A long line of covered wagons trailed past on its way to the West. "Val sat with his sister, Matt, on the top rail of the fence near the road watching—, 'Wish I had a pony,' Val said. 'I'd follow that last wagon and ride on until I'd seen Indians, prairies, buffaloes, wild cats, deserts, mountains, panthers, beavers and all the things the mountain men and teamsters tell about. I'm going to see all of them one of these days—just you wait!' "

And Val did, for the Adams family and many of their neighbors in Robidoux Landing on the Missouri River joined a train of covered wagons going west to Oregon the following spring. Val trotted proudly beside the Adams' wagon—not on a pony but on a small smart donkey, named Jinny, his heart had become set upon instead.

From that time on Jinny became his great interest. A longing to buy her the fine Spanish saddle of a neighbor who had hinted it might sometime be for sale kept Val working hard all during the journey trapping small animals so that he could have skins to sell to make sufficient money.

The long hard days along the trail found Jinny and Val ready for every danger and hardship, where it was crossing swift streams, rounding up stray animals from the herd, following the wagons, travelling miles across hot dusty plains, or withstanding an Indian attack. And the little donkey lived up to what old Alex laughingly had said when he sold her, "—she can smell Injuns a mile off. So when yer on the plains an' see her sniff, get ready. 

At the end of the trail when the fine new country had at last been reached, Jinny as well as Val had earned the right to be called "a pioneer too."

Sanford Tousey, the author-illustrator of the COWBOY TOMMY books, STEAMBOAT BILLY, JERRY AND THE PONY EXPRESS, and the CHINKY stories has scored again with still another exciting book for young readers who want stories full of the color and facts of real history.

Form the dust jacket