She was right, but he’d spent so much of his life at odds with his culture, it was hard to get enthusiastic about it. Jerry’s words were always clear in his head as were those of others like him. “Maybe Amy can help with the website.”
“Absolutely. She did a great job on the Ridge’s site.” Georgie stumbled on the uneven ground and Matt grabbed her before she fell, holding her tight. Her face was red and sweaty and it was getting close to midday.
“Good reflexes.” Georgie took her hat off and wiped the sweat from her brow. “Have you had enough yet?”
“It’s definitely time for a lunch break.” He radioed Darcy to pick them up and then got the multi-purpose tool from his pocket and made a mark on the trunk of one of the nearby trees. “We’ll have to mark the beach track as well so we don’t lose our place.” He slipped his hand into Georgie’s as they headed towards the track that led to the gulf. He made a few more markings in the trees so they could easily find their way back. Georgie dug around in the backpack when they reached the road and with a shout of triumph, she pulled out one of Lara’s scrunchies. “I knew there’d be one in here,” she said. “Lara has them all over the place.” She twisted the bright yellow band around a branch on a tree.
It didn’t take long for Darcy to arrive. “The others are getting lunch ready. Find any more cairns?”
“Not yet,” Matt answered. “How did you go?”
“Nothing,” Darcy answered. “If there were any clues at the bottom of the Ridge they would have washed away long ago. I can’t imagine them lugging a potentially heavy chest up the Ridge.”
He had a point. The Ridge had quite a steep incline and though the horses could make it up, a cart wouldn’t.
“Lara wants to check out the plaque so let’s go swimming this afternoon.” Darcy said. “It’s hot enough.”
“Good idea,” Georgie said.
Matt smiled. Georgie never passed the opportunity for a swim.
They got back to the house and the table was spread with makings for sandwiches. The others had already started, and Matt took the plate Brandon handed him and sat next to Georgie.
“Did you find anything?” Lara asked, her eyes wide and hopeful.
“Only the one cairn,” Matt answered.
Lara gasped. “Tell me everything.”
Matt chuckled and on Georgie’s gesture, told them about the cairn they’d found. When he was finished, he glanced at Brandon and Brandon said, “I’ve never noticed it.”
Georgie was typing a text on her phone, probably asking Ed the same question.
“We should follow the river to see if we can find more,” Lara said.
It was a decent distance to cover to get to the ocean. “How about we each do a section? Someone can drop the others along the river and we can meet up. If anyone spots more cairns that point in a different direction, we can radio it in.”
“Good idea,” Georgie agreed. “We’ll cover more ground.”
Darcy got out the map again and measured the distance. It was about ten kilometres so if each couple did a few kilometres, they could finish it in a couple of hours.
With a new plan and Lara encouraging them all to hurry, it didn’t take long to finish eating and head back out again.
As they crossed the road, Georgie’s phone beeped. She read the message and grinned. “Ed says he remembers where he found the coin!”
“Where?” Matt asked, excitement rising.
“Near one of the tidal inlets, not far from the plaque.”
“Should we go there now?”
“There are lots of inlets. Let’s focus on the cairns first. They might point us to the right one.”
She had a point. Matt helped Georgie down from the back of the ute when Darcy stopped next to the yellow scrunchie. Georgie untied the hair tie and waved as the ute continued down the track. Darcy would drop the others at intervals and then pick them up later. Lara had been concerned her father was missing out, but Matt was fairly sure he’d got the best gig, sitting in an air-conditioned car while the rest of them searched for potentially non-existent directional cairns which may or may not be pointers to treasure.
“Honestly,” Georgie said, when they’d stopped for a drink break. “There’d better be something at the end of this.”
Matt grinned. “Isn’t the journey supposed to be the reward?”
