Sammy the silver gull urgently tapped on Mudpoo and Harry’s window.

“Wake up, wake up,” cried Sammy, “we need your help.”

Mudpoo and Harry quickly got dressed and quietly crept outside the house.

“What’s up? What’s wrong?” whispered Mudpoo, looking at Sammy and Hooty.

Hooty the boobook owl was sitting on a fencepost nearby with a very frazzled and concerned owl face.

“There are pirates in the hills and they’re going to lay poisoned carrot baits all the way down Flagstaff Road to kill the rabbits. We’ve got to stop them,” said Sammy in a solemn voice.

Mudpoo looked very concerned, “I have a little plan,” he said very quickly. “Sammy, ask Hooty if he can gather all of his friends and hide in the trees along the road. Harry and I will hide and wait with an old drum and we’ll see if we can surprise the pirates.”

They all hurried to the top of Flagstaff Road. It wasn’t too long before Hooty had gathered a small flock of boobook owls that hid in the trees along the edge of the road. Rabbits happily bounced along unaware their lives were in grave danger.

“Keep your eyes open and look out for pirates,” whispered Sammy to each boobook owl. “Wait for Mudpoo’s signal and we’ll see if we can scare them away.”

In the stillness of the moonlit night, the sound of four rambling pirates could be heard, coming nearer from a distance.

Clank, clank, “Shhh,” clank, stumble, “Shhh,” clank, clank, “Shhh,” came the echoes, loudly down the road.

Bones and Pong, with buckets of poison-soaked carrots, stopped right where Mudpoo and Harry lay hidden.

“Just scatter the carrots all over the place,” grumbled Bones, “this’ll be dead bunny road by morning.”

Before Pong could reply, Mudpoo banged on his empty drum, calling the determined boobook owls into action! Silently, in the moonlit night, like deadly stealth attack planes, they swooped with sharp claws raised.

“Hey watch out!” yelled Bones.

“What the . . . help, help, HELP! CRAZY FLAPPING BIRDS . . . ,” cried Pong.

“ARRGHHH . . .” yelled both pirates; warning Snot and Grot, “let’s get out of here!”

The pirates ran frantically, as fast as they could, back towards Fungus McPhee’s goldmine, with the boobook owls in hot pursuit.

“That’s far enough,” yelled Sammy, “we’ve frightened them away,” he called out to the boobook owls, who’d been very brave. Sammy decided he had better find out who else was around and quickly flew off in the direction of the old gold mine.

Mudpoo and Harry carefully collected all of the poisoned carrots, cautiously placed them in their drum and made sure the lid was firmly shut tight. “We’d better follow them,” suggested Mudpoo, “I’m sure they’re up to no good.”

In silence, they followed the pirates’ tracks, carefully and cautiously, back up to the old gold mine.