The Ghost of Smugglers Run

Pat O’Leary, Max Priestley, Georgina Greene and Charlene Anderson are the Team of Four. They live in Murwillumbah on the north coast of New South Wales, and attend Year 8 at Murwillumbah High School. They’ve had many adventures. They’ve been deep sea diving in the Pacific, crawled through the caves under Eight Mile Plains, ventured into the temples of Yucatan, and visited the pyramids of Egypt. They’ve explored the ancient monuments of Italy, trekked the icy wastes of the Himalayas, and ridden camels across the burning sands of the Gobi. But those are other stories. This time they confronted a mystery that was more than two hundred years old. This time they went treasure hunting in Cornwall.

“Well me lads and lassies, that be a right long story” said Barney. “And I be right puzzled, and not a little affrighted too, fer ‘tis early te be seein’ this I be thinkin’. And I tell ye this! That light is mebbe no light. That light is mebbe the Ghost o’ Smugglers Run. He be lookin’ fer sailors lost in the storm. He be takin’ the careless, and he give none back. And the rocks he be standin’ on? Why they be the Rocks o’ Gold.”

The Team of Four have stumbled across a mystery on the rain swept coast of Cornwall. With Pat’s Dad in the lead, and their friend Barney Applegate at their side, the Team set off to solve the riddle. The riddle of Smugglers Run.

“They were ‘in the cut’, deep in the heart of the Maw, when the wave broke over the stern of the dory. Kegs of rum were swept past them and they were buried in water and foam. Purtaph was flung overboard with a scream. Jim felt his Dad’s strong hand close around his arm for a moment before it was swept away. Jim felt the boat surge forward, fully submerged, as the wave took it through the Maw. He was underwater and choking. He struggled to swim to the surface but the boots and the oilskins seemed to drag him back. He felt darkness closing over him and he thought of his brothers and sisters and the school they would never have.”

Using all their wits, the Team and Dad and Barney search for clues. Their search takes them into the mighty Atlantic, where they fish off the wrecks of the Annie Rose and the U467; to the dusty bookshelves of Looe, where Dagwood Dogs and stale scones abound; and to the rocky slopes of Long Nose Point, where the broken timbers of the Powder Mill tell a dark history.

Will the Team solve the riddle? Or will the Ghost of Smugglers Run once again be victorious, shrouding its secrets forever in the icy mists of winter and the crashing waves of the Rocks of Gold?