Riddle Gully Secrets (12 page)

Pooky squatted in front of the padlock and chain on the iron gate at the tunnel mouth, wriggling the key harder and harder. The noise from below hadn't stopped – so Ash was still banging her stone from above.

‘Eee-ow!' yelled Pooky. ‘I've broken a fingernail right back to the quick!' She slumped. ‘I can't
concentrate, Curly. This awful banging – it's coming from everywhere!'

‘It's the echoes from below,' said Curly. ‘The sound is bouncing all over the place.'

‘And straight into my poor head!'

Curly squatted beside his wife. ‘Here, Pooky-doll, let me have a go.'

Above, as the musk of Curly's aftershave began drifting up the rock chimney, Ash's nose began to tingle. Invisible pins prickled delicate membranes. She clamped her finger across her top lip. Her eyes trickled. Her nose zinged. She pinched her nose but the musk fumes still found a way in, clutching at tiny hairs deep inside. Something unthinkable was brewing … building … unbearable … unstoppable – rolling up her sinuses like a bowling ball.

Aah-va-va … AAH-VA-VA … AAH-VA-VA-VA-VACHEE-EE-YEW!

Pooky and Curly leapt, their eyes darting.

‘It came from up there, Curly! I'm sure of it!'

Curly growled, ‘Did you see anyone along the track on the way here, Pooky? Anyone at all?'

Pooky shook her head.

Curly, his fingers flexing across his vest pocket, tiptoed outside, Wild Man aroma trailing.

As Curly checked out the clearing, Ash wormed her way into a crevice roofed with fronds. They bobbed with being pushed aside and didn't want to stop. She desperately needed to blow her nose – though an eager bush fly was happy for her not to.

Ash pulled her T-shirt over her nose, breathing only through her mouth. Even so, she could still smell Curly's aftershave. She summoned an image of swimming in the sea, of floating in cool green salty bliss, and gradually willed herself to forget about the tingling in her nostrils. She sat as still as the rocks beneath her, waiting for the footsteps crunching around the clearing to go away. Eventually they did.

She tried another whistle.
Too too too twee!

Curly joined Pooky in the cave. ‘I dunno, Pooky, I couldn't see nuffin. There's some weird birds around here. Must've been one of them.'

Pooky huffed. ‘I'm starting to wonder about this job, Curly. This creepy forest is getting to me. And this banging! It's like a gang's laying railway tracks in my brain! The sooner we get to play with a little jelly, the better I'll feel.'

Curly hugged her. ‘That's my brave girl.' He had
another go at the padlock. This time it popped open. He grabbed the spade and bag and winked at his wife. ‘C'mon, Pooky-doll, let's go make a few bangs of our own.'

At the end of the Mustang Rock tunnel, on the other side of the rockpile, Pollo and Will laid aside their tools. Fingertips clenched on the corners of the strongbox, they tried to jiggle it free.

Ash's bird whistles had started up again.

‘Poor Ash,' whispered Will. ‘I wish we had a countersign to let her know we've heard her.'

‘I can't believe I forgot!' said Pollo. ‘It's basic spying technique!' She gave the chest another tug.

Dan called from the other side of the lake. ‘I'm pretty sure Pooky and Curly would be really close by now.' He ignored Pollo's fierce look and the finger to her mouth. ‘Only because Ash has been whistling for a really long time.'

Just then, from the other side of the rockslide, they
heard the crunch of a spade being dug into rubble. It was hard to tell how far away it was. Pollo and Will froze.

A moment later there was a scrambling sound and a piercing howl. Low murmuring was followed by high-pitched squawking. ‘Did you just tell me to hush up, Curly? I break my ankle and you tell me to hush?'

There was more low murmuring.

‘So
what
if there might be someone down here! Well, pardon me! You expect me to suffer in silent agony?'

Some mumbling concluded with a low-pitched ‘Please!'

‘Well how about you go get the mayor's stupid treasure by yourself! I hope whoever's down there pops you while you're at it!'

More deep murmuring was followed by a sniffling sound, then a hissed whisper. ‘Curly-honey, wait! I want to come too!' There was scrabbling and huffing. ‘Hey look! I can walk after all! I just have to limp a little.'

Pollo and Will began frantically jiggling and pulling. Another minute and they'd have the chest in their hands. Another minute and a half, and Curly and Pooky would be through the rockpile.

On the shore of the lake, Dan cupped his hands
around his mouth and whispered loudly, the hiss bouncing around the cave walls, ‘I see what you meant when you told me to be quiet! Sorry!'

‘Just SHUT UP, would you?' cried Pollo.

‘Hey!' came a low growl. ‘Who you tellin' to shut up?'

Will and Pollo held their breath.

‘Don't take any lip, Curly! Get in there and teach 'em some respect!' Pooky's voice raised in pitch. ‘We're going to teach you suckers some respect!'

Will and Pollo tugged like only people who didn't want to be taught anything just then could. Will grabbed the chisel and jammed it hard into the crevice between chest and rock. He prised. There was an almighty crack. A nearby rock toppled. More stones followed, bouncing down the rockpile and into the lake. One glanced off Will's head. He lost his footing and headlonged after it. He sprawled on the bank.

