The Publicity Push

by Christopher Cummings

  “We want to go and find the gold mine,” Graham replied.

  “Well you can’t. There isn’t time before Christmas; and you are not going on your own. It is with a properly prepared group, or not at all. You will have to wait till Peter and Stephen arrive.”

  “And Roger too Mum. Can we see him tomorrow when we go to town?”

  Thursday was Christmas Eve and a trip to Atherton had been organized to obtain the last minute items everyone had forgotten.

  “Yes, you can, now start weeding.”

  It was a very tired Graham who went early to bed that night. Kylie did a last check on the sick calf with Uncle Bill and her mother. The calf and its mother had been moved to an old shed in the home paddock. The shed was open on one side but was dry and gave shelter from the wind so Kylie felt happier when she went to bed. She went to bed praying the calf would not die. It reminded her of the time her pet puppy ‘Bounce’ had died.

  ‘I wish the pets were here,’ she thought. The family dog, ‘Skipper’, had been placed in a kennel for the holidays as Uncle Bill did not want her on the farm. On a previous visit Skip had chased the cattle and fought with his dogs. It was a sober and sad little girl who went to sleep, her head full of images of Uncle Bill losing the farm and of the calf dying.

  Thursday found them up and milking before the sun. The routine of the farm claimed them, even though it was Christmas Eve. While Graham was rounding up the milkers Kylie and Uncle Bill went to check on the calf. She was still alive but obviously very sick. Kylie was given a milk bottle to feed her while Graham and Uncle Bill did the milking. After breakfast she checked on the calf again and was heartened by her progress. She was still too weak to stand but sucked greedily at the milk bottle when it was held in her mouth.

  On the drive into town they stopped at the Reid’s farm to drop off some Christmas presents. Aunty Violet and Annabelle were there and Kylie was instantly peeved at how Graham reacted to Annabelle. He smiled and then openly flirted with her. ‘Poor Margaret,’ she thought.

  Mr Reid and Bert appeared from the machinery shed. Kylie felt her heart leap and she wished, yet again, that Bert liked her instead of Allison. Bert was introduced to Graham. The two boys shook hands but neither then spoke to the other.

  “Where’s Victor?” Mrs Kirk asked.

  “Went to town,” Aunty Violet replied.

  Later, as they climbed into the car Kylie said to Graham. “Isn’t Bert nice?”

  Graham just shrugged, then said: “I like Annabelle.”

  Kylie bit her lip. ‘Oh dear!’ she thought. ‘I’ll have to make sure we don’t visit the Reid’s too often.’

  They drove on via Malanda. As they drove along the main street Kylie pointed out the window. “There’s cousin Victor.” She saw that Victor was talking to a tall, thin young man of about his own age. The man had straggly, long hair and a wispy beard.

  In Atherton they went first to Roger’s Aunt’s. Roger was very pleased to see Graham and the two boys agreed to walk to the shopping centre while Kylie went with Gran and her mother.

  As the two boys walked along Roger asked how the cadet camp had been. Graham told him all about it, becoming very enthusiastic. “It was great,” he concluded. “What about you? What have you been up to?”

  Roger rolled his eyes. “Boring! All I seem to do is sit around; or I get dragged to visit more relations. And they all have gardens that have to be inspected in great detail. I mean, they are lovely gardens, but a man can only take so much. Now, what’s this about an expedition?”

  “We are going to try to find an old goldmine,” Graham replied.

  Roger nodded and sniffed. “Oh yeah? I heard Kylie mutter something about it. Do you reckon it is for real?”

  “Yes I do,” Graham replied. “We’ve got Grandad Hector’s old diary and also a copy of a letter that he wrote to his brother giving him details of exactly how to find the gold mine.”

  “So how come no-one has already found the mine?” Roger asked.

  Graham shrugged. He wasn’t sure and the thought had niggled at him too. “Don’t know, but we will find it.”

  “Who is we?” Roger asked.

  “Pete, Steve, you and me and the girls,” Graham replied.

  “Which girls?” Roger asked. He did not sound enthusiastic about it.

