The Publicity Push

by Christopher Cummings

  “So we still don’t know who this man is that is watching us?” Stephen said.

  “No,” Uncle Bill replied.

  “He wants the gold obviously,” Stephen added. Kylie wished he wouldn’t mention it because she could see it made her mother very worried. ‘She will ban the search if she thinks it is dangerous,’ she worried.

  And that was just what Mrs Kirk suggested. Graham objected strongly. “Fair go mum! Anyway, we have to find the gold first. He won’t bother us until then and we will be able to trick him.”

  “Oh yes? How?” Mrs Kirk asked, anxiety adding a sharp tone of sarcasm to her voice.

  “We could take the dogs next time,” Graham suggested.

  Uncle Bill shook his head. “We could but you are not allowed to take dogs into a National Park.”

  “And you shouldn’t take them out in the wet all day, they will get sick,” Allison added.

  “So will you children,” Mrs Kirk said. “If it is raining tomorrow I don’t think you should go out.”

  “Aw mum!” Graham cried. “It could rain for days. This is the wet season.”

  “So? You can look again in the dry season,” Mrs Kirk replied.

  “But that is months away!” Graham said. “Someone else might find the gold mine before us then.”

  “Might. But people have looked for half a century with no luck so I don’t see how you can expect to just walk out and go to the spot,” Mrs Kirk replied. “Now, supper time, then bed.”

  Bafflement was Kylie’s dominant emotion as she went to bed that night. After supper she cleaned her teeth, then sat and read the diary and letter again and tried to work out where they were going wrong. It was certainly a puzzle. ‘Whichever way we go the instructions don’t seem to make any sense,’ she thought. ‘What are we doing wrong? Are we starting at the wrong place?’

  When the lights were out she lay awake for what seemed like hours. Her mind kept turning over the events of the last few days and the clues but no answer came. She also found that any odd noise outside made her heart begin to pound. Images of the men creeping through the darkness towards the house filled her with fear. Once the dogs barked at something and went dashing off but they stopped after a minute and came back.

  Then the rain began again; heavy, drenching rain which drummed on the roof. It all added to her misery and depression and she began to quietly cry again. Nothing seemed to be going right!

  When they went out at 4:30 to bring in the cows the rain had stopped and there was a thick mist. Kylie found this very spooky and she kept looking nervously around in case the horrible men were creeping up. All the while she was hoping that they would be allowed to go searching again.

  To Kylie’s relief the sun came out while they were having breakfast. The fog cleared away to show a clear sky. Bartle Frere stood up bold and clear and everything looked as though it had been scrubbed clean, even the sky. Seeing this Kylie asked her mother if they could go to search.

  Mrs Kirk studied the sky and looked worried. After talking to Uncle Bill for a minute she said yes. “But don’t forget that you have a late night tonight. And you children stay together.”

  Mrs Kirk did not say so but Kylie knew she meant because of the man or men who were watching them. The explorers happily prepared and were soon ready. As before Mrs Kirk helped ferry them to the edge of the jungle. As soon as they had been dropped off she reminded them of the pick-up time. She also cautioned them again to be careful.

  “You be careful too mum,” Kylie said. “Will you be alright at the farm with Gran?”

  Mrs Kirk smiled. “We’ve got Larry the milker and the dogs too. And I agree with you that the men will not bother us till we find the gold.”

  Being reminded of the men made Margaret and Allison both look anxious. Kylie felt scared but tried not to show it. As Mrs Kirk drove off and they climbed into the ute Graham said: “We could set a trap to catch this guy if we wanted to.”

  Uncle Bill shook his head. “We will do nothing of the sort. That could lead to violence or worse. We will mind our own business and just keep our eyes open.”

  Graham wasn’t ready to give up that easily. “Well, we could at least have a couple of us hide to watch and we could see who he is.”

  Once again Uncle Bill vetoed the idea. “No. We are staying together in one big group. That is the safest.”

  Graham had to be content with that. Kylie noted that he spent a lot of time studying the ground for tracks. When they arrived at the old road junction the boys scouted quickly along the other track but there was no vehicle there.

