A shout disturbed her concentration. She looked up. A tall man in a blue police uniform was heading towards her. She walked quickly away, slipping down an alley.
‘Hey you, stop!’ the policeman yelled.
Poppy broke into a run. It was hard running with a loaf of bread under each arm and her satchel banging against her. But she couldn’t throw the loaves away, they were too precious.
Behind her, loud and clear, came the pounding of the policeman’s boots. But Poppy had had plenty of practice racing Gus to the cemetery and back at Bird Creek. That policeman had looked pretty fat, too. I can easily outrun him, she thought.
‘Come here you little thief!’ the policeman yelled.
Poppy reached the river track and began weaving in and out of the trees. Now was her chance. She veered off into the scrub. Branches whipped her arms and legs and clawed at her face. Her lungs were bursting but she kept on running until only one set of footsteps could be heard in the forest. Her own. She had lost him!
Poppy stopped by a tree, trying to catch her breath. That was close. I’ll have to be more careful from now on. Thoughts played on her mind, thoughts of the letter and the notice. Who does that strange seal belong to? She felt a tinge of excitement.
But as Poppy stepped away from the tree, two hands grabbed her in a bear-like grip.
‘YOU’RE not goin’ nowhere,’ the policeman said in an angry voice. ‘I know this area like the back of me hand. You took the long way round.’
‘I … I didn’t steal the bread,’ Poppy said, trying to catch her breath. ‘I paid for it with my own money. Mrs Clutterbuck gave …’
The policeman whipped a pair of handcuffs from his belt and snapped one on Poppy’s wrist. It was far too big, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was about to put the other cuff on when a vicious snarling erupted behind him.
Poppy looked down. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Fisher!
The policeman spun around, one hand on Poppy’s wrist. ‘Strewth! Where’d you come from?’ He let go and put both hands up in front of him as if to push the dog away. Fisher’s lips were curled back over his teeth and the hackles on his neck were raised. He looked terrifying, as if he was ready to kill.
‘Fisher,’ Poppy cried. ‘Good boy, Fisher.’ But the dog didn’t take his eyes off the policeman. Poppy wondered if Fisher remembered who she was.
‘D … does that m … m … monster belong to … you?’ The policeman’s voice was shaking with terror.
‘Um … why yes, he is my dog,’ Poppy said, trying to sound confident. If she could bluff her way out by pretending that Fisher was hers, then she could get away – as long as Fisher didn’t attack her instead. ‘I raised him since he was a pup,’ she continued. ‘And he’ll attack if I command him to.’
‘Call him off. I’ll let you go,’ the policeman said. ‘We’ll forget all about it.’
‘I’ll try to hold him back, Mister, but I can’t promise he won’t chase you. He’s got a mind of his own, you see. Always had a bit of the devil in him. If you just keep running, all the way back to town, I reckon you’ll be all right.’
She slipped the handcuffs off her wrist, dropped them on the ground, and walked slowly, very slowly towards Fisher, all the while hoping he could hear her thoughts. Remember me, Fisher? I’m Kalinya. I’m going to give you a pat now so please don’t bite me. And please don’t hurt the policeman either, otherwise I’ll be in big trouble.
‘Good boy, Fisher,’ she said, close enough to touch him. Her hand was trembling as she laid it on his head. She was more frightened than ever when she felt the growling through his skull vibrating under her fingers. But Poppy kept her hand where it was.
‘Just walk away nice and slow, Mister. I’ll hold him back for as long as I …’
The policeman didn’t wait for Poppy to finish her sentence, but tore off towards the town as fast as he could. Before Poppy knew what was happening, Fisher bounded after him and they both disappeared into the forest of eucalypts. The policeman’s frightened cries faded and peace returned.
Poppy let out a long breath. That was close, too close, she thought. But what about Fisher? I hope he doesn’t hurt that policeman. She stood watching, waiting to see if he would come back. The dog had saved her life and she wanted to thank him. No, more than that. She wanted him to keep her company on her long journey to find her brother.
Taking off her hat, Poppy knelt on the bank and looked into the water. A reflection of a boy with a dirty face and hair plastered to his head stared back at her. It was a different face than the one that had left Bird Creek – older and sadder.
Dipping her hands into the water, Poppy chased the boy away.
Poppy left Tocumwal far behind her. She travelled along a dusty track that wound between close-set trunks. She no longer watched for Fisher. He had probably gone home to the big tree. But she was puzzled. Why had he rescued her? Was he looking for a friend, too?
As blue-black shadows stretched across the trail, she stopped by a rock face to set up camp for the night. There was a ledge with a space to crawl underneath. She swept the ground below with some dried brush to get rid of any insects or animal dung. Then she sat down to get a feel for the place. Cosy! This little nook would keep her warm and dry from the overnight frost.
Poppy rose and collected leaves, sticks and branches to light a fire. Once the flames were hungrily feeding, she sat down with her back against the rock and tore off pieces of Mrs Clutterbuck’s bread, and ate what remained of her dried meat. The fire crackled and hissed, sending bright red embers into the air. Poppy looked up, glad of the light in the darkness. Then her eyes widened.
