The book Dark Trail, By Hiram King, is about the journey of a freed slave who is trying to find his family. Bodie Johnson (the main character of the book) has little to his name. The only thing that he has in life is his family. However, they were packed onto a slave train when the Confederates started losing the war and shipped farther inland. Bodie is determined to find his family and will stop at nothing until his quest is finished. If he can't find them, he'll die trying. Bodie's mind and body are tested throughout the book as he travels West on his trusty steed to seek out the ones he loves. During his lonesome travels, Bodie thinks about the possibility that he may arrive too late, after all, the train has a three or four month head start on him. He meets many strange and new people along his path, some nice, others not so much. He gets jumped and shot at multiple times and always seems to be attracted to trouble. Another battle that Bodie faces is one of his own mind and heart. Bodie meets a girl named Deedee in the midst of his travels and falls in love but is forced to leave her in search of his family. Throughout the book, Bodie faces an unthinkable amount of hardships, but doesn't stop for even one minute or think about giving up.