin like the blazes. Stead o pullin his rifle out ole Tennessee reached into his pack and brung out a thing called a boomerang. It was shaped like a elbow halfway bent and it had long thick tethers o ropeweed hangin off the ends. Them tethers was longern Tennessee was tall. It was somethin he invented hisself and he said later hed been wantin to use it fer quite a while. He told me to take cover and stay put then he went to dodgin them bullets which was sprayin all over the place. Must be hard shootin from a hellchopper.

Tennessee started flailin his arms all roundbout and cussin a blue streak throwin rocks at the hellchopper like he didnt have no gun or nothin. Them boys flew lower and lower till I seen em laughin from the doorway. They was two of em shootin and they took turns one shootin while the other was loadin. Right bout the time they come down to the level o the brush--member there werent no trees cause it was a bald--Tennessee took that boomerang and flung it way up above the dang thing. I figgered hed missed. Well that hellchopper sucked that boomerang right down and them tethers got all strangulated in them rotorblades. They was a awful racket and smoke went up everwhere and that hellchopper commenced to spinnin like a top. Down it went fallin off the edge o Mount Sterling in a pile o scrap.

We run down to the wreck and I shot two o them bastards in the head. They was two more already dead. Hush bit one right on the nose to venge Bolt. I kicked one myself but it didnt make me feel no better. We took a whole mess o guns and ammo and another raydeo box and another box full o somethin called battries. Tennessee let go a whoop and he said hows that fer irenee a hellchopper brung down by some ropeweed. Now they was only two hellchoppers left we done got rid o three already.

Them horses was loaded down good now so we had to walk beside of em. Tennessee talked into the box and someone said all clear come on down. We hiked all day and all night endin up in a holler with a spring runnin out in a waterfall. That place was called Rebel Holler. They was a bunch o horses there some of em tied to trees. I tied Elanor up but Powder roamed free and all them horses acted like he was king. He mounted a couple mares while we was there. That place was perty as a dream.

Me and Tennessee went up behind that waterfall and damned if they werent a cave back there. They was more folks in that cave then I ever seen in all my life mostly men but they was womenfolk too. The cave was lit up with somethin called a e-lectrick light which is a torch run off a doo-doo hole. We had lanterns back home what burnt corn likker but this e-lectrick light didnt burn nothin at all. They called that place Congress Cave. It was named after the bildin where the guvamint o the original United States of America once met. I never had such a feelin as when them folks all set down and started talkin.

Tennessee was real welcome there. Everbody seemed to know him special a woman named Gail. Gail was the pertiest woman I ever seen. She had yella hair and her eyes was big like Mommas only they was green. I figgered Tennessee was aimin to court her cause I seen him gazin like a fool at her backside. Everbody ate supper and folks was singin and carryin on. Coupla fellas had a wrasslin match first one I ever seen. The fella what won wrassled another fella and he won agin. Then he whupped Tennessee which made Gail laugh till she nearly puked.

After a while it was nighttime and they turned off the e-lectrick light. Tennessee slept with Gail and I slept with Hush. It never did get too cold in the cave but it never did get warm neither. Somehow they knowed when it was mornin cause they turned on the e-lectrick light and we went out in pairs to piss. They was a lookout up the holler but didnt nothin ever happen. I reckon Yessir didnt even know we was there.

We all ate good that mornin cause everbody tried everbody elses vittles. Gail cooked good as Momma. After eatin we all set round a big ole rock where folks got up and said there piece. Didnt no one have first say or second say not even Tennessee. Turned out they was compounds just like ours all over the place and ever one of em hated the Fort. Seems the patrols went all over blowin up tradin posts and stealin girls mostly. They killed lots o folks too and stole whatever they could. One fella said they killed his whole famly while he was out huntin. Another said they stole his wife and his daughters and left his momma fer dead on some rocks. Tennessee told bout Ellen and bout how the Fort had ruined the river. Then he told bout what he done to them hellchoppers and everbody commenced to clappin there hands together and whoopin it up.

Everbody had a story and everbody knowed somethin bout Harding what no one else knowed. The big boss werent Yessir but a fella called the Genral. The Genral bred folks like they was animals. Bred fer the darkest kinda Nigra whats called a bluegum and fer the fairest kinda white whats called All-american.

Some fellas wanted to free them Nigras. Said the Genral killed all the Nigra women cept breedin stock. Said he killed all the halfbreed babies too. I reckon we all wanted to kill the Genral and everbody laughed when I said I wanted to kill Yessir myself. It werent mean laughter. Besides didnt no one else young like me stand up and speak.

Once everbody had there say it was suppertime agin. We ate like thieves cause everbody was all worked up thinkin bout the Fort. We was all thinkin bout plans cause couldnt just one compound do nothin like all us together could. Only thing was how was we sposed to agree what with so many hardheaded folks all in one place. They was more wrasslin that evenin. Them menfolk was gettin hot under the collar. I figgered they was all aimin to show each other up wantin first say and all.

I slept good that night cause I didnt sleep much the night before. Tennessee disappeared off with Gail and I met a fella bout my age named Arlo. Arlo had a bum leg--said a bear ate it but I reckon he was born that way. That leg turned all backards and his foot looked more like a hand. He werent very big neither. Said he was a storyteller and darned if he didnt spin a good yarn. Told me all bout a fella named Be-a-wolf which I figgered was a Injun name. I dozed off thinkin bout ole Be-a-wolf and I dreamt bout fightin on horseback. Arlo was gone next mornin and I never seen him agin till the meetin broke up.

We all ate fast next mornin and then they was a scuffle bout who should talk first. Someone said lets draw straws and thats what they done. Tennessee didnt draw though which was smart cause by suppertime didnt no one member what them first fellas had said. Gails daddy spoke fer a spell and he made more sensen the rest of em. Then he said lissen to Tennessee and Tennessee stood up on that rock and give the best speech I ever hered. Said it werent portent who took the lead so much as who all follered and not to forgit who was the enemy. Then he said mebbe they oughta come back in the fall after everbody had there vegtables and venison in.

What bout the meantime someone said and then Tennessee looked real serous and stroked his beard. Everbody hushed even ole Hush. Gails daddy said everbody what dont have first say in there compound should step outside fer a spell. I stayed on--didnt nobody say nothin bout it--and we was all swore to secrecy. Then Tennessee said we got a whole mess o dynamight and couldnt we use it to open up the caves. That way wed be able to get right up to the Fort without no one knowin and couldnt no one foller us cause we was the only ones what knowed how to read them trail markins. Turned out plenny o fellas had been markin trails and they was ropeladders all over cause them caves wasnt all on the same level. Some fellas already traded between compounds that way. Made good sense to me. Didnt no one say differnt.

Gails daddy stood up and he was big as a bear biggern my Daddy by a long shot. He had a big ole beard too and his hair was all matted like Bolts. Looked right imposin he did. Everbody called him Bear. He said Tennessees got a mind fer this kind o thing so let him figger out how to open up the caves. Then he handed a book to Tennessee and Tennessee rolled that book out like a blanket. Biggest book I ever seen. Turned out to be a map and Tennessee had another map what was wrote on real thin paper you could see threw.

That dynamight was splosives more powerfuln what was made o them yella rocks way more powerful. Tennessee spent that whole night talkin bout how to use it to open up the caves so you could travel from one compound to another and then on to the edge o Fort Harding. Said spose we raid the Fort from the river and get the Genrals tension--then we send a whole mess o folks out from the caves and wed have them bastards surrounded. Said we could free the Nigras and then itd be a even fight. That didnt set well with some folks but Gails daddy said if you aint with us yous aginst us and didnt no one complain after that.

Well the one map had Fort Harding and all the compounds marked on it and the other--the thin one--had the caves marked on it. Tennessee said spose we blast them caves open usin these maps. Said lots o folks might get killed doin it but not as many as the Genrals gonna kill if we let him get any stronger. Then Gails daddy stood up agin and he said better to die than to let the Genral know where the caves go to. So them folks what done the blastin had to stay in the caves till the raid which turned out to be quite a spell. Said ever compound should send one man to do the blastin cept the smallest ones what had less then five men. Tennessee was too portent to let him get buried in the caves. He knowed bout readin maps.

So Tennessee took that thin map o the caves and he set it on top o the map o the compounds and he told Gails daddy all bout how to figger what to blast and how much dynamight to use. Gails daddy could read and write and he spoke a tung called Ge-ometree. He wrote down ever word. When Tennessee finished it was mornin and everbody was gettin ready to leave cause the longer we stayed the better chance wed get found. They was still two hellchoppers left and Yessir was liable to be mad as a badger. Gails daddy give everbody pieces o paper with the moon cycles on em which told folks when to talk into the raydeo boxes and where to put them dials when they done it.

Last thing Tennessee done was show how to make boomerangs. Everbody wanted one cause them hellchoppers was givin us all fits. Turned out them boomerangs was made o ropeweed. Tennessee said you bend the plant like so while its young and it grows that way. Then you pull it up and fray the ends into tethers like so which get tangled up in the hellchoppers blades. Thats what brings em down. I was real proud to be with Tennessee that day.

Everbody got on there horses and went there seprate ways. Gail give Tennessee a big ole kiss. Hush loved Gail by then too cause she fed him like a person. Me and Hush and Tennessee rode on out Rebel Holler and everbody said so long till fall when we was all gonna meet back at Congress Cave. I couldnt wait to tell the compound bout that e-lectrick light. I felt like a man and like them others felt the same way. Mebbe paddlin that canoo done put hair on my chest but it was speakin to the meetin what made me a man.

We rode up Mount Sterling and cross the ridge. We didnt jump that gorge though. Powder and Elanor preciated that and so did I. Back at Cades Cove we snagged three more horses one each fer Daddy and Cash and Zack. They all follered Powder but we roped em up anyhow. By the time we hit the Blue Ridge them Smokies was so full o flowers you couldnt hardly stand it. Pertiest smell I ever knowed. We didnt see no hellchoppers or no jeeps neither. Seemed like Yessir had forgot all bout us. We shore as hell hadnt forgot bout him though.

Thats how the Tennessee Leprechaun invented the boomerang and how we got horses fer the compound. Thats how I learned bout e-lectrick lights and dynamight and how I seen the goins-on in Rebel Holler. And thats how I come to know bout the plans fer the raid on Fort Harding which Id come to regret knowin soon enough.

We rode the Blue Ridge a while and follered a saddle what took us within sight o the foothills. It was just six more days by horseback till we come up on the Coosawatchee a ways downriver from the compound. Hush got all excited cause he knowed we was close to home. Me and Tennessee started singin When Johnny Come Marchin Home what Momma taught us while she was sick. She loved to sing and so did Tennessee. Tennessee sung real good but I sounded like a hog gettin stuck. Didnt matter none we was so happy to be at the end of our travels. I couldnt hardly wait to tell what we done--special what I done--cause Daddy and Zack and Cash probly wouldnt be laughin at me no more.

Bout noontime we come up on a bend in the river where we could just barely see upriver to the bluffs near the compound. It was then we hered the shootin. It werent no shootin squirrels neither cause they was more guns firin than we had men. My stummick sunk clear into my boots. Tennessee said wed best load all them rifles we brung back from the meetin which was bout ten of em. It took forever to load em and then he said wed best go roundbout so we could proach the compound from on top the bluff. Half o me wanted to jump right into the fight but the other half was glad fer the de-lay.

It was a good idee preparin like that but damned if I werent hankerin to charge right into that patrol stead o sneakin round to the top. Least we figgered it was a patrol cause they was a powerful lot o lead flyin by the sound o things. I hered Daddys voice in my head just then sayin you gotta do what you gotta do so I follered Tennessee. We rode real slow and wary and Hush run on ahead. We knowed hed warn us if them bastards was in our way.

Tennessee found a gulley to hide the extry horses in. We both took a rifle in each hand and strapped three more to our mounts. We circled up above the bluff and we seen some of them bastards off to our left but they was concentratin on the compound so we slipped on by. Then we got to where we could see the ponderosa pine and the lookout and damned if Cash werent up there just firin away. The patrol had shore nuff come from the river cause they werent no one near the top side o the bluff.

Tennessee said get ready and then he let go a whoop and took off right fer the gate which was a good ways off yet. Lucky didnt no one shoot him from the compound. I follered close as I might but I couldnt ride Elanor half as good as Tennessee rode Powder. We was both hootin and hollerin and I give the secret whistle what Daddy taught me when I was a boy which Tennessee didnt know bout. Probly saved us both.

By the time we got in sight o the gate I was whistlin fer all I was worth. Thats when I seen Daddy standin at the gate shootin with a shotgun in one hand and a pistol in the other. They was five or six o them bastards hid behind rocks tryin to take Daddy out. When they seen Tennessee and me they backed down the bluff a ways I reckon cause they didnt know how many we was. We musta sounded like the dickens shootin all them rifles at once. Them rifles shot twelve bullets without reloadin which was ten moren Daddys shotgun and six moren his little ole pistol.

Cash musta hollered to Zack cause he come runnin and helped Daddy open the gate. We snuck threw but not before Tennessee took one in the ass. Lucky it werent a straight on shot cause thats a bad place to get hit. I hered a bullet go past my head and I felt it too. Made me cuss that patrol somethin awful.

Momma come runnin to help us take cover inside the shack and I knowed by the way she screamed that Daddy was hit bad. He didnt say nothin he just kep on pluggin threw a hole in the wall. They was five of us men now and Sara took rifles to Zack and Cash. She clumb the lookout with bullets poundin the bark off the pine to get to Cash. We knowed we had a fightin chance.

Ruth and Momma was firin away too and so was Angel and Anna. Alexander was real quiet settin in the corner with them four other babies. All four was wailin like banshees.

