Puma Rumour

by Justin D'Ath

  Jordan looked up dingo and found that Pop was right. Dingoes used to live nearly everywhere in Australia, not just in the deserts. There weren’t as many now because lots had been killed by farmers and hunters. Some people were worried they might become extinct.

  Jordan stopped reading and looked into the forest behind him. He could hear a strange bird call. It was only faint, but it sounded a bit like a baby crying. BRAIN would know what it was. He started typing:

  What bird sounds like …

  HOWWWWWWWWWWWL!

  The blood-curdling cry came from inside the trap. It made Jordan’s hair stand on end. He nearly dropped the FoxPhone. Myrtle jumped up and ran around to look in the door. As soon as it saw her, the dingo stopped howling.

  But now Jordan could hear another noise – the sound of a motor. It must be the reason the dingo got so scared, he thought.

  Jordan turned BRAIN off and watched Pop’s truck come bumping up the hill. An old white ute was following it. The truck stopped and out climbed Pop, Nana and Harry. The ute parked next to it and Mr Nelson got out.

  ‘What’s he doing here?’ Jordan whispered to Harry.

  ‘He was getting some eggs from Nana when I got there,’ Harry whispered back. ‘He heard about the dingo and wanted to come, too.’

  Everyone crowded around the trap. Pop and Mr Nelson started taking the branches off to get a better look. The dingo snarled and snapped at them. Its teeth banged against the bars.

  ‘Savage brute!’ said Mr Nelson. ‘I’m going to get my gun.’

  Pop shook his head. ‘There’ll be no shooting on my farm, Pete.’

  The sheep farmer looked angry. ‘It killed six of my sheep!’

  ‘Even if that’s true,’ Pop said, ‘and we don’t know that for sure, it won’t be killing any more, thanks to Harry-and-Jordan.’

  The dingo had stopped snarling. It crouched in the far corner of the cage with its tail between its legs.

  ‘It’s scared, poor thing,’ said Nana.

  Jordan felt sorry for it, too. He was starting to wish they hadn’t caught it. Mr Nelson had hundreds of sheep, but the dingo could be the last one left in the Nullambine district.

  ‘Can we take it to the zoo?’ he said.

  Nana shook her head. ‘It’s a wild animal, Jordan. If you put it in a cage, it would pine away and die.’

  ‘What does pine away mean, Nana?’ asked Harry.

  ‘It means the dingo would miss its freedom so much it would stop eating.’

  ‘So what will we do?’ Jordan asked.

  Pop looked over the fence at Mr Nelson’s sheep. ‘It needs to be released somewhere a long way from here.’

  ‘A long, long way!’ said Mr Nelson.

  ‘Why don’t we give Wildlife Rescue a call?’ Nana said.

  The twins knew about Wildlife Rescue. They were like Mission Fox, except they were adults. (And they didn’t rescue pets.) Their number was stored in the FoxPhone’s address book in case of emergencies. Jordan pressed ‘Call’ and handed the phone to Nana.

  While Nana talked to Wildlife Rescue, the twins put the branches back over the trap so the dingo wouldn’t be so scared.

  Mr Nelson had to go. He waved out the open window as he turned his ute around. ‘I guess I should thank you boys,’ he called. ‘I won’t have to worry about the Nullambine Puma anymore.’

  But Jordan was worried about the Nullambine Dingo. Even after the trap was covered again, it kept whining and biting at the bars. It really wanted to get out. Jordan remembered how it had howled. It was the saddest sound he had ever heard.

  He hoped Wildlife Rescue wouldn’t take too long.

  ‘They’ll be here in half an hour,’ Nana said, handing back the FoxPhone.

  Two Wildlife Rescue workers turned up in an old blue van. Their names were Matt and Rachael. They weren’t wearing uniforms, but they knew all about wildlife and had some pretty cool gear.

  Rachael showed the Mission Fox agents a dart gun for putting animals to sleep. It looked like a pistol with a very long barrel and a thin hose coming out of its handle. Rachael loaded it with a special dart and connected the hose to a little gas bottle. Then she poked the barrel through the bars and waited until the dingo turned away from her.

  Pufffff!

  Quicker than the eye could see, the dart hit the dingo in the top of one back leg. The dingo spun around and tried to bite the dart gun, but Rachael pulled the gun clear.

