Papa is in danger for helping to rescue a free-state settler who was unjustly arrested by Kansas's proslavery sheriff. He has gone into hiding, and Momma and the Keller children are alone in their remote cabin while marauding border ruffians are roaming the countryside, looking for livestock to steal.

But there's a lot more at stake at the Keller homestead than their chickens and cows. Charlie has come upon Lizzie, a runaway slave girl trying to make her way to freedom in Canada, and the Kellers are hiding her at their cabin. With the violence in Kansas Territory escalating, the Underground Railroad isn't running. Can Charlie and his family keep Lizzie safe until she can escape from Kansas?

This book was recognised in the Fiction - Transitional category by the Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award.

This book is part of a book series called Prairie Skies .

There are 80 pages in this book. This is a chapter book. Publishers market early chapter books at readers aged 6-10 years. This book was published 2003 by Simon & Schuster Ltd .

Deborah Hopkinson's most recent book is the ALA Award-Winning Apples to Oregon . Her other titles include Under the Quilt of NIght (Also illustrated by James E. Ransome) and Fannie in the Kitchen . She lives in Oregon.