That patrol didnt stay long after that. They mighta reckoned we had more fellas comin or we mighta whupped em proper. Well never know fer shore like most things in this life. It dont matter cause they didnt come back fer quite some time. Hush chased em on down the bluff like he thunk they was runnin from him.

Daddy died that night. Hed been hit in the chest in the shoulder and in the gut. It was a brave thing he done guardin the gate when they tried to come over it. Momma told me all bout it. Losin Bolt and Daddy so close made it double tough.

Momma took it real hard. I never seen her cry like she done that night. Cash had to hold her down so she wouldnt hurt herself. Sara slept right there with her holdin her like a baby. I slept by Cash cause I couldnt stand to see Momma so. Besides I had to help tend to Cash cause he got hit in both arms and one leg. Settin behind the pine in the lookouts what saved him. Tennessee was hit bad. Ruth tended to him cause he felt foolish gettin it in the ass and all. Wouldnt let no man watch her neither.

I took one in the ear myself. Didnt know it till later when I went to scratch it and part of it was gone. I reckon I was damn lucky. Some folks said I looked like a leprechaun after that and damned if I didnt lose part of the other ear long years after in a wrasslin match.

Zack had a burn in one eye cause his shotgun misfired. Angel had a broke arm where a bullet passed clean threw. Sara took one in the leg climbin to the lookout. Pained her fer years cause they werent no way o gettin the bullet out.

But Momma was hurt most of all. She never was the same cept in moments when shed hold one o them babies and sing to it. I give her all the hugs I had but it didnt help none. Just reminded her o Daddy. It like to killed me just seein the pain in her eyes when she looked at me. I looked more like Daddy the older I got. Bout then I membered how Daddy used to say boy yer itchin fer a switchin. Nobody could pick a switch like Momma but she didnt never use it couldnt nobody use a switch like Daddy but he never picked one.

We didnt bury Daddy fer three days cause we was afraid the patrol mighta left someone behind to pick us off when we left the compound. Why those bastards bothered with us Ill never know. We found out later they was tradin food downriver to the Nigras in Alanna but we wasnt aimin to get in there way nohow. I think them Nigras hated the Fort bad as we did only they needed the food cause they didnt have much good land down there.

After we buried Daddy Cash and Zack had a awful fight. Zack wanted first say but Cash said Daddy woulda give it to Tennessee and we all agreed. I even said so to Zack straight to his face. Cash told Zack he better watch out fer the power o the Lord and he had his bible in one hand and a pistol in the other when he said it. I never seen Zack so scairt o the Lord.

Tennessee kep out of it but I know heda shot Zack if he had to. Zack had two wives and two babies by then so mebbe he figgered hed have his day eventual. Cash and Tennessee only had one wife each. Zack woulda been humbler if heda knowed bout all Tennessees friends. Special bout the wild people.

That summer was the worse times I ever seen. My ear got fected and so did Cash and Saras arms and Tennessees ass. We got fevers at night and yella pus oozed out. Cash had it the worse cause he had three bullet holes. Angel talked bout runnin off to Fort Harding thinkin theyd take her in and treat her right. Not likely I said cause she was so ole. Damned if she didnt almost bite my head off fer that one.

Things was lookin real bad when the first leaves commenced to changin. We didnt have enough venison in cause the menfolk was all weak ceptin Zack. Zack coulda helped more only he wanted to see Cash and Tennessee bite the dust so he could have first say. The womenfolk probly woulda killed Zack if that ever come to pass he was so ornery.

Momma just went from bad to worse. She didnt eat right and most days she wouldnt even go pick vegtables. Only thing made her perk up was Alexander cause he loved to snuggle tween her bosoms when she sung to him. She loved all them babies special Saras new baby what was named Jared. Jared had a good disposition and he was Alexanders favrite. Them two just loved to roll round on the floor together and I taught em to wrassle though they didnt even know that was what they was doin.

Once I got up in Zacks face when he said Tennessee was good as dead from that fection. Challenged him to a wrasslin match and he laughed so hard I just lost it. Whupped him good I did which made him so mad he hid out in his shack fer two whole days. Some folks deserve getting there ass whupped so bad it aint right not to whup em. You member that.

The first chill come early that year. I never will forgit the mornin we first seen frost on the leaves cause thats the day Elijah Blue come to the gate smokin a pipe. Zack nearly had a fit. Said theys a nigger at the gate fetch my gun. But Tennessee was already openin the gate and lettin the fella in. He didnt look like no Nigra to me but he didnt look white neither. Couldnt no one figger out how he made it to the gate without gettin shot somewheres along the way.

Then Tennessee splained how Elijah Blue was part Injun part Nigra and part white. He could talk like a Nigra if he took a mind to but with us he talked redneck. Turned out he could talk Injun too cause his momma taught him how before the Collapse. He was quite a fella and he knowed Marcus the Nigra Tennessee saved from the Fort. Course Elijah said Marcus saved Tennessee thats how he hered it. It didnt matter none cause them Nigras in Alanna knowed all bout the Tennessee Leprechaun and we knowed all bout Marcus.

Elijah Blue had him a bag all full o potions and secret Injun herbs and such. Turned out Elijah had a Injun potion called pinasillin which done wonders fer them fections. Tennessee perked right up and Cash did too. I was already doin better but I took some just in case. Elijah had other healin powers cause he give Momma somethin what perked her up in no time. Said he got it all in the big city where them Nigras had all manner o stuff we never hered tell of. Zack said that was a load o shit werent no Nigras smartern us white folks. Zack hisself put the lie to that one.

Turned out Marcus had sent Elijah to find Tennessee. Elijah was the kinda fella could charm most anyone and he could pass fer black or white. Told white folks he had some Injun blood and some Talian which is a place over the Alannick Sea where Jesus fought them Romans. Told black folks he had some Injun blood and some Gyptian which is another place over cross the Alannick where the Nigras kep Moses in slavery. I reckon Marcus sent Elijah to find Tennessee cause they was plottin somethin.

The Nigras in Alanna hated the Genral and Yessir and all them jaspers at the Fort but they had to trade fer food to get threw the winter cause they didnt have a lot o land. White folks was always raidin there gardens cause them whites was full of envy toward the Nigras. Seemed mighty soft livin in Alanna. Pinasillin was just the start o the things they had what we didnt. They had plenny of e-lectrick lights and autocars too. They run them autocars on corn likker which Elijah had some in his pack but not fer runnin no car.

Zack sulked the whole time Elijah was with us just like all babies and some men are inclined to do. Momma took a shine to that Injun and she didnt care what Zack thunk bout it neither. Elijah slept with us in Mommas shack. First time she was happy since Daddy died. He was a good fella--Elijah I mean--cept when he drunk too much muscadine wine or corn licker. Then he got mean like Zack. Them Nigras made muscadine wine what was sweetern our scuppernongs. One night we thunk Elijah was gonna whup Zack fer sayin the word nigger which we all said but not like Zack said it. Elijah said it too but not like Zack. Zack shut up after that.

Elijah taught me how to Injun wrassle and I was good at it too. Coulda whupped Elijah by the time he left but I wouldnta done it cause I loved him by then. We all hated to see him go ceptin Zack. Momma said youll come back and he said hed lassoo the moon and bring it to her on a silver chain. He talked like that a lot. Told them babies stories which they couldnt of understood but all us grownups membered the stories and told em later. I liked the one bout Brer Rabbit. Said please dont throw me in that brier patch. Elijah was a hoot believe you me.

Bout the time Elijah was packin to go another patrol come up on us from the river. They come with a white flag which just barely done saved there lifes. They come right up to the gate without no rifIes or nothin. Said they was lookin fer a Nigra travelin alone and had we seen him. No said Tennessee why dont you come on in and take a look round. Zack bout had a fit at that one. Come on in Tennessee kep sayin but them bastards was cowards. Course Tennessee had took off his green hat. Said we seen a Nigra a ways back fishin in the river but he flew off to the west.

Then the patrol asked bout the Tennessee Leprechaun and Tennessee said we dont need no trouble and that fellas nothin but. Kep a straight face when he said it too. Alright says the patrol but keep a eye out fer both of em and if you find em well give you all the supplies you need to bring em in. Shore said Tennessee we need supplies bad. Aint got no more ammo he said. All we gots women and babies and the mens all sick from a raid last spring. Too bad the fella said but good luck and all. Then Tennessee said please come on in and stay a while well give you women fer some ammo. Well give up all the young ones and theys perty too. Naw sorry said the fella.

Elijah decided to stay on a few more days which was right lucky cause that patrol come back three days later with there guns just a-blazin. We was ready though. Had all our rifles loaded and waitin and we killed so many o the stinkin bastards that the rest run off and left there own layin. We got five more guns and a whole mess of ammo off the bodies without no one even gettin grazed. We got another raydeo box too which Tennessee give to Elijah along with a piece o paper splainin when to use it accordin to the moon cycle and where to put them dials.

Next day Elijah left. Momma cried and cried but it was strong cryin not the weak kind. Elijah took me by the arm to shake it and he throwed me halfway cross the compound. Then he hugged me and said dont never let down yer guard the worlds a mighty fickle place. I walked off and cried cause he sounded so much like Daddy when he said that. That night Tennessee talked to all his friends on the raydeo box and he told em Elijah was gonna be headen back to Alanna so help him all you can. Tennessee and Elijah had apparent made some plans. It caused a stir at the fall meetin which Ill tell you bout next.

So thats how Daddy died savin the compound and how me and Tennessee made it back from the spring meetin just in time to save the rest. Thats how I met my first Injun and how we fooled the Fort into bringin us more guns. And thats how I learned to think like Brer Rabbit which the Tennessee Leprechaun knowed all along.

Me and Tennessee headed fer the fall meetin just a few days after Elijah left. Didnt take but ten days to reach Rebel Holler on horseback and that was ridin casual. I seen Arlo and we went to watch wrasslin while Tennessee and Gail run off to pick dewberries. I figgered dewberry season was over but Gail knowed what she was cookin up.

I told Arlo bout how I whupped Zack and Elijah--I didnt really whup Elijah but I could of--and he said why dont you wrassle one o them boys now. Then he up and challenged a fella named Seth to wrassle me and Seth said shore. Seth was oldern me but I was nearly as big. He whupped me anyhow but it took a spell fer him to do it. Said I was good as them menfolk so I wrassled four or five of em that day. Plum wore me out so bad I went to sleep before they turned out the e-lectrick light.

Next day the meetin commenced. The caves them boys had been blowin was perty near all linked up cept fer the tunnel runnin under the Fort. Them boys couldnt do no dynamightin under the Fort lessin they was a thunderstorm so Yessir and the Genral and them boys couldnt here what was goin on. Bear said Tennessee oughta go splore them caves cause he knowed em bettern anyone.

The rest o the meetin was bout what Elijah come to tell Tennessee. Bear said everbody cept the one what has first say from each compound get on out and thats what we done. We hered a whole mess o hollerin that day comin from the cave. Bear swore all of em to secrecy cludin Tennessee.

That night everbody was grumblin among thereselfs probly bout Elijah. Arlo tried to guess what they was talkin bout but he didnt know nothin. Plenny o fellas asked me bout Elijah but I didnt say nothin. I figgered they was riled bout him bein part Nigra which they wouldnta been if theyda met him. Takes a stupid man to turn down help in a pinch and I figgered Elijah had offered up some pinasillin or somethin.

Late that night Tennessee woke me up and us and Bear took off into the cave. Bear told me to call him Cavebear and thats what I done. Ida called him darlin if thats what he wanted he was so big. We walked a good ways into the cave with a e-lectrick light hid in a stick which I called a cool torch cause it didnt give off no heat. It didnt smell or choke you neither and you could stick it in water and it wouldnt go out. Tennessee got it from Elijah. After a ways we started usin reglar torches case the cool torch burnt out. Soon as we put out that cool torch I started hearin little footsteps everwhere we went what always stopped when we stopped and always started up when we started up. Tennessee said never mind but I figger it was the wild people. I reckon they give us more help than most anybody knows inside them caves and out.

We musta walked all day. I couldnt tell cause they werent no sun or nothin to judge the time o day by. Bear showed us where them boys had blowed tunnels between the caves and it was scary as hell considerin how all that rock coulda come down on top of us most any time. They was places where some poor fella had got buried and each one was marked with a black cross made with a burnt torch. One o them black crosses stuck in my mind cause they was a mans leg stickin out from under a rock the size of a shack. I thunk I saw that leg move but Tennessee said it was just the torch flickerin.

Bout suppertime we come cross a cave full o bats. Them suckers flew out all at once in a cloud and we follered em to a openin not far from Bears place. We was all damned happy to be outta them holes. We hiked till dusk which is when we reached the compound. It was way biggern ours by a long shot. They was people all over and ever one of em come up and hugged Bear special the kids. They had a flag hung up by the gate. It was red with a blue X touchin the corners with thirteen white stars on that blue X.

They fed us real good at the compound and I met a girl named Rachel. Bear said go head and sleep with her but she got all red in the face and run off. They laughed and laughed but damned if she didnt come find me that night.

Early mornin we went back into the cave. Them bats musta come back overnight cause they was hangin from the ceilin thick as honeybees. We seen a nest o snakes too and they was some big ole rattlers far as I could tell. Bear said a coupla fellas had got bit but didnt neither of em die. We give them snakes a wide berth anyhow. I aint never liked no snakes.

The deeper we went into them caves the less scairt I got. Its like climbin trees I reckon--you get use to it. I started lookin round more and I seen some things I never woulda dreamt up in a hunnert years. They was big collums drippin from the ceilings like wax drips off a candle only them colIums was big as trees. The walls turned all kinda colors from white to red to yella with everthin in between. We seen criks and rivers down there and once we seen a waterfall biggern any I ever seen up above. That waterfall had the queerest formations till you could pertend like some giant had been down there whittlin rocks. Bear said who knows mebbe they is giants down here. I figger thats bout as likely as Tennessee bein part leprechaun.

