Frog Whistle Mine Read Online Free PDF Page A

come—she was taking her imagined role as gossip columnist seriously.
    Fred scratched around his shed until he had five yellow helmets. Each of the hats had a lamp on the front connected to a battery stuck on the back. Fred also had a portable fluorescent with a black tube instead of the normal white one.
    With the helmets strapped in place, they set off in single file down the driveway. Fred took the lead, and was followed by Christine, Nick and Rose, with Tony bringing up the rear. The pace was not fast as Fred walked with a limp, holding a hand to his hip as if that was the source of some pain.
    Halfway down the drive, at a mark that only Fred could see, they moved into the scrub. It was fortunate he had insisted they all wear jackets, for otherwise they would have been wet through by the water brushing off the manuka.
    The scrub cleared and they found that the way was blocked by a raised terrace stretching to the left and right. It was covered in gorse.
    ‘Right,’ said Fred, ‘if you’ve got hoods on your jackets, now is the time to put them up. Because we’re going through that gorse.’ Without waiting, he raised his hood and plunged into the thickest part of it. The others looked at each other for a moment, then Christine shrugged, ducked her head and followed. The only one who balked was Rose.
    ‘I’m not going in there,’ she cried.
    ‘Then you’ll have to stay here,’ Tony said.
    ‘What! By myself? It’ll be dark soon.’
    Tony smiled. ‘Make up your mind. It’s either go or stay.’
    ‘You’re cruel,’ she said.
    ‘Look, the easiest way is to put your head down and go. Don’t think about it.’
    She glared at him for a moment before turning and running into the gorse. Then he heard her scream, ‘Oh yuk!’
    Tony followed and soon found what the ‘Oh yuk!’ was about. The gorse was growing in water.
    He broke out of the gorse into a clearing under an overhang of rock. Everyone was stomping around getting water out of their shoes.
    ‘You didn’t mention the water, did you Fred?’ accused Rose.
    ‘I didn’t know it would be that bad. There’s a spring just through there and it must have overflowed from today’s rain.’
    Tony took a look around. At the back of the overhang there was a dark hole. Beside it was a sign that said: NO ENTRY. KEEP OUT. PRIVATE PROPERTY.
    ‘Aren’t we allowed to go in now?’ asked Rose. ‘After almost dying in that gorse.’
    ‘Yes, we can,’ said Fred. ‘It’s my sign. I had to put it up to protect myself in case someone went in and got injured.’
    ‘Would anybody find gold in here?’ asked Christine.
    ‘You’d be surprised. People search all over this area looking for relics. They pay no regard to other’s property. But if they hurt themselves, they blame you.’
    Nick was examining the rock overhang. ‘This is limestone. Why would anyone look for gold in limestone?’
    Fred smiled. ‘That’s not what my grandfather was doing.’ He paused. ‘I need to explain something. That limestone is thirty million years old. But forty thousand years ago, it went under the sea. During that time gold was eroded out of the mountains and deposited in the sand on top of the rocks. Later it was all lifted out of the sea again. When the miners came, most of them took the gold on the surface as it was easier.’
    ‘By the time my grandfather arrived, most of the others had left. All the gold on the surface had been taken. But he reckoned this limestone would have had caves before it went under the sea. And they would have got filled with sand, and that’s where he might find some gold.’
    ‘Did he?’ Tony asked.
    ‘Oh yes. Most people thought he was mad, but he took gold out of here for almost thirty years. It wasn’t a fortune. Yet it was always enough to live comfortably, and to keep the dream alive. See, he believed there was a rich lead in here that would make him a millionaire. But if there was, then he died before he found it.’
    ‘Do you think