Sow the Seeds of Hemp

John Murrell: bandit leader, horse thief, stealer of slaves. In the early 1830s he was kingpin of a far-flung syndicate of outlaws. But Murrell had bigger ideas. He schemed for a bloody revolution when the slaves he had "freed" would rise to make him the white emperor of a black empire throughout the Mississippi Valley. All this was before he met and became attached to a young innocent named Virgil Stewart.Unwillingly at first, Stewart joined Murrell in the life of an outlaw, masquerading as a gang member. As time passed, however, he had to ask himself: Was he acting unwillingly? Though repelled by Murrell's cold-blooded ambitions, he was captivated by the man.When at last Stewart undertook to demolish Murrell's blueprint for revolution, he was torn between his duty to society and his own muddled emotions. Was he serving justice or playing Judas? Even after he had risked his life to bring Murrell before the law, his fellow citizens could not decide who the villain was, Murrell or Stewart. The denouement of this extraordinary segment of history takes some startling twists, and inspires speculation about the faint line between good and evil.From fragments of historical fact and the few fairly reliable legends that exist, Gary Jennings has fashioned a gripping novel, filled with menace and leavened with humor and romance. No two men could have been more unlike than the sophisticated Murrell and the unworldly Stewart. But these characters really lived, and really did the things they do here.