  “He will follow us in,” Peter suggested.

  “That means he has been watching to see if we leave the farm!” Kylie said, her blood chilling at the idea.

  “Probably,” Peter agreed.

  “Stop talking about them,” Uncle Bill said. “You will just scare yourselves. Now, what is the plan today?”

  They agreed that perhaps they were not going far enough beyond Christmas Creek after crossing it. “The letter says to turn right at the ‘Bright Smile’ and we have been turning right at the first diggings we come to. They may not be the ‘Bright Smile’,” Peter suggested.

  They acted on this. They walked along the old track to The ‘Pride of Erin’, then made their way down to Christmas Creek. After crossing the creek they went on following what might have been an old track uphill. After twenty minutes of quite steep climbing through thick jungle, which got them all sweating, they came to another of the earth contour drains. They scouted this both ways till they found some old diggings two hundred metres to the left. From there they tried to follow the instructions.

  Almost at once they were puzzled. “If we go right from here we go uphill,” Peter said. “But the instructions tell us to cross Nugget Creek.”

  “Maybe that is Nugget Creek down there,” Margaret said, pointing down to their left.

  Graham shook his head. “How could it be? The instructions say to turn right.”

  “Even so, there is no point in going right because that will just take us up over this hill and down to the creek we have already searched twice,” Peter said.

  “I vote we go down to the left,” Stephen said.

  After some argument this was agreed on but it was not a happy party that forced its way down through the tangle to the other creek. This was almost identical to Christmas Creek. Once again they searched along both banks upstream. They found several old diggings but could not decide if any of them was Frank’s Claim. By then they were hot and frustrated.

  Peter shook his head. “If we keep on going upstream we will come to Swipers Flat,” he said after studying the map.

  “That was an old goldfield wasn’t it?” Margaret asked.

  “Yes it was,” Uncle Bill replied. “Part of the goldfield discovered by Christy Palmerston back in the eighteen eighties.”

  “Wasn’t your Grandad’s goldfield only found in the nineteen twenties?” Peter asked.

  “Thirties,” Kylie replied. She bit her lip and shook her head in annoyance. No matter what they did it just did not seem to fit.

  After some discussion they sat on the rocks in the creek bed and had their lunch. Stephen then devoted himself to panning for shows of colour in the stream and along its banks.

  “You’d better not let the National Parks and Wildlife Rangers catch you doing that,” Uncle Bill commented.

  Stephen made a derisive sound and gestured at the surrounding jungle rising up on all sides. “I can just see them suddenly bursting out of this!”

  After lunch they continued to search; first upstream, then back down to where they had first struck the creek. That gave them no joy so they continued on down to where the creek joined Christmas Creek and turned left to follow it back up to where they had come down from the ‘Pride of Erin’. By then Kylie’s high hopes of the morning had again fallen to a feeling of miserable defeat.

  Baffled and frustrated the group made its way back up to the ‘Pride of Erin’ and
then back along the old road. On the way Graham and Peter scouted carefully for any sign that they were being stalked by the men but they found no definite sign that they were.

  By 4pm they were back at the edge of the jungle. Mrs Kirk was waiting and they quickly sorted themselves into two vehicle loads and set off. Fifteen minutes later they were back at the farm. After a quick drink they went out to help bring in the cows. Kylie noted that the three boys made a detour to check the edge of the jungle. Somehow she did not care.

  ‘We aren’t going to find the goldmine,’ she thought sadly.

  Two hours of hard work had all the cows milked and calves fed. The group then made their way up to the farmhouse to wash and change. As they came in Gran met them.

  “How did it go dearie?” she asked Kylie.

  Kylie shook her head and did not want to trust herself to speak she felt so upset about their failure.

  Gran patted her shoulder. “Never mind dearie. Better luck next time. Oh, and there is a big envelope there for you from the Mines Department. It came in the mail.”

  Kylie felt her hopes rise. She went through to the lounge and took up the envelope. It was a brown government one and the marking on it said ‘Department of Mines and Energy’.