The scariest part was climbin them ropeladders. If weda fell it woulda been over. I always went up first cause Bear said he could catch me but I probly couldnt catch him. We was carryin packs too which made it double tough. Ever once in a while wed have to crawl under some rocks what hung in the air saspended between the walls o the cave. Big ole Bear had a awful time doin it.

Tennessee was real intrested in them places what was opened up with dynamight. Hed say this needs shorin up with cedar or this needs to be blasted bigger to make it sturdy and Bear would write down whatever he said in a little black book. I reckon Tennessee musta read a whole mess o books cause he knowed somethin bout everthin. They even talked bout rootin out snakes which give me goosebumps just thinkin bout it. We didnt see no more snakes though.

We was three days in the cave when we come up on a openin where they was three horses waitin fer us. Musta been folks talkin on the raydeo box cause we had all the supplies we needed already packed on them horses. Course didnt no little people do all that but damned if they didnt leave dried venison layin round wherever we went. Them little people was follerin ever move we made. We rode fer four days and a half and then we went down another hole what was half a days hike from the Fort. It werent long before we come to a cave what Tennessee membered was where he met Marcus.

Tennessee was tellin Bear all bout Marcus when we hered some gravel fallin and that whole cave went so quiet you could here yer heart thumpin. Then a Nigra come walkin out into the torchlight and said how you know bout Marcus. Tennessee told the fella and then the two of em went to huggin like sissies. Turned out the fella had a woman and two littluns--we call em pickaninnies--livin down in that cave. Said hed seen white folks there plenny o times blastin rocks but he always hid out when they come round. They talked bout Marcus and Elijah fer a spell and then the woman and the pickaninnies come out into the open.

They looked mighty rough just like Tennessee and Ellen did the first day we seen em. Them pickaninnies was scairt to death of us white folks but Bear sweet talked em and give em a piggyback ride and they opened right up. Said theyd been livin in that cave fer a long long while. Said there daddy what was named Fredrick went out periodical and gathered food as best he could. Started out with six of em but werent but four left.

Fredrick showed us where a tunnel had been dynamighted part way to the Fort which set them pickaninnies to cryin. Tennessee said we aint aimin to do no dynamightin and them pickaninnies hushed up. Then he looked at the tunnel real close. Said we need to move it thataway to get up under the fence. Naw said Fredrick you needs to go thisaway sos you can git inter da barrax. It was a good idee so didnt no one argue. Fredrick showed us right where them Nigras stayed and Bear wrote it all down usin that ge-ometree. Never did find out what kinda tree it was neither.

We headed back right off and we took them Nigras with us. Then we rode on back to the openin where we first got the horses--I took the littluns on rny mount--and we left em with plenny o food and supplies. Winter was fast comin so we give em a tent and a horse and some clothes too. Tennessee made a map and he showed Fredrick how to foller the first branch to a crik then on to the fork and then on to the Coosawatchee which run into the Chattahooch which runs past Alanna. Cant miss it he said. He give em a message fer Marcus too.

Then we headed back toward Rebel Holler and Congress Cave which was bout three days by horseback travelin above ground. Time we got back they werent so many folks round just them what had first say at each compound. Bear and Tennessee give em the lowdown on the plans which I werent allowed to here. They was mighty secret bout the whole thing.

Next mornin me and Tennessee headed home and we made it in twelve days this time. It was gettin cold by then. Momma was so happy to see us she fainted. Shed got a bad cough by then and she didnt know if she was gonna last long what with the weather changin and all. She done fine though mostly cause she kep thinkin bout Elijah. Cash took Tennessee off to the side and spoke fer a long while and when Zack showed up from huntin they shut up.

That night Tennessee told us all bout the plans. Everbody was real solemn cause we knowed we was liable to lose everthin when we raided the Fort. Better to lose it all at once in a fair fight than to lose it little by little to them bastards thats what Tennessee said. The plan called fer a meetin seven days before Christmas which was when wed all head fer Harding half goin cross the Coosawatchee and half goin up north. Then wed raid the Fort from both sides. What bout the caves I said and Tennessee said what caves. I looked at Zack and shut up.

Things quieted down fer a spell after that. We had a perty good store o vegtables and venison but we still had to do some winter huntin which aint no good cause the critters is either hidin out or all skin and bones. One day Zack hollered from the lookout that they was four Nigras down by the river. Said go fetch my gun and Anna went runnin. Tennessee stopped Zack at the gate and Zack got real mad. Tennessee told Momma to make up a pack full o food and ammo and then he took two guns and that pack threw the gate and down to the river. Zack bout lost it that day.

Roundbout the middle o winter Zack disappeared and we never seen him agin leastways not alive. Turned out he went off to the Fort cause we follered his tracks that way till we come up on his body. Hed been skinned alive by the wild ones and left fer dead. You could see blood where he tried to crawl back home. I reckon them littluns knowed what they was lookin fer. Thats when Tennessee told me bout the real plan and how ever compound had been told the phoney plan to root out snakes. Rootin out snakes thats what he called catchin the snitches which it turned out they was one or two in most ever compound. Them snitches was figgerin on the Genral winnin and they wanted to be on the winnin side even if it meant turnin Benadick Arnold. I shore do pity anyone headin towards the Fort just then.

Bout ten days before Christmas--Christmas come on the full moon ever year--a patrol come at us up the bluff. They musta been figgerin wed all be out gettin ready fer the raid leavin the compounds easy pickin. We was ready fer em though and we killed all but a couple what run off drippin blood in the snow. Shore nuff we got nine more rifles plus a whole mess of ammo and two raydeo boxes. We got some battries too and we took six coats what was lined with fur. Cash said a prayer over the bodies but we left em fer the critters to eat anyhow.

That night Tennessee talked fer hours on the raydeo box. Thats how we found out how many snakes wed done rooted out. They wasnt no snitches in Bears compound but he lost four men to a patrol. Yessir and them boys saved there worst fer Bear cause he had the strongest compound of all. I reckon them bastards was mighty suprised when ever compound they raided was full o guns pointed right at em. Brer Rabbit woulda been proud and so was Elijah.

I wont tell you bout the real plan just yet cept that we was meetin agin late that next spring. They was still lots to do if we was gonna whup the Genral and his boys. They still had two hellchoppers and damned if they didnt start flyin perty reglar after we fooled em with the snitches. Even Cash said them snakes got what they deserved.

Bout twelve days after we whupped that patrol ole Fredrick showed up at the gate. Cash let him in and he was in bad shape. Said his pickaninnies had died of frost and his wife had got shot by a white man downriver. Momma nursed him like he was her own and he got stronger as the winter faded. I felt powerful bad bout his famly cause I reckon we coulda kep em threw the winter before sendin em to Alanna. Fredrick moved in with Anna and Angel. Anna liked him but Angel disappeared when the first warm day come. I reckon mebbe the Fort mighta found somethin fer her to do after all.

Thats how we met Fredrick and how we rooted out all the snakes from the compounds. Thats how I learned bout the inside o caves and bout what it means to be a Judas. Aint nothin lowern a snitch.

Early spring Tennessee nounced how me and him and Fredrick was gonna head out fer Alanna. Cash said Lord help em and Momma bout had a fit. How you gonna get to Alanna with Fredrick taggin along she said and what the hell you thinks gonna happen when you get there two dumb lookin white boys. The first part was easy. We made a chain to go round Fredricks neck and we led him round like a slave. That way nobodyd challenge us fer keepin compny with a Nigra. Second part I didnt know bout just yet.

We left one mornin in the canoo with me up front and Tennessee steerin from the back and Fredrick settin in the middle with that chain round his neck. Fredrick could sing bettern anyone and he knowed more songs too. Sang bout slavery days and bout how them slaves used to trick the marster. Sang bout Sally flyin to the east and flyin to the west and flyin to the one what she loved the best. They was lots o songs bout flyin back then. He knowed songs bout the Kribbean Sea too what talked bout fella mankind and Babble-on and such. Course Babble-on is a bible city what turned wicked cause couldnt nobody talk right.

Tennessee knowed lots o them songs and he called em reggie songs and gospel. Nigras is big on singin the gospel which most white folks I know cant sing a lick bout gospel ceptin Cash. Cash sings real bad like me but with lots o feelin cause hes singin bout Woody Guffrey and the bible. Woody Guffrey was a singer in the beforetimes.

Singin werent all we done. We caught fish and cooked em on a stick. Them fish was all messed up with pimples and such but you can eat round them pimples. The catfish was the worse cause they feed on the bottom I reckon. Trouts was the second worse cause they have lots o fat fer a fish. Brim was the best them sweet little things. Tennessee shot him a fox which tasted okay. He give me the skin fer a hat but its been gone fer many a year now. Tennessee said mebbe that hatll make you think like a fox and Fredrick laughed and laughed. I laughed too. I wondered if them slaves in the Silver War laughed with there marsters like that.

We was six days out when we seen a huntin party near where Fredrick said his wife had got shot. Them boys come up on us round sundown and they wasnt very friendly. Said to Tennessee that niggers ours we seen him back a stretch. Tennessee said sorry friend this here niggers mine cause he stole my horses and run em to death before I could catch his black ass. Looky I said that theres one o yer horses aint it and it sure was. Danged if that feller ridin it didnt get riled. Said he was gonna whup my ass but he didnt move a inch. They was seven o them and two of us but we had our guns in our laps pointed right at em so it was a standoff.

The fella what had first say started makin fun o Fredrick by laughin at that chain and callin him a dog. Said his wife was a ugly dog when they shot her. Said too bad she died so fast we didnt get no brown sugar. Tennessee told me what that meant later. Them bastards was meanern Yessir. I was glad they lived so far south cause they woulda been trouble at the meetins. Eventual they said there piece and rode off but Tennessee didnt trust em so we headed on downriver straightaway.

A coupla nights later it rained real strong which raised the river considerable. We didnt even have to paddle cept to steer and Tennessee done mosta that. Not long after that we come up on a bunch o bridges one right after the other. Fredrick said we caint be too far from Alanna so Tennessee took that chain off Fredricks neck and put it round mine. Then he took another chain and put it round his own neck. So then I knowed the second part o the plan and I didnt like it one bit. Fredrick hopped in the back and started steerin and Tennesse made me set there in the middle like a fool. Fredrick had hisself a good laugh pokin me in the ribs with that paddle.

We musta seen five or six bridges and they was somethin to behold. They was made o rock and they was tall as trees and they was spended clear cross that river which by then the Coosawatchee had emptied into the Chattahooch. The Chattahooch is a big ole river probly bout like the Missippi. Momma told me all bout the Missippi which she never seen. She learned bout it in a book when she was a girl. Ida liked to know more bout when she was a girl but she didnt hardly talk bout the beforetimes even after Daddy passed.

One day we run some shoals and went round a bend. We seen a pickaninny fishin in the river there and he run off like a tailless squirrel. Then we seen more Nigras and they pointed at me and Tennessee and made noises like a coyote. They was black as coals and there skin sorta glowed. They seemed like they was dancin when they laughed which I reckon they was laughin at how Fredrick had got the jump on me and Tennessee.

Presently we seen Alanna and I near fell out the canoo. They was bildins all over big as mountains and they was bridges what curled up into the sky and tied up among thereselfs like ribbons. I seen a jeep only it had a roof and they was two Nigras inside it with guns. After a while we come up on the biggest bildin I ever seen. All them other bildins was burnt up and they didnt have no winders. This one had winders and we come up on it round dusk. Damned if the whole thing didnt start to light up with e-lectrick lights till it looked like a big ole holler tree full o lightnin bugs. Momma told the littluns bout the cities of the little people what was lit by firefly lanterns. I reckon thats what they look like only smaller and more natural.

Fredrick said thats the Gradys but werent no one there name o Grady. Thats where ever Nigra in Alanna lived. It was more folksn I ever seen in one place in all my life. They had barracades all round it cause white folks use to raid it and they was fellas with guns all along the river. They was a flag flyin on the roof made o three stripes one green one yella and one red. I seen fellas on top with guns too but the Gradys was so tall I couldnt really make em out. Zack was wrong bout them Nigras. They lived like kings I tell you what.

We run up on the bank and Fredrick talked real nasty to me and Tennessee. He took his gun and led us on into the place holdin our chains real tight. Pickaninnies was all round us and they run up to touch us laughin when they done it. Inside that place was like a cave only the walls was flat and shiny. They was winders in some o the rooms but not in most. We seen two white women cleanin floors and they said howdy. A Nigra rubbed one on the head. We seen some white kids too and they was playin with the pickaninnies. Them white folks was slaves but you wouldnta knowed it.

They was a whole mess o stairs in the Gradys and we bout clumb em all. They had e-lectrick lights everwhere cause they had somethin called a genarata what worked like a doo-doo hole without the doo-doo. That genarata looked like the contraption what Cash said was the Ark o the Covnent only it was a lot bigger. Up top we went into a big ole room what had the pertiest furnishins I ever seen. They was a ole Nigra fella settin behind a big table and I figgered he had first say among all them Nigras. His name was Mambebe. A Nigra was settin next to ole Mambebe and Tennessee smiled and said howdy Marcus. Marcus stood up and shook Tennessees hand and then he took them chains off both of us.

Them Nigras was fine folks. They fed us good and white women brung the food in on silver trays. Tennessee said you got them hoods ready and Marcus said shore nuff. Then a fella come in dressed in a long white robe with a white pointy hood. That hood stood up straight and it had two holes cut in it to see out of. They all laughed up a storm. Ole Mambebe said how bout that and they laughed some more. I never hered so much laughin.

