The Lost and Found Collection

by Dan Arnold

  So intense and demanding was the drive across the terrain, the passengers were forced to hold on to whatever they could. After a few minutes of this jostling, Becky and Jake stopped apologizing to each other every time they were thrown together.

  “Do you think the water truck will make it, Wally?” Jake asked.

  “I reckon he will. If he goes really slow and careful like. We need to slow down too, Professor.”

  “I’m about knackered. Can we stop for a moment?” The professor asked.

  “Don’t stop here. The soil is too loose, keep moving ‘til we hit firm ground.”

  Ten minutes later, Wally indicated a good place to stop.

  As the three utes drew up, the people emerged one by one, stretching.

  “Everyone, drink some water,” Wally called out.

  “How much longer till we get there? I need to pee.” The Asian girl said.

  “We’re about half way. Head off into the brush there if you can’t wait, Miss Engooyen,” the professor said.

  “It’s Nguyen. Sounds like ‘win’. Will you ever get it right?” She mumbled as she picked her way through the brush.

  From the lower perspective and closer proximity, the mountains appeared more rugged and formidable than they had from the top of the escarpment only five miles away.

  “I don’t see the water truck,” Jake said.

  “He’s coming, mate. See the little wisp of dust just there to the left? That’s him, maybe one and a half clicks or so behind us.” Wally said, pointing.

  “We don’t have enough bottled water to last more than a couple of days,” Mr. Franks said, as he passed bottles to his mates.

  “There’s plenty more in the jerry cans.” the professor said.

  Wally and Jake made eye contact for a moment. Wally looked away first, shaking his head.

  A scream made everyone jump.

  “Oh, my God! There’s a snake back there,” Miss Nguyen cried as she crashed through the brush, zipping her shorts.”

  “Have a care, Miss. It was probably a Gwardir. What you call a Brown Snake. There’re others about. You can’t go charging blindly through the bush. Snakes can kill you, too right, but so will a bad fall. Almost anything out here will stick you, sting you, or stab you.” Wally said, frowning.

  “Not to mention scratching up my legs,” the girl huffed.

  “Listen up, people. Let me remind you of what I told you before we left. It’s important to be careful. There’s no mobile phone service and the nearest hospital is hundreds of kilometers from here. Yarramalong Station is the closest bit of civilization and it’s nearly a half day’s drive away. The only way back is the way we came in. Think about that,” Professor Madison said.

  “Another thing, you sheilas need to put on more clothing. Sun burn is no joke,” Wally said. “Traipsing about in shorts and tank tops is fine in the city, but it offers no protection out here.”

  The three women gave no response. As different as they were from each other, when it came to choices in fashionable apparel, they all figured they didn’t need advice from a stockman.

  “OK, load up,” Wally said.

  “Professor, would you like me to take a turn driving?” Jake asked.

  “Would you mind giving it a go?”

  “No, not at all. There’s no traffic, so I won’t have much trouble adjusting to driving on the right side.”

  “Yes, I nearly forgot. You Americans drive on the wrong side of the road over there.”

  Jake chuckled.

  “I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. Speaking of which, now that I’m down under I’m kind of turned around. My sense of direction is confused. I have trouble telling east from west.”

  “How odd, I have no trouble at all. The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west.”

  “Right, but east and west feel backwards to me.” Jake said as he buckled his seat belt. “It seems as though the sun sets in the east.” He adjusted the mirror so he could see Becky in the back seat.

  “Well, then, it’s a good thing we have Wally to tell you where to go, isn’t it?” She said, making eye contact with him.

  “People have been telling me where to go all my life,” he said, with a grin.

  The professor was only too delighted to surrender the wheel and be seated next to Becky.

  Wally climbed in and acknowledged the new driver with only a glance.

  “Alright, mate, ease around that ghost gum over there and head toward the mountains. There’s a dry wash just ahead, so don’t be in a hurry. When we get down in it, turn right. We’ll drive in the stream bed for a ways.”

