Father took the piece of rock, looked at it, and handed it back. ‘It’s fool’s gold, Henry. I’ve come across it myself, plenty of times. It looks like gold, it shines like gold, but it’s not gold.’

Henry felt disappointed. ‘So we wouldn’t have made our fortune?’

‘I’m afraid not. But look on the bright side.’

‘The bright side?’ Henry said. ‘What’s good about losing something you never had?’

‘Well, Sergeant Nockles and his mates won’t make their fortune either. They’ve got themselves a proper shicer, haven’t they?’

Henry grinned. ‘I suppose so.’

‘We haven’t lost anything,’ Father went on. ‘But Nockles still thinks he’s on a winner. He and his mates will keep on digging till they reach China.’

‘They should have listened to you when you told them there wasn’t any gold in our mine, Henry,’ Eliza said.

‘So they should, the greedy beggars.’ That thought made Henry feel quite cheerful. ‘Jack would’ve said it served them right.’

Father cleared his throat. ‘I’m sorry you lost your friend Jack, Henry. It was a tragedy. Judging from what you’ve said about him, I can see that he was a very unusual person. And a very brave one.’

‘He was,’ Henry said. ‘We were covies – Jack, Frank and me.’

‘One of those kangaroos must be our kangaroo,’ Henry said. It was the first time he and Frank had felt ready to go back to Jack’s hut. Now they were standing outside the door, watching the kangaroo mob grazing in the sunny clearing near by. ‘Likely he’s that little one over there, scratching himself.’

‘He’s a lucky fellow,’ said Frank. ‘He’s got lots of brothers and sisters and all the grass he can eat.’

‘That’s a happy ending, at least.’

‘There are other happy endings, too,’ Frank said. ‘I heard Peter Lalor wasn’t killed. And Sergeant Nockles won’t be back on his horse for a lo-o-ong time. You could say he bottomed out.’

‘You could say that if you were mad and Irish.’

Frank half-smiled. ‘That’s just the sort of remark I’d expect from a Brummie lime-juicer. No sense of humour at all. Right, so. We’d better make sure Lola’s all right. Are you ready?’

Henry nodded. He was grateful to Frank for trying to cheer him up, even if it wasn’t exactly working.

They went into the hut and stood there in silence. The tiny room seemed cold and empty without Jack.

‘He didn’t have much,’ Henry said at last. ‘There’s just some clothes and books and a few cups and plates and things. And a tin of jam and half a bag of flour. And a caddy of tea. And that silver teapot he wanted your ma to have.’

‘What about his drawings?’ asked Frank.

‘We could share them, and give some to people who knew him. There’s a lot here.’ Henry picked up a sketch of Lola that lay on the table.

‘Jack loved Lola,’ Frank said.

‘I know.’ Henry wondered if Lola was missing Jack. Did snakes have feelings? He went to her basket. It was empty, but a folded piece of paper was pinned to it.

He unfolded it, looked at it, and gave it to Frank. ‘You read it. I think it’s a letter.’

Frank read it aloud.

‘My dear Frank and Henry. In the case of my death, please be so kind as to inform my father, Sir James Ingoldby. His address is Hartford Manor, Hartford, East Sussex, England. Tell him how I died, and what I believed in. Good luck, covies. Keep our flag flying. Jack.’

‘So his father was a sir,’ Henry said.

‘Yes,’ said Frank. ‘It doesn’t matter who his father was, though. He was just Jack.’

Henry nodded. He tried to speak again, but couldn’t.

‘There’s a bit more,’ Frank said. ‘If you can’t find Lola, look under her favourite tree. You know where it is, Frank. She likes to lie there in the sun on warm days.’

Henry still couldn’t speak. There was a strange prickling feeling in his eyes.

‘Let’s go and find her,’ Frank said, not looking at Henry. ‘I hope she hasn’t run away.’

‘Snakes can’t run,’ said Henry, trying to smile.

Frank punched him on the arm. ‘You know what I mean, eejit.’

They went out into the sunshine and over to the bushland behind the hut. Soon they were pushing their way through shrubs and dry grass and prickly undergrowth. Orange butterflies exploded from bushes and fluttered around their heads.

Past the first line of scrub was a small clearing. The ground was stony here, and the trees were further apart. ‘That’s the tree over there,’ Frank said, pointing.

They walked quietly up to the tree. Some flat rocks beneath it would have been the perfect spot for a snake to lie in the sun, but Lola wasn’t there.

‘Damnation!’ Henry said. ‘Where can she have got to? Maybe she’s in the tree. She likes being up high.’

They searched every inch of the tree. No Lola. Then they walked slowly all around the clearing. No Lola.

Henry sat down on a rock. ‘I wish Jack was here.’

Frank slumped down beside him. ‘Me too.’

Henry couldn’t say any more. He was afraid that if he did, that scratchy feeling in his eyes might turn into tears. Instead he stared at a rocky outcrop nearby. Then he stared a little harder.

‘Frank, I think I see her.’

‘You never. Where?’

‘Over there, beside those rocks. See that dark line, next to the biggest rock? Let’s go and look.’

They stood up and tiptoed towards it.

‘That’s her. She hasn’t hidden herself as well as she thinks she has,’ Henry said. ‘Lola!’ he called softly.

Lola lifted her head and looked straight at him with her black bead eyes.

Henry picked her up and wound her around his neck. ‘Come on, Lola,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t tease us like that.’

‘I thought you were too scared to touch her,’ Frank said, staring.

‘Me? Never.’

Frank grinned. ‘Not bad for a Brummie lime-juicer, so.’

‘You can see why she likes coming here,’ Henry said. ‘These rocks are full of lizards. Look, there goes one. And another. And look, there’s a . . .’ He stopped.

‘There’s a what?’

‘There’s something shining in that rock.’

Frank snorted. ‘It’ll be fool’s gold again. We’re not going to be caught twice.’

Henry knelt down and picked up a piece of rock with a gleaming thread of yellow in it. ‘I’ll show this to Father. He’ll know if it’s real or not.’

‘Well, I’m not going to get excited,’ Frank told him. ‘It looks the same as that stuff you found on the claim.’

‘I know,’ said Henry. ‘But what if it isn’t?’