We stayed two nights in Alanna. I met some white girls and some black ones too. Them Nigras treated there slaves good till some of em didnt wanna leave. Everthin you could want was in the Gradys. Them Nigras said when the white folks started the Collapse we took the citys cause thats where we was forced to stay in the beforetimes. Said now the crackers--thats what they call us whites--the crackers want the damn citys back and boy did they laugh then. Didnt no one call me and Tennessee crackers cept one pickaninny and Elijah hushed him fer it. Elijah said he preferred callin us rednecks which is what we call ourselfs.

Ever night cept Sunday them Nigras had a dance. They was a room big as Tennessees cave back home and they had a bunch o Nigras playin the dangdest fiddles and banjers I ever seen. I seen fiddles and banjers back home which the Nigras called gittahs but these was all funny shaped and made o metal and they played threw big ole black boxes what was loud as thunder. They had more drumsn you could shake a stick at and them drums was even loudern them gittahs. Boy them Nigras could sing too. It seemed like they could all sing perfect together without none of em singin the same thing. It was perty music like what Fredrick sang on the river only loud enough to wake up the dead which they sang bout there forebears quite a bit.

Elijah showed up the second night. He shook my hand and I tried to throw him but he was ready. He pulled my arm behind my back and made me call him uncle before hed let go. He shore was like Daddy only not so stern. Said hows yer momma and I said just fine cept she misses Daddy. I felt stupid but Elijah knowed what I meant cause he said I shore do miss her too.

Elijah had seventeen pickaninnies and four wives. We slept with the pickaninnies that second night and they was playful like a bunch o squirrel pups. They sang and danced all round. Nigras can dance like nobodys bidness as Elijah liked to say. Them pickaninnies just loved to talk to me and Tennessee. Said you rednecks live in the woods and we said shore nuff. Said you rednecks eat squirrels and we said we shore did alright. Said you rednecks got any slaves and we said no shore dont. Elijah had a white slave woman name o Shandricka and she treated him like a king. Shandricka had two younguns named Malika and Shanita. Shandricka said some Nigras beat there slaves but not most. I told her bout Fort Harding and bout the Nigra I seen get whupped till he fell down. She shook her head shameful like.

The day we left most all them Nigras come up to the riverbank to see us off. A couple mean ones was hollerin bout how weda made good slaves or good fish food one. I reckon theys a couple in ever bunch. Soundled just like Zack they did. Tennessee had made big plans with them Nigras but he wouldnt tell me bout em. Said what if Yessir gets a hold o yer young ass what then. I said Ill whup him good thats what. By then I was proachin fourteen I dont member zacktly.

Fredrick give us a special rifle what shot a hunnert rounds at a time and a box of ammo too. Said you peg that bastahd what killt my wife ifn you git a chaince and Tennessee said hed shore try. Elijah give us a bag o medcine and he said you keep yer Momma lookin good fer me or Ill bust yer head. I said shore Elijah but how you gonna bust my head lessin you sneak up on me at night. He tried to throw me too but I blocked him and give him a hug. Marcus give us a raydeo box what run on battries. It was powerful enough to reach from the compound clear to Alanna. Said you can here Yerrup some nights but they talk so funny you wont understand it. Tennessee said hell I understand yer ass dont I and everbody laughed like the dickens. Them Nigras whooped it up as we paddled on upstream.

My arms was hurtin bad by suppertime. Tennessee pulled up to the bank bout where we seen that pickaninny fishin on the way downriver and damned if they wasnt two horses waitin. We camped there and I felt like we was bein watched which it turned out we was cause theys a Nigra outpost on the bluff just above. I dont know bout no white folks raidin Alanna. Theyd hafta be mighty stupid to try it. Alannas the most beautiful place I ever seen and them Nigras live like Gyptians.

We set out next mornin and clumb a hill what overlooked the city. They was all them burnt bildins standin there ghostlike and off to the side was the Gradys which I hoped to see agin before my time come. We rode the ridges fer six days eatin what we could catch in the river along with the vittles the Nigras give us.

On the seventh day out we run up on the same fellas what shot Fredericks wife only this time they was four of em. They musta watched what come past that river real close. Tennessee had Fredricks special rifle which he kep on his lap real casual. The fella what had first say talked nice enough but they was a edge to what he said. Said what you doin takin that Nigra to Alanna. Tennessee said tradin what else. Fella said what you get fer him. Tennessee said this here rifle and he lifted it up with his finger on the trigger. Shore would like that gun said the fella and his boys started closin in on us. I lifted up my rifle and damned if one o them fellas didnt shoot it right out my hand. Piece o that bullet clipped my good ear and it werent no good ear no more.

Tennessee didnt need to see no moren that. He pointed that rifle and pulled the trigger and boy was we all suprised. That gun shot fastern a body could think bow-bow-bow-bow-bow-bow-bow till all four o them smartalecs was layin on the ground moanin and groanin. Tennessee looked at me all goofy then he grinned. Said hows that Fredrick and we rode off. Left em layin just like theyda done us.

Thats the story of how we took the low road to Alanna and the high road home. Thats how I learned to tell good from bad and false from true without lookin at a mans skin. And thats how I learned what a man can do with the right kinda rifle. Too bad rifles cant tell good men from bad. Shore be a easier world.

It took five more days to make the compound. We rode up round sundown gallopin like wed done all day. Everbody was fine even Momma though she looked mighty pale fer springtime. Theyd been plantin vegtables right along and Cash shot a deer which the Lord musta helped him cause he couldnt shoot straight to save his life. Said a patrol passed on the river a few days back goin toward the Fort in a boat. Said it was full o scrap and bluegum pickaninnies which is the darkest kinda Nigra. Said them boys was dippin the pickaninnies in the river by the ankles till they screamed and how one little fella had shook loose and drowned.

Tennessee said me and him was fixin to light out agin in a few days cause they was a meetin planned. My ass was sore from ridin but I was ready to go anyhow. We give Momma the bag Elijah had sent. The doo-doo hole was broke so we fixed it and Tennessee brung out a e-lectrick light he got from Alanna which he set in Mommas shack to comfort her. Momma didnt cry when we left but Hush did cause he couldnt go.

It was a hard ride back to Congress Cave. We was runnin late so we pushed Powder and Elanor real hard. The Blue Ridge was as perty as ever even in the rain which it rained most ever day in the afternoon. Tennessee said good ole thunderstorms we need em bad this year. He was talkin bout them fellas blastin the caves under the Fort. I never welcomed rain so in all my life.

We made Congress Cave in ten days. Gail and Bear had a fit when they seen us cause a few compounds was late and they figgered wed been bushwhacked by the patrols. We never went the same way twice so as not to leave trails. It was a good thing we done it that way. Turned out them patrols was huntin us down with a vengence. Musta knowed somethin was up from talkin to snakes like Zack even if they didnt know everthin. Arlo was there agin and me and him set down and swapped stories.

Arlo said how Congress Cave was named after the last meetin o the guvamint o the USSA. Said by then they wasnt but one free state left and it was called Wyomin. I knowed that much but Arlo said you dont know everthin. Said the last meetin actual took place right there in Congress Cave. Said when the Collapse come bout them Congressmen--they was the ones what run the guvamint o the USSA--them Congressmen just started disappearin. Folks figgered they was runnin off with what was left o the guvamints dollars. Arlo said the real patriots kidnapped them Congressmen and brung em to Congress Cave to dissolve the guvamint. Then the Nigras took over Warshington what was where the Congress met before the Collapse. Bout that time Bear walked up and Arlo got real quiet so I figgered he was just pullin my leg.

Bear said the meetin was fixin to start and fer us to go tend to the horses while he talked to them what had first say in all the compounds. We done what he said but I didnt like it. I told Arlo bout Tennessees rifle and how it killed four men in one pop but he didnt believe me. I couldnt tell him bout Alanna though cause Tennessee said not to talk bout no Nigras.

While we was outside the cave a fella rode up on a motersickle and said his buddies had been waylaid by a patrol and how he was the only one what made it out alive. Said they had a hellchopper shootin at em. He was shakin bad and he looked like hell. Said hed rode all night fer three nights but he laid low durin the day case they was follerin him.

Bear come out and said to hush but when he seen this fella he brung him straight into the cave. A while later they called us all inside and finished the meetin cause they werent no time to dilly-dally. We went on inside and the rest o the meetin was real short. Ever fella what had first say had a little map with a timetable and they was sposed to swaller them maps if they got in trouble with the patrols. Werent nobody sposed to see them maps. Them plans was already made but we was still missin sevral compounds.

Tennessee told me to go on home like I knowed the way. I said shore but what if I get lost and then Bear said hell bring the boy along. I said what boy there aint no boy round here but didnt nobody laugh. They didnt make me head fer home though which was a good thing cause Ida follered there asses no matter what. We headed out that evenin after sundown and they werent no moon neither. We rode fer four nights hidin out in the daytime till we reached Bears compound. Theyd been gettin ready to fight cause they was fellas in towers at all four corners. They let us in but only after Bear said some secret words.

We went straight to a shack what was all dark inside. They was a ole man inside settin on a blanket and the place smelled like that skunky northern lights only sweeter like it was mixed up with berries. They called him Ole Man Walton and it turned out he had first say not Bear. After the Collapse they werent hardly no ole folks round at all. Ole Man Walton was the brains behind the whole raid. Ole Man Walton said we had to get to them other compounds and straighten out the plans which he figgered Bear could do if anyone could. Bear said shore but Ill need a raydeo and some battries and Jed better come along. Tennessee give Bear some battries and Bear left that same night. I figgered the raid werent too far off.

Fore we went to sleep we lissined to a box called a seedy box. Coupla fellas name o Will Rogers and Rush Limbo talked right outta this box bout the beforetimes. Then another coupla fellas name o Hank Willums and Bob Dillon sang outta the seedy box. I dont know what kinda seeds was in that box but they was amazin. Fella once told me teevee was like the raydeo only with movin picthers. Said the movies was like a seedy box only with pitchers as big as a house.

That night Rachel found me agin and boy was she a sight to beholdin. Shed growed a lot since last time and so had I. Wanted me to marry her but I said waitll later cause I wanted to marry Ellen first.

Tennessee and Ole Man Walton talked half the night on the raydeo box what Marcus give us. I dont think they was talkin to Yerrup. Mebbe they was talkin to Alanna though.

Next mornin me and Tennessee lit out fer home but we took a differnt way from normal. Fer one thing we stopped by two compounds what Id never seen. They was both biggern ours but not so big as Bears. One of em had a doo-doo hole and the other had a Nigra slave and a genarata. One fella name o Henry said when the Collapse come it was only a few folks could make it threw and they wasnt no city folks neither. They was use to livin in the woods already and thats why they was so good at huntin and trappin and growin vegtables. Made me preciate what Daddy done. Bout the time we come up on the Blue Ridge I asked Tennessee bout what Arlo said. Tennessee grinned and he said Arlos a better storytellern he is a historyan.

We was just a few days from home when a patrol bushwhacked us from on top a ridge. They was a good ways up above us and they had us pinned down tight. I wish weda brung Hush cause heda smelled the bastards and warned us. We set behind a boulder till nightfall when Tennessee said he was gonna make a run fer it. He said he was gonna take Elanor too so theyd think we both got away--that is if he made it. So he slipped up on Powder with a rope tied to Elanor and took off fast as he could go. That patrol had just bout surrounded us cause they shot at Tennessee from ever side but one.

Fortunate fer Tennessee that one side was where he went. I seen his rifle flashin as he rode and it kep on flashin fer some time so I figgered hed got away. I stayed put till mornin then I started hikin fer home. I had a pack but werent much food in it and I had one rifle but not much ammo. I was mighty scairt I tell you what. But I knowed Tennessee had done the right thing.

I walked the hollers stead o the ridges cause I figgered them patrols could see me up on a ridge. Once I crossed a road and damned if two jeeps didnt come by just as I slipped into the brush. Another time I swum a crik which is when I lost my rifle. Things werent lookin too good and I knowed it. I thunk bout Momma and bout Ellen. I figgered when Tennessee made it out hed head fer home then mebbe him and Cash could come lookin fer me. I thunk it but I knowed it wasnt possible.

Course I had on my fox hat so I tried to think like a fox. I slept up under bushes and I ate all the berries what the birds ate so as not to eat nothin poison. I tried to keep goin south and west but I never reckonized nothin. After a while I run outta food and then the heat started gettin to me.

One mornin I woke up and they was a rifle pointed in my face. Fella said boy the Genrals gonna like this one hes young and hes mighty white. I was suprised they didnt shoot me. Turned out the Genral wanted breedin stock and I was plenny white fer his taste. Ill tell more bout that direckly.

So thats the story o the last meetin at Congress Cave. And thats how me and the Tennessee Leprechaun got bushwhacked and how I got captured by the patrol from Fort Harding. Things had shore took a turn fer the worse.

Them bastards tied me up like a hog and flung me over the back of a horse. They rode me up over a ridge and they was a road there. Then they stuck me in back of a jeep where I couldnt see a damn thing. That jeep like to beat me to death it bounced so bad and not like a horse which you can let bounce you gentle. I couldnt hardly breath neither cause I was all squashed up in a little space like a box. I hered em talkin on a raydeo box and damned if they werent talkin to ole Yessir hisself.

It took two days to get to Fort Harding which is where I figgered they was takin me. They didnt feed me once and they only let me out to piss twice a day. I was feelin right sick by the time we rode up to the Fort what had a gate as high as a tree. They was razor wire all up top the gate and a fence topped with the stuff run all the way round the Fort ceptin where it butted up to the river. That was where me and Tennessee proached it in the canoo and it turned they was a dock with some shacks what held them kemikals and stuff. Thats where they kep them hellchoppers too.

