Cry of the Taniwha by Des Hunt Page B

competing with the natural smells of Whakarewarewa for the past hour—insisted that it be emptied. He went into the bushes. While he was enjoying the relief of the action, a movement in the clearing caught his eyes. Someone was there and they were right beside the sovereigns and the detector.
    By the time he’d finished and was able to move out of the scrub, the person had the detector in his hands and was running towards the bushes on the other side.
    ‘Hey!’ yelled Matt. ‘Give that back!’
    There was no reply other than the breaking of branches as the thief crashed through the scrub. Matt raced after him. ‘Hey!’ he yelled again.
    The path that the thief had taken was easy to follow, but Matt sensed he was well behind. Soon they moved onto a formed track, which gave Matt a glimpse of the thief disappearing into the distance.
    The track went on and on, twisting in and out of the trees. All the time, the sounds coming from the front were getting more distant. If something didn’t happen, the thief would get clean away.
    Then they moved onto one of the forestry roads and Mattgot a clear look at him. It was The Gawk, wearing the same short shorts and tropical shirt as the day before. He was now a thief as well as a spy.
    Unfortunately, The Gawk’s long legs gave him an advantage and the gap widened still more. Yet Matt figured that, sooner or later, the detector would slow him down, so he kept up the chase.
    It was all downhill for a while until they reached the flat near the back of the forest research centre. Now there were people about. ‘Stop him!’ yelled Matt. ‘Stop him! He’s stolen my detector.’
    While everyone turned and stared, no one made a move to help. Soon The Gawk was into the car park. He went straight for a bike that was leaning against a tree. For a moment he fumbled with a chain around the back wheel. Matt sprinted forward, thinking that this was his chance. ‘Hey!’ he yelled. ‘Stop!’
    But The Gawk didn’t stop. Just as Matt was about to close in on him, he swung his leg over the seat and took off down the road.
    ‘Stop!’ screamed Matt. ‘Please stop!’ The Gawk didn’t even look back, and soon he was out of sight around a bend, leaving Matt holding his head in his hands, wondering what on earth he would do now.
    Back in the clearing, it took Matt only a moment to confirm what he had feared: the sovereigns had also been taken.
    He sat on the ground, trying to come to grips with the situation. Now he was worse off than before. He had no treasure to give to Skulla, and no way of ever finding any.
    As he was thinking this, the heron glided into the clearing to land just a few metres away. It didn’t even look at him. Instead, it had its sights fixed on an insect. Ever so slowly it crept forward, always moving, but not so much that it would catch your eye. It continued until it was within striking distance, where it stopped and took aim. There was a blur of movement, followed by the raucous buzz of a cicada. For a while the heron allowed the cicada to call, before closing its beak, muffling the sound until it stopped. Next he raised his neck into the air, opened his mouth, and two chomps later the cicada was gone.
    Only then did he turn to look at Matt. ‘Craarrk!’ he belched, loudly.
    Matt laughed, happy to have some relief from his misery. ‘Did you enjoy that, Tani?’
    ‘Craarrk!’ replied the heron. Then he took off and climbed back up to his perch in the tree, where he hopped along the branch towards the nest. The head of his mate appeared, and for a while they rubbed beaks, before Tani moved back to his perch to resume his guard duties.
    Matt was touched by the show of affection. For some reason, it made him think of Eve, and suddenly he knew what he should do: ring Eve and tell her what had happened. She might not solve his problem, but sharing his concerns would be a good start.
    His call was answered almost immediately.
    ‘Hi, Matt,’ whispered Eve. ‘Just a