A hundred years ago in Western Australia there lived a boy called Midnite. He was seventeen and all alone in the world except for five animals – a rather silly cow called Dora, a tall and noble-minded horse called Red Ned, a short-tempered cockatoo called Major, a willing sheepdog called Gyp and a very wise and handsome Siamese cat called Khat. Midnite himself, although nice, was not really very bright and it was Khat who first suggested that he might become a bushranger and call himself Captain Midnite (for non-Australians, a bushranger is a kind of highwayman). His adventures – how he kept getting put in prison by his delightful but treacherous best friend Trooper O’Grady, and how Khat and the other animals kept getting him out – are full of fun and excitement. There was also a girl he wanted to marry, but she was rather treacherous too – not like Mrs. Chiffle who always wanted to hide a bushranger under her bed. Even Queen Victoria was very upset by his bushranging until he finally became a millionaire, and then of course everyone started being very polity, though Midnite had no idea why.
