‘Sort of,’ said Mr McPhail, still confused.
‘Well, the truck is here! It’s green and I was looking at the tyres, comparing the pattern to the photo on my phone to be sure and then I realised there was a man sitting in the truck and watching me. All of a sudden he started yelling at me for taking photos of his truck. He was so angry, Mr McPhail, he even chased me into the toilet.’
‘He did what?’ said Abbey’s father.
‘He did, Dad. But an old lady saved us, then he pushed her!’
Suddenly Abbey recognised the people who had been talking to her father.
‘Mr Vickery!’ she said. ‘It’s the truck that took your cattle.’
Everyone was starting to get the picture.
‘Where is it?’ said Abbey’s dad.
‘Over there, near the toilets.’
‘Oh no,’ said Hannah. ‘It’s driving away!’
They all looked over and saw the green truck trying to manoeuvre itself through the sea of other trucks. As it turned towards them, they could see that there were now three men in the cabin.
‘Get the licence plate, quick!’ said Mrs Parry.
‘Close the gate to stop them getting out, Robert!’ said Mr Vickery.
The younger man sprinted towards the gate, but the truck had made its way clear now and was speeding in the same direction. Robert reached the gate and swung it shut, but the truck kept going. He leapt out of the way just as the huge vehicle barrelled through, sending the heavy metal gate flying into the air and nearly crashing down on him.
People yelled and screamed as they saw what was taking place.
‘I’ll call the police,’ said Mr McPhail.
‘Grab the car,’ said Mr Vickery to Jessica. ‘He can’t outrun us, so we’ll follow him until the police catch up.’
Abbey’s mum gave all three girls a big hug, then Talika showed everyone the pictures on her phone.
‘Look,’ she said, pointing to the photos of the mud tracks she had taken on the Vickerys’ property. ‘See the diamond prints?’
‘But Talika, there would have to be dozens of trucks with tyres like that,’ said Mrs Parry.
‘There might be,’ said Talika, looking a little hurt that her teacher would doubt her observation skills, ‘but . . . are they all missing a piece in exactly the same place, and have a crack across here?’
‘Well, that’s amazing,’ said Mr Mason, looking from one picture to the next, then turning to the teacher. ‘I actually think she’s onto something!’
‘Add that to the fact that most people don’t chase you just for taking a photo of your tyres!’ said Abbey’s brother.
‘Woof!’ said Bluey, staring up at the phone everyone was looking at, probably wondering if it was something he might like to eat.
‘Oh, dear,’ said Mrs Mason. ‘Did I forget to give you your Munchie treat?’
She opened her picnic basket and pulled out a packet of dog chews. Bluey gobbled it up in about two seconds flat.
All three girls looked at each other and cheered. ‘Munchies!!!’
‘You girls are just weird,’ said Brad.
‘No, you don’t understand, Brad. We spent ages trying to train Drover, Mr McPhail’s dog, to do tricks so we could use him in the talent quest. We even tried to bribe him with some of that dreadful meatloaf I told you about, Mum.’
‘So we all saw the Munchies just now and thought the same thing,’ said Hannah. ‘They may be the secret training weapon we need.’
‘Well, you’d better take the whole packet,’ said Abbey’s mum.
Bluey was not impressed as Abbey sniffed the bag.
‘These actually smell better than the stuff we’re eating!’ she said. She put the Munchies in her backpack.
‘Woof!’ the dog complained.
Abbey pulled a couple out and handed them to her mum. ‘Oh, all right, but these are for the way home.’
The police came to the school to look at the pictures on Talika’s phone.
‘Did you catch them?’ she said.
‘We did indeed,’ said the officer, happily. ‘Two of them were pretty tough characters, but one of them told us where the cattle was hidden. Turns out they were stealing top quality cattle from all over the place to build up a valuable herd. They’d replaced all the ear tags with their own, but, as it’s a fairly new practice, they didn’t know the cows had rumen boluses in them. Once the scanner was passed over the herd, there was no argument about whose cattle they are.’
‘That was great forensic work, Talika,’ said Mr McPhail. ‘They’ve been cattle rustling for more than a year. You can imagine how surprised they were when a student figured it out.’
‘Um, she’s not just a student,’ said Abbey, hooking her arm through Talika’s. ‘She’s actually a Vet Cadet!’
A few nights later, Abbey peeked out from behind the curtain at the crowd gathering in the hall. She was a bundle of nerves.
Their act was first, because the stage was set up with all of their obstacles. Drover was sitting patiently off to the side on a leash held by Hannah. He had a bright red bandana tied around his neck and his eyes were fixed on the Munchie in Hannah’s hand.
‘Honestly,’ sighed Talika, ‘I don’t know what they put in those things, but they make dogs go crazy for them, that’s for sure.’
Mr Grimmel, the drama teacher, welcomed everyone and introduced the first act.
‘Put your hands together for Drover the Daring Dog.’
The crowd cheered as the curtain opened. Abbey could see Ms Sterling and Mr McPhail in the front row.
Dazzling circus music started to play as Hannah walked Drover out to the centre of the stage and unclipped his lead.
Talika’s voice came over the microphone. ‘One day, Drover was feeling very restless.’
Hannah asked Drover to sit, then, lie down.
‘No matter how much he tried, Drover could not sleep. Instead he spent the morning tossing and turning.’
Hannah produced a piece of Munchie and Drover rolled from side to side obediently. The crowd clapped politely. Hannah fed him the Munchie.
‘Suddenly, a ball came flying over the fence,’ said Talika.
Abbey threw a tennis ball from across the stage. Drover raced after it and grabbed it.
