A little girl who has always longed for a "best friend" attains her wish and survives some dangerous experiences in this suspenseful story of pioneer days in western Pennsylvania.

Written by the well-known author of Theodosia and numerous other books for young people, this exciting tale centers around Barbara Baum, daughter of German settlers living in Burnt Cabins in 1783. Too young to understand her parents' fear of Indians, Barbara befriends a hungry Indian, offering him the bread and butter with which she plays tea party with her imaginary friends. Although they cannot communicate by words, the two soon establish a warm bond of mutual trust.

While wandering in the woods one day, Barbara is suddenly kidnapped by a strange Indian. How the "bread-and-butter" Indian comes to her rescue is described in the dramatic climax to this remarkable story, based on a true incident that happened in the family of the author's husband. Illustrations by the distinguished artist, Garth Williams, add to Miss Colver's warm and absorbing picture of eighteenth-century frontier life.

From the dust jacket

Barbara Baum, the heroine of the companion books, Bread-and-Butter Indian and Bread-and-Butter Journey, was, in fact, a real person—the great-great-grandmother of Miss Colver's husband. The family journals describe the hair-raising action which takes place in the first book, as well as the subsequent journey which the family undertook in 1784.

From the dust jacket