Chapters 43-45 Summary

It is now spring in the valley, and Boone is on a boat with Old Man Mefford, who is taking his furs to St. Louis. Boone is leaving the hills and is so quiet on the boat that the others tease him that his mother never taught him to talk. The men talk about how safe the river travel is; they haven't seen any Indians. Most of the Indians are gone now. Boone sees a steamboat go by on the river.

The letter that Jim had brought from the fort was from his mother telling him that his father had died and that she would like to see Boone. He wanted to turn around back to the life he had lived all those years but he knew it wouldn't be the same. When a farmer calls out something from shore, the...