‘Drover wanted to return the ball,’ said Talika, ‘so he jumped onto the table to try to pass it back over the fence.’
Hannah had now moved over to a small plastic table at the back of the stage. She tapped the top of the table with her hand and Drover obediently jumped up. The crowd gave him a clap.
‘Drover tried to put the ball back over the fence, but he wasn’t tall enough. He looked around to see what he could do,’ continued Talika, the happy music played on in the background. Abbey glanced down at Mr McPhail in the crowd. He had a huge grin on his face and was obviously feeling very proud of his dog.
‘Drover saw a drainpipe,’ said Talika. Hannah pointed to a long piece of plastic pipe that they had borrowed from the groundsman now sitting next to the table. ‘So Drover thought it might lead to the yard next door.’
Hannah tapped the end of the pipe and held a piece of Munchie between her fingers, right at the opening. The pipe was on an angle, leading down from the table and across the stage. Drover sniffed the snack then dropped the ball, which rolled through the pipe.
Abbey could feel her nerves being replaced by excitement. It was all going so well!
Hannah told Drover to fetch, and again he retrieved the ball from the other side of the stage, then sat with it proudly in his mouth as he wagged his tail. The crowd clapped again.
Talika went on. ‘The ball was still in Drover’s yard so he thought he might go under the hedge between the two yards to return it.’
They had made a short tunnel out of some hula hoops and an old bedsheet from lost property, then covered it in branches to make it look like a hedge.
Abbey stood at the far end of the tunnel and waved a Munchie as she called Drover. He
trotted through with the ball still in his mouth, then dropped it as he ate his next treat.
‘But the hedge did not lead next door,’ sighed Talika. ‘Drover sat and thought for a while.’
‘Sit, Drover,’ said Abbey.
She passed him back the ball.
‘Drover decided that he would have to climb the high fence and return the ball himself.’
Abbey walked beside the ramp they had made that led up onto the plank and crates Mr McPhail had loaned them. She held out a piece of Munchie and Drover carefully followed his nose up the ramp and along the narrow plank.
The crowd oohed and aahed as the dog balanced perfectly. Mr McPhail cheered loudly, and then a most unexpected thing happened.
Drover leapt off the ramp, across the stage and then straight over the front of the stage, sailing through the air. Ms Sterling screamed as the dog headed towards her, but he didn’t miss his mark. He landed right in Mr McPhail’s lap, with the ball still in his mouth.
All the kids and teachers went crazy. They were killing themselves laughing. They didn’t know if that was part of the act or not, but it was the funniest thing they had seen in a long time, either way.
‘Um. The end,’ said Talika, and the girls took a bow and exited the stage.
They were still cracking up when they climbed into bed that night. Abbey reached over and grabbed her stuffed gorilla and gave him a huge hug.
Talika had other ideas about going to sleep and reached for a hidden container of her mother’s butter murukkus the driver had dropped off at the office that morning.
‘I can’t believe we didn’t win a place,’ said Talika, munching on the first one.
‘I can!’ laughed Hannah, sliding out of bed to join her on the floor. ‘Did you see Ms Sterling’s face when Drover was in midair? I so wish I had a photo.’
‘I’m really glad Milly and Clare won,’ said Abbey, happily joining the carpet picnic. ‘That movie they made about Bitsy was so cute. I can’t believe they managed to get her to suckle from her mother’s teat. Putting the bottle right next to it until she latched on by accident was a genius idea.’
‘It was so clever to think of filming her while they cared for her,’ said Talika.
‘Henrietta is such a good mother,’ said Hannah, leaning back on her bed and licking her fingers.
‘I can’t wait to spend the gift vouchers Mr Vickery gave us for helping to return their cattle. You couldn’t give a Vet Cadet a voucher to a better place,’ said Talika.
‘Horse and Stable World, here we come!’ cheered Abbey.
‘Shh,’ giggled Hannah. ‘Someone’s coming!’
And the three friends leapt into their beds just as the door cracked open.
I would like to thank my husband, Neil for understanding how much it meant to me to ‘make it’ as an author, and for always supporting me, encouraging me and cheering me on. Somehow this series makes me really feel like we did it (at last)!
Abbey, Hannah and Talika are new recruits at Willowvale boarding school’s Vet Cadets program. They are excited to learn all about caring for farm animals and the work that country vets do. Riding horses, shearing sheep and treasure-hunting for parasites are all just part of their normal school day.
But when something starts attacking the school’s sheep, the three vet cadets must use their scientific skills, animal knowledge and teamwork to try and catch the culprit before it’s too late.
Hannah, Abbey and Talika are new recruits at Willowvale boarding school’s special Vet Cadets program. This term, it’s all about cattle. Abbey is determined to prove herself in a cattle-cutting competition against a nearby boys boarding school.
But when Talika’s little pony, Pudding, falls dangerously ill, the friends need all their investigation skills and determination if they’re to save his life.
Abbey, Hannah and Talika are new recruits at Willowvale boarding school’s Vet Cadets program. Mrs Parry, their science teacher, has given each of the girls a chick to raise and train, but not everyone is happy about it!
When a game of horseback hide-and-seek turns into a matter of life and death, rules are broken and the friends’ courage sorely tested. This time, a solution might be out of the Vet Cadets’ hands . . .
PUFFIN BOOKS
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First published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd, 2017
Text copyright © Rebecca Johnson, 2017
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Cover and text design by Bruno Herfst © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Cover photograph ‘Piggy love’ © iStock.com/dennisvdw
All other photographs and illustrations © Shutterstock.com
penguin.com.au
ISBN: 978-1-76014-650-4
THE BEGINNING
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Saving Itsy Bitsy Page 7
