CHAPTER 3
The cove on the other side of the headland was quiet. Seagulls drifted high overhead catching currents of air as their keen eyes searched for food below. The sun’s hot rays beat down in waves.
Tara’s father had caught up with Gruel. He’d learnt his lesson from the previous week and had been quick and professional in capturing him and Gruel was now lying flat on his stomach underneath a palm tree. He’d been handcuffed, his ankles were bound together with rope so he couldn’t stand up and the rope had then been tied around a huge boulder just for good measure. Quite naturally, Gruel was both angry and upset at the turn of events. As the leader of The Toolkit Gang he’d prided himself on the fact that he was always one step ahead of the law and had never been captured but now he found himself lying with his face in sand minus his box full of gold. In temper Gruel squirmed and shook the rope that bound him trying to loosen it but just got a nose full of sand for his trouble.
Tara and her father sat on the sand a few palms trees down from Gruel. The wooden box of gold coins was next to them.
Her father glanced at his watch. “The boat is late picking us up,” he commented.
“Can’t we use his?” Tara asked, nodding towards Gruel’s boat still sitting on the sand.
“It’s a rowing boat,” replied her father. “It would take us a year to get home in that and I don’t think your mum would be happy if you were that late home for tea.”
Tara giggled, pushed her hair back from her face and then glanced across at Gruel. “He’s not very happy,” she said.
“Well, he’s going to be even more unhappy when we get him back home and he’s put in prison.”
“D’you think he’ll be teased because he’s green?”
“I doubt anyone will go near him let alone tease him,” said her father. “That’s one mean creature there.”
“I’m really hungry.” Tara patted her stomach.
“You’re always hungry,” replied her father but he rummaged in one of his coat pockets and brought out a snack bar.
Tara made a face but took it anyway. “Is that it?”
“That’s the last. I’m pretty hungry myself, this boat had better turn up soon or we’ll have to start cracking open the coconuts.” Tara giggled again, lifted up her dad’s arm and draped it around her shoulders snuggling into him, and the two of them sat looking out to sea waiting for the boat that would take them home.
Gruel snorted the sand out of his nostrils and then lay quietly thinking; there had to be a way out of this, there was always a solution to any problem. He had to find a way to get free, and get him and his gold off the island and make sure that meddling man and his daughter never found him again.
Burly, Grum and King had finished their mid morning snack and tidied everything away. The sun was now high overhead and rays of blistering heat baked the land. Burly strolled back to the hammock, clambered in, pulled a hat over his face and closed his eyes. King had eaten a lot of Burly’s food and also a lot of Grum’s food; he’d eaten so much his legs couldn’t support him and so he sat quietly on the mat thinking crab thoughts.
Grum was bored and searched through the bags to see what else was there. He threw aside the surfboard and the bucket and spade, and settled on a ball to kick around. Burly had told him to keep in the shade of the trees until mid afternoon because it was so hot so he dribbled the ball in and out of the trees. After a few minutes he was bored again. He looked at their little camp. Burly was snoring gently and King’s eyes were half closed. He thought about the groblin in the next cove and the two humans. What if the humans were hunters and the groblin was in trouble? He mulled it over for less than a second before jamming his hat on his head and tiptoeing away through the palm trees.
Grum enjoyed his walk. Everything was so different, so exciting. Large, brilliantly coloured flowers covered trees and bushes and tiny little hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower, their teeny wings a blur. Green lizards with long tails zigzagged quickly up and down trees. Grum noticed that insects seemed to be twice the size here and he made a mental note to pick some up on the way back for his mum to cook. The heat made the air wobble and the ground was hot so he kept to the shade as he walked towards the headland and then started to climb the slope that would take him to the cove on the other side.
“Dad,” Tara tugged at her father’s coat. “When’s the boat going to get here? I’m bored.”
“I did tell you detective work wasn’t all fun,” said her father.
