The Way It Could Be

Part 10 of 12

There were about ten young adults standing in a huddle outside Mario’s when Mike, Jan and Pete arrived. Quite a lot of the locals were also there chatting to them. Jan explained to Mike that they had come into The Glen yesterday as part of the University course they were doing in Canada. An option open to many students now is to spend some time in an eco-village somewhere around the world.

They had just finished some kind of game or exercise and several of the students were still wearing colourful, comical clothing, including hats and masks. All were in high spirits. Jan introduced Mike explaining that he was going to join them in the hunt. Jenny indicated that two young girls were going along too. They were wearing masks, more or less obscuring their faces but tufts of hair stuck out. The tiny one, Penny, had jet black hair and the other with the light blue mask was blonde.

A horse plodded up, pulling a low trailer, Jenny said, “OK everybody the kits have arrived, we can start. Here, help me unload these.” She started passing an odd collection of backpacks from the trailer.

“It’s very simple. You have to find your way to the next place where there’s a clue to how you can find the following place where there’s another clue, and so on, all the way to the end. Look for blue to get the clue! These backpacks are kits that give you the gear you’ll need to work out or get hold of the clues, so you will each need to take one of these. We’ve packed one for each of you. Look for your name on the tag.”

Mike happened to be closest so he took the first and handed it to someone then turned for the second one. He was surprised to find that it was quite heavy and the third so light that it could have been empty.

There was a huge group of locals there by now, surrounding the treasure hunters. “Who is going to win?” someone said “I’ll back that big tough looking bloke.” Another said laughing, “My money’s on the stringy mean looking fellow there.”

People started rummaging around in their packs. “You mean I’m going to need a bottle opener?” “Maybe the treasure’s a crate of booze.” “What! A book of statistical tables!?”

Mike found an odd collection of bits and pieces including a coil of rope, a hammer and nails, paper and pens and a pocket calculator. Somebody said in dismay, “Two house bricks!” It was Gayle, who had ended up with the second pack. Mike wondered why the packs were so very different.

“Ready? Packs on everyone,” Jenny called. “The first check point is down there at the lake on a bright blue signboard about 150 metres from here. Your first task is to find it. Are we ready to start? The countdown is about to begin! Who will find the treasure?”

Looking at the participants, Mike started to think they were so different in strength and brains, some being fit looking young adults and the two kids only about ten years old. The whole thing might be a sadly un-thought out fizzle, leaving many disappointed. Charlie was a fiercely fit looking 20 year old in a singlet and running shorts, wearing a big grin, bouncing up and down and swinging his arms in an exaggerated warm up performance. He sure did look mean and stringy. Mike felt that some of the others might be feeling rather daunted at their chances.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go!”

Charlie sprang away in an exaggerated knee lifting run and the rest straggled into action after him. A girl immediately dropped her pack and stumbled, swore, scrambled her act together and scurried after the main group. The onlookers cheered wildly, waved arms and called out inspiring comments as the participants started to move out of the green and down the path towards the lake.

Mike was a good runner, and he had been trying to decide how seriously to go at the task, but he thought he might as well take it easy and watch Charlie win the honours, so he shuffled along in the middle of the pack. Some were moving further ahead, but when he looked back he could see a few falling well behind. The two girls were right back, Penny carrying her pack in her arms awkwardly. Again he thought that this was a bit unsatisfactory, the kid probably isn’t enjoying the event much, but one wouldn’t be able to tell because both of the girls’ faces were almost completely covered by their somewhat silly masks.

It only took about two minutes to get to the lake and as Mike came through the scrub he was surprised to see the fast starters some fifty metres away standing in a group talking and gesticulating. Charlie wasn’t there, and as Mike came closer one of the girls said loudly “Oh yeah, I get it,” and ran off to the right.

The sign had writing all over it. Mike scanned and with some dismay could see that it was some kind of brain-teaser about how to work out the instructions for finding the next clue. The writing got smaller so he couldn’t scan it all with the others crowding around and jabbering. The message was a garbled concoction of things that seemed relevant and things that were not. It began,

Seekers of the great treasure you must travel 180 metres from here to the dwelling of the ancient elf. You will know when you have found it for he will be there to greet you. You must read on to find out what direction to go to find him. Those who are very clever will work it out quickly, but if you can’t, the precise location is stated somewhere below in the text explaining the natural history of elves.