  “What is it?” Margaret asked.

  “I sent away for some maps. This must be them,” Kylie replied.

  They were. On opening the envelope Kylie found three maps. Two were photocopies and the third was a complete map. All were black and white survey maps which showed the names and numbers of mining leases and mines. Kylie felt her hopes rise again as she quickly scanned them. There were many more names than on the few maps they had been using, and the locations were much more accurately marked against the creeks and main roads.

  Mrs Kirk came to look then said: “Never mind looking at that now Kylie. Get showered and changed. Don’t forget we are going to town for the New Year party in an hour.”

  Kylie reluctantly tore herself away from the maps and went to the shower. Allison had just finished so she was able to go in straight away. After that it was a rush to get dressed and ready for the party. She wore a white T-shirt and jeans and took extra care over her appearance.

  Allison was bubbling with excitement and kept babbling on about Bert. Margaret was quiet but also happy. Kylie felt her own spirits rise. Mrs Kirk began calling them out. As they went out Kylie found the boys studying the new maps.

  Peter was bent over the largest map. He frowned and pointed. “I hate to say this but there is another ‘Erin’ mine marked on this map.”

  “Where?” Kylie asked. They crowded around to look.

  “Here. Down in the Mulgrave Valley. Only it is just the ‘Erin’, not the ‘Pride of Erin’,” Peter said.

  Stephen swore and muttered: “I hope we haven’t been wasting our time thrashing about in the wrong bit of jungle!”

  A horrible feeling that this indeed might have been the case made Kylie feel sick in the stomach. She wanted to stay home and study the map and re-read the books and clues but her mother firmly vetoed this. “Nonsense! You are not staying here on your own. Now get in the car or we will be late.”

  Kylie grabbed up the maps and slid them back into the envelope.

  “What are you doing with them?” Peter asked.

  “Taking them with me. I’m not leaving them here. The men might break in and steal them,” Kylie replied.

  “Oh piffle!” Stephen snorted.

  “Oh come on!” Allison cried. “We will be late.”

  Graham grunted. “Do Bert good to wait,” he commented.

  “He’ll have to wait anyway or he’ll end up in jail,” Stephen added.

  Both Margaret and Kylie snapped back. “Don’t be disgusting Stephen. It’s not like that.”

  “Oh yeah? What is it like then?”

  “True love,” Margaret replied. She then glanced at Graham, who affected not to notice.

  Mrs Kirk called from outside and Uncle Bill appeared with the door keys in his hand. “Come on kids, get going.”

  They climbed into the cars and were soon on their way. As they drove along Kylie’s mind was like a squirming mess of worms. Had they been using the wrong ‘Erin’ mine as their start point? ‘It would explain why none of the clues seemed to make sense,’ she thought. The more she thought about it the higher her hopes rose. ‘We will find the gold mine yet!’

  CHAPTER 17

  NEW YEAR

  The party was at a house in Malanda. The house was low-set brick in a side street. The owners were a couple called Mathieson who had two teenage children of their own, a boy named Tom and a thirteen year old girl named Karina. Karina was a vivacious blue-eyed blonde. She wore a silky white blouse and a short, tight-fitting, yellow skirt. Kylie at once saw Margaret had competition. As soon as Graham set eyes on Karina she had his interest.

  Kylie muttered angrily under her breath. ‘Oh the bone head! Can’t he see that he is hurting Margaret?’

  Obviously Graham couldn’t as he began to talk to Karina in a bright, cheerful voice. Kylie noted the worried little smile on Margaret’s face as she tried to pretend nothing was wrong. They said hello to the parents, then were introduced to a couple of other local teenagers. To Kylie’s vexation a hulking great lump of a youth named Barry grinned at her and began to monopolize her in conversation. She tried to tactfully put him off but failed.

  ‘Great moronic lout!’ she thought. But Barry wouldn’t take hint. He grinned even more and sat close to tell her all about how he went pig hunting on weekends and on how good his dogs were. ‘He obviously thinks he is God’s gift to girls,’ she thought ruefully.

