Mudpoo and the Fungus Mystery (5 page)

H
arry and Mudpoo were walking through the paddock when they heard a familiar voice.

“SIZZLING SAUSAGES, Sammy the silver gull at your service!”

“SAMMY,” cried out Mudpoo and Harry together, “what are you doing here?”

Sammy was a bit of a hero in another adventure and lives in the Iluka World Heritage Nature Reserve with Grumblegoo, the magical guardian of the rainforest. He'd once made a wish on the ‘Magic Tree Stump' and could now speak to almost any animal.

“Grumblegoo thought I should visit you,
she was concerned that the animals near here could be in danger,” stammered Sammy.

“Danger?” wondered Mudpoo, “from what?”

“We've a friend called Hooty the boobook owl who lives near here. He has warned all the boobook owls that there are dangerous things happening in the hills near Bethanga. Grumblegoo heard about this and sent me here to find you and to investigate.”

“Dangerous things in the hills, I wonder what that could be?” Mudpoo furrowed his brow and scratched his head. “We'd better keep a look out.”

Sammy said, “I'm going to find Hooty and see if he can fill me in and I'll report back to you.” With a swift flurry of feathers, he flew off.

Sammy flew up to the hills and very soon, spotted the old gold mine The four dastardly pirates were sitting around a smouldering campfire, drinking horrible rum and eating left-over food. He quietly flew over to Hooty the boobook owl, who was watching the pirates from a nearby gum tree. They both listened to the pirates boast and ramble.

“MWUAHA, HA, HAAA!” roared the pirate crew.

“Today we'll place our carrots soaked in toxic poison along Flagstaff Road,” roared Snot.

“Kill all the rabbits,”
growled Pong.

“Skin them alive,” wailed Bones, getting carried away and waving his horrible knife about.

Grot, who was the biggest and strongest of all the pirates
(and secretly the kindest)
said in a shocked voice, “That's a bit too horrible, can't you skin them when they're dead?”

“Oh I suppose so,” muttered Bones reluctantly.

“Should we wait for Fungus McPhee to arrive?” said Grot in between mouthfuls of plum jam and baked beans.

“Nah, why share when we can have all the rabbit skins for ourselves, we'll make a fortune!” grizzled Bones.

The pirates still hadn't seen Fungus McPhee, but didn't hesitate to help themselves to his plentiful supply of food.

“Tonight, we'll go in for the kill, under the light of the full moon,” belched Bones.

“This is our cleverest plan yet,” announced Snot in a loud voice, “we are geniuses!”

It seemed to the two birds keeping watch, that the more they drank, the more they congratulated themselves about their cleverness.

“We'd better warn Mudpoo and Harry, I think we'll need their help,” said Sammy silver gull. Both birds quickly flew back in the direction of Captain Pete's house.

“Hey those birds were listening to our secret plans,”
yelled Grot.

“Ya brainless drongo, birds can't listen, or understand us, they're just dumb useless animals,” snivelled Snot.

“MWUAHA, HA, HAAA!” roared the rest of the pirate crew.

“A toast to tonight,” announced Bones.

“Cheers,” yelled the pirates and their rowdy late night racket reverberated far down into the valley below.

‘There seems to be a bit of noise coming from near the old gold mine tonight,' thought a sleepy Captain Pete as he snuggled further into bed, unaware of the danger that was brewing in the hills above.

S
ammy the silver gull urgently tapped on Mudpoo and Harry's window.

“Wake up, wake up,” cried Sammy, “we need your help.”

Mudpoo and Harry quickly got dressed and quietly crept outside the house.

“What's up? What's wrong?” whispered Mudpoo, looking at Sammy and Hooty.

Hooty the boobook owl was sitting on a fencepost nearby with a very frazzled and concerned owl face.

“There are pirates in the hills and they're going to lay poisoned carrot baits all the way down Flagstaff Road to kill the rabbits.
We've got to stop them,”
said Sammy in a solemn voice.

Mudpoo looked very concerned, “I have a little plan,” he said very quickly. “Sammy, ask Hooty if he can gather all of his friends and hide in the trees along the road. Harry and I will hide and wait with an old drum and we'll see if we can surprise the pirates.”

They all hurried to the top of Flagstaff Road. It wasn't too long before Hooty had gathered a small flock of boobook owls that hid in the trees along the edge of the road. Rabbits happily bounced along unaware their lives were in grave danger.

“Keep your eyes open and look out for pirates,” whispered Sammy to each boobook owl. “Wait for Mudpoo's signal and we'll see if we can scare them away.”

In the stillness of the moonlit night, the sound of four rambling pirates could be heard, coming nearer from a distance.

Clank, clank, “Shhh,” clank, stumble, “Shhh,” clank, clank, “Shhh,” came the echoes, loudly down the road.

Bones and Pong, with buckets of poison-soaked carrots, stopped right where Mudpoo and Harry lay hidden.

“Just scatter the carrots all over the place,” grumbled Bones, “this'll be dead bunny road by morning.”

Before Pong could reply, Mudpoo banged on his empty drum, calling the determined boobook owls into action! Silently, in the moonlit night, like deadly stealth attack planes, they swooped with sharp claws raised.

“Hey watch out!” yelled Bones.

“What the . . .
help, help, HELP! CRAZY FLAPPING BIRDS . . . ,”
cried Pong.

“ARRGHHH . . .” yelled both pirates; warning Snot and Grot, “let's get out of here!”

The pirates ran frantically, as fast as they could, back towards Fungus McPhee's goldmine, with the boobook owls in hot pursuit.

“That's far enough,” yelled Sammy, “we've frightened them away,” he called out to the boobook owls, who'd been very brave. Sammy decided he had better find out who else was around and quickly flew off in the direction of the old gold mine.

Mudpoo and Harry carefully collected all of the poisoned carrots, cautiously placed them in their drum and made sure the lid was firmly shut tight. “We'd better follow them,” suggested Mudpoo,
“I'm sure they're up to no good.”

In silence, they followed the pirates' tracks, carefully and cautiously, back up to the old gold mine.