There in front of her on a broken tree, dead and blackened by lightning, a large patch of bark had been removed. By the light of the flames, she saw that letters had been carved into the wood. Letters in code. Their secret code. Gus had been here!
Poppy poked a stick into the fire to use as a torch. Then she brought it close to the trunk.
L1 E4 Ka3 Wo6 D2 Wa2 D3
Excitedly, she copied the code in the dirt.
LINTIAN
What could this word mean? And why had Gus written it on the trunk of a tree? She looked at the carving again.
That’s when she noticed something else, on the side of the trunk. She lifted the burning stick higher. There. Two symbols were carefully carved into the wood. They looked like Chinese writing. Who had carved them? And what did they mean?
She felt the carving under her fingers and imagined Gus standing in the same spot where she was standing right now. How had he made it across the river? And how long ago had he been here? Poppy stepped back to think. He could not have known she would run away, so the code was not a message to her. She was so close to Gus. And yet she had never felt so far away from him as she did at that moment.
She had to copy that word, and those symbols. But she didn’t have a pencil. Maybe she could carve it into a piece of wood with her knife? Then Poppy remembered something she had read in The Book of Knowledge.
Taking pieces of charcoal from the fire, she rubbed it into both carvings, filling the lines with black dust. Then she took the letter from her satchel, placed it over the symbols and rubbed it with the flat of her hand. An impression of the code and the two Chinese symbols could be seen on the back of the letter. Folding the paper carefully, she put it back into her bag.
Poppy crawled under the ledge and lay down. As the fire died, she watched the silvery stars shimmer. Despite her tiredness, thoughts whirled and fluttered like moths caught in a storm. Things will be clearer in the morning, she told herself.
It was the softest touch – a dab of wetness against her cheek, a puff of air in her ears, a warm breath on her face.
Poppy opened her eyes. Fisher was looking at her, his own eyes soft and warm like two bright orbs.
‘Fisher, you came,’ she whispered. She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his fur. He smelt so good, so safe. Fisher leaned into her, making soft
grunting sounds as she hugged him tightly. Then he dug at the dirt beside her until there was a hollow in the ground. He lay down resting his chin on her legs. She looked at him, feeling his warmth against her.
Even though this was one of the happiest days Poppy had ever known, she couldn’t fall back to sleep right away. There were still so many obstacles that could stop her from reaching Gus. Mother Hangtree or the family might still be out there looking for her. And the police at Tocumwal would certainly be trying to hunt her down. And if she was careless and someone discovered her disguise … What then?
Poppy knew she would need every ounce of energy and courage to tackle what lay ahead. She watched Fisher, fur rising and falling with each breath, softly snoring.
At least now she would not have to do it alone.
I am a fourth generation Chinese Australian. My maternal great-grandfather came over to the Victorian Goldfields from Guangdong, China, in the 1850s and the character of Jimmy Ah Kew Chen who you’ll meet in Poppy and the Thief is based on him.
I grew up in Melbourne and as a child was always on the lookout for adventures with my dog, Rusty. I also loved horse riding. When I wasn’t on an adventure, I would be drawing. My most treasured possession was a box of 72 Derwent pencils. They were magic, opening the doorway into fantastical worlds.
I was born and grew up in Italy, a beautiful country to visit, but also a difficult country to live in for new generations.
In 2006, I packed up my suitcase and I left Italy with the man I love. We bet on Australia. I didn’t know much about Australia before coming – I was just looking for new opportunities, I guess.
And I liked it right from the beginning! Australian people are resourceful, open-minded and always with a smile on their faces. I think all Australians keep in their blood a bit of the pioneer heritage, regardless of their own birthplace.
Here I began a new life and now I’m doing what I always dreamed of: I illustrate stories. Here is the place where I’d like to live and to grow up my children, in a country that doesn’t fear the future.
During the 1850s and 60s, more than a third of the world’s gold was found in Victoria. This brought many people from all over the world and began the period in Australian history known as the Gold Rush.
Among the different nationalities, around 40,000 Chinese men came to the Victorian goldfields. Many of them disembarked in Robe in South Australia and travelled by foot to central Victoria to avoid the ten pound tax imposed on all Chinese people entering the colony by ship. This trek was long and dangerous, and sometimes the men left messages for those who followed, informing them of where water and food could be found. When they finally reached their destination, they would work long hours mining for gold in areas that other diggers had abandoned. When the gold petered out, most returned to China.
But while the immigrant population grew, the Indigenous population diminished. Before 1834, around 100,000 Aboriginal people lived in Victoria. By 1860, with the influx of white settlers and the discovery of gold, this number had fallen to less than 2000. Many Indigenous children were taken from their parents and placed in missions. They were trained in household chores and to work as farm hands for the time that they would be adopted out to white families.
Poppy’s story is a small glimpse into life of that time.
This schoolhouse from the early 1880s is the type of building where Poppy and her friends from the mission would have been taught by Mother Hangtree. The children would have played in the surrounding bush.