Mike glanced down the board to see a mass of text in rather small print. OK, try to work it out or have to wade through all that. Someone else said “Aah,” and ran off. Meanwhile two others had caught a up and started expressing their consternation looking over Mike’s shoulder. He plunged into the second paragraph which explained that the location could be read by rearranging the letters set out in a row. Mike assumed the gaps separated words and set to work on the first one which was pretty obviously T-H-E, then the second and then it didn’t take long to see that it could be E-L-F, then I-S, then a bit more difficult. A seven letter word with some of them upside down this time making it harder to work on, but he soon got S-I-T-T-I-N-G, and therefore the sense of what was to come. The next two were easy, U-N-D-E-R and H-I-G-H, but the last one was not so easy and after a few moments, Mike thought about scanning the text below on the habits and lifestyles of elves.

He scanned down the first section and then onto the second and was about to go back to the letters when his eyes just happened to pick up ‘like to sit’. And there it was, the old elves always like to sit under the high arched bridge. He looked up and could see at a glance that the scrambled letters could be rearranged as A-R-C-H-E-D B-R-I-D-G-E, but without the space.

He smiled to the others, without saying anything, and moved aside just as Gayle made it to the sign, puffing and looking somewhat agitated. She dumped her pack and started trying to figure out it’s message. Some were enjoying the action, making witty comments and laughing, but some seemed more serious, indeed, worried.

Mike soon came to the bridge in time to see someone come out from under it, scramble up the bank and jog across it, revealing which side Mike should head for. He almost slid down the bank beside the bridge, bent low and moved under. Sure enough there sat a little concrete elf leaning on a stick smiling, a blue sign around his neck read,

Hi there! Nice to meet you. You will be wanting to know where clue two is. It’s a hundred metres north of here, where you will find Albert near the blue pole. He has the directions for the third leg.

Mike climbed back up to the path and looked around. Where the heck is north? Aah! where’s the sun? So it should be… in that direction.

As he started to jog across the bridge, another two treasure hunters came from the scrub. One called out “Is this the bridge? Have you found the elf?”

Mike said, “Yes” then asked himself whether to save them the trouble of going under the bridge, but decided not to and turned towards the sun.

From the bridge a wide grassed area ran between the stream and the tall trees to the left. A few people were in sight, strolling or sitting on benches. Which one of them was Albert? Mike estimated a hundred metres form the bridge and sure enough there was a couple seated on a bench, and another standing with a large dog, and what looked like a tomato stake was near by. Getting closer he could see the stake was painted blue. Then he saw that the people standing were Charlie and Anne and there seemed to be some sort of argument going on.

The couple sitting on the bench were made up as a very old man and woman, smiling merrily, each holding a sign, One saying “I can only say NO”, and the other “I can only say YES”. So the hunt involved some of the locals playing a part in the action.

Charlie was just standing and doing nothing, apparently having been there for some time, getting no where, and seemed a bit cranky that Anne and now Mike had caught up.

Mike said to the old man, “Hello, you would be Albert I think”.

Charlie cut in with “No he isn’t.”

“Well, are you Albert,” Mike asked the lady.

“She can only say ‘Yes” or nothing, she can’t say ‘No’. At least I’ve found that out.”

“We asked him if she’s Albert, and he said ‘No’.” Anne said. “And we asked her if she knows where Albert is, and she said ‘Yes’. But how do we get out of them where Albert is? That’s the problem.”

“Have you asked them is Albert somewhere close around here?” Mike said to Charlie. But before he could respond, the old lady said “Yes” and smiled.

“Is Albert within 50 metres?”

“Yes.”

They all looked around, saw only one person standing close by, the man in the yellow hat holding the dog on the lead, and they pounced together.

“Is that guy Albert?” Charlie had even started to move off.

“No.”

“What?”

“No.”

“How come,” said Charlie, looking around once more.

“Let’s start again. Is Albert within...”

Anne cut across him. “Is Albert a person? I mean could Albert be something else, I mean...”

“Yes.”

“Aah. It’s the dog, right?” Anne said.

“Yes.”

“Good morning Albert”, said Mike, “I believe you have something to tell us”.

They all stood around Albert as he sat on his haunches looking up at them. Anne and Charlie were badgering the dog owner, a tall man wearing a floppy yellow hat, but he would only smile. The situation became more complicated as two more hunters came up breathless. One said, “Have you found Albert?”