  ‘Cool!’ said Harry.

  ‘Poor dingo!’ said Nana.

  ‘It will calm down soon,’ Rachael said.

  She was right. Two minutes later, the dingo was fast asleep on the floor of the trap.

  Matt brought a small stretcher from the van. While the twins, their grandparents and Myrtle looked on, he and Rachael carefully lifted the sleeping dingo onto it. They carried it to the van and put it into a large dog cage in the back. Rachael draped a blanket over the cage so the dingo would feel like it was in a cave when it woke up.

  ‘Where will you take it?’ Jordan asked.

  ‘First we’ll go back to our clinic and make sure he’s in good health,’ Rachael said. ‘Then we’ll drive him up into the dividing range, to a place we know where some other dingoes live.’

  ‘And where there aren’t any sheep,’ Matt added.

  ‘It can start a whole new life there,’ said Rachael. ‘It’ll be safe from people with guns.’

  ‘Cool!’ said the twins.

  ‘Thank you so much for your help,’ Pop said, shaking hands with Matt and Rachael.

  ‘Thank you for caring about wildlife,’ said Matt. ‘Most people wouldn’t bother calling us. They’d just shoot the dingo.’

  Nana was standing between the twins. She put a hand on each boy’s shoulder. ‘Our grandsons are the wildlife protectors,’ she said proudly. ‘Have you ever heard of Mission Fox Animal Rescue?’

  Matt’s and Rachael’s eyes bugged out.

  ‘Are you guys Mission Fox?’ asked Matt.

  Jordan and Harry nodded. They were supposed to be secret agents, but they didn’t mind if Matt and Rachael knew.

  ‘We’ve seen your flyers around town,’ Rachael said. ‘And we’ve heard about some of your rescues. You guys are legends!’

  ‘Did you two build this dingo trap?’ Matt asked.

  ‘It was supposed to be a puma trap,’ said Jordan. ‘But I guess it’s a dingo trap now.’

  They all walked over to look at it. The twins showed Matt and Rachael how it worked.

  ‘Genius!’ said Matt.

  ‘Do us a favour and set it again tonight,’ Rachael said. ‘Dingoes don’t normally live alone. You might catch another one.’

  Rachael was right. They set the trap with a fresh bone, and next morning there was another dingo in it! The second dingo was smaller than the one they had caught the day before. It looked like a female.

  They called Wildlife Rescue. Twenty minutes later, the blue van came bumping up the hill. It was quicker this time because Matt and Rachael knew the way.

  ‘Nice work, Mission Fox,’ Rachael said. ‘You guys are legends!’

  ‘You said that yesterday,’ said Harry.

  ‘You’re double legends!’ said Matt.

  Harry wanted a go with the dart gun, but Rachael said, ‘Maybe next time.’ (Which meant never.) When the dingo was asleep, she and Matt opened the cage and lifted her onto the stretcher.

  ‘Uh-oh!’ said Matt.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Jordan, who was standing back a bit with Myrtle on her lead.

  ‘She’s got milk.’

  ‘Milk?’ said Harry.

  ‘It means that she’s a mother,’ Rachael explained. ‘She must have pups.’

  ‘But where are they then?’ asked Harry.

  Rachael pointed up into the national park. ‘Somewhere in there,’ she said. ‘They’ll be in a cave or down a hole in the ground.’

  ‘We’d better find them,’ Jordan said.

  ‘Impossible,’ said Matt. ‘It wo
uld be like looking for a needle in a haystack.’

  ‘Then let her go!’ said Jordan. ‘Her puppies need her.’

  Rachael came over and put her hand on Jordan’s shoulder. ‘We can’t let her go, mate. Not here, at any rate. She’s a sheep killer.’

  ‘It might have been the dad that killed the sheep.’

  Matt shook his head. ‘They probably hunted together,’ he said. ‘And once dingoes learn to kill farm animals, they don’t stop.’

  ‘But their babies will starve!’ cried Jordan.

  ‘They might be old enough to look after themselves,’ Rachael said.

  Jordan knew she was just saying that to make him feel better. The baby dingoes had lost both their parents. They were going to die because of Mission Fox!

  ‘Harry and I will find them,’ he said.

