Just a Piece of Red String V: Collapse and Courage

Stelcie Dundee and Zethro face dark times. Interlopers terrorize Stelcie and Zethro. A dream and a piece of red string prompt digging on the Dundee property to seek something Beulah buried. Egiap travels to Memphis where she eventually meets Beulah at a contraband camp and reunites with TaSondryana and Amarichi. In Georgia, the Dr. Andekian Onesiphoros Traveling Show encounters renegades on the road. Sawyer Dundee and Solomon Witcher, both in the Confederate escape expedition from Richmond, part as Sawyer continues with the Jefferson Davis column and Solomon takes command of a single treasury wagon. Sawyer, when the Davis column camps near Irwinville, Georgia, locates himself on the perimeter of the camp for the night. Sawyer is incapacitated during the time of President Davis’ capture. Dr. A. O.’s Traveling Show, moving through Georgia, continues to see the destruction perpetrated by the Union armies but meets Southerners who demonstrate resilience and compassion for each other. At one campsite for the traveling show, Percival finds remnants of burned wagons and an almost-dead Sawyer. The traveling show puts on a performance in a small settlement and is interrupted by a Union calvary patrol. Sawyer takes over leadership of the traveling show. The traveling show meets former members of the Nancy Harts, an all-female militia. Sawyer eventually heads for Natchez. Solomon and his crew with their single wagon take an alternate way to the Gulf Coast to meet with other Confederates. Having a premonition, Solomon expresses his concern to his men and gives each man thirteen Mexican silver coins as payment for their service to the Confederacy. Severe storms cover the area. Solomon’s crew and wagon are attacked during the stormy weather by renegades. At a ford for a small river Solomon and his crew meet more marauders during the storm and lose the wagon. Solomon is saved and given new hope by Red Cloud Woman and then heads for New Orleans. In Memphis, Egiap, staying with Mrs. Eddensly, feels the need to return to Avoyelles Parish in Louisiana with stops in Vicksburg and Natchez. Back in Natchez, Stelcie has to “swallow the yellow dog” when paying taxes. Abdoulaye visits the Dundee homestead, tells of meeting beautiful Tajri during his crossing of the Sahara as a captive of slavers, and goes into Natchez with his pushcart. Xenophanes, back in New Orleans with a theatrical company, revisits THE MUSTARD SEED and the Girod Street Cemetery, the location of his epiphany. Egiap in Marksville, Louisiana, seeks assistance from a former Confederate soldier to guide her to two locations. Solomon, in New Orleans, attempts to meet Xenophanes.