The Drinking Gourd
S.L. Kotar, J.E. Gessler

Their help was urgently needed to guide runaway slaves from "Bleeding Kansas" across the river to safer ground. Barbara Nelander-Ward, former first mate aboard the Bottom Dollar, accepts the arduous task and so begins her trek to "follow the drinking gourd" north to freedom. Fighting slavers who worked on the side of the law earning a living selling human beings as chattel, those who believed the dark color of a man or woman's skin made them inferior, battling the elements and finding herself forced to trust a former enemy, Nelander also discovers "the side of right" is not always what it seems.