Pierre and Andrew, twelve-year-old twins, have been rescued from slavery by their father, who has prepared a secret place in the swamps below New Orleans for them - a sort of aerie in a tall tree. But now Jacques, the father, has disappeared, and the twins must try, themselves, to rescue their mother and baby sister, who are to be sold at auction. Secret caves, pirates and the pirate chief Jean Lafitte, Andrew Jackson, and the oncoming British all form a part of this story that does result in the rescue of the mother and sister and of other slaves as well. The setting is the fall of 1814, during the actual Battle of New Orleans.
