Martin Rattler

Martin Rattler grew up in a quiet village called Ashford where he lived with an aunt and he always dreamed of an adventure in a far away country. When he finished school, Martin boarded the ship Firefly where he became friends with Irish man Barney O'Flannagan. When pirates attacked their ship and it was wrecked, Martin and Barney were washed ashore on a Brazilian beach. Dealing with dense jungle, they had to made acquaintance with numerous jungle animals, birds, beasts and reptiles. They took a sail up the Amazon river, shooting alligators on its banks, spearing fish in its waters, and eventually being captured by wild tribes of Amazon forest. Upon escaping, Martin and Barney came across the diamond mines in Minas Gerais, and after doing some mining and gaining wealth, they decided it's time for them to return home. But, as always, things don't turn out as they plan.

Martin Rattler was a very bad boy. At least his aunt, Mrs. Dorothy Grumbit, said so; and certainly she ought to have known, if anybody should, for Martin lived with her, and was, as she herself expressed it, "the bane of her existence, - the very torment of her life." No doubt of it whatever, according to Aunt Dorothy Grumbit's showing, Martin Rattler was "a remarkably bad boy." It is a curious fact, however, that, although most of the people in the village of Ashford seemed to agree with Mrs. Grumbit in her opinion of Martin, there were very few of them who did not smile cheerfully on the child when they met him, and say, "Good day, lad!" as heartily as if they thought him the best boy in the place. No one seemed to bear Martin Rattler ill-will, notwithstanding his alleged badness. Men laughed when they said he was a bad boy, as if they did not quite believe their own assertion. The vicar, an old whiteheaded man, with a kind, hearty countenance, said that the child was full of mischief, full of mischief; but he would improve as he grew older, he was quite certain of that.

Martin Rattler grew up in a quiet village called Ashford where he lived with an aunt and he always dreamed of an adventure in a far away country. When he finished school, Martin boarded the ship Firefly where he became friends with Irish man Barney O'Flannagan. When pirates attacked their ship and it was wrecked, Martin and Barney were washed ashore on a Brazilian beach. Dealing with dense jungle, they had to made acquaintance with numerous jungle animals, birds, beasts and reptiles. They took a sail up the Amazon river, shooting alligators on its banks, spearing fish in its waters, and eventually being captured by wild tribes of Amazon forest. Upon escaping, Martin and Barney came across the diamond mines in Minas Gerais, and after doing some mining and gaining wealth, they decided it's time for them to return home. But, as always, things don't turn out as they plan.

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Martin Rattler grew up in a quiet village called Ashford where he lived with an aunt and he always dreamed of an adventure in a far away country. When he finished school, Martin boarded the ship Firefly where he became friends with Irish man Barney O'Flannagan. When pirates attacked their ship and it was wrecked, Martin and Barney were washed ashore on a Brazilian beach. Dealing with dense jungle, they had to made acquaintance with numerous jungle animals, birds, beasts and reptiles. They took a sail up the Amazon river, shooting alligators on its banks, spearing fish in its waters, and eventually being captured by wild tribes of Amazon forest. Upon escaping, Martin and Barney came across the diamond mines in Minas Gerais, and after doing some mining and gaining wealth, they decided it's time for them to return home. But, as always, things don't turn out as they plan.

MY DEAR YOUNG READERS, In presenting this book to you I have only to repeat what I have said in the prefaces of my former works, -namely, that all the important points and anecdotes are true; only the minor and unimportant ones being mingled with fiction. With this single remark I commit my work to your hands, and wish you a pleasant ramble, in spirit, through the romantic forests of Brazil. Yours affectionately, R.M. BALLANTYNE.