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try something different.”
    He reached up his hand, swept up
some glow-worms and wiped them onto the front and sleeves of his
hoodie. He waved his arms.
    “Right, can you see me?”
    There was a chorus of yeses.
    “Pat, fly over here and I’ll do
the same for you.”
    Soon Pat was flying around the
cave glowing like a plane coming into land.
    “OK,” said Jack. “Now you can
see where Pat is. I’ll do the same with Chainsaw, so you’ll know
where he is. Then I’ll do each of you so that I can check where you
are. Any problems with that?”
    There weren’t any, and after a
few minutes everyone was coated with glowing worms and ready to
move on.
     
     
    The system worked well. By the
time they reached the final chamber the moho were all happy and no
longer squealed when Chainsaw gave them a helping paw.
    Then they saw light from the
opening to the cave. That set them off again, as if they’d never
seen daylight before. They all rushed forward wanting to be first
out. But Chainsaw got there first and blocked the way. He snarled
viciously. The moho turned and ran, now eager to get as far away
from the opening as they could.
    “What’s the problem, Chainsaw?”
asked Jack.
    Chainsaw replied with a low
growl.
    “I think there’s something wrong
outside,” said Pat. “I’ll go take a look.”
    He was back almost as soon as
he’d left. “There’s adzebills,” he said, breathlessly. “Lots of
them. It’s where they camp.”
    At the mention of adzebills, the
moho started crying again.
    “What do we do now, Jack?” asked
Pat.
    Everyone turned to Jack as if he
would have the answer. He didn’t, but he couldn’t tell the moho
that or there’d be chaos.
    He turned to Pat. “Do you think
the adzebills know we’re here?”
    “No. They seem to be settling
down for the night. It’s getting dark out there.”
    Jack nodded. “Then we wait until
it’s really dark and leave then.”
    There was much groaning from the
moho.
    “All right!” said Jack, glaring
at them. “Anyone got a better idea?”
    No one did, so they settled down
to wait.
     
     
    Darkness came quickly, but still they
waited. Jack knew that if he got this wrong, then the moho would be
slaughtered. Chainsaw could also be in danger. The adzebills were
strong birds, and the way they operated as a pack was
frightening.
    Finally it was time to go.
    There was no need to tell the
moho to be quiet, for they were already so scared they could hardly
breathe.
    While lots of glow-worms had
fallen off the animals, there were still enough to locate each
other as they filed out of the cave. Chainsaw led the way, his body
low to the ground as he checked ahead for any signs of movement.
There were none, but the sounds of heavy breathing suggested the
adzebills were not far away.
    Jack took the rear to make sure
that no one strayed out of line.
    Now that they were out of the
cave there was enough light from the sky to make out shapes. There
must’ve been thirty or more adzebills crouched on the ground in a
clearing beside the stream. If any of them were awake then they
were keeping quiet about it.
    Chainsaw kept the group close to
the rocks that surrounded the opening to the cave. Ahead of them
was a forest. If they made it there, then they stood a chance of
getting away.
    One by one they made it into the
trees until only Jack was left. As he took one last look around,
the sky was lit by the volcano. It was enough to see the adzebills
clearly. Enough to see that they weren’t all asleep. One was
sitting to one side, looking directly at Jack. It was Boris, the
leader of the pack. For a moment the red glow reflected off the
animal’s eyes turning him into something evil.
    Jack got the feeling that Boris
had been watching all the time. The bird would know that darkness
was not the time for action. He’d wait until the following day: the
moho would be just as tasty in the morning.

Chapter 14
     
    Once again Fluoro and Jack were back in
Crown Park. Fluoro was