
Hilary Knox is a restless sixteen‑year‑old who climbs a craggy promontory every spring day, chasing a vague promise that the horizon might reveal something extraordinary. From the pinnacle he watches the valley below, the wind teasing his hat and the eagles nesting high above, while the forest breathes with a quiet that feels almost magical. His solitary ritual is both a test of patience and a yearning for a vision that remains stubbornly out of reach.
Beneath the serene scenery, the distant rumble of war edges ever closer, hinting at guerrilla bands slipping through the gorges. As Hilary’s keen eyes scan the landscape, the presence of the eagles and the faint sounds of cavalry suggest that his tranquil world may soon be disturbed. Listeners will find themselves drawn into the tension between youthful hope, untamed nature, and the looming shadows of conflict that begin to stir on the mountain’s rim.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (245K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1899.
Credits
Peter Becker, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2022-05-24
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1850–1922
Best known for vivid stories of the Tennessee mountains, this American writer built a literary career behind the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock. Her fiction helped bring Appalachian settings and voices to a wide national audience in the late 19th century.
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