This relatively little-known Fenimore Cooper novel is set during the American War of Independence, when treachery and allegations of spying had been rampant - the case of Benedict Arnold bit deep into folk memory. The hero, Harry Birch, is a patriotic American who is suspected by his countrymen of being a double agent, or at the least of acting purely for gain. The plot is complex and at times melodramatic, and the introduction points to the influence of Walter Scott who had an enormous vogue in America at this time. The love interest is conventional, but Cooper was an energetic storyteller and his Americans seem true to life.