Read Online The Killer Koala by Kenneth Cook - Free Book Online Page B

tossed his cigarette butt into the ashes of the
campfire.
    'I
suppose I'd better get along and see if I can find this one. "The
body or the bloke," my boss said.'
    He
came back again about mid-afternoon and because I felt that I had got
to know him well by then, I offered him a beer. He accepted and
rolled a cigarette, lit it, drank some of his beer and squatted on
his haunch.
    'No
luck?' I said.
    'Yes,
well, sort of.'
    'Did
you find him?'
    'Found
his legs.'
    There
seemed to be a sudden stillness in the pandanus clump as the three
laconic words emerged with shocking force. It took me several moments
to accept that this was reality and then all I managed to do was
repeat his words.
    'Found
his legs?'
    'Yeah.
About five minutes' walk away from his clothes. In the scrub.'
    'I
see.' It was a subject simultaneously repulsive and intriguing. I
felt a little ill, but I wanted to know more.
    'What
. . . I mean . . . how did you find the — ah — legs?'
    'Heard
the blowflies.' I wished I hadn't asked.
    Jack
puffed away at his cigarette.
    'Wouldn't
have thought we'd find anything,' he said thoughtfully. 'Usually a
croc will take its kill off to its lair if it doesn't swallow it on
the spot.'
    'It
was a crocodile, then,' I said foolishly.
    'Oh
yeah, thought of that. These legs weren't cut off. You can see the
bite marks very clearly. Big bugger he must be.'
    'Well,
what do you think happened?'
    'Oh,
it's pretty obvious. The poor bastard was probably sitting in the
creek cooling off and the croc grabbed him. There wasn't enough water
to drown him — that's what
crocs usually do, hold their catch under water until it drowns — so
it went off with him, probably heading for a deep pool. Then it
stopped on the way and ate him.'
    The
words were almost impossible to accept. It was difficult to realise
that while I had been scouring the scrub for specimens this frightful
drama had been enacted almost within shouting distance.
    'But
why leave the legs?'
    'Dunno.
That puzzles me a bit. Maybe it didn't eat him there. Maybe he was
still kicking and it just took time off to kill him. Wouldn't think
so — grass was all flattened
and matted, but the ants and the birds had been there so you couldn't
tell much.'
    'So
what do you do now?'
    'Take
the legs back to town.' He nodded at his vehicle and I realised for
the first time that the gruesome relics would be in it. 'Pick up some
geli and go and get the croc.'
    I
was taking rather long pauses between sentences, but that was all
right because slow conversations are normal in the north.
    'Will
it be easy to find?'
    'Should
be. He wouldn't get far after a decent feed. He'll find a pool and
lay up for a while until he digests it. Got to get him before that
happens.'
    I
couldn't see this. It struck me as much more seemly to allow the
crocodile to digest his kill rather than recover the awful remains
for burial, but it wasn't my business.
    'How
will you go about looking for him?'
    'Just
follow the stream down and blow every deep pool we come to. Shouldn't
take long. No point in trying for more than a week — there'd
be nothing left to find inside the croc after that.'
    'Are
you going alone?'
    'His
mates are coming with me. Want to come along? Should be interesting.'
    Whenever
I do something I'm slightly ashamed of, I use the excuse of the
writer's instinct, but it was probably only morbid interest that led
me to accept.
    Jack
picked me up early next morning and we drove down the track in his
vehicle.
    The
two civilians were waiting for us at their camp and I was surprised
to find how cheerful they were. I hadn't even known the missing man,
but I found his dismemberment a sobering event. Perhaps they were
relieved that there was no longer any reasonable suggestion that they
had disposed of him themselves. Jack made no attempt to introduce
them. He obviously didn't think much of them. They seemed to accept
this as natural and kept to themselves.
    Jack
took a pack, which he explained contained gelignite,