Winner of the Spur Award for Best Western Historical Novel and Best First Novel He took a sip of hot black coffee brewed the old-time way, sat back in his chair, rocking gently. "My Grandpa was a pirate on the Mississip." Thus began the story of four generations of the Harris-Meeker Clan, told from the memories of Zenas Leonard Meeker. In the Spring of 1806, Hiram Harris and his Cherokee wife Sarah left the east Tennessee hills, headed for New Madrid, a town on the Mississippi. Their encounter with a gang of river pirates left Hiram and Sarah dead on the banks of the Ohio River, their oldest son Samuel Vanished and their other children, Ruth, Jerry and baby Joseph, sold into slavery. It seems the very earth has turned against them in the floods and earthquakes of 1811-1812. But the Harris children miraculously escape to continue their extraordinary journey west. "Beautifully rendered...an agreeable opener to the Five Trails West series."-Booklist