  As she carried on a polite conversation in a neutral voice Kylie noted that Bert and Allison were seated side by side holding hands. Peter and Stephen were yarning in the corner and Margaret sat beside Kylie in silence.

  More teenagers arrived and the adults retired to the kitchen as the music was turned up. The newcomers included two more girls and three boys. None of the boys appealed to Kylie but one of them liked her and began competing with Barry for her attention, much to her amusement and Barry’s obvious annoyance. Then Stephen moved over and started joking with Karina. Graham was clearly not amused but it gave Kylie a spurt of malicious pleasure.

  The party seemed to have no form to it. Kylie found this boring. She was used to parties where there were games and activities. Here they all just seemed to sit or stand and talk. ‘Or rather shout,’ she thought as the music was turned up even louder.

  This brought Uncle Bill through from the kitchen to have the volume turned down again. Some of the new arrivals scowled and then left but more came in to replace them. Kylie found herself talking to a tall, good-looking youth who must have been 17 or 18 and who was clearly half drunk. She could smell the beer on his breath when he leaned close to her. She did not like that and tried to put him off by being unresponsive.

  More youths arrived. They had a carton of beer. At that Kylie got up and went through into the kitchen to join the adults. Mrs Kirk raised her eyebrows.

  “Anything wrong dear?”

  “There’s a horrible boy pestering me,” Kylie replied. She did not want to dob about the alcohol.

  Mrs Kirk smiled. “That is part of life I’m afraid. A girl has to kiss a lot of toads before she finds a prince.”

  Kylie gave a wry smile. She had heard that bit of advice before. “His breath smells,” she said.

  At that moment there was the sound of breaking glass followed by a chorus of yells and jeers from the lounge. The man who owned the house and Uncle Bill got up to investigate. They soon discovered the beer. There were raised voices for a while as they ordered the youths who were drinking to leave.

  When they were gone Kylie went back into the lounge and sat beside Peter. Margaret came over and joined them. Kylie noted that the good looking drunk was now gone but not Barry. He made a bee-line over to her and resumed his attempt to win on.

  The party dragged on. Kylie became bor
ed and then irritated and wished it would end. Finally she was rude to Barry and he retired in a huff and tried to make a pass at Allison. Margaret nudged Kylie and giggled.

  Kylie had to smile back. “Some hope, the stupid oaf,” she said.

  Bert was not amused either and he stood up, took Allison’s hand and led her out to the front.

  Margaret watched them. “Where are they going?” she whispered.

  “To have a pash,” Kylie replied. She did not really know what that might be like but she had a fair idea of what was involved. She tried to imagine this but found it off-putting. ‘I would have to be really in love,’ she thought.

  Margaret watched with interested eyes and then said: “I wish I was going outside.”

  “There’s Barry. He’ll be in it,” Kylie replied, knowing well what Margaret’s response would be.

  She was right. Margaret wrinkled her face up in disgust and said: “Oh yuk! Not with a creep like that. I meant with Graham.”

  Kylie smiled and patted her arm. “I know. I was just teasing. I’m bored. I wish they would do something else.”

  Luckily others felt the same. The suggestion was put that they walk down to the main street to see what was happening there.

  “That is where everyone will be when midnight arrives,” one of the local lads explained.

  This meant getting the adults to agree. Kylie did the asking with Peter and Margaret. Mrs Kirk nodded. “Alright dear. But stay together and watch out for drunks. We will come down just before midnight.”

  After promising to all stay in a group they made their way out to the front. Outside it was much cooler, a sort of moist chill from the high humidity. Allison and Bert were there. They had obviously been kissing but were only sitting holding hands when the group came out the door.

  “Come on,” Kylie said. “We are all going down to the main street. And we promised mum to all stay together in a group.”

  “Spoil sport,” Allison replied, but she grinned and happily got up to join them. Bert also smiled and stood up too. He put his arm around Allison’s shoulders and she put hers around his waist and snuggled her head onto his shoulder. They both looked very happy and once again Kylie felt jealous and left out.