  “Kylie and her friends,” Graham replied. “Do you think you will be allowed to come?”

  “Only if there is an adult with us,” Roger replied.

  That was a problem. Graham resolved it by asking Uncle Bill that evening while they were milking. Uncle Bill said he would like to help but that it would have to be during the day between milking; and that he would need help to get all the other farm chores done.

  Graham also annoyed and alarmed Kylie by asking if Annabelle was coming with them to look for the gold. Kylie had been contemplating asking Bert but now instantly decided that he could not come; not if there was any chance of Annabelle coming as well!

  The calf was still alive and feeding from the bottle when the children went to bed. That cheered Kylie. She was naturally excited anyway, at the thought of Christmas.

  “Go to bed you children,” Mrs Kirk said. “You still have to get up at four to do the milking.”

  “But Mum, that’s too early. We might run into Santa Claus!” Graham replied in a teasing voice.

  “Oh piffle! Now go to sleep,” Mrs Kirk replied with a laugh.

  They didn’t meet Santa Claus, but, as always, Mrs Kirk had made sure that a pillow case full of small presents was placed on the children’s beds as soon as they were asleep. She also placed one on Gran’s bed, much to the old lady's amusement.

  When they rose at 4am to go and do the milking Graham started digging through the presents but was told it would have to wait. He muttered about life’s injustices but got up and got dressed. But he did take a chocolate that had been one of the presents before going out to round up the cows. Uncle Bill and Kylie went to check on the calf.

  The calf was still alive and that cheered Kylie enormously. She had somehow feared it would be dead. ‘It will be a good Christmas now,’ she told herself.

  And it was. After breakfast they settled in the lounge room for photos and then the opening of presents. The presents were opened one at a time, Kylie fetching them from under the tree and handing them to the people they were for.

  She was delighted with her own presents. Uncle Bill gave her a large ‘Paint by numbers’ painting of a farm, complete with little tubes of paint and brushes. Allison gave her soap and perfume in a set.

  “That’s because you pong so badly,” Graham said. “It’s a hint to bath more often.”

  Gran was shocked. “Graham! Don’t be horrible to poor little Kylie.”

  Kylie just poked her tongue at him and opened her next present. This was a collection of books from her mother. Graham gave her a white T-shirt with parrots embroidered on the front. Margaret gave her a nice top and a set of ribbons. Her father had given her a necklace and matching bracelet; real jewellery, not little girls’ play jewellery. Gran gave her a stationary set complete with pens, good quality letter paper and envelopes. Her oldest brother Alex just gave her chocolates.

  Graham was also happy with his presents. Kylie gave him a set of six 1:50 000 scale army topographic maps for the area. “For you to use on your hikes,” she explained.

  Better still, his father had bought him a proper prismatic ‘Silva’ compass. Graham knew that the compass must have cost hundreds of dollars and was touched. “It’s great!” he enthused. “It has both degrees and mils. I wish dad was here.”

  Margaret complemented the compass by giving him a new protractor; a square one that had the complete circle on it, and grid lines to help line it up on the map accurately. Uncle Bill gave him a set of secateurs.

  “For cutting your way through the jungle; and you can practice by pruning the garden,” Uncle Bill said.

  “Thanks Uncle Bill. Have you got a pair too?”

&nb
sp; “Yes I have,” Uncle Bill replied. “And better still I have gotten myself a Miner’s Right and an ‘Authority to Prospect’. So now we have the legal paperwork to go looking for gold.”

  Both Kylie and Graham were thrilled. “Oh Uncle Bill! Show us please!” Kylie cried.

  The documents had to be produced and examined before more presents were opened. Graham then went on opening his. Gran gave him a new dark green, long sleeved shirt for bushwalking. His mother gave him a new pocket radio and Alex gave him socks and underpants. All in all it was a very useful set of presents. What warmed Graham’s heart the most was the realization that the people who loved him had put a lot of thought into buying them.

  “Well, we have everything we need now. So let’s go and find that gold mine,” he said.

  “Christmas dinner first,” Mrs Kirk said.

  CHAPTER 12

  LOOK!

