The final chapter in the Plodfoot vs The Bushranger series.
Plodfoot woke with a chilling sense that he wasn’t alone in his bedroom. Fumbling for a match, he lit his bedside candle and turned to see a familiar face looking back at him.
“Sheriff Avery?”
“I’m not the sheriff anymore, Plodfoot, you are.”
“Sorry sir, I forgot. But what are you doing in my house?”
“I have a message from, um, let’s just call him a mutual acquaintance.”
“You mean the bushranger?”
Avery nodded. “How much are they paying you, Plodfoot?”
“Fifteen shillings a week.”
Avery shook his head. “You could easily make ten times that if you switched sides, you know.”
“Switched sides?”
Avery again shook his head. “For reasons best known to him, our acquaintance wants you on his team. He said he’s impressed by the way you’ve solved his recent crimes and thinks he could use your talents.”
“But he’s an outlaw!”
“The people he robs are far worse outlaws than him. Did you know the Middle Sea diamond is a fake?”
“A fake?”
“Yes, Mayor Clements lost the real one to Koo Lee Wong in a poker game. And that money Rob Deeppocket stole had been through Koo’s laundry many times before he got his sticky fingers on it. Even the banker bought his bull with dirty money coming down from the goldfields on the coaches.”
“Gosh.”
“Diver Dennis’s pearls are just lead sinkers touched up with a bit of silver paint and varnish. They wouldn’t fool a jeweller but those rich women on the train are taken in hook, line and, um, sinker. So you see, he’s really just dealing out justice to those the law can’t or won’t touch.”
“I never thought of it like that.”
Avery handed him a map. “Tomorrow, if you’re interested, go to the Bembooka trail and follow these directions to where Wanda Byne will be waiting to give you further instructions.”
“But…”
Before Plodfoot could finish, Avery had slipped out the door and vanished into the night.
“Yes,” he said to the now empty room. He’d follow the trail, find the voluptuous Wanda, listen to what the bushranger had to offer and then, well, he’d either arrest him, kill him or join him.
Cast and Credits
The bushranger from The Bushranger GC5WHEM
Constable Plodfoot from Plodfoot's Revenge GC5YP8E
Sheriff Avery from The Lost Sheriff of Middle Sea County GC664DZ
Mayor Clements from Quest for the Middle Sea Diamond GC62WZJ
Koo Lee Wong from The Great Train Heist GC6JMDK
Rob Deeppocket from The Middle Sea Embezzler GC6PE5B/GC9702Q
The banker from The Hill of Bulls GC77C75
Diver Dennis from The Middle Sea Pearler GC7KAGG
Wanda Byne from The Great Train Heist GC6JMDK
My sincere thanks to Elev8!on [mrnoo17] for creating the original Bushranger cache that inspired the rest of the series.
Congratulations to the rozway and Bedlem2, the first to be tempted by Wanda and the Bushranger.