The members of the wagon train, fresh faces in a wild land, are certain that all this talk about Indians is just storiesโa way to keep a control over them. After all, they havenโt seen any sign of Indians ... But Kit and Lige know what to look for, and they know theyโre 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 wrathโthey will not be allowed to pass through Dakota territory.
The emigrants have come too far to turn back, but they are not trained to fightโthe 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 (1916โ2001), with more than a thousand books to his name, remains one of the most prolific Western authors of all time.