Without touching the reins, he let his horse proceed down the trail. Only then did his thoughts turn to Mavis, whom he had assumed was still with the Flemings in Wrightsborough until he’d read the shocking note from Epsey. Knowing Mavis, he was not surprised that she had concealed her condition from him, and could understand why it was not possible for her to remain with the Quakers. There was no way for him to understand why or how she had gone to the Watauga Valley.

He was now on the main trail that approached their two homesteads and, almost against his wishes, he recalled times when Epsey could have known of his interest in Mavis and her almost worshipful but still comfortable attitude toward him. Even then, during the relatively happy and carefree days of their early friendship, he should have known that the innocent interchanges between their two families had sometimes been painful to his wife. Lost in reverie, he was suddenly aware that he had just passed the huge pine tree that had played such a profoundly important role in his life.

He bypassed the Morris homestead and went directly to the remains of his own cabin. After visiting Henry’s grave and wandering around the yard, he sat on a large stone inside the foundation and thought of his youth in Philadelphia and the first time he’d ever seen Epsey, as he had been cleaning the debris from the burned shell of their neighbor’s home. With his eyes half closed, he could envision his own cabin exactly, with their beds separated and the boy on a pallet between him and his wife. He unsaddled his mare, rubbed her down as best he could, and carried his belongings to where his blacksmith and woodworking shop had been. The anvil, forge, and tools were gone, but the broken grindstone was lying on the ground. Exhausted, he unrolled his blanket and lay down on the ground.

Ethan slept fitfully, and the next morning he was awake before daybreak and began to walk around his own land. Although the fields were overgrown and some of the fences in disrepair, it was reassuring to see that the woodland and swamps were almost exactly as he remembered them. As the day wore on, Ethan’s thoughts became clearer. There was no doubt that his natural place was here on this land, but he had gained a greater vision of what life could be in the newborn nation and he wanted to help shape its future.