The Great Smoky Mountains, still raw from the Civil War. Young Ike Guyther lives in the shadow of Keedon Bluffs, those towering cliffs where locals whisper of hidden money and haunted caves. When drifter Jerry Binwell arrives with his irresistible daughter Rosamond, spinning ominous warnings about the cliff hollows, Ike suspects the stranger wants to scare him off the trail. But Ike's blind uncle Abner, a proud artilleryman wounded in the war, recognizes Jerry and accuses him of old treachery, shattering the fragile hospitality of the night. The mountain community closes ranks against the suspected deserter, yet Rosamond's charm disarms everyone. As gossip swirls about Squire Torbett's rumored cache and the men's wartime secrets, old grievances collide with present danger. Craddock writes mountain life with fierce authenticity: its stubborn poverty, its code of kinship, its folklore dense as mountain fog. This is among the earliest novels of the Appalachian South, a work of regional realism that transforms local legend into psychological suspense.
