This is the true story of the great golden warrior dog, Ajax, and the many other animals of the bush country which a solitary little girl knew as her only friends and playmates. In the strange, wild, back country of Australia, there were no other children near, and her brother was away at school. But she was never lonely on the ranch.

There were her fat, brown pony Buck, and later her beautiful mare Belle. There was the huge, gentle, carpet snake Kaa, so big that when the little girl festooned him around her shoulders, she could hardly stagger along. There were Matilda, the kangaroo, and Kiko, the monkey. And best of all there were "the boys," her dogs—Ajax, and the comical Algy and Ben.

The majestic Ajax wasn't bought; he wasn't bred on the place. As a tiny puppy the half-dingo, savage Australian wild dog was rescued—found by the little girl herself—from a hollow log into which he had been wedged when a mighty flood swept over the land. Perhaps that was why she loved him so much—a love that he returned. And he grew up to be a great, strong fighter with a heart that was hers alone. When she had to leave him for a few days—or even for a few hours—he was filled with savage despair.

Algy was a massive-chested bulldog with such a loving heart that he was always adopting pets of his own—a tiny tortoise, a duckling, a baby fox. And of course when Ben, the terrier puppy, was born, Algy made a great fuss over him.

Between Algy and the little girl, Ben did get rather spoiled. He bullied Algy from the day he could first stagger around; he was as brave as a lion, and thought he was as big!

Many were their adventures. When the little girl was threatened by a cave-in, it was Algy's broad shoulders that saved her. When she found a cow with a broken leg and a tiny, newborn calf, it was Ben who went for help. She and "the boys" had a thrilling brush with the native Aborigines in a great cave. When a tramp stole her father's thoroughbred mare, she and Ajax went along to track him down. It was Ajax who flung him to the ground, as the thief stood off the men with a gun. It was Ajax who saved her when an undertow pulled her away from the beach. And it was Ajax again who rescued her in the last and most spine-tingling adventure.

Those were the happiest days, when she helped work the stock, or went for long, glorious rides, with Ben on the saddle and Ajax, never tiring, beside her. And as she lay on her bed on the veranda, looking into the black velvet of the deep bush night, hearing the soft kaka kakaka of a possum, her hand on Ajax's mighty head, her heart was filled with joy and peace, in the security of that lonely, vast land she loved so well.

This is a beautiful story, one that catches the reader in a magic spell. As the British publisher says, it "makes most adventure stories look thin and pale." Exciting, funny, delightful, moving, it is made to be loved by all the family.

From the dust jacket of the 1954 Bobbs-Merrill edition