Rolf is the son of Hiarandi the Unlucky. Hiarandi, at the urging of his wife, does an unforgivable thing: he lights a signal fire on a dangerous point of his land, challenging the accepted custom that place lucrative salvage at a higher value than the saving of life.
Allen French was a historian book author who did major research on the battles of Lexington and Concord, during the American Revolutionary War. He was a founding member and president of the Thoreau Society. Born in Boston, French attended Harvard University for his undergraduate education.