Kit Butler and Lige Turner are weathered trackersâtrappers who once lived among the Dakota people as brothers, learning their language, their land, and their way of life. Now, with the fur trade dwindling, they find themselves guides for a wagon trainâa group of emigrants leaving behind the comforts of the world they know for the Wild West. The problem is, they have to pass through hostile Dakota Indian territory to reach their destination.
The members of the wagon train, fresh faces in a wild land, are certain that all this talk about Indians is just storiesâa way to keep a control over them. After all, they havenât seen any sign of Indians ... But Kit and Lige know what to look for, and they know theyâre being watched.
When the Indians brutally attack, the stories become a frightening reality. The Dakota warriors tell the emigrants that they must turn around or face their wrathâthey will not be allowed to pass through Dakota territory.
The emigrants have come too far to turn back, but they are not trained to fightâthe women and children handily outnumbering the men in the group. Kit and Lige are the only ones who know how to survive out in the wild, and it is their duty to protect the wagon train against the Dakota men they still consider brothers.
Lauran Paine (1916â2001), with more than a thousand books to his name, remains one of the most prolific Western authors of all time.