Me and Beacher rode south from my cabin in the general direction of Cairo, Illinois. I remembered Pop saying there was a horse-shoe bend in the river as it turned back north. It was still and always shallower, easy to cross and not too many tree snags, as most of them would pile up on the south side of the bend. Wagons had been crossing there for years and it was a lot safer than other places. Beacher had a compass he had gotten for his birthday one time. Heck, the only thing I ever got for a birthday was a good swift kick in the back-side from one of my older brothe