Pollo scrambled down to him. ‘Will, are you okay?' But Will was already getting up and dusting himself off.

Pollo shone her torch to the cave ceiling. The air around them had changed somehow. Puffs of dust spiralled in a draught. A sizeable gap had appeared at the top of the rockpile. It seemed to go through to the other side.

‘Is the chest free?' asked Will, rubbing his head.

‘Let's find out!'

They clambered back up the rocks. A moment later they had the strongbox in their hands. But there was no time to celebrate. They could hear Curly and Pooky scrabbling at the rockpile only metres away on the other side. They half-climbed, half-tumbled back down to the lake, the chest between them.

The chest was too heavy to try to float. They scanned the bank but the rope attached to the other side of the lake had slipped back into the water.

Will began wading through the icy black shallows, feeling in the mud with his feet.

Suddenly more stones began toppling from the top of the rockpile, pushed from the other side. ‘Whatever you suckers have got down there, it doesn't belong to you!' It was Curly's voice.

‘We've got authority from the mayor!' snarled Pooky, ‘and some fat sticks of jelly for luck! Gelignite – nighty-night!' she sang.

Dan was hopping from foot to foot, wringing his hands. ‘Pollo! Will! Just leave the chest! Is there even anything in it?'

Suddenly torchlight filled the gap at the top of the rocks. Beside it was the silhouette of a large head. The
head poked through the narrow space and swivelled to face them.

‘Yeah, suckers,' growled Curly. ‘That's what we wanna know.'

By the lake, Pollo grabbed a wad of folded plastic from the satchel and began peeling apart its layers, spreading it on the ground.

Will bounded back up the bank, waving the wet rope. ‘Got it! Don't worry about wrapping, Pollo! Let's just tie the thing on and get out of here!'

‘No, no! Wrap it up!' Curly's voice rumbled down on them from overhead. ‘Make it nice and neat.' He disappeared for a moment. They could hear huffing and the grating of rocks being shifted.

Pollo whispered urgently. ‘Papers, photos, letters – who knows?'

‘Oh, heck,' groaned Will. ‘I forgot about that.'

They hefted the strongbox onto the plastic. Working fast, they encased the chest and sealed it with waterproof tape.

Dan called from the other side. ‘I'm going! I'm really going! Just leave the chest … please!'

Curly's head reappeared. ‘Yeah, do like the little guy says! Leave the chest. Save us some trouble!'

‘Quit yabbering, Curly!' Pooky's voice was tangy with impatience. ‘Help me set out this jelly.'

‘Sorry, Pooky-doll.'

They heard Curly grunt and puff on the other side. ‘Just a few rocks out of the way first and we'll be able to squeeze through.'

Dan's voice trembled across the water. ‘Pollo? Will? I'm really truly going now!'

There was more grunting and huffing and puffing from the rockpile. A small boulder broke free and tumbled down towards Pollo and Will. It was quickly followed by another.

‘Curly? The jelly?'

Grunt. Huff. Puff.
‘We're just about through.'

‘Are you telling me we're not going to lay down any gelignite? After you promised? Well, of all the dirty mean two-faced rotten tricks!'

There was a heavy thud.

‘Grugh! That rock landed on my foot, Pooky-doll!'

‘Sorry, Curly-honey. My broken ankle – it must have thrown me out of balance.'

Will and Pollo tugged tight the last knot around the strongbox. Rocks were now tumbling one after another down the rockpile and onto the bank. Abandoning torches and tools, they scurried to the lake's edge gripping the box between them, and slithered into its icy black depths.

They sidestroked across the lake as the pile of rocks separating them from Curly and Pooky steadily shrank. Even with the rope tied around it, they kept a tight hold of the chest. If they let it sink it could snag on something. They pulled through the water, trying to keep thoughts of giant albino eels from their heads.

There was no sign of Dan. ‘Dan's gone,' puffed Pollo between strokes. ‘And he's got the torch.'

Will could hardly feel his limbs with the cold. ‘N-no p-problem,' he stuttered, not meaning it for a second.

From the blackness they heard a whisper, ‘I'm still here!'

Pollo and Will kicked hard. Soon they were climbing the bank. Feeling their way, they gathered in the rope, one end still attached to the stalagmite, and scuttled to dry land. But still they couldn't see Dan.

‘Look!' said Will. He pointed to where a shawl of
stone descended from the cave ceiling. A sliver of pink light was blinking from the other side.

‘Over here!'

Carting the chest, they padded across to the rock shawl. Dan was behind it, his fingers opening and closing across the torch face. He grinned and handed them their dry clothes.

‘Dan, you're a legend!' said Will.

While Pollo and Will dressed, Dan knelt at the chest and began working on the rope with fingers and teeth. ‘It's gone tight with being wet. Do you still have the chisel? I might be able to cut it.'

Will jerked his head towards the rockpile which was now only shoulder high. ‘Sorry,' he whispered. ‘We left in kind of a hurry.'

Just then they heard an extra-loud grunt. A large boulder bounced from the top of the pile and sloshed into the lake, the wash lapping the shore near Pollo, Will and Dan. A powerful torch beam flooded through the space. Two heads popped up.