Charlie hesitated, not keen to give away what they’d found out the hard way. Mike leaned down, patted Albert on the head and then noticed the tag hanging from his collar. It read in a beautiful, running, engraved script I’m Albert.

As Mike stood up, the tag spun at the end of it’s short chain and Mike noticed that the back was blue, the same blue that was on the previous clue signs. He bent down again and turned the tag so he could see the back. On it in small letters was printed, Clue 3 is in the Mudbrick Quarry.

Mike stood up. The others were still talking and focused on each other in a confusion of questions and comments and the tone was becoming a little heated. Mike’s mind raced, should he tell them? Just then, one of the new arrivals asked a useless question, and Charlie made an exasperated gesture that was enough to tip Mike. He quietly moved away and approached the people beside the lake.

Before he could ask them where the quarry was, one of them smiled and said,

“Just over there, 80 metres or so.”

Mike plunged through scrub and onto a lane, which way to go? He saw a stake with a blue sign up ahead. It said “Mud brick Quarry”, with an arrow. Then he realised that the path was going to cut across the one the hunt had begun on, not very far from the starting point. So the course zig-zagged back across the same territory. Sure enough he soon came out onto the first path. As he crossed it he glanced left and saw, not 50 metres away, Penny and the other girl sitting down. They hadn’t seen him and in a split second his momentum had carried him across into the thick bush again. He concluded that they must have given up already.

The blue signs were conspicuous so he lost no time having to think out which way to go. But he started to think more about the kids back there on the track. They must be having a lousy time. But some of the other hunters were also struggling and frustrated. After all it is a hunt and someone will win and many will lose. And right now he was actually in front, a somewhat unfamiliar situation for Mike. But maybe he really should go back and help those kids.

But not for long. A noise behind him announced the rapid approach of Charlie, running fast and panting hard.

“Aside, little fellow, aside. Set superior talent through!” He thundered past gasping, elbows out and stringy long legs gobbling up the distance. Mike bristled. He’d just been plodding and was pretty fresh and he could see Charlie was puffed. He thought he could run him down if he tried. But the kids back there were on his mind.

The irritating choice was clear. Either go after Charlie and cut him down to size, win the race, take the treasure, become world famous…or help these kids out, with not even a press photographer around to witness the noble deed. Damn. He turned back.

It didn’t take long to find them. They looked up quite startled as he came out of the scrub some distance away from them. Both had propped their masks on the top of her heads but for some reason hurriedly pulled them back down as soon as Mike appeared. He walked towards them but they just kept sitting. He stopped some metres away and said, “Hi. Need a hand?”

“Oh, not really”, said Penny. “We’re OK. Just having a rest.”

“Do you know what way to go to the next clue?”

“Yes. We’re OK, really. We’ll go on now.”

“You sure? It’s down there. Albert is a dog. Have a look at his tag.”

Mike was a bit surprised at their response but could at least see they were not upset and wanting help. They just stared at him, somewhat dumbly, then started to get up. There was not much more he could do, so he said “Good luck fellow hunters,” turned and began to jog as they stared after him.

Within 50 metres of where he had turned back, the path turned and dropped towards the creek and into a small clearing.. When he got down there where he could see it was a site where mud was being dug and made into bricks. There were benches, two small sheds, bits and pieces and many bricks stacked in under shelters. Many bricks were also scattered around on the ground, which seemed a bit odd. In the middle of the space was another blue stake holding a small notice, again blue and full of writing. Milling around it and wandering between the bricks were four or five hunters, including Charlie, looking puzzled. The sign began,

Congrats! You have found clue three. Somewhere in this sign you are told exactly what it is, but you might save time by following the hints. The clue is in the bricks, but your problem is that you are too close to see it.

Mike looked at the stacks of bricks. Were they supposed to unpack them? That seemed too much. He read on,

In fact you are standing in and on the clue. You cant’ see it from where you are and you can’t see it from the east, or the west or the north or the south. What does that leave? You are too close you must move away. You can’t read it from where you are.

After another two paragraphs of similar unhelpful rambling Mike read,

Well if going east or west or north or south won’t make the clue obvious, why don’t you try the remaining direction?

