'Where's your thumb?' the doctor asked the injured ringer. 'Oh, we stuck it over there on the gatepost, fer safe keepin'.' And just as the doctor turned around to the gatepost, he saw a crow heading skyward, thumb and all. So I don't know how the ringer actually lost his thumb in the first place, but it had certainly gone missing after the crow had flown off with it. From the pilots, doctors and nurses who spread their 'mantle of safety' throughout the remote inland of Australia, as well as the men and women they treat on the ground, comes a brand-new collection of Flying Doctor yarns as told to master storyteller Bill 'Swampy' Marsh. Hear of those whose very lives depend on the Royal Flying Doctor Service, like the man suffering from extreme burns who rode his motorbike eighteen kilometres back across his property to get help while opening and closing every gate along the way because you 'always leave gates as you find them'. Out here, stoicism and a sense of humour go hand in hand, as in the case of the stockman with a compound leg fracture who, when asked by the Flying Doctor if it hurt, replied, 'Oh, it itches a bit.' through fog, lightning, thunder, flooding rains and dust storms, the Flying Doctor braves the elements to get to the remote outback landing strips where they're needed and the tales they live to tell will have you shaking your head in amazement. Featuring the colourful and funny work of legendary Broken Hill artist Howard William Steer, master storyteller Bill 'Swampy' Marsh once again reaches into the the heart and soul of outback Australia with stories of heroism and heartbreak and everything else it takes to live and work in this vast land of ours.