It was getting dark and Neddy was scared. The only thing that gave him comfort and stopped him from crying was the rabbit curled up asleep under his shirt. It was soft and warm and made Neddy think that maybe everything was going to be all right.
The wind had picked up and began whistling through the gully. He wanted his mam but she didn’t know where he was—and neither did he. A single tear worked its way from his eye and down his cheek until Neddy swiped it away with the back of his hand. Crying wouldn’t help, he needed to think and work out how he and Peter were going to find their way home.
He wasn’t hungry because he’d stripped several handfuls of fat blackberries off the tangle of bushes on the other side of the gully by the clump of gum trees. And even though he was worried that the rabbit had hurt his leg, Peter seemed to be fine as he happily accepted the blades of grass that Neddy had collected for him.
Trying to get back home now would be a mistake because he wouldn’t be able to see where he was going and would probably end up even more lost. No, he was going to wait until the sun came up. Neddy looked around the gully in the hope of finding somewhere to rest. He didn’t want to be out in the open—at least he’d feel safer if there was somewhere he could hide until morning.
Neddy wrapped his arms around the sleeping bunny as he stood up and walked across the trickling creek to the big rocks that jutted out from the gully wall. They were tall, grey and filled with crevices. At first he thought they were attached to the wall, but as he walked around the circumference of the nearest boulder he realised that there was a gap between it and the wall—a gap big enough for Neddy to squeeze through. Behind the rock was a narrow opening in the gully wall and Neddy wondered if it led to a hidden cave. He wanted to go in and explore, but it was almost dark and it looked a bit scary. So, he settled down with his back against the boulder and tried to sleep.
At first the sounds of the bush kept him awake, with wind rustling the leaves and bushes as it passed. In the distance an owl hooted, and somewhere nearby Neddy could hear the strange guttural argument between two territorial possums. It should have frightened him but he knew the sound that possums make because one lived in the peppercorn tree by the sleep-out he shared with his brothers. It often bumped across the corrugated tin roof making a terrible racket and producing the strangest grunting, hissing sounds.
The night air was cool, but Neddy was warm with the rabbit cuddled against him, and slowly his eyes began to droop and he fell asleep.
He woke with a start and for a few moments lay in confusion as he tried to remember how he’d managed to get here. His next thought was for Peter, who was no longer curled up next to him.
Neddy scanned the area, afraid that the rabbit might have run off, but he found him nearby munching on the leftover pile of grass from last night. Behind him, the large rock was still in shadows except for one shaft of morning sun that shone through the gap between it and the gully wall. The light beam ran across the rocky ground and permeated the darkness of what Neddy thought was a cave. As he looked at the ground scattered with white quartz pebbles that glowed in the sunlight, a glint caught in his peripheral vision. Neddy turned his head and saw a golden gleam coming from one of the quartz pebbles.
Standing up slowly, so as not to startle Peter, he went and picked up the rock to get a better look. The stone was about the size of his palm and there were little bumps, veins and speckles of gold throughout it.
‘Look, Peter, at this pretty rock,’ he said as he held it in the shaft of light. But the rabbit appeared more interested in finishing off the grass.
Neddy put the stone in his pocket and looked at the ground to see if there were any more. To his delight he found a small stone with the same golden inclusion, and then another. He added them to his pocket and smiled. He was sure his mam would think them just as nice as he did.
The light shaft shone into the entrance of the cave. It illuminated just a fragment of the bottom of the wall. Neddy peered inside, still unsure—there could be anything in there, from a dingo to a dragon or maybe even a monster. But, even so, curiosity won out and he took a few tentative steps into the shadows. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw that the light beam had landed on a thick seam of gold trapped within the rockface.