A first rate bit of historical fiction, based on the tragedy of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the revenge fanatical Mormons took for the death of one of their apostles. This story traces the adventures of a youth who joined the Fancher train -- and who escaped the massacre, and, with a comrade, found that all Mormons were not bad and that there was hope for a future in the West. Well told -- Allen has grown steadily in both style and plot structure.