  “Roger that,” Jake said with a wink at Becky.

  Although the terrain remained challenging, Jake drove the remaining distance without breaking a sweat. Driving across broken ground, exposed rock and brush while following Wally’s confusing changes of direction seemed like nothing more than an adventure to him.

  When Wally decided they were close enough, he told Jake to stop.

  “Alright, Professor, we’re here. You’ll have to use your GPS to locate the specific mountain you’re looking for, but this is as good a place to start as any. By this afternoon it’ll be too hot to spend much time working. If you pitch camp over yonder in that canyon, you’ll be in the shade during the hottest part of the day.”

  Up close, the mountains were far more imposing than they’d seemed from a distance. There was no gradual rise or section of foothills. The way they seemed to jut out of the surrounding desert, stark and barren of vegetation, seemed strange and somehow unnatural. The impression was as though they had erupted from the earth like blood stained teeth.

  The red sandstone mountains were hundreds of feet tall and generally conical in shape, striated with bands of a darker colour.

  Each of the members of the party stared at the alien landscape with different perceptions.

  They still reminded Becky of bee hives. Jake was thinking of sandcastles made of layers of wet sand poured out of buckets. “This is classic sedimentary conglomerate sand stone. It’s just like the Painted Desert, back home. The darker striations are caused by microorganisms living in the sections most capable of holding moisture. It’s probably some form of algae. The rock is too hard for anything else to live.” Jake said.

  Miss Nguyen said, “It’s just what we saw in the satellite photos. They’re like an interconnected series of enormous domes separated by a maze of canyons.”

  The professor was studying the data as it appeared on his hand-held GPS unit.

  “Our research site is only about a half mile from here, directly north from this point. Wally, you couldn’t have brought us any closer without actually going up one of these canyons.”

  “I wouldn’t if I could. You’ll have to hike and climb through those canyons without me, mate. I’m going back to the station.”

  “How do you plan to get there?” Miss Nguyen asked.

  “Me motorbike is strapped to the back of the water truck. Going more or less straight cross country it’ll only take me a little more than two hours to cover the whole sixty kilometres.”

  “Where is the water truck?”

  “He’ll be along in a few minutes. He’s still about two clicks behind us. You’d better get busy setting up camp if you want to have a look around before it gets too hot.”

  The professor nodded.

  “Right, gentlemen, we need to move the equipment into this canyon. Ladies, I leave it to you to find a suitable private location for the latrine. Take shovels with you. You’ll also have to dig the dunny while we set up camp.”

  “I’ll give you shielas a hand,” Wally offered.

  “Hang on a minute” Becky said, “Let’s get something straight. We’re happy to dig the dunny, and pull our own weight, but don’t think that just because we’re women, we’ll do all the cooking and cleaning. Am I right ladies?”

  “Too right,” they responded in unison.

  “Yes, of course, quite right,” Profes
sor Madison agreed. “Once we get set up, here’s the way we’ll divide the routine camp chores. Mr. Overlander, you are on team one, Miss Enguyen , Dr. Walker, Mr. Franks, all on team one. The rest of us are team two. We’ll rotate daily. Today team one is responsible for cooking; team two cleans up. The daily menus are all set and printed. Does anyone have any questions?”

  Becky and the other women nodded their approval.

  “Right then, let’s get this gear sorted. Ladies, our digging equipment is in the third ute. Please help yourselves to whatever you need. We’ll haul the rest into the canyon.”

  Wally watched this interchange without comment. He turned his attention to the distant dust cloud, the only indicator of the water truck’s location.

  Nine

  The sun was approaching being directly above them as they began moving camping gear and equipment from the utility vehicles. While the entry to the canyon was wide, within sixty feet the canyon walls were almost within arm reach of each other. The floor was sandy, with a gentle upward slope, supporting some dry grass now desiccated by the summer heat.

