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Inordinate Intrigue – Part 3
Last time – Nimmo, after discovering an Oasis in the desert, had mounted his horse, saddle bags filled with six bags of gold and headed for the entrance between two gigantic boulders, only to find his four fellow Emu chasers spread evenly in front of him.
“You know we can’t let you take that gold now don’t you” they said. “In fact, now you have discovered the cove we can’t let you leave at all.……”
“Was he ok Dad, did they hurt him?” I asked, panic-stricken.
“Settle down Allan,” replied his dad, “just listen to the rest of the story and all will become clear.”
Nimmo sat silent on his steed looking the men up and down. Taking a gamble he said, “it only seems fair since I left the other 24 bags where they sat.”
The thick set man in the middle nodded to the man on Nimmo’s right, “go check it out Bill.”
The horse on the right walked into the mist of the cavern.
Nimmo saw his chance, “yahhh!” came a cry as he hit his reins on his horse’s hind quarters. He galloped through the newly formed gap in the line of men.
They responded but not fast enough, Nimmo vanished into the dense scrub.
Word has it the men followed Nimmo to within a whisker of capture, but alas, he escaped.
He turned up a few days later south of Perth’s Swan River, reportedly carrying five bags, heavy and cold to touch.
The story goes he boarded a boat and sailed to the Port of Brisbane. Rumour has it the four men were tipped off. They shot Nimmo close to the town of Caboolture, the bullet grazing his forehead and taking his eyebrow clean off. He managed to escape the men through a raft of tunnels made to harbour settlers, should Australia be invaded.
By this time Nimmo had become famous, and posters were everywhere stating he had deserted the army with a fortune in stolen gold. His fellow Emu Hunters knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up. Finally, eight months later another rumour emerged that that he had been spotted in a back alley in Melbourne, Victoria, with only three bags remaining. He disappeared as quickly as found and was last spotted heading out of Adelaide carrying one last remaining bag.”
“What happened to all the bags of gold Dad?” Allan said as he leaned closer to his father.
Rumour has it he hid a bag of gold in every stop. The story goes he was to go back at a later date but sadly, it would never come to pass. Your Grandfather was a wanted man in every state. He changed his name, married a beautiful woman, and lived a quiet life in a small village on the North Island of New Zealand.
On the morning of my eighth birthday, he stumbled through the front door of our house. His blood-stained shirt told a fateful tale. He dropped to the floor gasping for his last breaths. I fell by his side and lifted my father’s head onto my knees.
In his dying moments he relayed the entire story to me and from his pocket he pulled a map. On it were five crosses,
Caboolture Brisbane
Rocklea Brisbane
Canning Vale Perth
Sunshine West Melbourne
Wingfield Adelaide
“There was so much blood Allan.” I squashed the map into his wound, but it was too late. “Your Grandfather had passed to his next life.”
A tear dropped from my dad’s face as he stood up from my bed and slowly headed for the door.
“Where is the last bag of gold, Dad? Where has he hidden the last bag of gold?!”
My dad looked down at me and held out his hand. “Your grandfather would have wanted you to have this Allan,” and he placed a piece of cloth on the bed, a map with five crosses and a large stain of blood concealing what he knew was the location of the last remaining bag of gold.
“Good night son, get some sleep. You are going to need it if you want to get up for the game.”
But I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep for the next eight years.
The day I turned 16 years of age, I headed back to where it all began. A boy, a map, and a determination to realise the dream of a legend.
We all know what I have done with those first five bags of gold.
Did I find the sixth?
…………. it’s coming!