AustLit

'Twin brothers Joshua and Joseph contracted leprosy in their youth and have spent the last thirty years in the leper colony, where they were nursed by the wife of an old fisherman. Following his death, the brothers move into the old man's house and fish off the rocky shelves to feed themselves. But it seems the wicked mermaid queen is angry. She intended to display the old man's bones in her palace but has been deprived of that treasure. When she sees Joshua and Joseph working in the fisherman's place, she sends her two most powerful warriors, Brawn and Sinew, to take the brothers and their dingo so that she can exhibit their skeletons in her undersea palace. The merfolk's plans go awry, and though the brothers manage to escape, they soon find themselves embroiled with some murderous bushrangers. Now Joshua and Joseph must face a new set of trials that exact a harsh toll from them-and an even greater one from the evil lawbreakers who have captured them. This short story follows the perilous journey of twin brothers who encounter a series of tribulations at the hands of evildoers.' (Publication summary)