Only a short time previously the Cherokees--or was it the Camanches ?--had been removed from their hunting-grounds in Arkansas; and in the wilds of the Southwest the red men were still a source of terror to the border settlers.

"Trouble with the Indians" was the staple news from Florida published in the New Orleans papers.

We were constantly hearing of travellers being attacked and murdered in the interior of that State.

If these things were done in Florida, why not in Massachusetts?
Yet long before the sailing day arrived I was eager to be off.

My impatience was increased by the fact that my father had purchased for me a fine little Mustang pony, and shipped it to Rivermouth a fortnight previous to the date set for our own departure--for both my parents were to accompany me.