The Triumphant Three

By George Man

The Triumphant Three by George Man

Sandra has finished high school and is moving to France with her beloved Australian cattle dogs, Blue and Honey, to study art at the Sorbonne University in Paris, while living in a beautiful historical castle. Every girl’s dream come true!

Sandra and

• Language: English
• Publisher: George Man
• Release date: Feb 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9780648476276

Book preview

Dedication

I dedicate this book to Aunt Dinah, who gave me my first puppy almost sixty years ago. She was not related to me but, still now, feels more like family. It was this amazing woman who taught me how to train dogs, showed me right from wrong and did not shy away from chastising me when necessary. When all her persistence with me eventually paid off, she was prouder than my own family.

Aunt Dinah left us many years ago—I still miss her—she would have loved these books. Out of respect, I have named one of the characters in this book after her and given her a similar personality.

Thank you, Aunt Dinah.

The Story so Far …

The first book, Blue, introduced us to seven-year-old Sandra who lives with her parents in Holland. She has a very nice aunt, Aunt Anne, who lives in a small fishing village on the coast and a girlfriend, Heidi, who lives close to her.

Sandra’s father received an offer to work for five years at Mitchell, an agricultural research station in Outback Australia, where Sandra and her parents relocate for that period. Along with all of the changes and her new lifestyle, she gets her own horse called Lady and an Australian cattle dog pup, whom she calls Blue.

Blue has fierce blue eyes, a silvery grey-blue pelt and grows to a size comparable to a German shepherd. Sandra and Blue have many adventures in Australia. Blue rescues a boy from raging floodwaters and becomes well known when he saves his young mistress from an enraged bull.

The most amazing feat of all came when Blue stayed with Sandra when she was badly injured after a fall from her horse in a remote mountain area. He nearly gave his life protecting her from dingoes—the Australian wild dogs.

Sandra and Blue go through an extremely difficult time when she returns to Holland and is forced to leave her amazing dog behind. Finally, they get back together when Blue, with the help of a Dutch television station, is brought to Holland and is allowed to stay with Sandra.

The second book in the series, Sandra and Blue, takes us through the next two years and their adventures in Europe.

Once again, Blue shows that he is always ready to help and protect anybody who needs him. He pulls his weight in the household, learns to do the shopping and wages the biggest fight of his life against an unknown disease. On top of it all, Blue disappears from a ferry on their return from a family holiday to one of the islands north of Holland. Against all odds, he fights his way back to shore to make the epic journey to find Sandra. During this perilous time, he meets new people and makes some important new friends. With the help of the same Dutch television station, Sandra and Blue finally reunite only forty kilometres from home.

The third book called The Return of a Champion is, once again, full of adventure. Blue keeps a young girl from danger, gets kidnapped, breaks loose and protects an old friend. Sandra’s father gets another five-year work offer, and they all move back to Mitchell in Australia. Blue spends some time in quarantine, while Sandra meets another amazing character, an almost blind female blue cattle dog called Honey. When Blue comes home, a very special bond develops between the two dogs, which eventually results in Honey having puppies.

Sandra's best friend, Heidi, comes and spends a holiday with them in Australia. She meets Honey and her pups and develops a special bond with one of them named Silver. A farewell barbeque is organised for Heidi, and her Australian friends present her with Silver to return with her to Holland.

Blue catches a thief and, without any training, surprises everybody when he helps with a cattle drive. Sandra and her dog also help to rescue horses out of a burning stable, and then he has to save his young mistress while the building collapses around them.

Sandra attends boarding school in Sydney but comes home to spend every holiday at Mitchell. She passes her Higher School Certificate, and her parents, accompanied by two surprise visitors, the marquis and marquise from the château in France, attend her final Year 12 presentation. They then make an offer for her and Blue to come and live with them in the castle in France, so that she can study art in Paris!

On one of her last weeks in Australia, Phil and Mary invite Sandra and Blue to help with the annual cattle round-up. For about a week, they assist by herding the cattle, with Sandra on horseback and Blue always close by her side. The first night after the finish of the round-up, a bushfire threatens the cattle. The two of them help move the animals away from the fire. Blue disappears and so does Honey, who probably could not find her way to safety and was caught by the fire. A very distraught Sandra returns two days later to Phil and Mary’s burnt-out farm. They go up to the lookout and there, against all odds, she finds her two precious dogs.

