Grades: 3-6

As a boy of the Mayflower, John Billington, whose natural mistakes were often interpreted unjustly as carelessness and open aggression, but whose friendship for Squanto provided the means for a wider friendship between his people and the Indians of Cape Cod. After the Pilgrims have settled, John is made especially miserable by the current misunderstanding and runs off to be alone in the forest. Lost, he is taken by Chief Aspinet's men and kept with the tribe. But his previous friendship with Squanto has given the boy grounding in Indian ways and the rescue, in which Squanto is instrumental, provides the Pilgrims with a new security. A realistic story that shows some of the less attractive traits as well as some of the hardships which were the Pilgrims' lot.