First thing they done was to stick me in a little room what had water runnin threw the roof. Then they give me some green clothes to wear which I fought em but they got me in em anyhow. I set in that room fer four whole days without food. All the water I had was what run down from the roof. They didnt let me out to piss or shit neither.

On the fifth day they brung me to see the Genral. He lived in a big ole mansion smack dab in the middle o Fort Harding and he had more Nigra slavesn you could shake a stick at. Them mansion slaves was all women and ever one was a bluegum black as they come. They was some white girls too but all they done was lay round waitin fer the Genral. When I first seen the Genral he was settin in a big chair smokin a pipe. Said so yer the rabbit what couldnt run fast enough and I said yeah I reckon so. He laughed but I didnt. Said you know what we do with yer kind dont you and I said no I dont. He laughed agin and so did the white girl what had come and set down on his lap.

For a long while he just set there playin with that girl. Then he said boy you want this sweet young thing. I said I reckon and then she come and got nekkid and set on my lap. We done it right there in front o the bastard which it turned out he liked to watch. When we was done--it didnt take long--the Genral fell asleep in his chair and two o his boys brung me to a barrax. Them barrax was big like them bildins in Alanna only stead o standin up real high they run along the ground. They was sevral barrax. Two of em was full o Nigras but some was fer the Genrals boys and this one I went to was fer the white girls and the littluns. Thats where I seen Ellen.

Ellen looked like hell. She was all pale and skinny and her hair was a mess and her eyes was sunken. I went to talk to her but she acted like she didnt know me. I figgered she didnt want no one to know who we was. If the Genral had found out we both knowed the Tennessee Leprechaun it woulda gone bad fer everbody. Turned out the Genral was breedin us like hogs and he had a barrax where he was breedin them bluegum Nigras too. Turned out the USSA guvamint started the whole thing by dividin the people up by color which is what the Genral done only to extremes.

Next day the Genral hisself come and asked me was I enjoyin my stay. I knowed what he meant but I didnt let on. Said you just take what you want boy and then he went and picked out some girls to take back to the mansion. Ellen looked my way after he left and damned if she didnt give me a wink like she knowed somethin. That night we knowed each other and I said I wanted her fer a wife which all them girls round us laughed and laughed. Things went on like that fer a spell. Then one day I got mad at one o the Genrals boys fer messin with Ellen and I whupped him good. He was biggern me but I whupped him till he laid down pukin and then I kicked him in the head. I didnt preciate livin like no animal. They drug me up to the mansion and the Genral tied me to a chair and done burnt me with a cigar. Said you wanna die boy and I said not just yet. He laughed like he was drunk then he kicked me in the mouth. Said you best learn whats what round here or well tear yer head off and feed it to the dogs.

Then he asked me bout Ellen. Said what you know bout that little thing to make you act so stupid. I said dont know nothin I just wanted to whup the bastard. Genral said you knowed her before you come here didnt you. I said no aint never seen her. Naw he said you dont look like her kin then he screwed up my hair. Said take him to the monkey pit.

Four o his boys took me down to a pit where they kep Nigras what didnt mind there orders. They was full growed men there what looked all skin and bones and some what had the hides ripped clean off there backs. One o them bastards took a Nigra by the hair and blowed his brains out with a rifle just to get me scairt. They took me back to the Genral and he done somethin I wont talk bout. Then he said what you reckon we oughta do with this boy. One fella said lets drown him in the river. Another said lets skin him. Then the Genral said naw lets barbeque his ass. I just said you dont work no white folks with them Nigras do you.

You shoulda hered them boys laugh when I said that. Said so you dont like Nigras eh. I said hell no Id rather sleep in shit. The Genral called in a bluegum fella what worked at the mansion and he said Rastus take this boy and lock him up with the Nigras. Naw I said Ill make you kill me first and I put up a good show wrasslin all them jaspers till they knocked me over the head with a steel chair.

Them poor Nigras lived in a barrax all piled up on top o thereselfs. I was hurtin but Rastus he cleaned me up and put some herbs on my head where it was busted open. Them Nigras looked at me a long long while before one ole fella come up and asked me what was I doin there. Said the Genral don puts no white boys here lessin deys done sumpin real bad. I told em I whupped a fella fer messin with my woman and they all gathered round to here the story. Then I told em bout Marcus and Fredrick and Elijah and they was all bugged out in the eyes. When I told em bout Alanna they got all riled up but I didnt say nothin bout no caves or no raid cause even among them bluegums they was likely to be a snitch.

I stayed with them Nigras fer more daysn I could count. I worked out in the fields ever day from sunup to sundown. Ever once in a while some o the Genrals boysd throw a young bluegum into the barrax and everbody gathered round to ask bout some bluegum woman or another which it turned out they all had wives or sisters or daughters what was use fer breedin. One Nigrad say so yous my nephew now even though no one knowed whose child was whose. It kep em happy I reckon.

That work was powerful hard. Once in a while a ole Nigrad fall down half dead and them bastardsd haul him off and wed never see him agin. Didnt hardly no one take notice till evenin when theyd say a prayer fer the one what fell. They all had names like Preacher or Hardhead or Boner cause they couldnt speak there real names. They got whupped if they use there real names. One fella called hisself X which he joked how he was the only Nigra at Fort Harding what could spell his own name.

When we was out in the fields wed sing Nigra songs where one fella--it was usual Preacher--one fellad sing a line and us others answered back. Hed sing deys gwine run to da rocks and wed answer dem rocks dey gwine be meltin. Hed sing deys gwine run to da sea and wed answer da sea gwine be a-boilin. Another song wed sing when X or Peanut snuck off to steal some corn likker. The marsters--thats what they called the Genrals boys--the marsters might come round and wed sing go da long way Daniel go da long way go round souf Daniel go roun souf till the marsters left. We said Daniel but X and Peanut knowed who we meant.

When we was in the barrax ole Satchel would pick up his stick and beat it on the floor while everbody clapped and sang. They knowed plenny o them songs what Fredrick knowed bout Sally fly to the east fly to the west and bout the Kribbean and such. Sometimes wed here someone beatin a stick on the ground in the next barrax what was the Nigra womenfolks barrax and wed all join in keepin time with our feet. I aint shore but I think them Nigras talked with them sticks somehow mebbe like the Injuns used to talk with smoke. Never did figger out how they done it.

If we got tired o singin wed tell stories. Preacher was particular fond o talkin bout Brer Rabbit only he knowed all bout Brer Rabbits buddies like Brer Fox and Brer Bear. X knowed all bout Meshack and Bedniggo and Shadrack what could set in fire without gettin burnt. One fella named Bo knowed all bout the Gyptian kings and Satchel knowed bout some Nigra royalty named Count Basee and King Kol.

That summer come and went. I got to wondrin when the raid was comin. Ever time a thunderstorm come up I laid down on the floor o the barrax and lissened hard. Once I thunk I hered a splosion and that give me some hope. When the leaves started changin them thunderstorms come round less and less offen. They werent no fires in them barrax and some nights it got mighty cold. Things was lookin grim when a big ole storm come up one night while everbody was sleepin. Course we all slept on the floor. I put my ear down and damned if I didnt here one splosion after another. Then a big ole thunderbolt hit and the floor on one end o the barrax caved in leavin a hole just big enough fer poor ole Peanut to fall in.

Them Nigras jumped up all goofy wondrin if the devil hisself werent comin to get em. Naw I said that thunderbolt blowed a hole in the ground and we gotta cover it up sos we can hide stuff from the marsters in it. We pulled a big hunk o wood off the wall and covered the hole with it. Then we covered the wood with some blankets like we was all sleepin close up on ourselfs to keep out the cold. We was makin a racket and one o the Genrals boys come in and hollered shut up fore I blast you. We shut up alright. Preacher said that thundabolt musta hit the barrax it scairt us so but wes jus fine. The fella left and then I hollered down the hole but didnt no one holler back. I figgered it was time to let em in on the raid so I told em all bout it. Ever Nigra in that barrax wanted to up and run down that hole but X told em to wait it out theyd be better off.

Them was the hardest days I ever lived threw just waitin fer the raid and all. Ever day I was scairt some snitch had told the Genral the whole plan or mebbe Tennessee and them had give it up or mebbe the patrols had finally wiped us out. Then one mornin they brung me to the Genral and he stuck a needle in my arm. Damned if they werent somethin funny bout that needle cause I started feelin all fuzzy in the head. A coupla boys tied me to a chair to keep me from fallin out the thing. I couldnt hardly see my eyes was so blurry and I couldnt think straight neither.

The Genral asked me a whole lotta questions that mornin. I answered em all more or less. I couldnt help myself. Only thing I never told was bout the tunnel we blowed into the Nigra barrax. He never asked me bout no tunnel specific so I never told him bout none. But I told him everthin I knowed bout the caves and the raid. He knowed all bout the raid and I hated myself fer it.

Thats how I got captured and how I worked with the Nigras all summer. Thats how I learned how folks can breed people like hogs and what its like to be a slave. And thats how the Genral found out bout the caves and bout the raid.

After the Genral stuck me with that needle Preacher told me mebbe I oughta make a run fer it so I could warn Tennessee. Course I wanted out bad but it didnt seem right to leave all them others behind. Preacher said yous doin it fo all of us so I figgered I might as well go. That same night I slipped on down the hole. Damned if I didnt mist up thinkin bout them Nigras sacerficin theirselfs like that.

Them caves was mighty dark special if you was alone. I knowed how to foller the stones but that didnt make it no easier. It seemed like days and days I was down there. I got mighty hungry but I werent gonna eat no snakes like Tennessee done. I had to grope all round with my hands to find the trail markins. Once in a while Id come up on a big ole hole or a cliff which I woulda fell in if it werent fer the cool wind blowin up from below all them caves. I dont know where that wind comes from but I shore did preciate it.

Once I come to a cliff and right beside the ropeladder was a torch and some flint. When I got the torch lit I seen them caves was all full o guns and ammo like the raid was close. I took me a rifle and a box o bullets. Then I seen a markin what said a openin was nearby and I practical run right to it like it was some kinda instink.

When I come out the openin that was the best breath of air I ever took. It was mornin judgin by the smell but I didnt know how long Id been inside the caves. First thing I seen was a hawk which is a good omen. I figgered if I started out toward the south eventual Id come to the Coosawatchee and then I could find the compound. They was a crik nearby to drink at and I ate some roots and berries. That evenin I shot a rabbit and cooked him up. I probly shouldnt of built no fire but the nights was gettin cold and I werent gonna eat no raw rabbit.

Next mornin I headed south. They was kudzu and briers everwhere. It werent easy to keep on course neither cause the ravines and ridges all run southwest and I didnt want to hit the river too far west so I had to climb up and down ever ridge. If I coulda walked the ridges that woulda made things a far sight easier.

One evenin I made camp near a spring. I musta drifted off to sleep cause when I woke up they was a knife at my throat. Damned if they wasnt a little fella all dressed in skins kneelin there. He looked bout my age mebbe a little older but he was all shrunk up and wrinkly. Folks talked bout how after the Collapse all kinds o littluns roamed the woods like wild animals but Tennessees the only one ever said he saw em. Other folks said they was little people called leprechauns from the old country in Yerrup and they was magic. Whatever they was I hadnt never seen one till then. The little fella couldnt even speak good but we sorta knowed what the other wanted.

I pushed that knife away real slow like and then I hered the woods rustlin all up and down the holler so I knowed I was outnumbered. The fella wanted to see my gun real bad. I reckon hed heard em plenny and was right curious. He made some grunts and seven or eight others come out in the open. They all had spears and clubs and half of em was nekkid. I moved real slow and I give him the wrong end o the rifle which he looked real curous right down the barrel. I coulda blasted him but instead I membered what Tennesse told me. So I said Tennessees name in there language and boy did they warm up to me then. But damned if that one fella didnt pull my trigger by accident and then they all screeched and run off like scairt deer.

They was a patrol nearby cause after the rifle went off I hered em comin. I took off fast as I could go. I never seen what happened but it sounded like that patrol follered them littluns cause I hered gunshots and lots o wailin. To this day I wonder who was doin most o the wailin the patrol or them littluns. I reckon it was the patrol. I shore as hell hope so.

After a while I got to wondrin if I was missin the raid. I seen them hellchoppers most ever day like the Genral was hot to find what we was up to. Course he mighta been lookin fer me but probly not. Fer sevral days I follered a stream what I figgerd had to run into the Coosawachee and damned if I werent right. It shore was a happy day when I finally found the river and I even reckonized the place from paddlin past it with Tennessee. I was so eager I found me a big log floatin by and hopped right on it layin low with my rifle cross my back.

It werent but two days later that I come up on the compound. I clumb the bluff and someone musta spotted me cause they took a coupla shots and damn near pegged me. Believe you me we was all good shots. I give Daddys secret whistle and they returned it and then we all run into each other and rolled on the ground like wolf pups. Momma was lookin good and Elijah was with her. Sara was with child agin. Alexander shore membered me cause he clumb up on my lap and drooled all over me. Cash had took Anna fer a wife and she was with child too.

Back at the compound they was two babies left both of em boys. Them girl babies had died from the shits which everbody had got from drinkin river water. Course Tennessee was gone but he told Elijah not to let no one drink the stuff cause the Fort was probly dumpin all kinda kemikals it bein harvest time and all. I wanted to go on and track down Tennessee but Elijah told me to wait we was all gettin together when the time was ripe. I didnt know what he meant till later.

In the meantime we had to harvest all our vegtables and get the venison to curin. We still used the same cave Tennessee found all those years ago. They was a whole mess o meat curin down there enough to feed the whole compound fer years. Course we was plannin to feed everbody what went on the raid but it still seemed like a awful lot o meat.