What other way could there be? Then it struck him that it might be upwards. Mike looked around. Up the side of the gully? Then he saw the long ladder that had been right beside him up against the roof of the shed. Could that be it? Well, might as well climb it. The clue could be on the shed roof, but the roof was bare except for a box with Turn around written on it in blue. Mike turned and there below, right where he had been standing, spelled out by the bricks he’d thought were just scattered randomly and impossible to interpret at ground level, were the words In Mario’s bin.

He almost laughed out loud as he came down the ladder. He had wanted to say something clever to Charlie, maybe tell him to look over the other side of the next hill, but resisted the temptation and tried to move off without arousing suspicion.

It was only a short distance up the slope into the trees and then along to lane to where the houses began and then into the village centre. He quickly crossed to Mario’s and looked for a garbage bin out the front and failing to see one went inside and confronted a smiling Mario. Before he could speak Mario teased,

“Let me guess, you either want a tea, or a coffee, or a bin, right?”

“Yep.”

“Out the back.”

“Thanks.”

Mike went through, down three steps, and there in the middle of the yard was a tin garbage bin and a sheet of blue paper poking out from under the lid. He tugged but it wouldn’t come out. It was a tough plastic cover and was somehow anchored in the bin and the lid was tightly jammed on. He could read several words on the bottom corner poking out. The last few were, ‘That’s where you’ll find the clue’.

Obviously the folder had to be got out somehow. He tugged as hard as he dared then realised that on either side a short chain ran from the lid to small bolts anchored in the side of the bin. The nuts were too tight to undo by hand, so how to get them undone. First thing to do was to look in his kit, but there was no spanner and nothing that looked as if it could be used as a spanner. What to do. Look around the site, especially for anything blue. No use. After two or three minutes, Mike was reduced to leaning against the wall looking at the bin unable to come up with anything like a promising idea.

Then with a ruckus, Charlie and three hunters burst through Mario’s backdoor and Mike’s lead had evaporated. He might as well tell them what he knew. He pointed to the blue folder and the nuts and said, “Look in your packs for a spanner or anything that would engage a nut that size.”

“Right.”

A flurry of rummaging for a few seconds. Anne tried her bottle opener. One of the others failed with the gap between the claws of a little hammer. Then Charlie said, “Hey, look at this!” He was standing still, gazing at a sheet of blue paper he had found in his pack.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t you have one?”

“No all the packs are different, didn’t you know?”

“What is it and can it undo nuts?”

“It says ‘This is a list of what’s in everyone pack’. “

“So does it undo quarter inch Whitworth nuts, that’s all I want to know.”

“No.”

“Well then?”

“But it says there is a shifting spanner…”

“Where?”

“…In Penny’s pack.”

“What?”

“In Penny’s pack it says.”

Stunned silence.

“Let me see.” They crowded around and passed the sheet between them.

“Where’s Penny when you need her.”

“Where’s Penny anyway. She must be miles behind.”

People looked at each other, struggling to digest the situation.

“OK, OK. Let’s get organised here. The task is to find Penny, Right? We’ll have to go back and find where she is.”

“What then?” said Charlie.

“Well,” said Mike, “As I see it the options are clear. One – we steal the spanner, strangle Penny and throw her body off the bridge. If that’s not acceptable option 2 is we tell her she has the key to finding the treasure and would she mind helping us do that. Any other options come to mind?”

Silence.

“OK, how about Mike and I jog back,” said Charlie. “We’re obviously the best at this sort of thing. We’ll save you.”

“And come back pretending you can’t find her, hiding the spanner I bet.”

“Let them go. It’ll tire them out more. We’ll guard the bin. They’ll have to come back here, so we can tip out their packs if they are hiding it and pretending.”

Mike and Charlie went out through Mario’s. Mario seemed strangely preoccupied, stacking something. Across the green, through the bushes, down towards the creek. There was the man in the yellow hat, Albert and his two old friends, now being interrogated by two straggling and exasperated hunters, but no Penny was to be seen.

One of the stragglers said “What’s going on, where are you all going?”

“Have you seen Penny?”

“No, she was way behind us.”

As they jogged around a tight bend in the forest they almost ran over Penny and the other girl.

“Ah there you are! Hey, we need your spanner,” blurted Charlie.

Penny did not look delighted but said nothing.

“We can’t get into the bin at Mario’s without the spanner you’ve got.”

“What spanner?”

