conversations.from: human
conversations.value: a description for a book titled The Devil's Highway about Natchez, Zeb, Hannah with the genre: Children's Books, Literature & Fiction
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Grade 5-8?A fast-paced story set against the backdrop of the Natchez Trace in the early 1800s. When Zeb's grandfather does not return from a horse-trading trip, the 14-year-old suspects foul play. He and his beloved horse, Christmas, take to the Natchez Trail, a bandit-infested 500-mile pathway connecting Nashville, TN, to Natchez, MS. Zeb avoids the highway robbers who routinely stalk and ambush innocent travelers. He soon meets Hannah, a half-Choctaw girl who has escaped from a band of kidnapping thieves. Teaming up against the odds, the two dodge the outlaws, narrowly escape drowning while crossing the Tennessee River, and stumble upon a group of army officers who are out to apprehend the terrorizing gangs. When the youngsters eventually reach Hannah's tribe, things do not calm down. Broad strokes of historical details enrich the story line. Zeb and Hannah are able to sustain themselves, and the plot, with their pluck and determination. Zeb's daredevil passion for horse racing will amuse readers. An author's note answers historical questions. The story ends abruptly with Hannah being reunited with her parents. Zeb has not found his grandfather, leaving readers waiting for the sequel.?Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY<BR>Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: When Zeb's grandfather does not return from a horse-trading trip, the 14-year-old suspects foul play. He and his beloved horse, Christmas, take to the Natchez Trail, a bandit-infested 500-mile pathway connecting Nashville, TN, to Natchez, MS. Zeb avoids the highway robbers who routinely stalk and ambush innocent travelers. He soon meets Hannah, a half-Choctaw girl who has escaped from a band of kidnapping thieves. Teaming up against the odds, the two dodge the outlaws, narrowly escape drowning while crossing the Tennessee River, and stumble upon a group of army officers who are out to apprehend the terrorizing gangs. When the youngsters eventually reach Hannah's tribe, things do not calm down. Broad strokes of historical details enrich the story line. Zeb and Hannah are able to sustain themselves, and the plot, with their pluck and determination. Zeb's daredevil passion for horse racing will amuse readers. An author's note answers historical questions. The story ends abruptly with Hannah being reunited with her parents. Zeb has not found his grandfather, leaving readers waiting for the sequel.?Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY<BR>Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first three paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Devil's Highway
  They worked in the byre by torchlight. In the stalls the cow bellowed. Andagin feared she would wake their father, who had succumbed to sleep like a warrior to his wounds.
  They contemplated the steaming baskets. Judoc's face was hard to read for the torch burning behind it.
  Andagin patted the cow's hot flank. Taking the torch, he left the byre and walked into a weeping wind.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: two more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Suddenly he wanted not to see. He wanted to be asleep like Glyco. The druid removed his gaze, very briefly, from his audience and sent it, swift as a hawk and with the same intent, towards his captive. Marcus saw, and then doubted he had seen, a smile on the man's face. Then, from the seemingly fathomless recesses of his cloak, the druid extracted a noose of rope and gave it to the brute. To the redhead he handed a long dagger.
  Marcus strained against his bonds. He fought stupidly, in panic and indignation, trying with what strength he retained to break the cords that held him down.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last five paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: He walked into the shade of a very tall beech. He touched the wounds in its bark and heard woodlarks behind him and stonechats. A green woodpecker flashed from a tussock of grass where it had been licking for ants. He went to the tussock, for ants intrigued him with their busy comings and goings.
  It was there, in a scrape of exposed turf, that he found the stone. The other flints were mute but this one spoke. He picked it up and stared at it, turning the carvings in his hand and mind. It was by no means beautiful, but how snugly it fitted the width of his palm, its shape almost human though lacking arms or legs. He sat in the whispering grass and stroked the lines, like rings in wood but on the outside. He forgot about his fear. A companionable sweat pooled in the small of his back. He gave himself up to daydream, until he looked up from the stone and recognised the place.
  He had been here before, laying traps with his grandfather. The beech tree shimmered in the heat. Butterflies flopped among its branches. He held the stone, or the stone held him. It was a gift that would guide him home: a mystery for him to hold and keep safe.
  There was a great sigh, like the rushing of waters, above his head. He looked into the shaken curtain of leaves.
  The beech was ancient, its trunk scarred and wrinkled like the hide of a beast. Andagin turned to watch it contend with the wind, and his spirit soared into the green boughs and the stone rolled over in his palm. He was a bird, high in that shifting canopy. He thought: the trees have no soul but the wind, and the wind has no body but the trees. And what being would he have – he, son of Brennos and Vala, youngest of the hill-fort clan – without this love that called him home?