In the year 1541, two Indian boys lived on the remote island of Tiburon off the west coast of Mexico. They were Seris, a warlike and primitive tribe quite different from the peaceful Indians of the mainland who had been easily conquered and reduced to slavery by Hernan Cortez and his invading Spanish armies. The two boys, Stooping Hawk and Stranded Whale, were sent to spy on the conquerors and were caught and imprisoned. The story of their capture and escape is a thrilling one, but the account of their wild, free life on Tiburon is equally fascinating. This, the author says, is "a tale missed by the history books. And surely every generation of this fine, high-spirited people has had its counterparts of Stooping Hawk and Stranded Whale, true sons of liberty."