Mudpoo and the Fungus Mystery (3 page)

“I've got all the things I need right here, except the carrots. The two of you can go down to the Bethanga General Store and get me as many carrots as you can. Take the wheelbarrow and fill it up, that ought to be enough.”

Captain Pete was so busy hammering and cutting, he didn't notice Mudpoo and Harry leave.

The Bethanga General Store was just down the road and it was one of those old shops that sold a bit of everything; they had hula-hoops and colourful bubblegum, mouse traps and ice creams, newspapers and chocolate . . . Mudpoo knew he'd probably find all the carrots that Captain Pete needed.

“That's rather a lot of carrots,” said Richard, the puzzled store keeper.

“It's for the rabbits,” replied Mudpoo and Harry together.

“Captain Pete is building a giant rabbit trap,” boasted Mudpoo, proudly.

“Shooting is the best thing for rabbits,” said an old farmer who was in the store, picking up supplies and listening to their conversation. “Bang, dead, gone!” he declared with a grin.

“Or poison; some people poison rabbits, but they die rather slowly,” another person in the shop said, sadly.

Mudpoo and Harry shuddered and thanked the store keeper for the carrots.

“You know,” said the farmer thoughtfully, “rabbits are not native to Australia; they kill our native plant species, cause soil erosion and drive native animals out of their homes.
Rabbits destroy the environment!”

“Did you know,” he continued, “in 1859, 24 European rabbits were released in Australia and only 67 years later, there were about 10 billion of them? Rabbits can give birth to up to five litters each year. I once heard a saying; ‘three rabbits, three years, three million rabbits!'”

The old farmer frowned grimly. “Anyone who can solve Australia's European rabbit problem would be declared an Aussie hero.”

“Gosh,” said Mudpoo, “we'd better get home quickly, before they take over our entire farm.”

“How did he get time to count them?” shrugged Harry as they hurried home with a wheelbarrow-full of carrots.

“I hope Captain Pete's invention works, or we'll soon have rabbits living in the house with us!” gasped Mudpoo. Harry looked very concerned.

C
aptain Pete had been extremely busy. He'd attached a number of pulley wheels to some posts and was in the corner of the bottom paddock setting something up when Mudpoo and Harry arrived with the carrots.

“How does it work?” enquired Mudpoo and Harry.

“It's very scientific, it's all based on pulleys and ropes,”
explained Captain Pete.

“I picked this spot because this is where the most rabbits usually are. If we place a huge pile of carrots here and hang the cage I made in this old tree, we can wait for them and . . . when they're all here . . . catch them!”

It seemed like a great idea. Captain Pete had set up a piece of old corrugated iron for everyone to hide behind. His plan was simple; when dozens of rabbits began eating the carrots, he'd let go of the rope and the rabbits would be trapped.

Mudpoo, Harry and Captain Pete all hid behind the corrugated iron and waited and waited and waited. No rabbits appeared, ‘How do they know that the hundreds of carrots placed here for them is a trap?' thought Captain Pete.

“They must be hungry,” whispered Harry, “I am.”

“So am I,” whispered Mudpoo and the two of them snuck back to the house for some food.

At first, Captain Pete was excited, but as time went by his arms got tired and he felt very dozy, sitting and waiting in the hot sun. When Mudpoo and Harry got back, they saw an incredible sight. There were hundreds of rabbits munching on carrots. Captain Pete had fallen asleep and the rope to the cage was stuck on something. It couldn't drop. The rabbits had feasted on most of the carrots and Captain Pete hadn't caught a single one. “Never mind,” Mudpoo whispered to Captain Pete, “you did your best.”

Captain Pete woke up and looked a little disappointed, but then he had another idea and leapt to his feet.

“Eagles! Eagles! They can scare rabbits!
We need an environmentally friendly solution!” he exclaimed, as he waved his arms in the air.

“How can eagles stop rabbits?” enquired Mudpoo.

“We have two types of eagles living near us, the little eagle and the wedge-tailed eagle. They eat rabbits for their tea; maybe we can train them to scare the rabbits away?”

“How is that possible?” questioned Mudpoo, puzzled.

“It's not exactly possible . . . not that I know of,” stated Captain Pete, “but it's an idea and from even the craziest ideas you might get good ideas!”

“What about boobook owls?” inquired Harry, “Do they scare rabbits?”

“Yes,” said Mudpoo, “there's a little boobook owl we hear hooting every night; can he scare rabbits?”

“Boobook owls eat mice and bats and insects and we've got lots of them around here,” said Captain Pete, “I suppose any kind of owl might scare a rabbit away, but I don't know how I can persuade them to help us. I guess I just need to work out a new invention.”

That night Captain Pete sat up late playing the guitar and the little boobook owl sat near his window doing his little ‘mo-poke, mo-poke' call. Whilst Captain Pete was tuning his guitar, he discovered something extraordinary; the little owl's hoot was in the key of B-flat!

“That's it, I've got it!
We can scare rabbits away if we play music in B-flat, I'm sure that this will work!”
he cried out aloud.

Captain Pete was so excited he found it difficult to get to sleep. He dreamt about his new invention whilst listening to the owl's haunting ‘mo-poke, mo-poke' calls. His calls that night were louder than usual. Hooty the boobook owl was hooting a warning to all his owl friends that something wasn't quite right in the nearby hills. It seemed to the little owl, that things might get worse;
he could sense there was DANGER in the air!

T
here was a rumbling, spluttering sound coming up from Kurrajong Gap Road near Bethanga. An old bush-bashing truck (made from left over bits and pieces of other trucks) was struggling up the hill towards the Bethanga Lookout. None of its four occupants were happy. Squished in the front cabin, like sardines, were Snot, Grot, Bones and Pong; the once fierce pirates.
(They had a fright on the high seas and had decided a career change would be good. They were running a flower shop in Queensland until they got into a spot of bother and swapped their flower shop for a truck, loaded with poisonous chemicals.)

“How was I supposed to know we were selling a noxious weed,” grunted Snot.