“In your kit.”

“How do you know?”

“It says on the list.”

Penny undid the strap and began scrambling around and then pulled out her hand grasping a small blue shifting spanner.

“Yeah! Great work kid!” Charlie enthused. “Let’s go!”

Within a few minutes the four of them got back to Albert. Mike showed Penny and the other girl the blue name tag. Charlie bowed several times in mock difference to the old couple who chatted “Yes” and “No”, and laughed. A pat on the head for Albert and they all moved off quickly towards Mario’s again.

Mario was standing behind the counter with hands on hips smiling without a word as they filed through and out the back door again to be greeted with jubilant cheers by the others. Penny was paraded in front, still clutching the spanner, still wearing her silly mask.”

“Here,” said Charlie reaching for it, “Let me….”

“Just a minute,” Mike said, “I think we have a problem don’t we?”

“What?”

“Well, that’s not your spanner is it? It’s not ours either. It’s Penny’s.”

“So?”

“Well, maybe it’s Penny’s right to undo the nuts and read the clue.”

“Well, OK, then we’ll all just read it too then go on.”

“Not if I read it first and then tear up the sheet,” said Penny.

Her friend laughed. She had left all the talking to Penny although she seemed a little older. Now she was staring at Mike for some reason.

Silence.

“The cunning buggers,” said Charlie with a grin.

“Who?”

“Them what designed this hunt.”

“Yes,” someone else said. “Can’t you see? They’re toying with us, got us in a nice little fix haven’t they?”

“I think they’ve got us all here together to make a point of some kind.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we now have this problem,” Mike said. “How are we going to solve it? Are we going to say our kits are ours, like our private property that will help or hinder us as individuals, like what about Gayle who got loaded with the two bricks? Tough luck Gayle! While Penny is lucky because she’s the only one who can get this clue here.”

Gayle didn’t say anything, just stood looking at the ground which puzzled Mike a little. Then he saw Penny and the other little girl staring at him, and that was a bit strange too.

“Anyway,” said Charlie, “if she was the only one to get this clue and didn’t tell us, then we’d all follow her wouldn’t we.”

Then Penny said from behind her mask, “You fast guys would get the next clue and race ahead again, wouldn’t you, leaving us to get lost again.”

“OK, OK,” said Mike. ” How about we ask Penny politely if she would be prepared to let us all get this clue by letting Charlie undo the nuts.”

“Great idea.” “OK.”

“But,” said Mike. “What then? If she says yes, do we all race ahead again?”

“Guess not,” said Charlie.

Someone said, “Look, how about we share this clue and we start again when we all get it?”

Cries of, “Yes, that’s it.” “Alright.” “Let’s go!”

“Penny?”

“Well…OK.”

Charlie took the spanner and in a few seconds had freed the two nuts, the lid came off to reveal the plastic cover firmly tied to one of the bolt heads preventing it from being pulled out. He undid the knot and held up the folder where most could see it.

He read out aloud, “The next clue is in the middle of Murphy’s pig pen. Murphy’s pig pen is at the western end of Elm Street.”

Cries of “Yeah! To the Pigs”, “Good old Murphy!” as packs were snatched up and Mario’s bin was knocked over. Mike nearly collided with Charlie while others scrambled to get their gear back into their packs.

Mike got to Elm Street quickly, but Charlie had streaked ahead. This time blue signs on tomato stakes left no doubt about which way to turn. Within a few minutes there was a big blue sign pointing left and announcing ‘Murphy’s Pig Pen’.

Around the corner and there was the pig pen, made from heavy boards and sheets of corrugated iron -- and there beside it was Charlie sitting on the ground looking at him.

“Charlie? What are you doing there, did you find the clue?”

“Yep,” said Charlie. “It was right there in the middle of the mud.” He pointed to a blue stake three metres out in a sea of black ooze in which four gigantic, thoroughly evil looking pigs were half submerged. And Charlie’s legs were black mud almost to the knees.

“Don’t bother going in. I got the message here.”

Mike was as stunned by Charlie’s generosity as by his not having been devoured by the pigs.

“How? They look ferocious!”

“No, I grew up on a farm, and, I shouldn’t tell you this, but actually they’re a docile breed, and they’re asleep. Here, want to read the clue.”