  Jake was the first to enter the canyon carrying his personal gear in a backpack he wore. He was hauling three, cased tents in his arms. He stopped so suddenly that Professor Madison nearly ran into him.

  “What is it, man? Keep moving, we’ve got a lot to get done before…”

  Seeing what stopped the palaeontologist, the leader of the expedition stopped as well.

  The walls of the canyon intersected with another canyon forming a large open area. Every protected surface here was painted with marvellous artistic depictions of men and wildlife.

  As amazing and significant as this discovery was, it wasn’t the thing that stopped the tall American. The thing that made him freeze was the creature that blocked his path.

  Standing nearly at eye level with them, was the largest lizard either man had ever seen. Its dark tongue flicked out as Todd Franks came up beside them. The belly of the giant reptile was the colour of the surrounding sandstone. Suddenly it opened its maw and hissed, the horrible sound echoing off the canyon walls. Then it slowly lowered itself to the ground. Its outer body was dark brown with mottled splotches of yellowish scales. It was looking at them with a stare as cold as death itself. Even as it turned away, it never took its eyes off them, looking back over its shoulder, until it dashed away up the side canyon.

  “Did you see the size of that thing?” Jake asked.

  “What the hell was it?” Mr. Franks asked.

  “I think that, gentlemen, was a perentie, the largest monitor lizard in Australia. On average they’re usually only a little more than two meters long. But that one was bigger, easily three meters. It’s remarkable. I’ve never seen one that big,” Professor Madison said.

  Jake said, “It looked like a dragon. It has a long neck. It was so agile and lithe. I’ve never seen anything like it. Well, I’ve seen komodo dragons at a zoo, but that thing was different and it was standing on its back legs.”

  “Yes, that’s called tripodding. They stand on their back legs and prop themselves up with their tails when they feel threatened. Extraordinary, wouldn’t you say?”

  “I’d say we’re lucky to be alive. For a second there, the way it looked at me, I thought it was some sort of dinosaur, like a Velociraptor. When it hissed at us, I thought we were goners. Are those things venomous?”

  “Possibly, the research is ongoing. Either way, you wouldn’t want to be bitten by one.”

  “Is it a type of goanna? What do they eat?”

  “The term ‘goanna’ is generic for all of the Australian monitors. They’re carnivorous. They’ll eat anything they can catch. They’re very fast. They’ve been known to run down dingos. They also eat carrion. I’ve heard they were getting bigger. It’s no wonder you hear stories about them killing sheep.”

  “If it could kill a sheep, it could kill a man. I think we’d better keep this to ourselves, for now,” Jake said.

  Bob Overlander arrived, pulling two big, wheeled Eskies. He whistled when he saw the Aboriginal art.

  “This is one of the best preserved examples of early rock art I’ve ever seen, a brand new discovery. Oh, this is fantastic. We’re onto something. This at least proves ancient habitation in the region,” he said. “We’ll need to take detailed photographs. Are we camping here?”

  The three men who’d seen the giant reptile each looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing. Were there more of those monster monitor lizards around? Was there anywhere in these mountains where it would be safe to camp?

  “Yes, Mr. Overlander. This seems to be the best place. We’ll be in the shade under this wall in a couple of hours. Dr. Walker, will you and Mr. Overlander see to getting the camp arranged while Mr. Franks and I continue bringing in our gear?”

  “Sure, Professor, the sooner we get set up the better, it’s getting hot.”

  Jake and Bob began organizing the gear and putting it where it needed to be. As they began assembling the pop-up tents, Bob was appreciating the ancient Aboriginal art work. Jake couldn’t stop looking around at the canyon openings, thinking about the cold reptilian hunger in the great goanna’s eyes.

  Ten

  On a straight line from the canyon opening, Wally led the women into the bush away from where the utes were parked,

  “They say, in arid regions like this where it gets horribly hot in the daytime, at night it gets cold,” Miss Nguyen said. “Do you think that’s true?”