One evenin we was settin round strippin the strings off some ropeweed when Cash come runnin up the bluff all red in the face. Said they was a bunch o fellas comin up the riverbank on horses and they was wearin white hoods. Bout that time a hellchopper come overhead and we knowed we was in trouble.

Elijah laughed and so did Momma. They knowed somethin bout them riders. That hellchopper hovered above the river fer quite a while like they was all cornfused by the goins on. Didnt nobody shoot at nobody which it looked like them riders was headin to meet the Genral or somethin. Elijah said come on boy and we headed down the bluff soon as the hellchopper left.

I aint never seen nothin like them hooded riders. They was hunnerts of em ever one wearin a white robe and white gloves and tall white hoods. Then I membered the hood and robe what Mambebe and Marcus had showed us in Alanna. Elijah give a call and then we walked out into the open. Fredrick was at the head o the riders on a black stallion and Marcus was there too. We all shook hands and laughed bout that hellchopper. Marcus said they didnt know what the hell to do with the ghosts o the kooky klan. Said theyd met three bands o crackers what had left em alone too and then they laughed it up good. When I found out bout the kooky klan I laughed out loud too.

Fredrick asked what bout Tennessee and Elijah said hes comin soon enough. The moon was just startin to wane which was some kinda signal to start headin fer the rondayvoo. The rondayvoo was a place near the Fort where they was a store o guns which I figgered was the same cave where I got my rifle. Fredrick said what bout the gorilla fightin and Elijah said wes doin all that from the norwest to try foolin the bastards.

I said what gorillas and everbody laughed at me like hadnt nobody since I was a kid. Elijah said not gorillas gorilla fightin which I found out later how gorillas have little wars just like people. Gorilla fightin is when you bushwhack a patrol and then run like hell. I aint never seen no gorilla but Elijah told me all bout em. Them Nigras in Alanna had a gorilla what was oldern Mambebe. Called that gorilla Willy. Said they got it from some place called a zoo after the Collapse along with a bunch o wild critters from them ferrin lands cross the Alannick.

All them Nigras went right fer Tennessees ole cave so they could stay hid. Fredrick said aint no Genral gwine bushwhack the kooky klan. Marcus went to the cave too but Elijah and Fredrick stayed with us. Them horses was let loose but they didnt go far. They stayed with Elanor and our other three horses. Course Powder was off with Tennessee. I told Elijah and Fredrick all bout Fort Harding and boy did they get riled. Said wes been tradin with the bastards cause we need the food and they need the salvage from Alanna but damned if we aint aimin to kill ever one o them sumbitches. Then I told em what all the Genral knowed cause I told when he stuck me with that needle and they didnt like it a bit. Said it aint no fault o yourn boy but I felt like shit anyhow.

Coupla days later Tennessee come back. He was shore suprised to see my young ass I tell you what. We told him what was up and he got on the raydeo box and spread the word to be extry careful in the caves. Then Elijah and Tennessee went off to talk to the Nigras. Me and Fredrick helped the womenfolk put together a whole mess o packs and we rounded up them horses and loaded em up good. We needed plenny o food and ammo cause nobody knowed how the raid would go. We sent lots o herbs and bandages and pinasillin too. That put us all in a sour mood memberin all them damn patrols.

That night Bear talked to Fredrick on the raydeo box. Turned out we was havin trouble with patrols all over so that gorilla fightin werent just comin from the northwest no more. We was losin plenny o fellas to the patrols. One patrol found a cave full o guns and ammo but it werent the one I seen. Bear said that patrol found the cave but before they could steal the stuff back he blowed the cave to hell with the sumbitches still inside. That aint no way to go I can tell you. Course we didnt lose no sleep over it.

Bout the time Tennessee and Elijah got back from Tennessees cave a patrol come up on us from the river. The dogs warned us but they was too many of em comin up the bluff. It was just me and Tennessee and Cash and Elijah and Fredrick there to fight. The womenfolk fought too but it werent the same as havin menfolk. Elijah had set barrels full o dynamight just outside the compound facin down the bluff and we lit them things on fire and rolled em down right on top o that patrol. I seen fellas blowed to bits fer the first time that day.

We had plenny o rifles and ammo and all the men cept me was shootin guns like Tennessees what shot fastern you could think. Fredrick said them guns--he called em oughtamaticks--them guns oughta take out ten fellas at a time. We had water barrels all lined up just inside the compound to shoot from behind and we never let that patrol close enough to plug us but it was still mighty hairy. Somehow Mommas shack caught fire which we was keepin the littluns in there and all but Alexander got burnt to death. Sara and Anna took it real bad. Lucky Alexander was ole enough to get out. Didnt know how much hate I have in me till then. I reckon all hate aint bad.

Round sunset we figgered the bastardsd let up. They did fer a while which was good cause them water barrels was all full o holes and they didnt stop no bullets without no water in em. The womenfolk took the babies and buried em right inside the compound. Alexander cried like a banshee when they done it. Bout that time the patrol come back at us and this time a damn hellchopper come right behind. Cash clumb the lookout and tried to bring it down. It was gettin dark so you could see the fire comin from the guns. Cash done his best but he got hit moren once till it was all he could do to hold hisself up in the lookout. I seen him prayin but they was too much noise to know what he said.

The hellchopper was comin closer and closer on ever pass and the patrol was gainin ground comin up the bluff. Tennessee said boy yer gonna have to run fetch Marcus from the cave. Momma had a fit but it werent no time to fret. I crawled to the gate but they was too much fire to even stand up so I crawled on back. Thats when I seen that Fredrick was hit. He just kep on firin that rifle but his chest was pumpin out blood like crazy. Then Cash come fallin out the lookout and he was already dead. Had his bible in his hand and didnt never let go of it. Momma crawled over and took that bible.

Bout that time the hellchopper disappeared fer a spell. Momma was prayin which Elijah tried to make her start shootin agin but it werent no use. Fredrick hisself was havin trouble holdin his head up and after a while he slumped over. Tennessee said never you mind we aint licked yet. He didnt seem so convincin.

They was more and more firin comin from down below the bluff. Once in a while wed here that hellchopper comin back but then off itd go agin. It was mighty noisy but presently I swore I hered Hush howlin not too far off. Then the hellchopper swooped right down on us and dropped somethin--mebbe it was dynamight--dropped somethin what blowed Cashs shack to nothin. Anna got hit with a scrap o metal. She went quick. They dropped more splosives but they missed the compound that second time. I aint never hered nothin like it it was so close. Sounded like thunder goin off right overhead. Made me member the story Daddy told bout the evenin Bolt was born durin a thunderstorm. A bolt o lightnin hit and it scairt Bolts momma so bad she shot Bolt out like spittin out a watermellin seed. Thats how Bolt got her name.

Momma went to Anna and started prayin louder settin up high like she wanted to get it too. Elijah hollered to get down but it werent no use. Them bullets was comin right threw them water barrels so we had to lay down flat which made it hard to shoot down the bluff. Things was lookin mighty dim. Damned if I didnt say a prayer myself.

All sudden like Tennessee jumped up and run to the gate. Thats when I hered the shots comin from behind us and I figgered wed had it. Hush was at the gate howlin so I reckoned Tennessee was lettin him in the compound to stand with us till the last. Turned out Tennessee aint so sintimental.

Hush come chargin in the gate and straight to me. He was foamin at the mouth he was so agitated. I pulled him down beside me. Tennessee just did make it back to where we was when I hered the whoopin and hollerin comin from upriver. Then I hered horses runnin and Elijah let out a yelp loudern a hunnert coyotes. I figgered he was hit but it werent so. It was them hooded riders comin downriver from Tennessees cave guns a-blazin.

At first that patrol didnt know what the hell to do. Theyd come down the river but it werent no use headin back that way. The Nigras lit into that patrol like nobodys bidness. Me and Tennessee and Elijah jumped up and took off out the gate. We was all chasin down the bastards and pluggin em full o holes. I werent shot but I tasted blood on my tung. You shoulda seen them hooded riders flyin threw the trees like ghosts chasin down ever last sumbitch and finishin em off just right. Hush tracked down a couple what tried to crawl off and I plugged em both myself. One fella tried to swim fer it but he didnt get far neither. That hellchopper took off and didnt never come back.

By mornin wed killed off the last o the wounded. Momma took what little was left to salvage from the compound and we got ready to head fer Tennessees cave. That was the last I seen o the compound fer a spell which most of it was burnt anyhow but it was still full o recollection. We buried Anna and Cash beside them babies. We buried eight o them black riders too. Momma insisted on it.

We rode the horses on back to Tennessees cave. That hellchopper werent nowhere round. We hoped wed got it in the fight but it werent likely.

Things was unfoldin mighty fast by then. Plenny of us was gonna be dead and we knowed it. We knowed what we was up aginst--which give us a leg up on the Genral. Theys somethin bout power what makes a man stupid. Cash said its pride pure and simple. I reckon thats what happened to them USSA guvamint fellas. Pride before a fall.

So thats how them fellas rode up from Alanna all dressed up like the kooky klan and how they saved everbody left in the world what I still loved cept Ellen. And she was next.

Next mornin we moved the womenfolk into Tennessees cave. We menfolk was all packed by evenin and we headed out fer the rondayvoo in the dark. The moon werent no help. It was cloudy and they was just five or six more nights till there wouldnt be no moon at all.

We reached the rondayvoo in two days. We seen a hellchopper but it stayed up real high. I reckon they knowed we had some firepower by then. The rondayvoo cave was the same one Id come cross when I left the Fort. They musta been hunnerts o folks in that cave and bout half that many horses outside. Bear was there and he said to me and Tennessee looky what we caught. In back o the main cavern was a mess o sumbitches from the Fort. Bear said we caught em snoopin round in the caves but we didnt kill em cept the sarge cause he got uppity. Said we figgered wed wait fer the Tennessee Leprechaun fore we whacked em.

Tennessee laughed. He said they must be a hole in this cave we can chunk em down. Then Marcus said naw Is got a better idee. Said spose we puts these hoods and robes on em and send em back to the Fort. That Genrals gwine blast em on sight and give us a openin to start the raid. The Genral knowed them riders was Nigras by then. Marcus said all wes gotta do is gag em and blindfold em and tie there hands up under them robes and tell em wes sendin em home.

Bear said good thinkin bro--bro means brother--and everbody reckoned it was a good plan. Some fellas didnt like the idee o lissenin to no Nigra but it werent no time to fuss. Marcus said hed lead the sumbitches from behind with a rifle. Said gimme a good hoss an I be fine. We seen Marcus off that night and he took nine o them hooded riders from Alanna with him. Them Nigras all rode horses but they made the prisners walk. The raid was set fer the night o the new moon which was just three nights off. Marcus--he called hisself Marster Marcus just fer fun--he reckoned he could time it round midnight.

Bear took a coupla hunnert fellas on horseback and left that same night. They was goin upriver ridin by night so they could raid the Fort from the north end by the river. Thats where Tennessee had snuck in before when we was in that birch canoo. It werent no use raidin the gate which was on the south end o the Fort. The river was Hardings weak spot. Bear left just after Marcus packin enough ammo to blow half a mountain to bits. They had plenny o dynamight and some contraptions called cataputs what flung stuff threw the air. I said fling a stick o dynamight up Yessirs ass fer me. I knowed Yessir werent just one fella by then but didnt nobody laugh.

Me and Tennessee and the rest o the hooded riders--they didnt have no hoods no more--we went into the cave and headed fer the hole up under the slave barrax. We took bout a hunnert rednecks too most of em from compounds up northwest o Fort Harding. Tennessee knowed more folks than I spected. These was fellas what never come to Congress Cave but they was in on it from the start. I never knowed how many compounds they was roundbout till that night. Theys probly moren even Tennessee knows bout. Two fellas come from near the Missippi River which Arlo said was halfway cross the whole continent of America. Mostly the bigger fellas went with Bear and the little fellas come with us.

Arlo was there with his daddy Otho. Otho was a strong little man with a yeller beard. Arlo had trouble walkin but he figgered it werent no use bein a man if you was gonna stay back with the womenfolk. Said hell how can I be a storyteller if I aint seen nothin to tell stories bout. Said just you help me in a pinch and Ill make you a hero fer a thousan year. Otho patted me on the head and said this boys daddy was a freedom fighter fore you was a glimmer in my eye Arlo. Said this boys daddy was there in Congress Cave when it all got started. Daddy never told me nothin bout that before he passed. Course he didnt never like no one talkin bout the beforetimes anyhow.

It was rough goin in the cave. A coupla fellas lost it and had to turn back. Said they couldnt breath the air. They was a cave-in what killed bout twenny fellas. We didnt know just how many cause it werent no use diggin fer em. That was the awfulest part seein them fellas buried beneath them boulders. One fella was alive but half his body was crushed under a rock. His own brother shot him in the head. It was tough watchin that. Just made me hate them bastards at the Fort that much more.

Everbody was draggin two rifles and a pack of ammo so we could arm the slaves. We was movin too slow by Tennessees reckonin. Said wed never make it in time lessin we got movin. We lost a fella what tripped down a shaft. I hered him scream fer a spell then they werent no noise at all. Three Nigras fell off a ropeladder and we had to leave em behind in the dark. We had plenny o cool torches but it werent no use riskin even one. One o them Nigras died right quick. We never found the other two till it was all over. Looked like the little people had took real good care of em but they wouldnt speak of it.

Tennessee knowed his way round them caves real good. Said we aint gonna make it lessin the quick ones go on ahead. Me and Tennessee took the quick ones with us leavin Elijah to lead the older ones and the slower ones like Arlo. Elijah knowed enough bout trackin to foller us with or without the markin stones which some of em got trampled as we passed. If we hadnt of made it to the barrax weda been stuck down there with no trail markins to lead us back out. It aint so easy bringin all them folks threw them caves like it is doin it alone. Theys just too many tight squeezes and ropeladders and such.

