And then they moved to the land Tom had staked off in the heart of the great forest fifteen miles from the northern banks of the Ohio. He would still be in sight of the soil of Kentucky.
The Boy's heart beat with new wonder as they slowly floated across the broad surface of the river. He could conceive of no greater one.
"There _is_ a bigger one!" his father said. "The Mississippi is the daddy of 'em all--the Ohio's lost when it rolls into her banks--stretchin' for a thousand miles an' more from the mountains in the north way down to the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans."
"Yes, and plenty more big ones that pour into hit from the West."
The Boy saw again the impassioned face of the orator telling the glories of his country, and his heart swelled with pride.
They left the river and plunged into the trackless forest. No roads had yet scarred its virgin soil. Only the blazed trail for the first ten miles--the trail Tom had marked with his own hatchet--and then the magnificent woods without a mark. Five miles further they penetrated, cutting down the brush and trees to make way for the wagon.
They stopped at last on a beautiful densely wooded hill near a stream of limpid water. A rough camp was quickly built Indian fashion and covered with bear skins.
The next day the father put into the Boy's hand the new axe he had bought for him.
"You're not quite eight years old, Boy," he said, encouragingly, "but you're big as a twelve-year-old an' you're spunky. Do you think you can swing an axe that's a man's size?"
And from that day he did it with a song on his lips no matter how heavy the heart that beat in his little breast.
At first they cut the small poles and built a half-faced camp, and made it strong enough to stand the storms of winter in case a cabin could not be finished before spring. This half-faced camp was made of small logs built on three sides, with the fourth open to the south. In front of this opening the log fire was built and its flame never died day or night.
To the soul of the Boy this half-faced camp with its blazing logs in the shadow of giant trees was the most wonderful dwelling he had ever seen. The stars that twinkled in the sky beyond the lacing boughs were set in his ceiling. No king in his palace could ask for more.