  As soon as the presents were opened the whole family went to Malanda to church. Graham was pleased to go as he particularly wanted to give thanks for having done so well on his Corporals Course. Kylie went in the hope of seeing Bert but none of the Reids were there. Nor did they appear to be at home, so there was no visit.

  Christmas Dinner followed; the sort of dinner Kylie loved:- hot roast chicken and roast potatoes with peas and gravy; despite the summer heat. She ate till she could eat no more, although already being nagged by a conscience being driven by the ‘thin’ fashion of the age. Graham was less inhibited. In his own words he had a good ‘pig out’.

  Afterwards Graham did the washing up and Kylie wiped. As they worked Graham pointed out the window. “Heavy rain on its way.”

  “Good. That might cool it down,” Kylie said. The temperature had climbed into the mid-thirties and the humidity had climbed to over 90% so that they were feeling very hot and sticky.

  After lunch the rain began. There was a visit from the Griersons and later from another neighbour but the children just said polite hellos and left the adults to talk. Graham studied his new maps and began to compare them with the old mining map and to make notes.

  By milking time the rain had eased but the lanes were all muddy and slippery. Graham did not mind but walked cheerfully along using a broom handle as a walking stick. A check showed that the sick calf was much better and that brightened Christmas up even more for Kylie. The evening was spent quietly watching the TV. They all spoke to Captain Kirk and Alex on the radio telephone and wished them a merry Christmas and then it was time for bed. By then it was raining heavily again.

  The rain was still drizzling down next morning when they went out to do the milking. They wrapped up in raincoats and old hats and sloshed out along the muddy lanes. Kylie slipped and fell over twice, much to her annoyance and to Graham’s amusement.

  After breakfast they changed and loaded into the car again, along with a bag of presents. An hour’s drive took them to Mareeba where they called on their other Grandparents; their father’s mother and father. Graham liked the elder Kirks a lot but wasn’t quite so keen on the horde of cousins who were staying there. Kylie really enjoyed visits to Mareeba and loved Grandma Kirk, who she thought was a very warm and understanding person. She also found the cousins fascinating.

  The cousins were a rough and ready lot. They came from two cattle properties up in Cape York Peninsula. To Kylie they were a mob of real little bushies. Graham called them the ‘country cousins’ and said it in a mock ‘Southern’ accent to indicate they were hillbillies. Kylie actually had a delightful time playing with them, most being much younger than her and more than willing to play games.

  The visit went on till well after lunch; another huge meal with roast pork and turkey. Then it was back to the farm for milking. By then Kylie was sad to leave and wished she could get to know these cousins better. As they drove back from Mareeba towards Atherton they encountered rain again and drove through it all the way to the farm.

  Milking was another cold and wet event and the children were relieved to finish and to have hot showers and get into warm dry clothes. Another quiet evening followed. By this time Kylie was becoming tense and irritable as she wanted to get on with the search for the gold mine. She dropped off to sleep reading the old diary and puzzling over why the earlier searches had failed to find it.

  During the night it rained very heavily but by dawn the clouds had cleared away. Kylie went to check on the calf and found it was standing and feeding from her mother. That cheered her enormously and she went happily about feeding the other calves, singing and humming to herself.

  As it was Sunday Mrs Kirk and Gran went to church again. Neither Kylie nor Graham wanted to go, pleading that they had just been two days before. This left them both at a bit of a loose end as Uncle Bill was working on an engine and needed no help. Kylie set herself up on the back veranda and began doing her ‘paint by numbers’ picture. Graham fidgeted, read a bit, then pulled on gum boots and clapped his old scout hat on his head.

  “I’m just going to poke around a bit,” he said as he paused to study Kylie’s painting efforts.

  “Don’t get bitten by a snake,” Kylie cautioned.

  Graham just grunted and walked off, whistling cheerfully.

  As she worked Kylie pondered the puzzle of the old gold mine. More strongly than before the feeling was nagging at her that they did not have all the information. ‘Otherwise it would have been found by now,’ she reasoned.

