Explore "Landtakers: The Story of an Epoch" by Brian Penton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
One evolves a straightforward story from events that were twisted and darkened by the cunning of men. This gives the impression that Cabell acted with a conscious and ruthless foresight. Yet he always believed that he blundered through that night under the merciful hand of Heaven.
He galloped a long way down the river before he pulled up to attend to his own and the horse's wounds. Only then did he find that the pistols were gone. He was shocked. It was a curious thing that he should not have realized, till this moment, that the pistols were in the coat which he threw at the dog, that he never doubted for an instant that the convicts would find them.