Extreme Difference by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton Page B

of it, but proving it will be another matter.’
    At that moment, Mop appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by her own personal aroma, and grabbed Sandy’s arm.
    ‘What’s this about new clothes for us?’ she asked, giving him her best smile, ‘I could help you make them.’
    ‘Ah, there’s a condition attached to that,’ said Sandy quickly, ‘to qualify for new clothes, that person has to have a haircut and a wash, otherwise the new clothes will wind up looking like the present ones, and that would just be a waste of time and effort.’
    ‘Oh, will you be supervising that?’ she replied cheekily, the smile getting even wider, and exposing several teeth badly in need of repair.
    ‘I might have to, just to make sure it’s done properly.’ he said brightly, desperately hoping it would not come to that.
    By the time they had found Nan and explained what they intended to do, the sun had lowered towards the top of the peaks, and the visitors began moving their growing boxes up to the entrance of the cave system.
    A sudden commotion brought everyone running to find an indignant Karry standing with her arms folded across her chest, glaring into the cave where the boxes had been stored.
    Apparently, one of the visitors, encouraged by his friend, had made a grab at Karry’s ample bosom during the box shifting. Karry had responded to this affront on her person by grabbing them both, and banging their heads together.
    They now lay in a crumpled heap against the cave wall, while the rest of the group were remonstrating at Karry from what they considered to be a safe distance.
    It took Nan and the interpreter several minutes to calm the situation down to boiling point, and many more to restore some semblance of order among the visitors.
    Eventually, an equable state of affairs was reached, the visiting party departing with what they thought to be the better side of the bargain, and a very huffy Karry explaining why she did what she did, to a disinterested Nan.
    ‘Touchy bunch.’ said Sandy, as they retreated into the comparative warmth of the tunnel system. ‘What are the lot on the other side of us like?’
    ‘Can’t say I know much about ’em,’ Ben replied. ‘Nan’s the only one who has any dealing with ’em, and he doesn’t say much, but I’ll try and find out.’ he added enthusiastically, sensing another adventure in the offing.
    They made their way down to Ben’s store cave to light the rags they had pushed into the tunnel with the up draft, hoping not to see any smoke coming out on their side of the towering peaks.
    Ben carefully lit a piece of rag from the gas lamp, and placed it at the bottom of the pile in the tunnel, fanning it with his hand until copious amounts of smoke were sucked up the chimney-like hole.
    ‘Right, let’s get outside and see what’s happening.’  Sandy called over his shoulder, as he left the cave and sped up the tunnel to the open crater. On the way, they nearly knocked a surprised Mop over as she was making her way down to them. They failed to notice the hurt look on her face as they raced by, causing the flickering gas lamps to dance even more vigorously in their passing draft.
    The top of the peaks were bathed in fiery light from the fast sinking sun as the pair burst out into the open.
    ‘God, it’s cold already.’ Sandy exclaimed, shivering. ‘It should be safe enough to go out a short way, I suppose?’
    Ben, a little out of breath, just nodded as they hesitantly walked onto the sands, looking for any sign of movement.
    At only ten metres out from the edge of the chilling sands, they could feel the cold seeping through their footwear, another five metres and Ben began to complain vociferously.
    ‘Hope this won’t take long, my feet are aching already,’ he moaned, ‘and there’s always a chance something will try and grab us from below.’
    ‘Oh shut up, and look for the smoke.’ Sandy exclaimed impatiently. ‘If we can’t see any, then it means it’s