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sell?’
    â€˜Ah, that depends on what you wish to buy … time in a bottle, cabbages and kings, sealing wax, the promise of things to come – you know, the usual stuff. Actually, I make and sell bonsais. Tiny little trees in tiny little pots.’ He leaned over conspiratorially, and muttered, ‘The mugs’ll buy anything, Guv, if it’s ’andled right, like. Pitch ’em a line about organically grown, wholemeal, environmentally friendly an’ they knock yer door down ter give yer their dosh.’ He winked and straightened up.
    Tess and Sam glanced at each other. This guy was definitely a weirdo. Darcy and George looked astonished for a moment and then grinned at him.
    â€˜Is that what all those are?’ Darcy pointed at the rows of pot plants in a shade house behind them.
    â€˜That’s right. I get them from all over the place – they’re all native species – and I go out bush collecting them. Do you have any interesting trees at Brumby Plains?’
    George rushed in again. ‘We’ve got heaps of great stuff out there. Our mum’s always going off and finding new trees and looking them up in books and stuff. She reckons there’s probably species up on the Escarpment that no one’s ever found before,’ he announced proudly.
    â€˜The Escarpment!’ Charles looked very interested. ‘Does your property run onto the Escarpment? I’ve heard there are lots of fascinating things up there, rare animals, unusual plants and birds …?’
    Darcy was sick of George hogging the limelight. ‘It’s just the best place!’ he said. ‘Heaps of wildlife and plants and rock paintings and stuff. We even found some spear points once, and Sam found a grinding stone beside a waterhole. You’d probably find mobs of little trees out there too.’
    â€˜And birds, you said? What kind of birds do you get there? The usual corellas and galahs and parrots,I expect?’ Charles’s eyebrows waggled at them and he smiled encouragingly.
    â€˜Oh, much better than that. There’s hundreds of different kinds. Dad says it’s a really excellent place for birds because there’s so much different country in the one area. Flood plains, grassy ridges, rocky escarpment – and there’s always some water somewhere, so the birds mob up there at the end of the dry season. We’ve even had ornithologists come out and study them sometimes,’ answered George excitedly. He loved telling people things, and responded to interest in his home with relish. Sam, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. He felt uneasy about the conversation and wanted George to stop, but George was in full flight.
    â€˜â€¦ and we’ve even got a really rare bird on our place,’ he was saying, ‘that some bloke from the university was looking for a few months ago, called a branded fruit dove. It lives right up on the Escarpment, and we’ve seen it heaps of times. Sam and I had to show the university bloke where to look for it,’ he finished proudly.
    â€˜A banded fruit dove, eh? I can’t say I’ve heard of that one before, but there you are. It sounds like atruly remarkable place you have. Well, time for me to get on with things. I have to be ready for my customers at the markets tomorrow, you know. Thank you again for all your help.’ And with that he fished in his pocket and extracted a twenty-dollar note which he handed to Sam, who tried to refuse it.
    Charles wouldn’t hear of it. ‘No no, I absolutely insist! You people have saved me a lot of bother and expense, and this is the least I can do. Now, goodbye, and perhaps I’ll see you at the markets.’
    As they made their way home, Sam got stuck into George. ‘Man, you’re such a motor mouth! Why didn’t you tell him how much money we’ve got in the bank and the PIN number as well? Didn’t you notice how he kind of stopped