Koala Roundup

  FOR MY BROTHER PHILIP,

  WHO DOESN'T BELIEVE IN KOALAS.

  1

  FINDING TINKERBELL

  ‘TINKERBELL!’ yelled Jordan Fox.

  ‘TINKERBELL!’ yelled his twin brother, Harry.

  Tinkerbell was a puppy. When she’d run off after a rabbit and hadn’t come back, her owners had called Mission Fox.

  Jordan, Harry and their huge dog, Myrtle, were Mission Fox. They rescued animals in danger and found lost pets.

  ‘TINKERBELL! TINKERBELL!’ the twins yelled at the tops of their voices.

  They were just across the river from the golf course. Everyone could hear them. A man with a golf club pointed up at the sky.

  ‘What’s he doing, Agent J?’ asked Harry.

  Agent J was Jordan’s Mission Fox name. ‘I think he’s showing us where to look for fairies, Agent H,’ he answered.

  Harry rolled his eyes. ‘TINKERBELL’S A PUPPY, NOT A FAIRY!’ he yelled across the river.

  ‘HAVE YOU SEEN A LITTLE BLACK AND WHITE PUPPY?’ yelled Jordan.

  The man just shook his head and kept pointing at the sky. He was no help.

  Anyway, Harry and Jordan didn’t need help. They had Myrtle. She was running back and forth, sniffing the ground. Suddenly her tail started wagging.

  ‘Woof!’ she barked, and went racing off through the scrub towards the National Park.

  Agent H and Agent J gave each other the secret MF high ten (that’s a high five when you count all the fingers).

  ‘Mission Fox is go!’ they said, and went charging after Agent M.

  They caught up with her next to a high wire-mesh fence. On the other side was thick forest. There was a rabbit warren under the trees. A cute black and white puppy sat next to one of the holes, waiting for a rabbit to come out.

  The twins and Myrtle pressed their faces to the wire.

  ‘Are you Tinkerbell?’ Harry asked.

  The puppy wagged her tail for yes, but she didn’t come over.

  Jordan looked up at the fence. There was spiky wire on top to stop things climbing over.

  ‘How’d you get in there, Tink?’ he asked.

  The puppy didn’t answer, but Myrtle did.

  ‘Woof!’

  She had found a hole under the fence. The rabbits must have dug it. It was just the right size for a puppy to squeeze through.

  But too small for the Mission Fox agents to follow her.

  Jordan was wearing the FoxPack. It was full of rescue equipment. There were dog biscuits, too. He gave one to Myrtle for finding the lost puppy, then he waggled another one near the hole under the fence.

  ‘Come and get it, Tink!’ he said.

  The puppy came trotting over. But she wouldn’t come back through the hole – not even for a dog biscuit.

  ‘We’ll have to use the gate,’ Harry said.

  Jordan nodded. On the other side was the koala sanctuary. He and Harry had been here before. As well as koalas, there was a duck pond where they sometimes saw tadpoles. The entrance gate was further along.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Jordan said.

  They set off along the fence. The three Mission Fox agents walked on one side, Tink trotted along on the other side. It took ages. Tink kept stopping to sniff things. Jordan and Harry had to poke little bits of dog biscuit through the wire to make her follow them.

  Finally they reached the gate. There was a big green sign with black writing.

  MOUNT NULLAMBINE KOALA SANCTUARY

  KEEP GATE CLOSED AT ALL TIMES

  NO DOGS ALLOWED!

  The gate was tall. Like the fence, it had spiky bits on top to stop the koalas climbing out. A powerful spring held it shut. Harry pushed the gate open and Tink came trotting through, wagging her tail. While she and Myrtle shared another dog biscuit, Jordan got a piece of rope from the FoxPack and tied it to her collar.

  Then he and Harry gave each other the secret MF handshake.

  ‘Mission complete, Agent H!’

  ‘Mission complete, Agent J!’

  Myrtle barked.

  The twins laughed. ‘Mission complete, Agent M!’ they said.

  But Myrtle wasn’t listening. She was staring up at a gum tree on the other side of the fence. Right near the top sat a big grey koala.

  ‘Awesome!’ cried Harry.

  ‘Whoa! Double awesome!’ cried Jordan, because there was a baby on its back.