Mike took the paper wondering why on earth Charlie wasn’t already over the nearest hill on the way to the next clue. Although the paper was suffering from Charlie’s muddy fingerprints, it clearly said, Clue five is on Gayle’s bricks.

They just sat there in silence waiting for the others. Soon they could hear people running towards the corner.

“What’s up?”

“Where’s Gayle?” said Charlie.

“What?”

“We need Gayle’s bricks.”

“Why?”

Just then Mike was amazed to see Gayle come around the corner. He had thought she’d be way back.

“Gayle! Gayle! Honey me dorlin,” Charlie said in a newly acquired heavy Irish accent, while getting up and revealing to all the full glory of his muddy shanks, “Tank de good Lord you’re here. We need ya bricks.”

Gayle looked stunned “Why?”

“Because clue six is on them!”

“But we want clue five,” said someone in a confused voice. “Clue five is supposed to be here at Murphy’s Pigs.”

“It is,” said Charlie. “Here it is,” waving the paper and launching again into his accent. “It was out der in dat sea of mud in de middle of dem swines. God only knows how I risked me life to get through, -- now get out them bricks woman. See it says here clue six is on Gayle’s bricks.”

Gayle finally closed her mouth, squared up, shuffled and said nothing. More hunters arrived, including the two little girls, still wearing their rediculous masks.

“She ain’t gonna give ‘em to us,” someone ventured.

“Ah, Gayle me dorlin,” said Charlie “you wouldn’t be so mean, would ya?”

“Why not?” said Penny.

“Point, you got a point there kid.”

Gayle said “No it’s not that, it’s just…”

“Hey,” said Charlie, “ might I remind you ungrateful lot that it was me that got clue five for you all, right. I mean look at these legs, they’ll probably rot off before I see any treasure. Anne, would you have gone into that seething, bubbling hell of micro-organisms to get clue five, past them fierce damsel-eating swine? The things I do for you lot! At the very least Gayle, you should at least give your old mate Charlie a peek at them bricks.”

“I can’t,” said Gayle.

“Can’t? Why not”?

Pause. “Cause I dumped them half an hour ago.”

Silence.

“I thought Stuff This! I’m not lugging these when some of them have got nothing in their packs, so I threw them out. I mean how the hell do you think I've been able to almost keep up with the slowest of you?”

“Still beat us!” said Penny.

“The slowies get their revenge at last eh?”

“OK everybody, OK. Time to take stock of the situation. We’ve got to get them bricks right?”

“Right.”

“Well, where are they Gayle?”

“I don’t know.”

“What!”

“I mean, I more or less know, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Dropped them off the bridge I suppose.”

“No, I wanted to but I thought someone would notice. They’re in the scrub before we got to Albert. See I make quick decisions. Before we even started I knew those bricks were going to sit this one out. It was just a matter of when the first opportunity to dump them would present.”

“OK. Then let’s all go back there and look.”

“Alright, then but that’s a million miles back. Gayle you have to always quit so soon?”

“No it’s not, ”someone said. “Don’t you realise we’ve been going round in a sort of circle. In fact if we cut across that way, we’ll be into that stretch again.”

“Are you sure Vic?”

“Yeah.”

“I think we should go all the way back and retrace our steps,” someone else said.

“No, trust me,” said Vic, “I’m good with directions. I bush walk and do maths and spatial things. The place we started from is actually just over there I’d say, maybe only a couple of hundred metres. If you go back the way we came it’ll take much longer.”

“Would you buy a used car from this man?”

“I think he’s right.”

“OK, let’s try it.”

Vic lead off and within no more than a few minutes, roofs came into view and they could see that he had been right. Another few minutes and they came out into the lane that had been the first leg of the hunt.

“Down here somewhere I think,” said Gayle. “At least it was on this side, I know that. Oh dear, can’t tell where. Look I think it would have been between that tree and the fallen one right down there”.

“How far in?”

“Aah, I threw them pretty hard.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t ever want to see them again!”

“Maybe you won’t!”

“OK everybody. How about we spread out along the road and search our patch in as far as you think Gayle would have chucked them.”

“Gawd,” said Charlie, “80 metres at least.”

Within three minutes, someone called, “I think I’ve got one, yep.”

“Well, the other will be near, then…”

“Got it!”

Cheers from up and down the road as people came together.

“Give me my bricks,” said Gayle, now feigning great concern for their welfare.

