Free The Moa Cave by Des Hunt

to touch it now?’
    Hine said nothing, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. Tyler said, ‘Easy. Just sneak around behind it. We’ll stay here to distract it.’
    Mandy snarled at him before turning and moving away. Tyler thought she had given up until he saw her sneaking behind a patch of toetoe. He had to admit she had guts: that was no friendly zoo seal sitting in front of them.
    A moment later she appeared about three metres behind the animal. Slowly she moved forward and was almost within touching distance. Then somehow the sea lion sensed something was wrong. It swung its head around and saw the girl. With a huge lunge it launched itself at her. Mandy fled, scarcely escaping the slashing teeth.
    Then she fell. The sea lion saw its chance and surged towards her. Tyler moved towards the animal, screaming at the top of his voice and clapping his hands. It turned and looked at him, before moving back to Mandy again. Tyler picked up a handful of sand and threw it at the sea lion’s face. It worked! The animal paused long enough for Mandy to scramble to her feet and scuttle away.
    Soon it was over. The sea lion had settled and Hine and Tyler waited at a safe distance. A moment later Mandy stomped back into the clearing. All the front of her clothes and most of her face were covered with brown muck.
    ‘Pooh, Mandy, you stink,’ complained Hine. ‘Is that seal muck?’ Mandy simply stared angrily at her.
    ‘Hey Mandy,’ laughed Tyler. ‘You’re all chocolate coated now.’
    She spun around and headed back to the beach.
    Tyler had to rub it in. ‘Now you’re the one with only one life. And I’ve got two. How does that feel?’
    She turned her head and glared at him. ‘Get lost! Both of you!’ she yelled before starting the long trek back down the beach.
    Not long afterwards Bill returned. ‘What was all that yelling about?’
    Hine answered, ‘We got a bit close to the sea lion and it lunged at us. Mandy fell over and we had to scare it off.’
    ‘Where is she now?’
    ‘She fell in some muck and has gone back to wash herself.’
    Bill chuckled. ‘And she has to put up with that smell all the way back. Oh dear, the poor wee thing.’ He sniggered for a while longer. ‘Come on, I think she’s far enough away for us to follow without smelling it too much. Let’s hope she’s all cleaned up before we get back.’
    Whether Mandy was cleaned up or not was unknown when they got back to the woolshed: she wasn’t there.
    After a brief discussion it was decided that Bill and Tyler would head back to the beach while it was still light. Hine would take a look around the woolshed and the surrounding area.
    They retraced their steps, yelling out her name every few metres. When they got to the beach they began looking for her footprints. After a bit of detective work they were able to work out which were hers. Instead of turning up the road she had continued along the beach towards the cliffs.
    Tyler began to have horrible thoughts that she may have found his cave. If she had, then the whole thing would be wrecked. He couldn’t share it with her. He didn’t want to share it with anyone.
    When they reached the stream it became clear why she had headed this way. There were lots of prints on a small sand island where she must have crouched to clean herself. A foul odour in the air supported that.
    With relief, Tyler noticed that the only prints leading toand from the cave were his own. He hoped that Bill wouldn’t decide to check them out.
    The trail disappeared from there. They called her name a few times but there was nothing in return except for the roar of the sea and the calls of some distant gulls.
    Bill was unsure about what to try next. He looked up the cliff face. ‘There’s a possibility she might have gone up there to get a view of the beach.’
    ‘Is there a track up there?’
    ‘Yeah, sort of. It’s a goat track really. But I think we should take a look.’
    The track was not easy. They looked