It was three days to the raid but we only slept once. You cant judge the days in a cave ceptin Tennessee could cause he lived in one fer three years. I found myself thinkin bout Momma and Ellen. They werent nothin gonna stop me till I had that Genral in my sights. I wanted to kill his ass real bad just like them fellas in the bible wanted to kill there enemies. I aint no bible thumper but right is right and sometimes killins the only right thing to do. If youll die fer freedom youd better be willin to kill fer it.

Bout the time we reckoned we was nearin the Fort we hered somebody cryin in the dark up ahead. One fella raised his rifle but Tennessee stopped him from shootin. We put out the lights and I crawled on up toward the sound. Turned out to be a slave I knowed named Hoss--his real name was Jambee--what had run down the hole. He was in bad shape cause he hadnt eaten in quite a spell. Had a broke leg where he fell down a cliff. We all had to pass him and the Nigras from Alanna all said his real name Jambee and put a blessin on him. Jambee said I kin go to da Lawd now dat I hered my name said by my own people. He told Elijah that the Genral didnt know nothin bout the tunnel into the slave barrax then he died real quiet like. I reckoned he kep hisself goin on faith cause he knowed we was comin. It shore helped knowin we had the way into the slave barrax clear.

We was real close up on the Fort by then cause Jambee hadnt made it far fore he fell and broke that leg. Tennessee said let the boy go on ahead and tell the slaves whats up while the rest of us get everthin ready. Told me be careful and give us yer Daddys secret whistle when midnight comes round. I was mighty scairt what with all that restin on my shoulders but I membered how good Preacher and X and Rastus treated me and went on ahead.

When I got up under the barrax I crawled up the tunnel and tapped on the wood what covered the hole. Fore long X pulled the wood to the side and let me on up. It was nighttime but not quite midnight. Them slaves was buzzin like wasps. I reckon I knowed why. X said Preachers dead boy. Genral killt him fo sayin his own name which was Ashille. X cried a little cause Ashille was his daddy. I never knowed that. I thunk bout my Daddy whose name was Harold. I wanted to kill that Genral bad.

I told X how we was gonna start fightin round midnight. Said we got plenny o guns fer everbody down in the cave. X said midnight aint so fa way hows we gwine know when to go. I said youll here a commotion outside comin from the gate then youll here some thunder comin from the mansion. X said caint here much from inside this barrax mebbe yous gwine hafta sneak out an lissen yosef. Tennessee hadnt counted on that but I figgered X was right. I wanted to go find Tennessee but it was too late.

X showed me a hole in the barrax where I could sneak out without bein seen by the guards. I taught X Daddys whistle and he done it real good. Said you give that whistle down the hole soon as I toss a big rock on top the barrax. I crawled out that hole and threw some weeds toward the gate which I knowed was at the south end o the Fort. I found me a coupla big ole rocks case I missed the first time. It had to be good size rocks or X wouldnt never here it. I hid up under a jeep near the fence bout halfway between the barrax and the gate which they was two bildins in between.

I laid up under that jeep fer what seemed like days. I seen a hellchopper flyin off to the south with a big ole torch lightin up the road. Then they sounded the alarm and it kep risin and fallin all night long. Ever sumbitch at Fort Harding come runnin out the barrax and out the mansion where the Genral lived. They all had guns but didnt no one fire at first.

One fella hopped in the jeep I was under and the damn thing made a racket and farted the awfulest smell right into my face. I didnt have no time to think so I jumped up and grabbed the bastard round the neck and broke it with a hold what Elijah called a killin hold. The fella didnt even let go a whimper which meant I done it just right. I laid him in the weeds and took his jacket and gun and his pants and hat. His hat musta been made o rock or somethin it was so hard. I tucked my hair up under that hat so Id look bald like them others.

Just then a shot rang out and I seen the hellchopper comin back toward the Fort. Thats when I seen them jaspers comin slow up the road in there hoods and robes with Marcus and his boys ridin casual behind. I heaved a rock at the slave barrax but I throwed it short. I took that other rock and heaved it so hard I fell down. Whether it hit the barrax or not I didnt know just then.

A fella come runnin up to me and I thunk he was fixin to shoot me but stead he hopped in that jeep and said get the lead out dirtbag. I said yessir Yessir which he looked at me funny. Mebbe it werent no time fer jokin. He said get in the goddamn jeep and I done it. That jeep went so fast I could hardly stay put just like when Tennessee taught me to ride Elanor. I had to lean way over and hold on to the side o the jeep which the fella drivin said what is you a drunk. I said naw Im just tightenin up my nuts. Thats somethin Daddy use to say but this fella didnt think much of it. He said Ill see yer nuts in the Genrals collection when this is over which I smiled and said theyll be the biggest ones there dirtbag. Thats when we come up to the gate.

Bout twenny fellas was already there and one of em was the fella what I called Yessir before I knowed better. He was tellin all them other fellas what to do. Said you two get in line pronto. I follered the fella what brung me there. Marcus and them was just gettin to the gate when that hellchopper flew off to the north which I figgered they musta spotted Bear. They was only one hellchopper left which meant someone musta got the other with a boomerang. Hunnerts o fellas was runnin toward the gate but hadnt no one started firin yet.

When them hooded fellas reached the gate ole Yessir put up his hand. Said how you niggers wanna die fast or slow. Marcus hollered from the rear wes here to take our bros home so bring em to the gate and well let you boys be. Yessir laughed like a hog gettin laid and said fat chance monkeyman you fixin to join yer nigger momma in hell. Yessir raised his hand and hollered fire and then all hell broke loose. Marcus and them fellas on the horses jumped down and rode off hangin practical underneath o them horses where couldnt no bullets hit em. Yessirs boys plum shot the hooded sumbitches to pieces and they killed most o them horses too. I saw Marcus make it into the woods.

I shot with the rest of em but not at no one on horseback. I reckon I plugged a coupla them hooded bastards good. Then I acted like I was reloadin and with that rifle down by my side I shot Yessir right in the head. Didnt nobody know I done it neither cause they was so much lead flyin you couldnt think straight. That fella what brung me in the jeep looked at me funny and I smiled but I didnt blast him fer it.

They was ten or twelve sumbitches what got killed along with Yessir plus all them crackers in the hoods. Marcus musta been shootin from the woods. I hit the ground cause I knowed Marcus werent alone out there. Them others done like I done. I dont think most of em knowed what it was like bein in a firefight special not the fella in the jeep. He talked a good fight but I seen his eyes and he was scairt as a skinny dipper in snappin turtle season. I wondered what them Nigras in the barrax was doin just then.

Bout that time the firin stopped leastways fer a while. I took off fer the slave barrax. They was fellas runnin ever which way like turkeys with there necks broke so I didnt draw no tention. I made it right quick and I crawled in the same hole Id crawled out of. Elijah and Tennessee was already inside and one fella nearly blowed my head off. I forgot bout that hat and jacket and all. Elijah come runnin up just in time and said that hat make you think like a rock boy. Then he pulled a fox hat outta his pocket and said put this on underneath of it. I figgered Tennessee or Fredrick had told Elijah all bout my ole fox hat. I took off that jacket real quick like and give it to Tennessee.

They was still fellas comin up threw the tunnel when we hered some big splosions. Tennessee said sounds like Bear made it to the party just in time. I dont know what it is makes a fella joke at a time like that but damned if all that dyin dont bring a giggly feelin to yer heart.

X was up by the door and he hollered deys a guard a-comin. Tennessee told some boys to go block the door and blast em if they try anythin funny. Them guards was hollerin to open the door so X hollered back please don make us marster wes so scairt. Then X turned and waved to his boys to get ready. X musta been dreamin bout gettin a chance to blast the Genrals boys fer a long long while. He musta been dreamin bout vengin Preacher too--l reckon I should call him by his real name Ashille.

By then the whole barrax was full o fellas with rifles. Everbody was itchin to go but Tennessee said we gotta time it right wait fer Bear to start flingin that dynamight and stay away from the Genrals mansion. X was hollerin at the guards and after a while they up and left. I reckon they wasnt too worried bout no slaves just then.

It werent long before Bear started flingin that dynamight. We hered it like it was right next to the barrax but it werent. Thats when X opened the door and we all rushed out ready to fire. Elijah had that red yella and green flag a-hangin off his rifle.

First thing we seen was a bunch o fellas marchin all side by side like ducks in a row. We blasted em good cause they didnt spect we was there. They didnt even get off a shot. We moved along toward the gate where we run into Yessirs boys. I seen Yessir layin there dead. Did my heart good. We blasted them fellas quick too but they fired back and got a bunch of us.

Bears dynamight was blowin up all round but mostly by the mansion. Fer a spell they werent no one to shoot at. Then a collum o sumbitches come runnin at us just firin away. We spread out and fired back. So many men fell right then and there you couldnt keep up with em.

I seen Arlo go down myself. He was tryin to get away but his good leg was blowed off. Otho run over to him. So did I. Otho said you done good son. Rest easy. Arlo spit up some blood then he took me by the hand. Said you member all my stories and tell em to the littluns. Said member all what happens here tonight and tell this story too. Dont never let this story die. Teach it to the littluns. Swear it he said and I sweared it.

Right then we was fightin with our backs to the gate. Them sumbitches just kep a-comin. They was comin in jeeps and that hellchopper was up there shootin at us from behind. I figgered it dont get no worsen this. Course it did. A thing called a tank come rollin up and it was like a jeep only ten times as big. It had a gun the size of a tree pokin out the top which fired dynamight or somethin. That tank run right over its own fellas special if they was already shot. It was a horrible sight.

Elijah hollered get the gate open but couldnt nobody do it. I figgered X knowed how if anyone did but he werent nowhere round. That tank was comin closer and closer and ever time it fired ten fellas went down. Elijah let go a howl and run right at that tank. He jumped up top the dang thing and went to messin with it. I figgered hed lost it but one fella said Elijah he a army man he know what he doin. Shore nuff the top o the tank opened up and Elijah started shootin right inside of it. Didnt slow it down though.

We all started breakin up some runnin to the left and some to the right along the fence. Them boys from the Fort just kep comin at us and we was takin some hard losses. Then the tank run up on the gate and it went right threw it takin the fence down with it. Elijah hopped off it by the gate and hollerd to make a run fer it.

That tank just kep a-goin till it run slap cross the river and up the other bank. Later I seen where it took down trees and everthin right cross the valley and up the ridge and down the other side. We reckoned they was runnin away but one o them slaves said naw deys dead inside of it.

Bout that time X come runnin up from near the monkey pit. He was firin away and runnin right threw the enemy. A bunch o fellas from the monkey pit was runnin after him lookin mighty happy. Most of em made it threw the gate and so did X. We all run fer the gate and them what made it headed north to join up with Bear. They was still some fellas pinned down by the fence though and they was fightin fer all they was worth. Thats when I seen Tennessee.

Tennessee was outside the fence hollerin to everbody to get behind our boys what was pinned down inside. Half of us was outside the fence and half was inside but we was all shootin at the Genrals boys like crazy. Bear musta breached the fence hisself just then cause a hunnert or so of ours come runnin from the north on the inside o the fence. Thats when the Genrals boys backed off and headed toward the mansion.

When Bear showed up we all started whoopin like wed done already whupped the Genral. Bear stood out even among the fightin he was so big. He had that red flag with the blue X hangin over his shoulders. Them what was outside the fence went right back inside some threw the gate and some threw the place where Bear had breached it. Them boys inside the fence was mighty happy to see us.

Tennessee and Bear and X all got together and decided to go on and raid the mansion. It was already on fire. We all split up and headed fer the mansion without runnin into none o the enemy. The enemy was all regroupin behind the mansion near the barrax where they kep the bluegums. Tennessee took me with him round back o the barrax and I showed him where we was likely to find Ellen. Bear and X took there boys and halfway surrounded the mansion.

It werent easy fightin them bastards cause they was shootin at us from most o them barrax and from the mansion too. They musta been awful scairt to be runnin into that mansion while it was burnin down. It was right cornfusin. You didnt know which way to shoot or which way to run. I think we shot some of our own but that couldnt be helped. Most of ours was hid behind jeeps and barrels and such in a half circle on the Coosawatchee side o the mansion while most o the enemy was hid in the mansion or in them barrax. It went on like that fer quite a spell. Then Tennessee said come with me boy its now or never.

We run round the ole slave barrax headin fer the back o the girls barrax. They was bullets flyin everwhere. When we made it round the backside things wasnt so hairy cause they werent nobody firin that way. Only thing was we couldnt figger out how to get inside. Tennessee reached into his jacket and pulled out a stick o dynamight and he stuck it up under the corner o the barrax and lit it. We run and dove in a ditch. The blast come right after that and dirt come down on us like rain.

Tennessee said tighten up yer balls boy. We run right into that barrax and hollered to them girls and littluns to get the hell out which they done alright. Then we seen three or four o the Genrals boys layin on top o girls. We run up and blasted em before they could get there pants up. That Genral musta had a way o makin a fella evil. I didnt mind blastin them particular sumbitches cause they didnt even have the nuts to fight there own fight.

It was then that we seen Ellen underneath a big ole fat fella with his head blowed off and his ass hangin out. She was cryin so bad she didnt hardly reckonize her own brother. Course she hadnt seen him in nigh onto six or seven years so she up and hugged Tennessee so hard it like to squeezed the wind right out o him. Then she hugged me and damned if I didnt just start cryin.

I give Tennessee my rifle and picked her up. We went out the dynamight hole where all them girls was squattin down cryin like babies. The next barrax had all them bluegums in it. Tennessee blasted a winder out with his rifle. Them bluegums come climbin out like crazy. Plenny of em was bleedin from the glass in the winder but didnt nobody care at least they had a chance.

