Titus Bass and his beautiful Crow wife, Waits-by-the-Water, learn that her beloved uncle has recently been killed by a Blackfoot war party, and Titus joins the group to exact revenge. Upon his return, he finds his little family has been taken prisoner by another war party. Revenge be damned, Titus sets out to reclaim the only true happiness he has ever known. He must not only contend with warring Indian tribes but also with duplicitous white traders, the elements, and one enemy even Titus can t defeat: smallpox. The continuing saga of Titus Bass provides readers with a genuine sense of frontier life and the hardships of the very earliest settlers in the context of an epic adventure. Bass is a near-mythic Davy Crockett^-like character, but author Johnston imbues him with Everyman emotions, which makes his despair over the loss of his loved ones genuine. This is a popular series, and readers of past Bass adventures will not be disappointed. Wes Lukowsky