Chapter Seventeen

Rufus was furious! He had expected terrified cries, screams for help and general confusion on his arrival at the campsite, but all was deathly quiet. Apart from a few barely-alive creatures lying on a bench by the caravan, the whole place was deserted.

Where was everybody?

He fumed and fretted. It looked as if they’d been warned and if so, it was most likely by that interfering magpie he’d seen hanging around.

They’ll be hiding around here somewhere, he thought, and Sheila and Elvis won’t be too far away. I just have to flush them out, that’s all.

The crafty old fox jumped onto the bench where the injured animals lay — the joey, the possum and the others. He then announced in a loud voice, ‘I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse! But as there’s no horse in sight, I’ll start with this lot.’

He grabbed the baby roo by its tail and began playing with it — throwing it into the air, letting it fall to the ground, then picking it up again and shaking it hard. The cries from the little joey were so pitiful, Sheila could not bear it any longer.

She emerged from her hiding place and confronted her enemy. ‘Leave him alone, you big bully! Go pick on someone your own size!’

Rufus laughed. His trick had worked. He had found the one-eyed chook and knew the eagle wouldn’t be far away. He dropped the joey and turned on the defenceless hen.

Elvis looked on helplessly. He dragged himself out of the rusty car and lay on the grass, shouting, ‘Run, Sheila, run!’ hoping it would distract the fox and draw attention to himself.

Rufus was already drooling. He opened his jaw and bared his sharp teeth, ready to sink them into Sheila the One-Eyed Chook.

Just then, a piercing screech echoed through the forest. The noise was deafening! It sounded like a screaming woman!

Sheila looked up at the sky in amazement.

It was Rover the barking owl coming to the rescue! He was not alone, but was leading a flock of noisy cockatoos, all screeching and calling to each other as they wheeled and circled overhead.

Rufus was scared. But after waiting so long for revenge, he was determined to get his prey! He pounced on top of Sheila, grabbed hold of one wing and dragged her towards the caravan. If he could get underneath it, he would be protected from the swooping birds. And no matter what else happened, it would soon be the end of the meddlesome hen that had caused him so much grief. But, like so many times in the past, it just wasn’t his day!

Rufus could hardly believe his eyes. His jaw dropped open wide in astonishment, allowing Sheila to get away.

He was being attacked by the most unlikely of opponents. It was Eggie the cowardly rooster, crowing so loudly that Rufus felt his eardrums might burst.

‘Cockadoodle-doo! Cockadoodle-doo! Cockadoodle-do!’

And running by his side, egging him on, was that old chook Dulcie, flapping her wings wildly and yelling at the top of her voice,

‘EGGs-terminate! EGGs-terminate!’

What was she saying? Who was she calling?

Rufus couldn’t work it out. All the crowing, shrieking and screaming was giving him a dreadful headache and he was becoming more and more confused.

The barking owl let loose another one of his scary screams, giving the order to attack!

Rufus suddenly lost both his appetite and his desire for revenge.

Forgetting all about Sheila, he ran for his life.

The cockatoos went after him, zooming down, shrieking and screeching and bombarding him with rotten eggs that hurt when they struck him and stank horribly when they burst open. There was no let-up in the attacks. Egg after egg rained down upon his head and back, releasing a foul-smelling gas and leaving him gasping for air. The whimpering fox lay on the ground, convinced his end was near.

He was pleading with the cockatoos to stop when Rover suddenly called a halt. The owl held up his wing for quiet. A vehicle was coming down the track.

The cockatoos quickly retreated to the safety of the treetops and waited. Who could it be?

A sigh of relief went up as the vehicle turned out to be a police wagon. It pulled up at the campsite, and out got Ma Turner.

She looked around in dismay. What had happened to cause all this mess? She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose in disgust at the awful smell. She saw the smashed eggs, Sheila and Elvis on the ground, the poor little joey all battered and bruised, and the rooster and his mother running around in circles, making the most dreadful racket.

Finally she spotted the fox as he tried to sneak off into the bushes. It was pretty obvious that he’d been the cause of all this destruction.

‘Fox!’ she shouted to the policeman, who was getting out of his vehicle. ‘Over there!’

The man drew his pistol and quickly fired off a shot.

A bullet whistled past Rufus’s head as he ran for his life down the track.

At the sound of the gunshot, the cockatoos took off in a flurry and within minutes they’d all disappeared.

All was now quiet at the campsite. Well, all except for Eggie, who wouldn’t stop crowing. Now that he’d started, he didn’t know how to stop!