It was a cruel turn of fate that bonded Jeffrey Claus to the master of the Ribner Trading Post, who knew more than he would say about the disappearance of the one document that could give Jeffrey his liberty. Compelled to recondition weapons destined for the British threatening the rear flank of George Washington's beleaguered troops, the gunsmith found solace in the embrace of Henry Ribner's dynamic, scheming wife, Abigail, until the biting lash of a whip finally drove him to a desperate bid for freedom in the outlaw country of the Pennsylvania backwoods.
When murder was added to the charges with which he was hounded by the county officials, only his love for the fair-haired Susan gave him the courage to pursue his quest into the camp of the enemy, where he earned the gratitude of Colonel Hartley by alerting his Colonial troops in time to save them from an ambush of the very guns that Jeffry had been forced to service. But Abigail Ribner had been right when she said that he would not forget her, and it was only after he had faced death at the hands of friends and foe alike that she relinquished the secret which was to determine his fate.
In The Eagle and the Wind, Herbert Stover has added his most gripping story to a list of titles including Song of the Susquehanna, Men in Buckskin, Powder Mission, and Copperhead Moon, which have earned him a distinguished reputation as a dramatist of history.
