peal he
would have been in the same boat with us, or rather, on the same
boat--the old hand ferry! Subsequently, he became a speaker of foreign
and national repute, but at that time he might have traveled from
Scarboro' to Land's End without attracting a passing glance."

BOOK II

DESTINY AND THE MARIONETTES

CHAPTER I

THE FASTIDIOUS MARQUIS

Through the land of the strapping, thick-ribbed pioneers of Kentucky
the strollers bent their course--a country where towns and hamlets
were rapidly springing up in the smiling valleys or on the fertile
hillsides; where new families dropping in, and old ones obeying the
injunction to be "fruitful and multiply" had so swelled the population
that the region, but a short time before sparsely settled, now teemed
with a sturdy people. To Barnes' satisfaction, many of the roads were
all that could have been wished for, the turnpike system of the center
of the state reflecting unbounded credit upon its builders.

If a people may be judged by its highways, Kentucky, thus early, with
its macadamized roads deserved a prominent place in the sisterhood
of states. Moreover, while mindful always of her own internal
advancement, she persistently maintained an ever-watchful eye and
closest scrutiny on the parental government and the acts of congress.
"Give a Kentuckian a plug of tobacco and a political antagonist and
he will spend a comfortable day where'er he may be," has been happily
said. It was this hardy, horse-raising, tobacco-growing community
which had given the peerless Clay to the administrative councils of
the country; it was this rugged cattle-breeding, whisky-distilling
people which had offered the fearless Zach Taylor to spread the
country's renown on the martial field.

What sunny memories were woven in that pilgrimage for the strollers!
Remembrance of the corn-husking festivities, and the lads who, having
found the red ears, kissed the lasses of their choice; of the dancing
that followed--double-shuffle, Kentucky heel-tap, pigeon wing or
Arkansas hoe-down! And mingling with the remembrance of such pleasing
diversions were the yet more satisfying recollections of large
audiences, generous-minded people and substantial rewards, well-won;
rewards which enabled them shortly afterward to pay by post the
landlord from whom they had fled.

Down the Father of Waters a month or so after their flight into the
blue grass country steamed the packet bearing the company