Lancaster's historical fiction provides a lively story line while avoiding stereotyped characters and without relying on sex. His hero is a Bostonian stranded an Europe who works his way by ship back to the New World only to be stuck in Spanish New Orleans because of the British blockade, of the East Coast. Striking out for Boston, he falls in with a buckskinned Virginian who teaches him frontier and river lore as well as how to wield the long knives that the Indians fear so much. They are impressed into the rebel Kentucky raiders who are fighting the British and the Indians that were armed by them. The Bostonian proves to be a willing fighter and the rebel leader, Clark, comes ruggedly alive as a brilliant, believable character.