  They had been to the koala sanctuary lots of times, but they had never seen a koala with a baby before.

  ‘Well spotted, Agent M!’ the twins said.

  They gave her the secret MF head pat.

  2

  PEOPLE FOOD

  It was the middle of summer and they had walked a long way. Jordan had a big drink from the Mission Fox water bottle, then passed it to Harry.

  Glug, glug, glug! went Harry. Soon all the water was gone.

  Someone made a whimpering noise.

  ‘Yikes!’ said Jordan. ‘We should have saved some for Myrtle and Tink.’

  The dog and the puppy were panting in the heat.

  ‘Sorry guys,’ Harry said.

  ‘We’d better take them down to the river,’ said Jordan.

  Harry wiped the sweat off his face. ‘Good idea, Agent J. It’s really hot.’

  They set off for the river. It was quite a long way, but it was mostly downhill. Myrtle ran ahead through the scrub. Tink wanted to go with her, but the twins kept her on the rope. She might run away. It was too hot to go looking for her again.

  At last they reached the river. Myrtle ploughed straight in and started swimming in circles. She gulped water as she swam round and around. Jordan held Tink’s rope while the puppy had a long drink from the shallow water at the edge.

  ‘I’m hungry,’ Harry said. ‘Are there any muesli bars in the FoxPack?’

  Jordan was hungry, too. He found two muesli bars and gave one of them to Harry. As soon as they started eating, Myrtle came charging out of the water. She shook herself and made everyone wet. Then she sat in front of the twins and stared at the muesli bars, drooling.

  Harry shook his head. ‘This is people food, Agent M. You and Tink already had dog biscuits.’

  3

  SMOKE

  The twins finished their muesli bars.

  ‘Where have all the people gone?’ Jordan asked.

  Harry looked across the river. The golf course was totally deserted. Half an hour ago, there had been golfers everywhere.

  ‘They must be having lunch,’ he said.

  Jordan checked his watch. It was lunchtime. ‘Do they all have lunch at the same time?’ he asked.

  ‘Who cares!’ said Harry, sitting down to pull off his sneakers. ‘I’m going for a swim.’

  Suddenly everything went dull. Jordan peered over his shoulder. A huge cloud had moved across the sun. It looked weird. Jordan had never seen a brown cloud before.

  A siren wailed in the distance.

  ‘Harry . . .’ Jordan said nervously.

  Harry rose slowly to his feet. Myrtle came bounding out of the water. Tink raised her head.

  They all sniffed the air.

  ‘I smell smoke,’ said Harry.

  So did Jordan.

  Now he knew why the man with the golf club had been pointing at the sky. And why everyone had gone home.

  ‘It’s a bushfire!’ Jordan cried.

  4

  OPEN THE GATE

  They followed the river towards town. If the bushfire cut them off, they could jump into the water. But Jordan didn’t think they were in danger. The fire was on the other side of Mount Nullambine. They couldn’t see any flames, just clouds of thick, brown smoke rolling across the sky like a summer thunderstorm. It was becoming quite windy. Dust and leaves started flying about.

&nbs
p; ‘Hurry up, Tink!’ Jordan said.

  But the puppy kept stopping to check out holes under tree roots, and to chase lizards and grasshoppers. Jordan had to drag her along.

  ‘I’ll carry her,’ said Harry. He picked her up.

  Luckily they didn’t have to carry Myrtle. She was huge. She kept looking up into the forest and sniffing the air.

  ‘Don’t worry, Agent M,’ Jordan said. ‘The fire’s miles away.’

  There were more sirens. It sounded like every fire truck in the state was heading for Nullambine.

  ‘We’re nearly there,’ puffed Harry. He was red-faced and sweaty. Tink was quite a big puppy.

  ‘I’ll carry her for a while,’ Jordan said. ‘You wear the FoxPack.’

  After they swapped, Jordan discovered that Tink wasn’t just big, she was squirmy. She kept twisting and wiggling in his arms, trying to get down. He had to hold her very tight.

  Harry led the way. He walked fast. But he kept looking over his shoulder to make sure Jordan and Tink weren’t falling behind.

  Suddenly he stopped. ‘Where’s Agent M?’

