"I'm on a ship!" Tom thought. "I'm going west on a ship!"
In January 1851, twelve-year-old Tom Tucker, with his mother and ten-year-old sister, Tildy, sets off for California to find his father, who had gone there a year before to seek gold. They leave Boston by steamship, sail to the Isthmus of Panama, and go—first by boat, then by mule train—to Panama City, where they have to wait some time for passage on a Pacific steamship. On the trip they make friends with Grandma Perkins, an elderly but lively widow from Maine, and Eliphalet Jones, a kindly gentleman who appears to be traveling in disguise. He is, however, very helpful to the Tuckers and wins their gratitude by diving in and rescuing Tildy from the jaws of an alligator when she falls into the river.
During the wait in Panama City, a clipper puts into port for repairs after sailing around the Horn. Tom has always dreamed of sailing before the masts on a Boston-built clipper. In Boston, he used to spend hours around the shipyards where the clippers were built. When the cabin boys fall ill, Tom readily agrees to sign on as a cabin boy. Since the Tuckers have not been able to get steamship transportation to San Francisco, Mr. Jones offers his ticket to Mrs. Tucker. He will work his way to California on the clipper. When he arrives in San Francisco, Tom discovers that his father has left for the gold fields, so he stows away on a stagecoach to search for him. The coach is held up by a highwayman who knew it was carrying gold in a shipment from an express company. Tom recognizes the highwayman's checked trousers as those of Eliphalet Jones.
Tom finds his father has left the gold fields and he is sure that he has gone to the Yosemite Valley where the Indians are reputed to have great treasure. Tom rescues a dog which belongs to Young Bear, the grandson of an Indian chieftain. Because of his helpful act he is accepted by the Indians and stays with Young Bear's family.
Tom's efforts to find his father and the reunion of the family and friends in San Francisco make an exciting, fat-moving story set against an authentic background of pioneer America.
—from the dust jacket
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