“Yeah well, I’m going with mum next time it’s take your daughter to work day, at least mum knows to pack loads of food.”
“I’m going to walk along the headland and have a look to see if it’s on its way,” said her father. “You stay in the shade and don’t go anywhere near the prisoner.”
“Yeah, right, like I’d go anywhere near him,” Tara replied. “He’s really mean.”
“If he asks for water, anything at all, tell him I’ll be back soon - I repeat - don’t go near him.”
“I won’t,” Tara sighed.
Her father strode away along the path.
Grum heard the man approach and froze for a moment before diving underneath a bush covered in bright pink flowers. He held his breath and watched as long, black leather booted legs walked past. He waited for a minute or two then crawled out from under the bush. He just caught sight of the back of a tall man wearing a black coat that flapped as he walked along. Grum felt a shiver of excitement - so it was true, there were humans on this side of the headland! And if there were humans then there would be a groblin somewhere as well. Grum usually rushed in and didn’t care about what happened, but he was on his own and, having come across humans who hunted groblins, he wasn’t about to take any chances. He was extra careful as he continued on his way.
Many hundreds of miles away, deep in the Great Forest, Grum’s mother, Daffodil, was doing the washing up. All of a sudden, she stood still and listened carefully, the tips her ears quivering. A second later she shouted at the top of her voice, “Grimly! Gripe! Come here!”
Grum’s brothers were upstairs doing some DIY, plastering thick black mud onto a bedroom wall.
“You don’t think.....?” said Gripe.
“Nah,” said Grimly, “he’s miles away.”
“NOW!” shouted Daffodil. The brothers dropped their plastering tools and ran downstairs.
“What took you so long?” demanded Daffodil, hands on hips. “Your brother’s in trouble again, go and find him and bring him home.”
“But mum....” started Gripe.
“Now!” said Daffodil.
“Er, mum,” Grimly said bravely, “didn’t you say that Grum could go to the beach and isn’t that, well, you know, miles away? Mike said he was taking them to an island... I don’t think we have a map...”
Daffodil wiped her hands with a tea towel, threw it to one side and picked up a large saucepan and waved it at them. “Mike!” she yelled. “He’ll take you there, now hurry up you two - and don’t come back without your brother!”
Grimly and Gripe made a break for it out of the house. Grimly had a big grin across his face - he rather liked being part of Grum’s adventures. Gripe, however, was scowling as they crashed through the undergrowth. “Why?” he whined. “Why does he always do this to us? If I get shot once more I’m putting myself up for adoption.”
“Beats plastering the walls,” said Grimly. “Now come on - we don’t want mum to come after us like last time!”
Grum lay on his stomach under a bush watching the girl as she sat in the shade of the large palm tree. She looked a bit younger than Max his human friend and didn’t seem to be dangerous, she was busy searching through a large bag for something. He crept forward on his elbows. He peered to his right and saw a fellow groblin lying on his stomach a few feet away on the sand. The groblin had been tied up and could hardly move. Grum’s heart beat faster, so the humans were hunters! They were going
to take the groblin back to a zoo or worse, to be experimented on by scientists! Grum made up his mind. He looked back at the girl, but she was now staring at the headland following her father’s progress, completely unaware he was there. He crept forward beneath the bushes until he was as close as he could get to the groblin. He picked up a small stone and threw it at the groblin.
“Sssss!” he hissed.
Gruel’s head whipped up.
“Don’t look around,” whispered Grum. “I’m underneath a bush and I’m going to try and get you free but there’s a girl just over there so we’ve got to be quiet.”
Gruel’s eyes glinted and he smiled to himself. “Who are you?” he whispered back.
“Grum,” replied Grum.
“I’m Gruel,” whispered back Gruel. “What are you?”
“Eh?” said Grum.
Gruel rolled his eyes, he was going to be set free by an idiot. “Are you human?”
“Nah, I’m a groblin, just here for the day,” replied Grum.
