VIII
GOIN' TO MEETIN'
Circuit-riding over the "Buffalo Trace"
ON the flat top of the stump by the log-cabin door was a trencher of soft soap. By its side stood a big gourd dipper of spring water. A wash-trough, made from a five-foot section of oak-tree trunk which had been burnt and scraped through the center to hollow it out like a tub, was closer to the door, almost on its threshold.
This home-made tub was steaming with ten gallons or so of hot water. A hand-woven towel hung over its edge.
Obadiah Holman sat on the rail fence and viewed these articles with disfavor. He did not like the look of things.
It was not his cabin nor his stump. His family were visitors here. They had floated down the Ohio River from Pittsburg to the settlements where the Big Falls stretched across the stream. The rainbow mist above the tumbled beauty of the rapids marked the end of the water road.
Boats could go no farther. So all were being unloaded, and a strong party of emigrants were making up a wagon-train to take the trail across Indiana to the fort at Vincennes.
Settlers in and around the Big Falls were eager to open their cabins to these travelers.