Brief description:
Jack Randolph and Tony Scaife are boyhood friends growing up in the Tidewater region of Virginia in the 1880's. Jack's lives on his grandfather's run-down plantation. The elder Randolph was West Pointer, veteran of the Seminole and Mexican Wars, and former Confederate cavalry officer. Tony lives nearby in humble cottage with his widowed mother. Jack is urged by his grandfather to study hard and attend West Point. Tony has little education but is an expert boatman and oyster man.
Jack's haughty visiting cousin, Edgar Mount dislikes Tony and wrongly accuses Tony of a theft to cover his own misdeed. Jack flees in his boat to become a crew member a commercial fishing ship. He is presumed drowned in a wreck off Cape Hatteras.
Jack and Edgar both receive appointments to West Point where they have an uneasy friendship and rivalry while cadets, but graduate and are posted as cavalry officers in the West.
Meanwhile, Tony does survive, saving many others and excels at seamanship becoming the first mate on an ocean-going ship. He leaves the sea and is determined to become an Army officer, but lacking education he must strive for an appointment from the ranks.
As the story progresses, Tony, Jack, and Edgar eventually meet up at a remote south western fort confronting the Apaches. The old rivalries continue and come to a head in a pitched battle with the Apache.
Jack's haughty visiting cousin, Edgar Mount dislikes Tony and wrongly accuses Tony of a theft to cover his own misdeed. Jack flees in his boat to become a crew member a commercial fishing ship. He is presumed drowned in a wreck off Cape Hatteras.
Jack and Edgar both receive appointments to West Point where they have an uneasy friendship and rivalry while cadets, but graduate and are posted as cavalry officers in the West.
Meanwhile, Tony does survive, saving many others and excels at seamanship becoming the first mate on an ocean-going ship. He leaves the sea and is determined to become an Army officer, but lacking education he must strive for an appointment from the ranks.
As the story progresses, Tony, Jack, and Edgar eventually meet up at a remote south western fort confronting the Apaches. The old rivalries continue and come to a head in a pitched battle with the Apache.
Publication
D. Lothrop Company, Boston