“No you can’t be trusted with them.”

Anne had found the first one and was turning it over and over. “It’s sort of got some blue writing on it, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“Same with this one,” somebody else said.

They all came together in a huddle.

“Oh I see,” said Mike. “Put them together, there’s half the clue on each one.”

They held the two end to end and as clear as daylight the whole message read,

Clue Six is

in the red boat

near the arched bridge.

“To the bridge!” called Charlie swinging his pack up.

“Just a minute,” Mike said. “Maybe we should debrief a bit here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, let’s try and figure this out. First it looks as if we don’t know which bits of our kits are going to be useful and we don’t know whose got the useful bits, right?”

“So I’m a bit confused about this hunt,” said Anne. “How can anyone take the treasure if it’s like that?”

“Maybe,” said Charlie, “We bumble towards the finish line together, and then the fittest and cleverest and therefore most deserving, I’m referring to me of course, out-smarts the field on the last leg and gets the treasure.”

“Maybe,” said Vic, “we none of us will get to the finish unless we help people like Penny and Gayle to get there.”

No-one had much more to say as they started to walk off towards the bridge, and for once there was not a rush with some streaking ahead.

The boat had been there all along near the bridge but no-one had taken any notice of it. Mr and Mrs Yes-No were still there and smiled and waved. A red rowing boat was anchored only three metres off the low but steep bank, some 30 metres from the bridge. Beside it on the bank was an assortment of ropes and poles, tools and bolts and clutter. As they gathered on the bank they could see a small blue box on a seat in the boat with Clue Seven clearly written on it in big letters, but lying flat on the ground right on the edge of the bank was a big blue sign saying

Treasure Hunters Beware. These waters are infested with giant hungry piranha. You must not enter the water.

“Ah,” said Vic, “I get it. We have to get the box somehow without wading out. That means constructing something from this stuff to get across”.

“Ah yes, a bridge, let’s make a bridge.”

Some of them started lifting boards and poles and rummaging through the gear. Anne thought she had the answer and carried a plank to the edge, but it would have been too short.

Charlie said, “Here this is the longest one.” He placed one end on the bank and awkwardly dropped the other onto the edge of the boat, but the boat would have turned over if anyone had tried to walk out with all the weight on one side.

Mike said, “I think I get it. Tie ropes to the top of the plank and we’ll hold them while somebody goes out.”

“Einstein!”

They scurried into action and soon again had the plank just reaching the boat to the edge of the boat, several people holding each of the ropes somewhat awkwardly.

“Oh oh,” said Vic, “I think we have a problem.”

Too late. Charlie had started moving out, arms side-ways for balance, but he had only gone about a metre, when the pull on the low angle ropes started to slide the plank back along the grass, and off the boat. He was lucky to get back without becoming piranha fodder.

“I think,” said Vic, “ we have to make a crane.”

“What’s that?”

“Yep, that’ll be it. See the poles have holes that will take rope. That one could be a king pole and the very long one there could be an arm. Yes that’s it. Let’s go. Here hold that one up there while we tie it off with rope and someone… yeah look a pulley! I’m right. Someone shackle that pulley to the end of the pole and thread the heavier rope through.”

“Ah yes, I see, that’ll do it.”

“Great, yes, must be the answer, it’s obviously all made to fit together. We mathematicians know we have the right answer when it comes out elegantly.”

“Where will we anchor these guy ropes. No trees or anything around.”

“I think we’ll just have to hold them, maybe three of us on each of those ropes while a couple pull the rope lifting the hero.”

“Hero?”

“Yeah, someone has to be lifted up on the end of the rope, swung out to the boat to read the clue…”

“Penny, Penny me dorlin,” said Charlie. “What’s it like to be a hero?”

“Me?”

“Yes you.”

“Why me?”

“Because, mirror, mirror on the wall, you’se the lightest of us all.”

Cries of “Yes!” “Good thinking Charlie.”

Mike thought that Penny might go for more revenge by being difficult, but she promptly said, “Alright.”

Meanwhile Vic had tied the end of the main rope into a loop and had organised three people as the haulers, more than enough. Some of the others would help him swing the boom 90 degrees when Penny was air born.

Vic said, “Now. Let’s have a dummy run.”

“No, your not getting me on that thing!” Charlie said, backing away.

“No let’s use a bit of weight. Anyone got any bricks?”

