“We talked about politics, religion, and nature, farming, and bear-hunting, and the many blessings that an all-bountiful Providence has bestowed upon our happy country.  He continued to talk upon this subject, travelling over the whole ground as it were, until his imagination glowed, and his soul became full to overflowing; and he checked his horse, and I stopped mine also, and a stream of eloquence burst forth from his aged lips, such as I have seldom listened to:  it came from the overflowing fountain of a pure and grateful heart.  We were alone in the wilderness, but as he proceeded, it seemed to me as if the tall trees bent their tops to listen; that the mountain stream laughed out joyfully as it bounded on like some living thing that the fading flowers of autumn smiled, and sent forth fresher fragrance, as if conscious that they would revive in spring; and even the sterile rocks seemed to be endued with some mysterious influence.  We were alone in the wilderness, but all things told me that God was there.  The thought renewed my strength and courage.  I had left my country, felt somewhat like an outcast, believed that I had been neglected and lost sight of.  But I was now conscious that there was still one watchful Eye over me; no matter whether I dwelt in the populous cities, or threaded the pathless forest alone; no matter whether I stood in the high places among men, or made my solitary lair in the untrodden wild, that Eye was still upon me.  My very soul leaped joyfully at the thought.  I never felt so grateful in all my life.  I never loved my God so sincerely in all my life.  I felt that I still had a friend.

“When the old man finished, I found that my eyes were wet with tears.  I approached and pressed his hand, and thanked him, and says I, ‘Now let us take a drink.’  I set him the example, and he followed it, and in a style too that satisfied me, that if he had ever belonged to the temperance society, he had either renounced membership, or obtained a dispensation.  Having liquored, we proceeded on our journey, keeping a sharp lookout for mill-seats and plantations as we rode along.

“I left the worthy old man at Greenville, and sorry enough I was to part with him, for he talked a great deal, and he seemed to know a little about everything.  He knew all about the history of the country; was well acquainted with all the leading men; knew where all the good lands lay in most of Western States.

“He was very cheerful and happy, though to all appearances very poor.  I thought that he would make a first-rate agent for taking up lands, and mentioned it to him.  He smiled, and pointing above, said, ‘My wealth lies not in this world.’”

From Greenville, Crockett pressed on about fifty or sixty miles through a country interspersed withe forests and treeless prairies, until he reached Fulton.  He had a letter of introduction to one of the prominent gentlemen here, and was received with marked distinction.  After a short visit he disposed of his horse; he took a steamer to descend the river several hundred miles to Natchitoches, pronounced Nakitosh, a small straggling village of eight hundred inhabitants, on the right bank of the Red River, about two hundred miles from its entrance into the Mississippi.