This is the story of a man, a boy and a Key deer—one of those miniature deer now fast disappearing from the Florida Keys.

Hickey had lived alone always, except for the wild creatures that seemed a part of Big Pine Key. When he learned that his young nephew was coming to visit, he was uneasy and worried. There were too many people coming to the Keys as it was. They were spoiling island after island—hunting, fishing, hacking down trees. Jack, the boy, was equally apprehensive about the visit until he discovered and made friends with the Key fawn that Hickey was raising by hand.

This friendship and the struggle of the fawn and the other Key deer to live in spite of encroaching civilization make an engrossing story, filled with exciting pursuits and stirring pictures of animal courage in a beautiful tropical setting.

The author is a naturalist who has long studied these miniature animals that for generations have lived on the Keys and could never swim to the mainland. He has seen their existence in peril, and set down an account of their ways that is not only accurate and valuable but also human and enduring. Young readers will remember always the game little buck and his companions and their battle for the right to live.

From the dust jacket