  Jordan turned in a circle. There was no sign of Myrtle.

  ‘When did you last see her?’ he asked.

  Harry shrugged. ‘A couple of minutes ago. What about you?’

  ‘I haven’t seen her since we swapped loads.’

  The twins started yelling: ‘MYRTLE! MYRTLE! MYRTLE!’

  Jordan was so worried about Myrtle that he forgot he was holding a puppy. Big mistake! Tink was a border collie – they’re really smart. She went all floppy in his arms like a rag doll. Then she did a sudden, extra-big wiggle and slid out.

  She hit the ground running.

  ‘Hey!’ cried the twins, taking off after her.

  Tink didn’t worry about lizards or grasshoppers or holes under tree roots this time. She went flat out. Back along the river bank, then up into the scrub where the river turned to go around the edge of the golf course. The piece of rope bounced along the ground behind her like an extra-long tail. Jordan and Harry ran as fast as they could, yelling at her to come back. But the runaway puppy took no notice. She could hear something else.

  Soon the twins could hear it, too.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ asked Harry.

  Jordan nodded. They were running uphill and he was too puffed to answer. A dog was barking in the distance. It sounded like a big dog – a huge dog, actually. Dogs didn’t grow any bigger than Myrtle.

  Tink led them straight to her.

  ‘Agent M, why did you come back here?’ cried Harry.

  Myrtle stood next to the gate, staring into the koala sanctuary. She wasn’t barking anymore, she was whimpering.

  ‘What’s the matter with her?’ Harry asked.

  Jordan was still too puffed to talk. Puffed and scared. The air was full of smoke. He picked up the end of Tink’s rope and gave it to Harry to hold. Then he pulled Myrtle’s lead from the FoxPack and clipped it to her collar.

  ‘Follow me, Agent M,’ he said, tugging on Myrtle’s lead. ‘We’ve got to get out of here before the bushfire comes.’

  But Myrtle didn’t budge. It was like trying to move an elephant.

  ‘Agent M, come on!’ Jordan cried, pulling with all his might.

  Myrtle plopped down on her backside. She wasn’t going anywhere. She put her big front paw on the gate.

  ‘I think she wants to go in,’ Harry said.

  Jordan stopped pulling. ‘No, she doesn’t.’

  He looked up at the mother koala and her baby in the tree.

  ‘She wants us to open the gate,’ he said.

  5

  JAWS OF DEATH

  Jordan pushed the gate as far as it would go and jammed it open with a stick.

  ‘Won’t the koalas get out?’ Harry asked.

  Jordan nodded. ‘That’s the idea, Agent H. There’s a bushfire coming. They’re trapped in there.’

  ‘Yikes!’ gasped Harry. ‘I didn’t think of that, Agent J.’

  ‘Neither did I,’ Jordan said. ‘But Agent M did.’

  Myrtle wasn’t a border collie, but she was pretty smart, too.

  ‘Nice work, Agent M!’ Harry said, giving her another MF head pat.

  Tink wanted a pat, too. She started jumping up at Harry, yapping for attention.

  ‘Make her be quiet,’ Jordan whispered. ‘She’ll scare the koalas.’

  Harry crouched and put his arms around the puppy to calm her. Then they all stayed very still. The mother koala was piggybacking her baby down the tree trunk. She could smell the fire coming. She knew she had to take her baby somewhere safe.

  ‘We’d better get away from the gate so she can come out,’ Jordan said softly.

  Slowly and quietly, he and Harry led Myrtle and Tink into the scrub. As soon as they were out of sight, Harry turned towards the river and tugged on Tink’s rope.

  ‘Let’s get out of here, guys!’ he whispered.

  Jordan grabbed his arm. ‘Wait a bit, Agent H. Let’s make sure the koalas notice that the gate’s open.’

  They hid behind some bracken and spied on the koalas. The mother waddled towards the fence with the baby riding on her back. But when she reached the wire, the mother koala turned in the wrong direction – away from the gate!

  ‘Go the other way, Mrs K!’ Harry hissed under his breath.

  ‘I’ll try pet whispering,’ Jordan said.

  When they were little, the twins used to play superheroes. Jordan was the Pet Whisperer. The Pet Whisperer could talk to animals using thoughts. It was only a game, but sometimes it really seemed to work.

