THE SEARCHERS

The long search, obstinate and implacable, by Amos Edwards with young Martin Pauley for Debbie, the only survivor of his brother's family after an Indian massacre, has an almost epic endurance and is a stark testament to the ""unresting vigilance"" which drove these two on across lonely distances and through many summers and winters. For Martin, the foster son of the Edwards after an earlier vendetta had killed his family, Debbie had been a close companion. For Amos, the obligation to his brother is also goaded by the unacknowledged love for his brother's wife, and the desire to save Debbie is as much a dedicated revenge. They trail the Comanches, learn their language, follow the slight evidence offered by a scrap of her dress- and two years later- by the locket Martin had given her. Five years pass, and with it hope, which is again revived with the rumor that she is the captive of Chief Scar who now permits them to catch up with him. Debbie, now more Indian than white, refuses to return with them; they bring the Cavalry in- and Amos rides to his death. Debbie has escaped, but for Martin- who finds her- there is the hope that he can save her.... A drama of stubborn courage and gaunt endurance to which the prose lends a matching stature.