Martin Rattler is a boy of fourteen when he and his friend, Barney, row a boat on the ocean only to discover that the waves were crashing too hard and they can't row themselves back to shore. Luckily, a trade ship spotted them and they were rescued. But instead of sending the boys back to shore, which would delay the sailors, they keep the boys on the ship to work. The boys become accustomed to a sailor's life only to discover that pirates still sail the seas and they slip into the ocean to escape capture. Thus begins their adventure in the jungles where he encounters strange and wonderful creatures, survives the wild, and hunts for his own food. R.M. Ballantyne wrote over 100 adventure novels for young adults set in various exotic and foreign locales. His novel Coral Island influenced Barrie's Peter Pan and Golden's Lord of the Flies.