On the day of their departure from Mitchell, there is one final surprise: Honey joins them for the journey and their next adventure in the castle in France, where they will become The Triumphant Three.

Chapter One

Acclimatising and Blue the Protector

Sandra, Honey and Blue had to get used to living in a real castle in France. Only part of it was used to live in; the rest, including the gardens, was for tourists, who paid an entry fee to visit.

As it was summer in France, it was a very busy time for tourism. The castle had been restored to the way it used to be hundreds of years ago. There was a round tower in the garden that housed lifelike scenes out of fairytales, with characters that actually moved! There was also a maze made out of high hedges that was planted in such a way that it was very easy to lose your way. Tourists would buy postcards, magnets, and small models and books of the castle. Many bought sandwiches and drinks at the kiosk to picnic in the gardens; others ate in the restaurant.

Sandra’s art studies at the Sorbonne, the university in Paris, would not start for another four months, so she worked in the kiosk, except on Saturdays and Sundays. Those days she spent in the castle’s garden with her paints and easel or a sketchpad and was, of course, accompanied by Blue and Honey. Dolce, the marquis and marquise’s small poodle, was not allowed to come, as she did not listen very well and quite often ran away.

The marquis and marquise regularly took Sandra to Paris or other interesting locations. They spent a whole day in the Louvre Museum and an afternoon at the Palace of Versailles with its beautiful gardens. Other days they had long walks through Paris and visited the little stalls along the banks of the river Seine. They also went to the streets where the artists worked and sold their wares as well as the world-famous Notre-Dame cathedral, where the marquis told the story of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame—the man with a bent back who lived in the cathedral hundreds of years ago and fell in love with a beautiful girl.

The Dutch farmer and his wife, who her family stayed with years ago, lived nearby and often invited Sandra to meet with other Dutch people for birthdays and other events to make her feel more at home.

One Sunday afternoon, Sandra decided to spend some time in a corner of the garden. There were some enormous oak trees with wild cyclamens growing on the ground around them. They were in full flower, and it was very special to see those large trees standing on a purple carpet. She set up her easel and started to paint with Blue and Honey lying in the grass close to her. She kept herself busy for more than an hour and was thoroughly enjoying herself: the painting was progressing well. Every so often, she stepped back and looked at her work and the landscape and felt happy with the result.

Suddenly, Blue and Honey made rumbling noises and moved closer to her. She looked up to see a man, woman and two young girls watching her paint. The man apologised and said, We did not want to disturb you, but you have got two good guard dogs there.

He went on to introduce himself, his wife and their two daughters. He was a doctor in Paris; they lived in the village nearby and loved to visit the château and its gardens. He asked if they could see her painting closer up, so Sandra told her dogs that it was okay, and the family came over and looked at it. The doctor told her that they were the Duval family, and his daughters names were Michele and Elodie. They looked at Blue and Honey and asked what breed they were, as they had never seen dogs like that. Sandra explained that they were Australian blue cattle dogs, which are specially bred from Dalmatians, other domestic dogs and dingoes—the Australian wild dogs. She told them how they were mainly used to herd cattle in Outback Australia, as they are strong and possess great stamina. She called Blue and Honey, who immediately came over and sat at her feet. She introduced her dogs, and they looked up at her, as if to say, Just tell us what you want us to do, we are ready!

The Duvals were impressed, and the two girls patted the dogs. They all admired the painting and said that it was very beautiful. After that, they continued on with their stroll through the gardens.

A little while later, both dogs started to growl again and moved closer to their mistress. The hair on their backs went up, and they were curiously looking down the slope. It was then that Sandra noticed a very large dog quite a distance away: it had come out of the trees, crossed the open slope and disappeared on the other side.

Besides Dolce, Blue and Honey, there were no other dogs allowed in the gardens, so Sandra decided to return to the castle to alert the marquis. She quickly picked up her paints and