AustLit

Marcie Muir claims that 'The Yellow God is a lively and entertaining book, full of coincidences and wonderful adventures in which Jack Flood, the magnificently built nineteen-year-old hero always seems to be present at any crisis! His father sends him out to a merchant friend in Valparaiso where he expects he can find adventure and observe the wild life in the tropical forests. But the ship founders in the Straits of Magellan, and Jack and his friend, Michael Smith, an apprentice sailor, escape from the sinking ship in a raft, together with a twelve-year-old girl passenger, Daisy, whose life Jack had saved earlier when she fell overboard. They are picked up by a ship and reach Sydney safely, but their adventures are far from over for the main part of the story takes place in New South Wales. Mr Arundel, their host, arranges a trip for the boys inland to Bathurst with Ben Layton, a young acquaintance who has just returned from California.

They encounter some wild Aborigines on their way, and Mullinowool, whom they save from injury, attaches himself to them. Michael, who has a ready Irish wit, names him 'Owl'. As one would expect, they make a great find, but being inexperienced the boys betray their success to a plausible stranger when Ben has gone off to get a horse and cart and another companion to help them bring in their find to the township. They have to keep their gold in a friend's house overnight. They are attacked by a band of bushrangers, and after a violent struggle all ends happily, with Jack and Michael embarking for home with their riches, although with a strong hint that they may return to take up land in the colony. ('The Lure of Gold: Boy's Adventure Stories and the Australian Gold Rushes' 93).