It was shortly after the Civil War that a wagon train stopped for the night in the hollow near Travelers Spring. The forest rose on all sides, and although the leaders knew it was dangerous not to camp in the open, two dry camps on the previous nights had forced them to take the chance. At twelve o'clock all was quiet in the hollow, when suddenly a little girl began to sing. In the forest, less than a hundred yards from the wagons, two renegade men are crouched at the foot of a huge pine, quietly quarreling over whether to attack with their Indian companions...