Bo-Bo Found A Life - Chapter 19

Bo-Bo Found A Life 

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 19

 

Bush Adventure  

 

They were both enjoying their holiday in Australia and with nothing else to do they were watching TV one afternoon . There was a show about the early days in Australia when many people would try their loch prospecting for gold and Charlie was very interested .He nudged Bo Bo and said ,

“Bo Bo why don’t we give it a try ? “

Bo Bo laughed ,

“You’ve got rocks in your head Charlie . We returning back to Belfast at the end of the month .“

Charlie thought for a moment . then he said .

“You know what Bo Bo,  I’d really like to bring my mammy back something from Australia .“

Bo Bo replied ,

“There’s plenty of souvenir shops around Charlie with stuffed koala bears and wooden boomerangs. “

But Charlie was not happy about that answer .and said .

“Mammy always wanted to visit Australia and here I am . The least I could do is to try and bring her a wee bit of Australia back with me . “

 

Bo Bo replied ,

“A wee bit of Australia , what are you on about . If the customs find so much as a gum leaf of even a banana in our luggage we be fined .“

Charlie was not giving up and looked at Bo Bo with a sense of wonder in his eyes and said .

“I was thinking more like a bit of gold or one of those opal stones. “

Bo Bo laughed and shook his head saying .

“Prospector Charlie , listen to him , you’re not wise . Our odds of finding anything like that area million to one .“

Charlie started humming a tune then he said ,

“We might never ever be back in Australia . Come on , Bo Bo lets go prospecting “

Bo Bo continued to watch the TV show about prospectors in Australia and how desperate some people were back in the early days . He started to get a little more interested now and couldn’t help but feel a temptation to do as Charlie suggested . They still had some money left after going to the rat races and playing the poker machines so he began to entertain the thought of hiring a Jeep and some equipment to go in search of buried treasure in the outback The Tv program mentioned some of the  places where opals and golds could be found .  Over the next few hours Bo Bo had a change of mind and now wanted to go prospecting with Charlie .

Next day the two of them went out shopping for some prospecting items  . 

After hiring a Jeep and tent they packed up and headed for the outback.

Their three week expedition would take them to Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands . Bo Bo was drawn to a place called Palmer . Both of them had a beginners handbook guide to fossicking for gold . Their first attempt at striking it rich was in Maytown. They pitched their tent on arrival and in the morning light they lit a fire and cooked some baked beans from in a tin and put those on some bread for a real Aussie bush breakfast .Laten on that day they discovered an old opal mine that had been abandoned out there in the sticks. Beside the old mine there was a graveyard with some old headstones .

Charlie and Bo Bo were intrigued to read some of the headstones but the want to have a look inside the old mine was too hard to resist . As Bo Bo and Charlie went down into the Opal mine fate awaited them .

The luck of the Irish had struck and they found a huge gold nugget lying there inside this old abandoned cart. The nugget was so big and heavy that Bo Bo couldn’t lift it. Both he and Charlie and tried a number of time to lift it out from the old cart but eventually gave up . Suddenly a harsh voice. spoke ,

:”Are you having a little trouble lifting that , well maybe I can I help ‘

This man with a holding a hunting knife was standing .

Bo Bo and Charlie had been unaware of his presence and were taken by surprise .

Bo Bo’s instincts took over hew quickly wrestled the man to the ground and disarmed him In the struggled that ensued  some of the ground under their feet began to crumble and in a few moments a hole appeared in the ground and then the supports on the walls collapsed and part of the mine caved in.

The old mine shaft collapsed. from above on the surface and nothing could be seen for the dust that swirled all around as a strange wind blew in from a shaft nearby somewhere .

Bo Bo and Charlie managed to crawl their way out from the old mine but there was no sign of the  man who had confronted them .

They tried calling out and looking for him but their was no answer  . When they resurfaced from the mine they saw an old sign from the gold rush days with the words - Abandon Hope All Who Enter Here.

Luckily Bo Bo and Charlie had survived the cave in .

Suddenly they both saw a snake rushing towards them. Charlie screamed in fear Bo Bo stopped in his tracks as he remember about the hunting knife that was in his back pocket . So he threw the knife directly at the snake that was struck in the head and was pinned to the ground lifeless .

They both took a deep breath and in the silence they heard a weird sound like a ghost calling out from the direction of the old graveyard by the mine .

 

Bo Bo and Charlie were drawn to go over to the graveyard to investigate and on one of the headstones there was a sign that said  “Here lies Opal Jack with all his treasure buried below. “

A strong wind blew across the graveyard blowing some dust from the graves and suddenly they noticed something in the ground under their feet that was shinning . They both started to brush away some of the soil with their bare hands to discover a nugget of gold there that had been buried by someone .

They both were able to carry the nugget to their Jeep and drive away . Not really knowing hoe much the nugget was worth they had it valued in place when they returned to the city .

To their great surprise they had the great fortune to have found the largest nugget known anywhere in Australia. They were entitled to their find and became very rich overnight .News of their lucky strike was seen on all the Tv channels and this resulted in many people coming out to the area looking for gold . Bo Bo and Chalie left Australia very wealth and lived out the rest of her lives in Ireland happy and content .

 

The End

 

Bo-Bo Found A Life 
By Paul McCann

Link to foreward

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/bo-bo-found-life-foreward

 

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