Read Online Crown Park by Des Hunt - Free Book Online

up.”
    Bit by bit, Fluoro adjusted his
position until he could exert enough force to haul Jack out of the
hole. As soon as Jack felt something solid beneath his body, he
scrambled clear of the edge. He found a rock and sat with his back
against it, trying to calm the thumping in his chest.
    By then the rumbling had stopped
and the earth was quiet again. But not so the moho trapped in the
bottom of the hole. Cries of panic sounded from below.
    “At least some of them are still
alive,” said Fluoro.
    “Looks like all of them are,”
said Emily, who was now hovering above the hole. “Though some are
partly buried.”
    “Any chance of getting them
out?” asked Jack.
    “I doubt it,” replied Emily. “Us
animals won’t be able to. I don’t know what you humans can do.”
    Fluoro turned to Jack. “Did you
see what’s down there?”
    “No! I was trying to stay
alive.”
    “If I hold your feet, you could
slide forward and take a look.”
    Jack wasn’t so sure that he
wanted to dangle over the edge again. Reluctantly he moved forward
and lay on the ground. When he was certain that Fluoro had a decent
grip of his legs, he edged forward until his head was over the
edge.
    “Wow!” he said. “It’s a giant
cave. One side of the roof has fallen in.”
    “It’s a sinkhole,” said Fluoro.
“You get them all over this area.”
    “Can you get down?” asked Lucy
who had been gathering up the other moho.
    Jack studied the hole for a
while. “Doubt it. There’s only one place that looks likely. There’s
a dirt slide over there where Chainsaw is.”
    All eyes turned to the cat who
was peering into the opposite side of the hole. As they watched,
Chainsaw eased himself over the edge and began sliding. Half way
down he put the brakes on and stopped. He looked up at Jack and
meowed, inviting him to follow.
    Jack wasn’t so sure. “If I go
down I’ll never get back up again.”
    “Is there a stream at the
bottom?” asked Fluoro.
    “Yes.”
    “Then once you get down all you
have to do is follow that stream. You’ll get out sooner or
later.”
    Jack gave him an anxious look.
“Will it be dark?”
    “Almost sure to be.”
    “You’ve got to go,” said Lucy.
“We can’t leave them there.”
    “I’ll come with you,” said Pat.
“I can find my way around in the dark.”
    “I’ll come too,” said Emily.
“Then I can guide you back here.”
    “No!” said Lucy. “I need you to
help with the remaining moho. Chainsaw, Jack and Pat will be
enough.”
    Jack looked up at Pat. “Are you
ready?”
    “Whenever you are,” replied the
bat.
    “Then let’s do it.”
    Jack got to his feet and moved
around to the dirt slide. Only a few minutes had passed since he’d
wished for some adventure to break the boredom. Now he was thinking
that maybe boredom wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Chapter 13
     
    The screaming of the moho in the bottom
of the hole was deafening. Jack cupped his hands over his ears and
yelled, “Stop it!”
    Instantly there was silence.
    “Thanks, Jack,” said Pat. “If
they make a noise like that, I won’t be able to hear my own squeaks
and we’ll never get out of here.”
    Morris stepped forward. “Sorry
about the noise,” he said. “It’s all a bit too much for them.”
    “They need to control
themselves,” said Jack.
    “We’ll try,” said Morris. “What
do you want us to do?”
    Jack looked around. Already
Chainsaw and Pat were investigating where the stream disappeared
into a tunnel. It looked like it would be big enough for everyone
to get through. The problem was how would the moho cope with the
dark? He thought back to an exercise they’d done at a school camp
in Wellington. He turned to Morris. “Can you moho count?”
    Morris gave him a pained look.
“Of course we can.”
    “Good! Then I’m going to
allocate each bird a number. When we get into the tunnel we can
check everyone’s with us by counting out the numbers in
sequence.”
    “Good idea,” said Morris.