“Gayle!” a gleeful chorus.

“Aw no, we left them when we got the message from them.” Groans.

“OK. Anything will do. Give us a few packs. Now this is just so we all know our parts. Especially you buys holding the stays, you have to make sure you keep a good tension on all the time.”

“Vic,” Anne said, “Are you sure that will hold there, I mean the foot of the boom?”

“Yeah, that’s OK. See it’s always going to be into the ground at a high angle so it will dig in and won’t skid out. By the way, does youse guys know what course I’m doing?”

“Obviously not English.”

“Engineering! Now, this rig’s just fine, It’ll work like a dream.”

After the trial Penny stepped into the loop and the haul team lifted her easily off the grass. “We have lift-off Huston!”

“Right team?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s swing the boom out. Pull slowly you lot.”

Penny swung out over the water, the three on the main rope only had to let out a metre or so and Penny’s feet were on the boat seat amid cheers from all. She reached into the box, picked out a blue sheet and stood looking at it blankly.

“Come on. What does it say?”

“I don’t know, I can’t read it.”

Oh no thought Mike, our hero is a slow learner, eight and can’t read.

“Spell it out then.”

Slowly she said “OK, v-o-u-s e-t-r-e-s…”

“French!” someone called, “The damn thing’s written in French!”

“OK, let’s get our hero back to dry land. Penny, don’t dump that sheet just because it’s heavy will you, remember about bricks.”

Penny passed the sheet to someone as they got her feet onto the grass again. The others laid the poles down and gathered round.

“Anybody done French?”

“Yeah, me.”

“Great!”

“Failed it though. But I did it.”

“Anyone else?”

Silence.

“What can you make out? It’s not very long.”

“I can get a few of the simple words, it doesn’t look complicated but that and this and this, no idea what they mean. If I’d thought French might have been this useful someday I might have concentrated a bit more.”

“Well, we’ll get no where unless we can decipher it.”

“Oh!” from the back of the group. They all turned to stare at Silvia who stared back with open mouth.

“Guess what! I think I have it! You’ll never believe this, do you know what I saw in all the junk I’m carrying? The sneaky buggers.” She bent down and unbuckled her pack to reveal a mass of bits and pieces, like a kid’s toy box, and started delving into it.

“I didn’t take much notice of what was in here at first, but I thought it must be a kind of decoy to distract us, like useless bricks, but, here it is. She pulled out a small newspaper package tied with string, on I was written In case you have a French problem. Everyone knew what it was before the wrapping came off. Then Charlie’s voice boomed, “Ah yes, here it is, on the list. One small French - English dictionary. Here Ellen, what are the problem words?”

“Struth, dummies! Charlie just read the damn kit list out so we all know whose got what. That should save gallons of time in future.”

Charlie ran through the list while others looked through their kits.

“How about we even the packs up?” someone said. “Some of us have been carrying a lot while mine for instance is pretty light.”

“Good idea. Try to remember what you’re adding, so next time we need something we can get it quickly.”

“We got it! Code broken. The key bit says ‘You are 150 metres from the lobster pot”.

“Great what direction?”

“Doesn’t say.”

“Well, let’s just go in all directions and look.”

“Right, what’s it going to look like, a cooking pot?”

“No, it’ll be the thing they catch them in, like a woven basket, spherical, maybe this big.”

They fanned out, some along the grass banks, but most heading up into the scrub. Within three minutes the call came, “Got it! This way.”

There in a clearing on a bench was a wire mesh cage about a metre high and at the centre was an old lobster pot with iron rods poking out at all angles, through the mesh. Inside was a small blue container with Clue Seven written on it. A single blue cord ran from it to a small opening in the side. The mesh was too fine to get a hand through. They crowded around and started trying to puzzle out how to get the box out.

The cord was jammed against the floor of the pot and the bench by about 20 pieces of steal rod just sitting vertically on it. They ran through collars which prevented them from being pushed sideways and when Vic pulled one up, it rose enough to free the cord but a flange on the rod prevented it from being pulled right out, so when he let it go it sat down on the cord again.

“Somehow we have to get them all off the cord at the same time.”

“Tip it upside down.”

“OK. Here, you get that side.”

But the whole contraption was bolted to the heavy bench.

“Why don’t we all lift one each?”

“Too many rods. Let’s try taking a couple each.”