  ‘Well, call us if you do,’ Rachael said. ‘But don’t go getting lost up there in the bush.’

  As soon as she and Matt had driven off with the mother dingo, Jordan led Myrtle over to the fence that separated the farm from the forest.

  ‘What are you doing?’ asked Harry. ‘Nana and Pop said we aren’t allowed in the national park on our own.’

  Jordan stood on the bottom wire and pulled the next one up, making a gap big enough for a huge dog to squeeze through.

  ‘If Myrtle ran off into the national park,’ he said, ‘what would happen?’

  Harry grinned. ‘We’d have to go after her.’

  Jordan nodded. He crouched next to Myrtle.

  ‘Find the dingo pups, Agent M!’ he mind-whispered.

  And let her go.

  ‘MYRTLE! MYRTLE! MYRTLE!’

  Ten minutes had passed. Agent J and Agent H were deep in the national park, surrounded by thick forest. They couldn’t find Agent M anywhere.

  ‘MYRTLE! MYRTLE!’ they yelled.

  Suddenly Harry stopped yelling. He put a finger to his lips. ‘Shhhh! Listen!’

  Jordan stopped and listened. Sure enough, he heard something.

  ‘Woof! Woof! Woof!’

  It sounded like a dog barking, but it was a long, long way away. It seemed to come from halfway up Mount Nullambine.

  The twins started climbing. It was steep and rocky. They had to zigzag between huge grey boulders and the trunks of massive trees. The barking grew louder. Finally they spotted Myrtle at the base of a high sandstone cliff. She was barking at the rock. Weird!

  But as they got closer, the Mission Fox agents noticed something – there was a split in the rock face. It was about as wide as a boy with his arms stretched out, and went all the way to the top – like a cave without a roof. That’s what Myrtle was barking at. She fell silent when Jordan and Harry arrived, but she kept her eyes on the gap. The fur on her neck and all along her back was standing on end.

  Harry and Jordan peered into the gap. They couldn’t see very far in because it turned a corner.

  ‘What’s in there, Agent M?’ Jordan asked.

  ‘It might be the dingo pups,’ said Harry.

  Myrtle let out a low, rumbling growl that made a spooky echo in the gap.

  ‘She wouldn’t growl if it was just pups in there,’ Jordan whispered.

  ‘I’ll take a look,’ said Harry.

  Jordan grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t go in! There might be another adult dingo with them.’

  ‘Dingoes don’t scare me,’ Harry said. His voice sounded deeper, like it did when he and Jordan were little and Harry pretended to be Captain Amazing, the bravest superhero ever.

  Jordan and Myrtle watched Captain Amazing creep into the gap.

  He got to the corner and peered around it. ‘It’s a bit dark,’ he whispered over his shoulder. ‘Did we bring the FoxTorch, Agent J?’

  Jordan was wearing the FoxPack this time. He pulled out their special animal-spotting torch. ‘Here you go, Agent H.’

  But Harry didn’t come back to get the FoxTorch. He was still peering around the corner. ‘Bring it here,’ he said in his Captain Amazing voice.

  Gulp! Jordan didn’t want to go in. But he didn’t want Captain Amazing to think he was a wuss, either. He crept slowly into the cool shadow of the two towering walls of rock.

  Behind him, Myrtle growled.

  Ahead of him, the spooky echo growled back.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Harry-or-Captain Amazing, taking the FoxTorch from his brother and shining it around the corner. ‘Follow me.’

  Jordan took a deep breath. He didn’t want to follow.

  Don’t be a wuss, he told himself.

  It was much darker around the corner. The rock walls sloped together and formed a roof above their heads. The two Mission Fox agents found themselves in a long, narrow cave.

  There was a strong, animal smell – like at the zoo.

  Jordan’s eyes were starting to get itchy.

  Harry shone the FoxTorch into the inky darkness ahead of them. It lit up a scatter of white sticks on the floor.

  Yikes! thought Jordan.

  They weren’t sticks, they were splintered bones.

  He felt a nasty tickle in his throat. It was becoming hard to breathe. He touched his brother on the shoulder.

  ‘Harry, I think I’m getting asthma,’ he whispered.

  ‘Did you bring your puffer?’

