I must confess that I do not find Finger easy reading -- and this book was no exception, though I felt it worth the attention it demanded. A story of a difficult period, when the Barbary pirates were a law unto themselves, and English and Americans did not know who was friend and who was foe. The story of youths who were captured by pirates and escaped with hairbreadth adventures and close shaves. Finger stands well with libraries and is a juvenile writer with an established market.