  Unable to solve the riddle she pushed the thoughts aside and settled to her painting. As she worked she fantasized about meeting a wonderful man who would be kind and gentle and who would fall desperately in love with her. She tried to imagine Bert’s face on the ‘Mr Wonderful’ image but it did not seem to stick. As she painted she also hummed or quietly sang. She was feeling very happy and content with life in general.

  From time to time some outside activity would attract her attention. She would then gaze out over the fields and think, before resuming her art. On one occasion a flock of white cockatoos burst from the edge of the rainforest over beyond the milking shed. She watched them rise and circle, then shrugged and went on with her painting.

  Half an hour later, just as she was trying to mix some green to the shade shown on the cover of the box, Graham came walking in. He stood and examined the picture critically for a moment. Kylie braced herself for disparaging remarks.

  Instead Graham said: “Kylie, come and see what I have found and tell me what you make of it.”

  Kylie asked what it was but Graham shook his head and would not say. She had to clean her paint brush and follow him. They walked along the entrance drive to the road. Here Graham pointed across the road into the rainforest.

  “In here.”

  That was even more mystifying but Kylie dutifully followed him as he made his way into the tangle. She actually disliked the rainforest but had been into it a few times. Graham only went a few paces in, then stopped beside a large tree and pointed down.

  On the leaf mould were a dozen cigarette butts. Kylie noted them but could not work out why they should interest Graham. “So what?” she asked.

  Then it hit her, even as Graham said: “Someone has stood here for quite a while. They have had time to smoke all these cigarettes.”

  “Someone is watching the farm!” Kylie gasped. She felt her chest tighten with fear and she looked nervously around the dark forest.

  “Yes, and he was here today,” Graham replied.

  “How do you know it was today?” Kylie asked. She knelt and picked up one of the butts to examine it.

  “Because these are dry. We had heavy rain yesterday and last night and these are fresh,” Graham replied.

  “The cockatoos!” Kylie cried. “I saw them about half an hour ago.”

  Graham nodded, but said: “That was me. I crossed the road down beyond the milking shed and came up through the edge of the forest. But you are right. It was the cockatoos. I was down near the dam when I first noticed they were doing a lot of screeching. I didn’t take any notice a
t first but they all took off and then settled further along after a while and I decided to take a look.”

  “Did you see anyone?” Kylie asked, looking anxiously around again.

  “No, but I know how he got here and where he parks his car,” Graham replied.

  “Parks? Do you think he has been here before?” Kylie asked.

  “Yes. Look at this.” Graham showed her a faint trail back into the jungle. The leafmould had been trampled and several small vines had been cut. By bending down she could see where there were scuff marks on bark and on tree roots and logs. Moss had been scraped off in places. Graham led the way, pointing to the clues.

  Twenty metres back the trail came out on an old, overgrown road. It was typical of such roads. Because the trees met overhead and blocked out most of the sunlight no new trees had grown up along most of the old road. Only a matt of deadfall covered it, and a few dead logs. Undergrowth from the sides made it much narrower than it had once been but it was easy to walk along.

  Graham pointed both ways along it. “Probably the original road, or maybe a timber snig track,” he commented. “Watch that wait-a-while.” He held the thin, almost invisible tendril, with its vicious barbed hooks, so Kylie could avoid it.

  The old road slanted off roughly parallel to the modern road. It went up over the crest and then curved left to a point a hundred metres along the main road. As they walked quietly along Kylie kept glancing fearfully around, her heart beating rapidly. She also kept a wary eye open for wait-a-while tendrils.

  “What if he is still here?” she whispered.

  Graham shook his head. “He isn’t. I heard him drive off, and I’ve looked,” he replied.

  “Oh Graham! That was silly. You could have run into trouble,” Kylie scolded, concern for her brother fuelling anger.

  Graham just shrugged. “I was alright. I am a good scout in the jungle. Anyway, I could just run away.”

  They came to an overgrown junction with wild ginger and conjuboy plants filling it. One road went left and downhill into the jungle. The other led right and curved out to sunlight. They walked twenty metres along this and the main road came into sight. Just back around the curve were distinct wheel tracks in the grass and leafmould.