DID YOU KNOW THAT IN 1864 …
There was a civil war in America.
* * *
It was a leap year.
* * *
There was a big cyclone in India.
* * *
Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as the president of the United States.
* * *
A plague of grasshoppers hit America.
* * *
Banjo Paterson was born.
* * *
The Archduke of Austria became the Emperor of Mexico.
* * *
Louis Pasteur discovered how to pasteurise milk.
* * *
The settlers in New Zealand were at war with the Maoris.
* * *
Henry Dunant started the Red Cross.
* * *
EVER since Poppy had run away from Bird Creek Mission, she was fearful that Mother Hangtree had sent people after her. And when the policeman at Tocumwal trapped her in the forest, she knew that she couldn’t be too careful. At least she had Fisher now – the best watchdog and friend a girl could ever want.
Over the past five days since Fisher had saved her from the policeman, their trust in each other had grown. When Fisher took off, Poppy knew that he would always come back. And when he made a kill, he never kept it to himself but would drop it at her feet, and she would pet and praise him. Thankfully he had never brought back anything bigger than a rabbit.
Poppy gathered sticks and leaves and squatted in front of last night’s dead fire. They hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday and Poppy’s stomach was grumbling in protest. She shook a Lucifer stick from its cylinder. Oh no! Only three left.
In the distance came the sound of Fisher barking. Poppy looked up. She could tell that he wasn’t warning of danger. It was more a begging bark and it came to her wrapped around the delicious smell of roasting meat. She took off towards it.
A thick clump of trees grew on the edge of a small clearing. Poppy peered between the trunks. A group of Aborigines, three men and two women, were cooking what looked like a sheep carcass on a spit over a fire. Their spears lay on the ground beside them and they sat with blankets around their shoulders, chatting and laughing.
This was the first time Poppy had seen any Aborigines since leaving Bird Creek. She remained very still, watching them, remembering what Gus had told her. ‘When the squatters came they wanted land for their sheep and cattle, so they drove our people away from our hunting grounds. Many were killed. All this land used to be ours,’ he had said angrily. ‘After that, the government rounded up whoever was left and put them on missions.’
Fisher had stopped barking and was sitting on his haunches looking at one of the men expectantly. Poppy crouched lower in hiding, not sure what the small group would do. Fisher was always hungry and looking for food, but he also seemed so friendly with these people. Did he once belong to a group like this? she wondered.
Suddenly he pricked up his ears and looked into the forest, sniffing the air. The hackles on the back of his neck rose and he stood up growling.
One of the men said something and pointed. Then everyone was on their feet, hurriedly gathering their belongings, looking over their shoulders, frightened expressions on their faces.
Poppy felt their fear and quickly looked around for Fisher. But in all the confusion she couldn’t see him anywhere.
She jumped out of her hiding place. ‘Fisher! Fisher!’ she cried out in desperation.
Meet the other Australian girls and authors
MEET GRACE
1808
It’s 1808 and Grace is living with her uncle in London. They have no money, and Grace is always lonely and often hungry. One afternoon, Grace can’t resist taking a shiny red apple from a grocer’s cart – and then another … Before she knows it, Grace is being chased through the streets! Will she be caught and sent to prison – or worse?
Meet Grace and join her adventure in the first of four exciting stories about a convict girl who is given a second chance.
Sofie Laguna, author of the Grace books, is a highly regarded and award-winning writer of books for children. Bird and Sugar Boy was an Honour Book in the 2007 CBC Book of the Year Awards, Younger Readers, and Sofie’s adult book, One Foot Wrong, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2009.
MEET LETTY
1841
It’s 1841 and Letty is on the docks in England, farewelling her bossy older sister who is about to take a long sea voyage to Aus
tralia. But then there’s a mix-up, and before she knows it Letty finds herself on the ship too, travelling to New South Wales! How will Letty manage when her sister doesn’t even want her on the ship? And what will it be like on the other side of the world? Meet Letty and join her adventure in the first of four exciting stories about a free-settler girl and her new life in a far-off land.
Alison Lloyd, author of the Letty books, is the popular and highly regarded author of several books for children, including Year of the Tiger and Wicked Warriors and Evil Emperors, a fantastic and fact-filled book about Ancient China.
Meet Rose
1900
It’s 1900 and Rose lives with her family in a big house in Melbourne. She wants to play cricket, climb trees and be an adventurer! But Rose’s mother has other ideas. Then Rose’s favourite young aunt comes to town, and everything changes. Will Rose’s mother let Aunt Alice stay? And will Rose ever really get to do the things she loves?
Meet Rose and join her adventure in the first of four stories about a Federation girl who’s determined to do things her way!
Sherryl Clark, author of the Rose books, is a prolific and popular writer for children. Sherryl’s most recent Puffin book is Motormouth, a companion volume to Six Grade Style Queen (Not!), which was shortlisted for the 2009 CBC Book of the Year Award, Younger Readers.
Meet Poppy Page 5
