Mudpoo and the Magic Tree Stump (6 page)

“Even if your friend
can
stop the pirates shooting at us, which I doubt, how could we possibly contact him?” queried the largest and oldest humpback with a frown.

“Maybe we could use our whale song and sing words that say, ‘we are trapped by pirates and we need Mudpoo's help to stop them',” suggested Humpy, rather hopefully. 

The largest and oldest humpback replied, “Young Humpy has a good idea, we can try to sing a message for help, but we still need to think of another plan in case it doesn't work.” 

And so . . . the wise old male humpback swam to the bottom of the icy bay, spread out his pectoral fins and boomed out his whale song using a series of squeaks, squeals, moans and groans. In human words, his song said;
“Help! We are trapped by pirates in a bay near the Antarctic peninsula, tell mudpoo, the singing boy from Australia, to help us . . . Urgently!”

Many whales outside the icy bay, deep in the Southern Ocean heard their urgent song for help. They repeated the song to other whales that were already on their way to Australia. 

By a miracle of nature, the song very quickly travelled along the ten thousand kilometres from Antarctica to Australia, passing from whale to whale all the way along. In years to come, this would become known as the ‘Incredible Whale Rescue Song'. 

In less than a day after it was first passed on, the song was being sung by a pod of whales that were swimming along the shores of Bluff Beach near Iluka. All they had to do now was get Mudpoo's attention. 

Humpback whales are very clever and what they did next is proof of it. The oldest and wisest of this group of whales decided that they could use their blowholes to alert Mudpoo. If they blew three short blows, three longblows and three more short blows, there was a good chance that Mudpoo might see it.

(Whales have a ‘blowhole' that releases a blast of warm air from the whales lungs. As the blast hits the cooler air, it creates a vapour cloud that can be seen from far away.) 

But even if he could see the blowhole signals from the whales, how would Mudpoo know that the signal was for him? Or what it meant? 

And what on earth could he do about it anyhow? 

Perhaps Mudpoo's whale friends were doomed to be harpooned by the horrible, mean, smelly pirates.

C
lancy Koala was munching on her favourite gum leaves in her favourite tree in the Iluka rainforest. Her view was wonderful. She could see way past Iluka beach, all the way out to the ocean. Even though koala's haven't got very good eyesight, she saw something that caught her attention. 

“GREAT GATHERING-GUMNUTS! There's something happening out at sea near Bluff Beach!” she cried in a shrill, high-pitched voice. 

Kev the sulfur-crested cockatoo, Sally the snake and Percy the possum, who'd all been sleeping near the Magic Tree Stump, looked up together at once. 

“What do you see?” they asked. 

“Whales, blowing lots of air out of their blow holes,”
exclaimed Clancy,
“I think something is up.”

“QUICK-STICKS, we'd better have a look, I'll tell the others,” replied Kev and he quickly flew around and alerted everyone he could find. 

Kev told Andrenna the ant, Sally the snake, Foggerty the frog, Percy the possum, and Sammy the silver gull, to meet down at the cliff overlooking the beach. 

It was just as Clancy had described it. The whales were signalling a message with bursts from their spouts.

“What does it mean?” asked Kev, looking to Foggerty for an answer.

Foggerty frowned, he was thinking hard, “GOT IT,” he yelled, “three short blows, three long blows, three short blows . . . it's an SOS message in Morse Code! I learnt about it at the Iluka school,” he shouted loudly, “someone needs our help!” 

“Morse what..?” squawked Kev. 

“Never mind,” said Foggerty, “I have a plan. Kev, fly off and find Grumblegoo, we all need to meet at the Magic Tree Stump at once. There's not a moment to lose, QUICK-STICKS!” 

With that said, they all scrambled hurriedly back to the Magic Tree Stump.

Grumblegoo had been fishing and hurried to meet the others as fast as she could run (which really is very, very fast). 

“What is your plan Foggerty?” Grumblegoo asked, puffing and blowing, a little out of breath. 

“The whales are signalling an SOS. We need someone who hasn't made a wish yet to find out what is wrong . . . SOMEONE NEEDS TO TALK WHALE!”
said Foggerty. 

“Sammy the silver gull hasn't made a wish yet!” said Grumblegoo, spying Sammy looking on nearby. 

“Kev, tell Sammy I need him to do something very important,” said Grumblegoo. 

“BURSTING-BUNYIPS,” squawked Kev, “what?” 

“Tell Sammy to stand on the Magic Tree Stump and wish that he can speak whale and . . . also wish that he can speak to us . . .” she added as an important afterthought. 

Sammy did exactly as he was told and as soon as he did, there was a kind of ‘SWOOSHING' sound, followed by a shiny, swirling dust that covered him up.

“Well? Say something Sammy. Did it work? Can you speak?” asked Grumblegoo. 

“SIZZLING-SAUSAGES, Sammy the silver gull at your service!” replied Sammy. Everyone clapped and cheered! 

“QUICK-STICKS Sammy,”
shouted Grumblegoo,
“fly out to the whales and ask them what is wrong.”

Before you could blink an eyelid, Sammy the silver gull was zooming out to sea. The humpback whales were relieved that someone had finally responded to their message of distress. They were flabbergasted that it was Sammy who had come for their message, a silver gull that could speak whale! 

“Well I never . . .” whispered the wise old humpback whale, in a kind, echoic voice, “you are indeed a clever gull. Whatever you do, you must act with great haste. You must find the small boy called Mudpoo, who taught the whales our favourite song and ask him to find a way to stop the pirates from killing our friends in Antarctica.” 

Sammy quickly flew back to the anxiously waiting animals and told them the whole story. 

“We need to find Mudpoo fast,” said Grumblegoo thoughtfully, “all of us must spread out and search the Iluka camping sites for the boy called Mudpoo. There's not a moment to lose!”

I
t was Foggerty frog who found Jess. 

She was out for her early morning stroll on Woodyhead beach. Jess loved frogs and was pleased to meet a green tree frog that could talk. Foggerty, who always said ‘never judge a book by its cover,' trusted Jess at once. He knew that dogs could be dangerous, but Jess was trustworthy and Foggerty knew it from the first moment he looked at her gentle face. 

“I'm searching for a boy called Mudpoo and he needs to come with me at once to meet Grumblegoo,” stammered Foggerty, “it's a matter of life and death, Mudpoo's whale friends are in grave danger.”

“I can help you cried Jess, hop onto my back and I'll take you to him.” 

Jess raced back to camp in the stillness of the early morning, where silently and urgently she awoke Harry, repeating Foggerty's request. Harry, who had heard Captain Pete's scary Grumblegoo story only the night before, felt a little worried. Still, he trusted Jess and this strange little talking tree frog. Most of all, he could sense their urgency! 

“Wake up Mudpoo,” Harry loudly whispered, “you need to follow me at once, we need to help our humpback whale friends, they're in great danger.”

It might have been because of Mudpoo's dream that night, but somehow he had already sensed that his whale friends were in great danger and he needed to do something. He quickly jumped out of his sleeping bag and followed the others, running toward the beach. 

Early that morning, a fisherman on Back Beach thought he was dreaming when a small, barefoot boy, two dogs and a frog, all raced by, one after the other, together in a mad hurry . . . 

“Why on earth are they in such a hurry, so early in the morning?” wondered the fisherman as he scratched his head. 

Back at Mudpoo's camp, Liz, Rod and Captain Pete were still sleeping, tired from their long drive. Someone was snoring loudly with ‘ZZZZZ' sounds vibrating through the morning air. It would be a few hours before they would awake to discover that Mudpoo, Jess and Harry were gone.