  ‘It’s in the FoxPack.’

  Harry used the torch to help him find it.

  A loud Myrtle-growl rumbled in from the cave entrance. The spooky echo-growl rumbled back from the dark end of the cave.

  Or did the echo-growl come first?

  Jordan found his inhaler and had a puff.

  Harry swung the FoxTorch back towards the dark end.

  They saw eyes.

  ‘Shishkebab!’ cried Jordan.

  ‘Let’s get out of here!’ gasped Harry. He no longer sounded like Captain Amazing.

  The twins ran for their lives.

  The three Mission Fox agents didn’t stop running until they were halfway back to the farm. Then they had to stop, because Jordan couldn’t run any more. He dumped the FoxPack on the ground and slumped down next to it, with his back against a log. He could hardly breathe. Myrtle whimpered and licked his hand.

  ‘Where’s your puffer?’ Harry asked.

  Jordan took long slow breaths. ‘I must have … dropped it … in the cave.’

  ‘No way am I going back in there for it!’ said Harry.

  ‘I’ll be … okay,’ Jordan gasped. ‘I just need … to rest … for a while.’

  Harry sat down beside him. ‘What do you think it was?’

  Jordan gulped for breath. It was hard to talk. They both knew he was allergic to cats – they gave him asthma attacks just like he was having now.

  ‘Myrtle was scared of it,’ Harry said after a while.

  Jordan nodded. Myrtle was the biggest dog in Australia. Much bigger than a dingo. What else would scare her?

  ‘Those … bones,’ he gasped. ‘Were they … sheep bones?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘They looked too skinny,’ he said. ‘I think they were rabbit bones.’

  They both thought about it for a few minutes. Neither Mission Fox agent wanted to say what they were thinking, in case the other one laughed.

  ‘Feeling better?’ Harry asked finally.

  ‘A little bit,’ Jordan wheezed. ‘Can I … have a drink?’

  Harry got their water bottle out of its pocket on the side of the FoxPack. It was empty. They had drunk all the water on the way up Mount Nullambine.

  ‘I’ll go and fill it up,’ he said.

  ‘It’s … too far,’ wheezed Jordan.

  ‘We crossed a creek on the way up, remember?’ Harry said, and darted off into the trees.

  Myrtle stayed with Jordan. Jordan was glad. He twisted round and looked back over the log into the thick bush behind him. Nothing had followed them from the cave. Well, he couldn’t see anything, anyway. He hoped Harry wouldn’t be long.

  While he waited for Harry to come back, Jordan got out the FoxPhone and looked up what P
umas eat on BRAIN. Here’s what it said:

  They didn’t have most of those things in Mount Nullambine National Park. But there were hares and rabbits.

  Harry was taking a long time. Jordan looked up a few other things on BRAIN. Then he remembered why he and Harry had come into the national park. He typed in Dingo den.

  BRAIN showed a photo of four dingo pups peering out of a hole under some ferns. Beneath the photo it said: Dingoes make their dens in caves, hollow logs, holes in the ground and old rabbit warrens.

  Rachael and Matt reckoned it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. They were probably right. The national park was huge, and nearly all of it was thick forest. There were a million places for a mother dingo to hide her pups. Mission Fox would never find them.

  They’re going to starve to death, Jordan thought. Because of Harry and me!

  BRAIN’s screen went fuzzy as Jordan’s eyes slowly filled with tears.

  Then he heard something. It was the same strange bird call he’d heard when they caught the first dingo. The bird call that sounded like a crying baby.

  Feet came crunching through the trees. Harry appeared, carrying the dripping water bottle. Jordan quickly wiped his eyes and had a big drink.

  ‘Thanks,’ he gasped. He could breathe better. ‘Harry, can you hear that noise?’

  Harry listened. ‘I can’t hear anything.’

  ‘Help me up,’ Jordan said.

  He felt excited. He’d heard the crying baby noise twice. Both times when he’d been having dingo thoughts.

  Was it like mind-whispering backwards? he wondered. Mind-listening?

  Harry put on the FoxPack, then he put his arm around Jordan and helped him walk. Jordan felt a bit dizzy, but it was easier to breathe now and he was getting stronger every minute. They went slowly through the forest towards the crying baby noise. Agent M led the way.