A charming reconstruction of the true story of the wanderings of little John Billington, son of an unpopular family in the Plymouth colony in 1621. Seven-year-old John and the spaniel, Trojan, stray into the forbidden woods outside the colony, spend several days in the woods and on the shore, are found and cared for by Indians and finally returned to the settlement under threats delivered by Squanto for Captain Standish. The author has caught the exhilaration of running away, the fear of the unknown terrors of the wilderness, and the fun of being admired and waited upon by strangers (not unlike the glee of pampered ""lost"" children at the police stations today). There is a brief section explaining the source of the story.