Free The Gum Tree Gang and the Mystery at the Old Queenslander by Marie Seltenrych Page A

out in the soft night light. She moved along
the side of the car and reached up for the
door handle. Quickly she opened the door
and peered inside.
    Yes, Matthew was lying on the back seat.
    "Shh," said Krystal, as she
pulled the door shut and crouched on the
floor. "It's me!"
    Matthew sighed.
    Krystal brought her camping
knife out of her jeans pocket and pulled
out the small blade. She felt for the ropes
on Matthew's feet, and began to move the little knife over the
thick ropes.
    Suddenly there was the noise
of someone approaching. Krystal ducked down as much under the seats
as possible. The back door of the car was
opened and Morrie threw a red tartan rug
over Matthew. "Co-old," he grunted, as he closed the door again.
    "Go!" mumbled Matthew
through the gag tied around his
mouth.
    "No," murmured Krystal, "not
yet!" She pulled a piece of the red tartan
rug over her head and once more tried to cut the ropes around Matthew's ankles.
    The passenger door was
opened and Cad's frame sunk d eeply into the
soft leather seat.
    Morrie moved around the
front of the vehicle and got into the
driver's seat. In a moment the engine started purring.
    Krystal worked the little
knife even more quickly over the ropes
tying Matthew's feet, but the ropes were very thick. She also found she could hardly breathe under
the rug.
    As the car moved, she was
tossed from side to side, so had to stop
cutting the ropes. She didn't want to cut Matthew's legs and have him screaming under his
gag!
    They drove for about fifteen minutes Krystal
reckoned.
    When the car came to a halt,
the ropes were still not cut through.
    The driver's door opened and
Morrie stumbled out. He opened up a garage
door, then jumped back into the driver's
seat and drove the car into a garage.
    The two front car doors
opened; Cad and Morrie got out.
    Morrie opened the back
passenger door and reached in for Matthew.
He lifted him as though he was a teddy bear. Krystal stayed still under the red rug. "Please
Lord, don't let him pull the rug off,
please...." She closed her eyes and waited,
almost forgetting to breathe.
    The door went 'bang' and
Krystal opened her eyes. The rug was still
over her head. She felt like crying. "Thanks Lord," she said, blinking a tear away.
    If only she had managed to
cut the ropes from Matthew's feet, he could
have made a run for it. It was too late
now; Krystal sighed. What if something awful happened to him? She couldn't bear to think about
that!
    After a few minutes, she
heard the garage door close and the
footsteps disappear.
    Krystal pulled the rug from
off her head and looked around, taking a deep breath. It was so
dark in the car she felt that she still had
her eyes closed!
    Instinctively, she knew she
should get out of the car before she too
was caught and tied. She tugged her small torch out of her back
jeans pocket and flicked it on.
    She shone the light on the
dashboard, searching for a mobile
telephone.
    The sound of someone coming
interrupted Krystal's task. She flicked her
torch off and reached for the door handle.
She tumbled out of the car and crawled along the floor of the garage.
    ~~~~ Chapter T wenty-three ~~~~
    Nightmare
    The garage door opened,
silhouetting the figure of Morrie. Krystal
touched something that smelt like a farm.
It was bales of hay! She pressed herself close to the hay away from Morrie's torchlight.
    He shone the light around
the garage for a moment, then on the car.
He opened the back passenger door and took
something out. It was the red tartan rug! In a moment he was leaving the garage, and the metal bolt made a bang as it was locked.
    Krystal breathed a sign of relief. "Thanks
again Lord!" she whispered.
    She knew she had to get out
of the garage, but how, she wondered?
    Slowly, she felt her way
around the bales of hay and carefully along
the edge of the garage. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and now she could see shadowy shapes. She touched something cold! Instantly
she withdrew her hand, then realised it
must