  Jordan closed his eyes and tried to have koala thoughts so he could talk to Mrs K. In a few seconds he was ready.

  ‘Turn around, Mrs Koala,’ he mind-whispered. ‘The gate’s behind you!’

  Nothing happened. The mother koala didn’t turn around. She went waddling off along the inside of the fence, heading away from the open gate. Soon she and her baby were just two fuzzy grey shapes in the smoke.

  ‘What will we do?’ Jordan asked.

  ‘I guess we have to go in after them,’ said Harry.

  Jordan’s eyes went big. ‘Into the sanctuary? There’s a bushfire coming, Agent H!’

  Harry nodded and stuck his chest out. The Pet Whisperer wasn’t the only superhero in the Fox family. When the twins were little, Harry used to be Captain Amazing, the bravest superhero ever.

  ‘Mrs K isn’t going very fast,’ Harry said in his deep Captain Amazing voice. ‘If we run through the forest, we can get ahead of her and chase them back to the gate.’

  ‘What about the fire?’ Jordan asked, sounding scared.

  ‘It’s miles away,’ Harry said. He didn’t sound scared at all. ‘We’ve got heaps of time.’

  Jordan peered up at the sky. All he could see was smoke and bits of falling ash. He did not want to go into the koala sanctuary!

  ‘Dogs aren’t allowed in,’ he said.

  Harry took no notice. He led Tink in through the gate. ‘Remember the Mission Fox Official Oath, Agent J.’

  When they started Mission Fox, Harry and Jordan had made a list of serious animal rescue promises.

  If they didn’t go into the sanctuary to rescue Mrs K and her baby, they would be breaking lots of them.

  GULP! thought Jordan.

  ‘Come on, Agent M,’ he said.

  Taking a big breath, Jordan led Myrtle through the gate into the the smoky trees on the other side.

  It felt like they were walking into the jaws of death.

  6

  LIFE AND DEATH RACE

  A walking track led off through the forest in the right direction. There was a sign at the start:

  DO NOT RUN! UNEVEN SURFACE

  But this was an emergency.

  Jordan gripped Myrtle’s leash with both hands . . . and said the M word.

  M stood for Mush. It was what the twins said to Myrtle when she was about to pull the FoxMobile, which was Mission Fox’s dog-powered rescue cart.r />
  It meant, Run flat out!

  Harry was a really fast runner. Tink was pretty fast, too. But they both got a big surprise when Myrtle went flying past them, closely followed by Jordan. Myrtle was pulling him so fast that Jordan’s feet could hardly keep up.

  ‘It’s not a race!’ puffed Harry.

  He’s wrong, Jordan thought. It’s a life and death race.

  They had to get ahead of the koalas and chase them back to the gate, or Mrs K and her baby would die in the bushfire.

  Suddenly Myrtle slammed on the brakes. Jordan nearly crashed into her.

  ‘Hey, why did you stop?’ he asked.

  Then he saw why. A humungous brown snake was crossing the track. It was two metres long.

  One bite and they’d be dead.

  But the big, scary snake didn’t even look at them. It went wriggling across the track and kept going. It was heading for the river, where it would be safe from the bushfire.

  Even though snakes gave him the heeby-jeebies, Jordan wished he could follow it.

  Harry and Tink came running along the track.

  ‘What’s happening, Agent J?’ puffed Harry.

  ‘A humungous brown snake was on the track,’ Jordan said.

  Harry peered past him and Myrtle. ‘That’s not a brown snake,’ he said. ‘It’s a tree snake.’

  Jordan’s head snapped around. Shishkebab! Now another snake was crossing the track! This one was green and very skinny. Tree snakes aren’t dangerous, but Jordan’s legs felt like jelly. All snakes terrified him.

  But bushfires terrified him more.

  ‘Let’s find Mrs K and her baby, and get out of here!’ he whispered.

  Harry was one of those weird people who liked snakes and creepy-crawlies. But he didn’t like bushfires. ‘Do you reckon we’ve come far enough?’ he asked.

  Jordan nodded. ‘Mrs K wasn’t going very fast. We must be way ahead of her by now.’