We headed back the way we come skirtin the barrax where the Genrals boys stayed. Thats where most of em was shootin from and boy was it hot. You could see the flames comin from the guns and some o them guns shot bullets what left trails o fire behind. They was bodies layin everwhere and fellas layin round moanin from gettin hit. Someone musta spotted us cause they started firin at us from the barrax.

That was the awfulest thing I seen that day. Them girls and bluegums was goin down like flies and some o them bluegums was carryin babies when they got it. Me and Tennessee was out front or weda been hit too. Ellen made me put her down and she run back and grabbed a blue gum baby out its mamas arms. Later I found out the mama said the babys name was Esper.

It werent but a few o them girls and bluegums what made it out. Me and Tennessee went straight fer where Bear and Marcus was. We told Ellen to take the girls and bluegums on out the gate and downriver fast as they could go. Then we hid behind a jeep and started blastin at the mansion.

We figgered the hellchopper had run off but damned if it didnt come on back. It was full o sumbitches with guns. They was shootin at us from behind. We throwed a bunch o boomerangs at it but it werent no use it was up too high. Besides it was dark. Tennessee hollered wed best hightail it but Marcus said naw les raid the mansion. Marcus didnt wait fer no answer he just jumped up and took a run at the mansion. Damned if ever Nigra there didnt jump up and foller him. Bear jumped up too and then we all follered Marcus.

They was a stone fence runnin all round the mansion. Them what made it to the fence set tight only raisin there heads to fire. That mansion was burnin like the dickens. You could here the wood crackin and in places the roof was cavin in. I membered where the Genral stayed and thats where I kep pluggin away. The hellchopper started flyin lower and lower. It was makin things mighty hot.

We was takin losses fast. Tennessee come up and said we best get out while the gettins good. I didnt like it but we was pinned down perty good by that hellchopper and them boys in the barrax was startin to come round and flank us. Thats when we seen Bear and his boys make a run fer the gate with Marcus and them black fellas just behind. I took one more shot at the mansion and hightailed it to the gate myself.

Fellas was fallin to my left and right. I reached up and touched my ear where it had got blowed off by that patrol back at the compound. It werent no use losin no more bits o my head. I had me a new fox hat and I aimed to keep what was in it. Needed ears to hold the dang thing on.

Tennessee and a few other fellas covered us from behind. If wed of all stopped shootin and run at once the Genral coulda tracked us down and tried his dangdest to wipe us out. Fortunate fer us I think the Genral didnt have no taste fer it. He was probly busy tryin to keep his ass from burnin up with that mansion.

Most of us made it out the gate. We dragged some o the wounded out but we had to leave most of em. Left at least half of us there dead. There aint no good way to die lessin its in yer sleep.

I made it to the river and hopped on a horse with a fella what had his arm blowed off. He was bout out of it so I tied his sleeve round the stump to make a turkey net--a turkey net is what stops a fella from bleedin to death--and took the reigns myself. He was slumpin in front of me and it was all I could do to keep him from fallin off his own horse. Plenny o fellas had to walk.

The sun was just startin to rise bout then and we seen what a lickin wed took durin the night. It werent perty. Fellas was fallin in there tracks some of em stone cold dead. Reminded me o tales o the Silver War tween North and South. We done our best to carry everbody on downriver. I seen Bear and Otho up ahead but I couldnt find Tennessee. He was still takin up the rear. By noon we come up on the girls and the bluegums. I found Ellen and put her on that horse in my place. We didnt talk none but we knowed how things was goin. I knowed she was fixin to be my wife by the look in her eyes.

Didnt nobody foller us from what was left o Fort Harding. Even that hellchopper had had enough. I reckon the Genral musta been cussin a blue streak. I reckon his boys werent too happy neither cause they was just smart enough to know what Iosin all them slaves meant. I pitcherd the Genral pickin squarsh and it done my heart good.

Best of all was what the wild ones done. Them little people was trailin us from the very start and they took care of every wounded bastard from the Fort in ways you dont wanna know bout. I reckon moren a few others got yanked down into the caves and skinned alive too. Leastways I hope so. Fer months after that folks what we thunk was dead kep on showin up at compound after compound. Not a single one of em would say where theyd been but we all knowed it was the little people what took care of em.

It took sevral days fer all the stragglers to reach the rondayvoo cave. Momma was there with Sara. They had a fit when they seen me and Ellen. Momma hugged us right to the ground and Sara jumped on top with her belly all swole up like a hog. Then Ellen started talkin and everthin come out just like a flood over a beaverdam. She was right in the middle o tellin us bout how the Genral took her baby away when she stopped short and started ballin. Shed just seen Tennessee bringin in the last o the stragglers.

I never seen two folks so happy. We all cried and cried. Them Nigras was doin the same and ever one of em was tryin to figger out who was kin to who. Mostly they didnt know so they just made it up as they went. It werent a bad idee pickin yer kin out stead o havin em picked by someone else. They was Nigras with two daddys and twelve uncles by the time it was over. I got myself a Nigra Daddy--thatd be Elijah cause he and Momma was fixin to make a compound together no matter what people thunk--and I got two Nigra uncles what was Marcus and X. That baby Esper become my brother and all seventeen of Elijahs pickaninnies was my brothers and sisters too. That just started a whole mess o trouble figgerin out who was my cousins and aunts and uncles. Hell Elijah had more kidsn we ever had folks in our whole compound.

They was some what didnt like them Nigras. They mostly up and left. It didnt matter none cause some o the Nigras didnt like us peckerwoods neither. I knowed my part o the Coosawatchee wouldnt never be the same. Neither would Alanna. And neither would Fort Harding though a few o them bastards was still there. But not enough to slow us down thank God. Not enough to last fer long ifn I had a say. And I figgered on havin a say fer the rest o my days.

Thats the story o the raid on Fort Harding and how we saved Ellen. Thats how the Tennessee Leprechaun made a name fer hisself in histry. And thats how it come to pass that Nigras was made welcome in our neck o the woods--you might say the redneck part--and how us rednecks come to be welcome in Alanna.

Most everbody what wasnt hurt bad headed home the next mornin. A cold spell had come up. The leaves was all turned to fall colors which made the foothills look like they was on fire. Sara and Ellen and Momma stayed at the rondayvoo cave with the wounded but me and Elijah and Tennessee went on back to the ole compound to start rebuildin. We knowed we had a tough job cause winter was close up on us. I aint never felled so many trees in all my life. Fortunate fer us we had some tools what Elijah had brung from Alanna.

Most o the Nigras headed straight fer Alanna on horseback. It was quite a task gettin them horses back out the woods but they done it. We give em what we could and so did the other compounds. They was plenny o stuff what wed stored in the caves fer the raid and wed put back moren our share o vegtables and venison beforehand. Only thing what was short was clothin so all the women ours and the Nigras spent two days just sewin together ever scrap we could find mostly from the bodies o the dead. I aint never hered such a racket as what them womenfolk made.

By the time wed built back all four shacks it was early winter so we moved everbody on in. Most o the wounded had died but some of em made fer home as best they could. Fredrick was doin fine cept he was pissed bout missin the raid. A few days later me and Tennessee brung two o Bears boys back toward Congress Cave ourselfs. Ellen come with us cause she wouldnt leave me alone fer nothin. I seen her watchin me when she didnt know I knowed it. She werent my wife yet but we knowed how things was goin alright.

Them Blue Ridge mountains was just as perty in wintertime as they was in the fall and we was ridin casual on Powder arid Elanor which was a far sight nicern dodgin them patrols. Ellen rode with our packs on a horse called Secatary and me and Tennessee took Bears boys with us. We never seen that last hellchopper but we seen where some o the Genrals boys had come after that hellchopper what Tennessee brung down on Mount Sterling. They was salvagin parts--salvagin is what the Nigras done in Alanna gettin ole parts fer folks to use--salvagin parts fer there last hellchopper which musta took some damage durin the raid.

It took bout two weeks to make Congress Cave. Ole Man Walton and Bear was there already cause them and there boys had been down in the caves bringin up a mess o guns and such. There compound was fast becomin a tradin post which they werent no patrol what could take em on no more. Tennessee called it the rebirth o free ennerprize cept he used a fancy word from Yerrup called Rennaysauce.

Them woods was just a-hummin with folks comin and goin and damned if a bunch o motersickles didnt show up lookin fer corn Iikker. I was plannin on gettin Daddys still goin agin. Tennessee said we didnt even need to wait fer a crop o corn cause you can make likker out o most anythin. We was plannin on makin some muscadine wine too cause muscadines grow most everwhere round these parts.

They was some fussin goin on over them compounds what still had Nigra slaves. The Nigras from Alanna had promised to bring back all there white slaves cept them what wanted to marry there Nigra marsters. Plenny o bluegums was ornery over how theyd been traded upriver to Fort Harding but that werent our bidness. Besides Mambebe and Marcus and them didnt have no choice it was trade the bluegums fer food or let the pickaninnies starve.

Three days after we got to Congress Cave Gail showed up. She was gonna be Tennessees wife. Ole Man Walton put on a funny hat and read out a bible and we all gathered round. Damned if Tennessee didnt drag me and Ellen over to get hitched too. Them fellas had planned it all along cause Ellen laughed and laughed at the look on my face. I reckon it werent so bad bein laughed at no more special considerin how I was gonna sleep with my woman that night. Shore beat sleepin with Hush. Course Hush hushed when you told him to but didnt no woman hush lessin you raised yer hand to her.

We was plannin on headin back to the compound when Tennessee told me how he was aimin to ride up north with Gail and Bear. Said they was a place he wanted to see. It was Warshington the place what Arlo had told me bout. Tennessee said you wont believe that place theys carvins o men whats as high as a tree. Said theys a square block o white rock as tall as a mountain only its skinny just like one o them collums what hold up bridges. Bear said hed been there and everthin Tennessee said was right on only that werent the half of it.

Bear said they was a bildin as big as Congress Cave only it was made o white rock and surrounded with a circle o white collums tall as young pines. Said that was where them Congress fellas used to meet before the Collapse. Turns out by then they was Nigras livin in ever one o them bildins made o white rock. Called that rock marble which it come from near our neck o the woods at a town called Ballground. Ballground was where fellas played a game name o baseball which Bear showed me a little white ball they done use. Said it was signatured by them Alanna brave what was a bunch of Injuns near as I could tell. Them fellas from Bears compound went out the cave and run round in circles tossin that ball at each other and swattin at it with a stick. Funniest goins on I ever seen.

Next mornin me and Ellen was ready to head on home. Tennessee give Ellen a big ole hug and he told me you take care o that girl or Ill kick yer ass good. I knowed he couldnta done it cause I was already biggern Daddy. Tennessee shook my hand real tight. Then he said you foller me boy we got somethin to show you. Him and Bear and Ole Man Walton led me down into the cave past where we held all them meetins. They was a passage up under a boulder what we could just barely stoop threw and back o that passage was another room even biggern the first.

Tennessee had a cool torch what he used to find him a bunch o reglar torches on the walls. He lit eight or nine of em and thats when I seen what was in there. Right in the middle was a big ole rock like the one you stood on to speak in the other cave. Bear said son this heres the real Congress Cave. What Arlo told you was the truth only he didnt know it all hisself. Yer Daddy and me was right here when the last meetin o Congress took place.

Bear all of a sudden got real quiet and turned round facin the wall. My eyes was just gettin use to the darkness when Ole Man Walton put his arm round my shoulders. Said yer Daddy was a freedom fighter. Them freedom fighters was the ones what rounded up the Congressmen durin the Collapse. They done it cause the guvamint stole there money and put there friends in cages and took away there guns and run around all over the world pissin folks off.

Them A-rab crazies wasnt mad at us Bear says they was mad at the guvamint. Said them Congress fellas was the ones what really started the Collapse yer Daddy just done what he had to. Them Congressmen fucked up the Constitute o the United States of America. Started that United Socialist State.

By then I could see a circle o lumps all round the speakin rock. Tennessee took me up to one. It was a skeleton all dressed in a blue jacket with a white shirt and a red scarf tied round its neck. Damned if ever one o them skeletons--they was plenny of em--ever one o them skeletons wasnt dressed bout the same way. I said how many skeletons is there and Bear come up behind me and put his hand on the back o my neck. Said theys a kwarum. I said how much is a kwarum.

Tennessee said a kwarum is fifty-one in the sinnit and two-hunnert eighteen in the house. I said what house and he said thats the bildin in Warshington what Bear told you bout. Thats where the Congress met before they started disappearin. Thats where the Congress met before that last time they met right here in Congress Cave.

Gail come up and took Bear by the hand and they walked on out. Ellen come up behind me and put her arms round my belly. Tennessee got choked up and turned round facin the wall like Bear done. Then Tennessee walked on out.

Ellen took my hand and pulled me toward the passage but I said no Daddyd want me to see this. Them skeletons was all lined up real perty in a big circle round that rock. Ever one had a hole in its skull bout the size of a hammer. I walked up to the rock and they was a book settin there. It was all dusty and fallin to pieces.

Ellen said that theres the Constitute o the original United States of America. Said thats what give the people the power to run the guvamint. Musta been some powerful book cause it werent near big as no bible. It werent big as some bookmarks Ive seen in bibles.

Fer a moment I pitchered all them Congressmen settin round that rock waitin to get it. Then I pitchered what Bear talked bout. I knowed one day Id go see Warshington myself but first I had to get home and set the new compound straight.

I reckon Congress musta been a sight to see in the beforetimes. Damned if them skeletons wasnt the finest dressed fellas I ever seen.

Copyright 2005 by Preston Coleman