Doug Cariou

Once Upon an Island Doug Cariou

Publisher Marketing: The year is 1896 at Victoria on Vancouver Island in the newly formed colony of British Columbia. An animated, young Thadeus Matoe, a.k.a., "Toadmatoe," comes to Professor Krokonal's house seeking his wisdom about a mysterious gift he has just received from his friend Froglit Brar for his third-month birthday. Mystified, the Professor sends for the frog to question him. Toadmatoe returns with his friend, and just as the Professor is questioning him the police burst in and arrest Froglit Brar on suspicion of stealing a priceless heirloom. In their haste to haul him off to prison, the police fail to seize the alleged contraband. Convinced of Froglit's innocence and with gift in hand, the Professor, Toadmatoe, and Ursula, his faithful Salamander, give chase. By a strange twist of fate, Froglit escapes his captors and is reunited with his friends. Now accomplices-at-large, the three fugitives meet some interesting characters who aid them on their way as they are providentially led through a series of mishaps and miraculous escapes from the pursuing long arm of the Victoria Constabulary. They leap-frog on traversing rapids and waterfalls, o'er field and fen, as the gift choreographically draws them on, revealing keys to unlock its mystery. In the course of events the true villain is apprehended and the three friends reach the place where the gift finally reveals its secrets in a providentially synchronized moment in time.