Castaway Read Online Free Page B

saw up at the rookery, remember? Haven’t seen him around here for at least ten years. The storm must have upset him, and he’s moved back out into the river again.’
    They all watched intently as the huge reptile swam slowly and sinuously past the reef, his head and back clearly visible out of the water.
    ‘That’s a monster!’ Uncle Mungo was impressed.
    ‘We’ll have to watch out when we come down here, if Lumpy’s back. He’s a cranky old man. Remember how he rushed our boat last time? You blokes be very careful.’
    On the way back to the house they found a couple of broken wires on the fence line leading from Deception Point. The fence needed tightening up in a few sections as well.
    ‘We won’t stop now,’ said Mac. ‘You blokes can come down here on the quad bike and fix it this afternoon while Uncle Mungo and I check the weaner paddock fence line. That can’t wait.’
    ‘Oh-oh … I left my water bottle at the camp, Dad,’ said George sheepishly.
    ‘Pick it up when you go back this afternoon, okay?’
    Sarah, Jaz and Old Jock had been busy clearing away fallen branches from around the homestead, and had got the tractor ready to lift the tree off the school caravan. Lunch was the first priority, though, and they had just finished eating when they heard the whap-whap-whap of rotor blades coming towards the house. Sam and George watched from the verandah as a large Jetranger helicopter landed on the grass a couple of hundred metres in front of them. A door opened and a tall, lanky figure climbed out, folded itself in half andscurried away from the chopper. When it was clear of the rotors, the figure unfolded itself and ambled casually towards them. It looked vaguely familiar.
    ‘Hey, that’s Charles! What’s he doing flying around in helicopters?’ yelled George happily.
    He and Sam raced down the stairs. They had first met Charles Rowntree when he was working as an undercover Federal Police officer trying to catch a gang of bird smugglers who were operating on Brumby Plains. Sam had been very suspicious of Charles at that time, but he now considered the eccentric Englishman practically a family member.
    ‘Well, well, fancy meeting you two characters! Hello-hello-hello – wonderful to see you both,’ he said, his bushy eyebrows and brown ponytail keeping time with the handshakes.
    ‘G’day, Charles!’ Mac had come up behind them, and he shook hands with the visitor too. ‘This is a bit of a surprise! Improved your mode of transport, eh?’
    ‘Ah, yes. Bit of an improvement on battered old white vans, isn’t it? Actually, I’ve been seconded to Customs for a while. Get to hurtle around in flying machines all over the countryside. Great fun!’
    ‘Well, you must be psychic then, because I was just about to ring Customs. Come inside …’
    The pilot shut down the engine and joined them asthey trooped into the house. Mac introduced the visitors to his brother Mungo, and to the governess Jaz, and explained about the boat wreckage down at Deception Point while Sarah poured tea.
    ‘Well, we’re keeping pace with you, Mac. We were doing some reconnaissance along the coast and came across it just now, so I thought I’d nip up and see you about it.’
    ‘Dad thinks it might be a dinghy from a trawler,’ broke in George. ‘Sam and I spotted it from the beach, didn’t we, Sam?’
    ‘It may well be just that, George. However, we’ve had reports of another group of suspected illegal immigrants heading towards Darwin and coming through this way, which is somewhat unusual. Two boats landed at the Tiwi Islands last week with fourteen people on board, and we understood there were a couple more out there still. We stopped and had a look at the wreck at the Point, but there’s not enough evidence to say what it is, or rather, was, and certainly no sign of any people, so you’re probably right, Mac. Just the same, we want you to keep a sharp eye out, in case anyone might have come