A story of pirates and brave ships manned by as curious a crew as ever scampered up trees or burrowed beneath the ground. The heroes of this whimsical tale are a wise little badger and a somewhat melancholic otter. Together with their animal friends they subdue a pack of marauding water rats and bring a victorious peace to their complex forest world. Very much in the style of the Pooh books, there is a droll gallantry which pervades this story and Leslie Atkinson's drawings are particularly admirable in the synthesis they achieve between fantasy and realism.