  “It is at higher elevations, but here, this close to the equator; I don’t think it’ll get cold. What do you reckon, Wally?” Becky said.

  “It’ll get cool enough at about four o’clock in the morning, but it’ll be hot again by nine.”

  “Cool enough to sleep?”

  “I reckon, but you’ll want to be about your business at first light before it heats up again.”

  Becky didn’t reply.

  “This here looks good enough. The ground will dig and there’s a good, stout bush to hold onto while you squat,” Wally pointed out.

  “Charming,” Miss Elliott observed, dryly.

  “I suppose so,” Becky agreed.

  Miss Nguyen disagreed.

  “We should be bagging our waste and hauling it out. That’s the earth friendly way. This is pristine wilderness, we should leave nothing but foot prints.”

  Wally nodded and said, “That’s a good thought, miss, but time has a way of erasing our tracks. The earth will take little notice of your passing this way.”

  “Well then, I guess we’d better start digging.”

  Wally shook his head.

  “There’s no need to dig a latrine. Leave the shovel back by the utes in a spot where everyone can see it. When they need to come out here, they can carry the shovel and dig their own hole. If the shovel isn’t there, it means someone is using it. That’ll solve your privacy concerns.”

  Becky nodded and smiled, but then her expression changed to one of curiosity. Everyone turned to see what she was looking at on the ground.

  “Is that a skull? It’s part of one,” She said. “There’s another over there. Look around to see if there are others. Don’t touch them until we know what we’re seeing. This looks like a horse skull. What do you think, Wally?”

  Wally was backing away. There was no curiosity on his face, just a sour expression.

  “Hard to say, miss. iIt’s mostly gone isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it’s very old. Do you have brumbies out here?”

  “No. Not that I’ve ever seen or heard tell of.”

  “Here’s another. This makes three,” Miss Nguyen said.

  “I guess it’s not uncommon to find animal skulls in the desert. There must’ve been wild horses here at one time. These are so old, there’s not much left.

  Holding her hand high, Becky said, “I hereby dub this spot the crumbling brumby skull, ladies’ powder room and gentlemen’s dumping grounds. Thanks, Wally.”

  Wally frowned an
d turned back toward the utes. As he walked away, he was mumbling something under his breath.

  Eleven

  Wally was squatting in the shade of one of the utes, when the water truck rumbled to a stop.

  “Hey, where is everybody?” The driver asked as he jumped down from the cab.

  “They’re all up in that canyon somewhere. Will you help me get me motor bike down?”

  “Sure, mate. Are you pulling out?”

  “Yep, I’ll be back at the station in time for lunch.”

  “Man, after that drive, I’m in no hurry to head back out.”

  “You shouldn’t. It’s too late today, even if you left now, in an hour or so it will be dangerous. It might be safer than staying here, but if you overheat or get a flat out there, all by yourself…No one would even know.”

  “Why did you say ‘safer than staying here’? Isn’t it safe here?”

  “I don’t know, mate. It just isn’t a suitable place for people. You should pull out at first light.”

  The driver considered the warning as he undid the fasteners on the straps. He and Wally used the straps to lower the motorcycle to the ground.

  Wally pushed the starter and fired up the bike. Dragging some goggles out of his pocket, he took off his stockman’s hat and pulled them on.

  As Wally tugged his hat down tight, the driver asked, “Aren’t you going to say g’day to those folks, before you go?”

  “Nope, but I’ll say it to you. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Quinn, Tim Quinn.”

  “Well then, g’day, Tim. If you make it, I’ll see you back at the station tomorrow.”

  With those last words, Wally mounted the bike, gunned the motor, selected the gear and let out the clutch. With a spray of gravel, he took off like a cat with its tail on fire.

  When Tim Quinn walked into the camp site, he was glad to see the canopies stretched to provide some much needed shade. He was stunned to see the rock art. His head swivelled around from one canyon wall to the next.