I wouldn't rate this book anything like as highly as most critics. Some aspects of the plot were highly improbable. For instance, would a gentle 17 year old white boy seriously be suspected of scalping someone? I think it is far more likely that it would have been blamed either on Indians or on an extremely evil, practiced killer. The plot line about the carvings on the bone is just dropped without any explanation. The ending is also very unsatisfying... and the bit about Maria never knowing her good fortune when Donald dies imagining the life they could have had together is just downright silly. There is some good writing in the book but it could have done with a very stiff edit.