Gruel’s smile grew broader. “These humans tracked me down,” he said trying to sound as upset as possible. “They said they’d take me back to their world and put me in a cage and experiment on me - you need to help me!”
Grum didn’t hesitate. “You can count on me!” he said.
“Can you can get the rope loose from the rock?” asked Gruel. “Then I can at least free my legs. You’ll have to be extra quiet.”
“Gottcha,” said Grum. “And don’t worry, quiet is my middle name.”
For the next five minutes Grum carefully, very carefully eased the rope away from the boulder. He occasionally glanced over at the girl but she now had a book in her hand and seemed engrossed in it. Eventually the rope was free from the rock and Grum crept around and started unravelling it from around Gruel’s ankles. With a final little kick, Gruel was free.
“Shh, stay where you are,” said Grum. The girl was moving, she’d put down her book and was looking up at the headland again. She waved. Grum glanced up, up on the top of the headland a tiny figure, the man that had walked past him, waved back. The girl picked the book up again and started reading.
“Now!” said Grum and Gruel wiggled like a worm until he, too, was under the cover of the bush.
Gruel and Grum looked at each other properly for the first time. At the sight of Gruel’s cruel, scar-filled face with its missing ear, Grum’s heart sank. At the sight of Grum’s young and rather startled face, Gruel smiled slowly. It wasn’t a nice smile.
“So....” said Grum trying to make conversation. “What do we do now?”
“We get the key to the handcuffs and get my gold back.”
“And your gold is....?”
“Over there in that box, right next to the girl. Her dad’s up there, he isn’t going to get back here in time, so let’s get going.”
“You’re not going to hurt her are you?” asked Grum.
“Hurt a little thing like that?” asked Gruel. “Why, what do you take me for? A blood thirsty pirate or criminal?”
Grum’s eyes widened. Actually, that thought had crossed his mind.
“No,” said Gruel. “All I’m going to do is get my box back - it’s mine and I’m not leaving without it.”
Grum gulped. Things weren’t going quite the way he thought.
On the other side of the headland, Burly was stirring in his hammock. His eyes flew open. “Grum!” he shouted and fell out of the hammock.
“Wassamatta?” grumbled King.
“Grum!” said Burly scrambling to his paws and looking wildly around. “Where is he?” There was no sign at all of Grum.
“No idea,” replied King.
“Why?” asked Burly. “Why, why, why, why, why did I fall asleep and leave him to his own devices?”
“Must have been that half ton of food you ate,” commented King.
Burly shot him a withering look. “If I know Grum he’s gone to that other cove to find out what’s happening. Come on King.”
“Come on King?” spluttered King. “I’m not going anywhere - I don’t even know you that well, why should I go with you?”
“Oh please yourself,” snapped Burly and, without any further ado, he started running for the path that led over the headland. A few seconds later, he stopped running because it was too hot and settled for a quick stroll.
King watched him go, shrugged his claws and then settled back to dozing.
Grum watched as Gruel crept along the ground towards the girl who was still reading, and then turned and started creeping in the opposite direction. He was going to get Burly.
He heard a scuffle behind him and turned to see that Gruel had looped his handcuffed arms around the girl and was squeezing her tightly. Her book had fallen to the ground.
“Where’s the key?” Gruel demanded, shaking her like a rag doll.
Tara looked scared for a moment but then opened her mouth and yelled at the top of her voice, “DAD!!” Her voice carried right across the cove. Gruel squeezed her tightly and a little whoosh of air came out.
“My dad’s so going to get you!” she puffed, kicking and squirming.
Gruel dropped her and she smacked onto the ground. “Oh yeah? Well, he surprised me once but he isn’t going to get the chance again,” he snarled. “Grum! Grum, empty that bag over there, I bet the keys are in it. Darn it, Grum! Where are you?”
Grum was still on his hands and knees trying to crawl away when he felt a smack on the top of his head and then everything went black.