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Synopsis
Blackie and Red were running away from the orphanage when they were found by Andy Connell. He offered them a home with him and his wife.
The boys were as different as the color of their hair, and each had his own approach to getting ahead in the world. Blackie scorned Red's proud determination to be his own man. And, when Andy Connell struck it rich, Blackie just knew that life was going to give him everything he deserved.
Library Journal
Blackie and Red, a pair of ten-year-old orphans, have a common goal. They want to be able to fight each other to the finish and at last prove who is the better man. This constant feuding has caused them much grief at the orphanage, so they decide to run away. They are rescued from the wild (and each other) by Andy Connell. Connell has seen the two boys fight. From the beginning he sees that Blackie is not hindered by a sense of fair play; however, Red is by nature honest and open. Connell is a prospector who has not yet found his fortune; his greatest challenge is in getting his wife to accept the young orphans. Brand continues to develop this story over the years as the boys grow to men and Andy Connell strikes the ``mother lode'' he has sought for so long. The story is marred only by reader Buck Schirner's attempt to portray Fredricka Connell in a shrill, high-pitched voice. Otherwise, a fine presentation of Brand's novel.-Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville