Hate burns deep in David Cameron's heart. He feels a blind rage against the brutal Chickasaw who murdered his father and uncle, and then sold him as a slave to the Cherokee. The Indians' excuse was that the Virginia fur traders were cheating them—because their English cloth was not so bright and fine as the scarlet cloth of some French traders.

Hot anger comes over David again! A huge convoy of bateaux has tied up at the landing, and a French officer has come ashore to parley with the Cherokee chief. When he sees David, he gives the Indian chief more bolts of the hated scarlet cloth in exchange for the boy!

"Dogs! French curs!" David fairly spits the words. He refuses to believe that the Frenchman in the silly white uniform is doing him an act of kindness. Are not Frenchmen and Indians all alike? As far as he is concerned, both are enemies, devils. 

This is the year 1757. Already the kings of England and France are at war. In America the French occupy vast territories in the west. They are trying to buy the friendship of the Indians who live in the rich fur country. David hopes fervently that some day Virginians will drive both the French and Indians out of the country. Only then will life be safe for men like his father and uncle. He is a captive now, but he intends to help make the enemy pay for the lives of Virginians.

On the long voyage with the Mississippi River convoy, David sullenly rebuffs all attempts by Captain and Madame St. Michel to make friends with him. It surprises him that they excuse his deliberate rudeness. They seem actually to want David to like them! 

After landing at Kaskaskia, the convoy personnel proceed by wagon to Fort de Chartres—the military stronghold of the French in the Illinois country. Here David meets the rest of the St. Michel family and their friends, gets a close-up view of a way of life far different from anything he has ever known. It would be easy to forget that these people are his sworn enemies, but for an evil-looking man named Thompson, called by the French L'Anglais, who reminds him that both of them are British.

Eventually David must make a difficult decision. A great fire breaks out at Fort de Chartres. L'Anglais orders him to blow up the powder magazine. Will he join in the plot to destroy the French? Or will he choose loyalty to men who would conquer by good will and understanding?

From the dust jacket