The Six Macs and the Bell of Souls

By David J Dawkins

After surviving a plane crash, the Six Macs find themselves in a snowy Himalayan wilderness where they discover the village of a secretive mountain tribe who show them the way to a temple run by kung-fu nuns.

The nuns tell them that the mountain tribe must be kept secret and that they can tell no one what they have seen. They also tell them that while they were mending the tribe's precious Bell of Souls, it was stolen from them by English travellers.

After a dangerous journey to base camp, the Six Macs find the stolen bell and begin their adventure to return it to the hidden tribe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398489042

David J Dawkins

As someone with dyslexia, who has always had problems with reading and writing and who is now the author of three novels, I would like to say to anyone with similar difficulties that nothing is impossible. If you really want to do something, go for it! Who knows what you will achieve? This book is the third one of a series of books about the adventures of The Six Macs. Each book has an environmental theme to it, where some of my concerns about the way we treat our world are aired. In my 5th book, the Six Macs become eco-warriors.   The environmental messages in my books are very light, making them fun to read.

Book preview

About the Author

As someone with dyslexia, who has always had problems with reading and writing and who is now the author of three novels, I would like to say to anyone with similar difficulties that nothing is impossible. If you really want to do something, go for it! Who knows what you will achieve?

This book is the third one of a series of books about the adventures of The Six Macs. Each book has an environmental theme to it, where some of my concerns about the way we treat our world are aired. In my 5th book, the Six Macs become eco-warriors.

The environmental messages in my books are very light, making them fun to read.

Other books published by the author

The Six Macs and the Slime Monster from Loch Ness

The Six Macs and the Purple Orb

The Six Macs’ Names

Scruffy MacTuffy

Never washes, and wears scruffy clothes.

Chaffy MacTaffy

He was born in Wales.

Prancer MacDancer

The coolest one in the gang, he goes to dancing lessons and performs skateboard stunts.

Flyer MacHigher.

A whizz on a skateboard.

Maltliquor MacSnigger

Drank a drink from his dad’s drinks cupboard, and ended up in the hospital.

Broozer MacDoozer

Likes a punch-up.

Copyright Information ©

David J Dawkins 2023

Edited by Anne Rostron

The right of David J Dawkins to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398489035 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398489042 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

1. Snowboard Practice

Maltliquor MacSnigger shot right through the fence, his snowboard went flying into the air before landing on top of a sun umbrella in the sports centre’s café. This made people sitting at the table dive out of the way with loud screams. Ow, ow, that really hurt my butt, cried Maltliquor.

Wow, that was the best! I have never seen anything like that before, you almost did a somersault flip, shouted Flyer MacHigher.

Well, I didn’t mean to do it, I just want to get the hang of using this thing, or do I? complained Maltliquor, as he rubbed his butt.

You better go and retrieve your snowboard, those people in the café don’t look too happy about you knocking over their coffees. You might have to buy them two more, laughed Prancer MacDancer.

I’ll show you how it’s done when you get back, screamed Chaffy MacTaffy, as he whizzed past Maltliquor. This week was the first week that Chaffy MacTaffy was able to stand up on his snowboard and go further than two metres. But he seemed to have got the hang of it now.

Come over here Maltliquor, I’m going to give you one last lesson before we go home, shouted Prancer. Broozer MacDoozer and Scruffy were watching them from high up on the climbing board. Both had been on skiing holidays with their parents and were good at snowboarding, so they both had decided to learn how to rock climb. They were all looking forward to a holiday of a lifetime.

Broozer’s uncle was a scientist with something to do with climate change and glaciers melting. He spent time at the Makalu Barun National Park in Nepal and had arranged for the Six Macs to go out with him for a whole month with their mums and dads. They were really looking forward to it, so for the last five weeks they had been learning how to snowboard. Prancer and Flyer found it really easy because their skateboarding skills had come in handy.

They all strapped their snowboards to their backs and headed back to their camp. It was quite a long bicycle ride of five miles. There was one stretch of very busy traffic, so they tended to cycle on the pavement. It was the worst part of the journey because there was anex-policeman on that stretch, who always told them off. Just as a wind-up, Broozer MacDoozer always threw an empty drink can into his front garden, which was made of concrete, to make a clattering noise. The other five didn’t like him doing it, but it always made the policeman come running out of his house to chase them. Broozer didn’t do it to annoy him, he did it to wind up Chaffy, who always lagged behind the rest. Because his bike was smaller, he had to cycle harder to stop himself from being caught ,which Broozer thought was hilarious. Chaffy and Broozer are really good mates, but they have a sort of love-hate relationship and are always teasing each other.

This week was no exception, Broozer threw the can, and sure enough out came the policeman, who chased them down the road until they were out of reach. That’s not funny, Broozer, you always catch me out. One day he will catch me, puffed Chaffy, who was totally out of breath.

Broozer just sniggered. Back at camp, Chaffy was looking forward to playing a get-you-back trick on Broozer which he had read about in a book. So he volunteered to make them all cups of tea. He boiled the water on an old camping stove they had found next to a small gas cylinder on the tip next to their camp. Broozer’s mug had a picture of Dennis the Mennis on it. After making his tea, Chaffy took a raw egg out of his saddlebag and sneakily broke its shell, dropping the raw egg into Broozer’s tea. It immediately sank to the bottom of his drink and could not be seen. The Six Macs were all enjoying their tea while discussing how good their holiday was going to be, when suddenly Broozer let out a GLuuuuug, goooooor, yuk sound while spitting out a slimy raw egg. Chaffy laughed so much that he nearly wet his pants. Got you, that’ll teach you for making me cycle faster, he laughed.

That’s not a joke, I don’t class that as a joke, it’s cruel. I could have been sick or choked to death. That’s taking it too far, complained Broozer. The others didn’t know whether to laugh, or be annoyed with Chaffy, so they just kept quiet. Chaffy sulked for a few minutes when he realised the trick wasn’t a good one.

All of them had received special written permission from school to take the time off, as long as they wrote an essay about their experiences. The Six Macs had been told that it was very cold where they were going. But further down the mountain, near a small village where they would be staying, it was slightly warmer. All the Six Macs had been given extra special very warm skiing jackets and trousers, supplied by Broozer’s uncle’s university, with Edinburgh University Climate Change Team One written on the back of each jacket.

On the last Sunday of practice, they decided to stay until the sports centre closed. Maltliquor was still very wobbly but was slowly getting better. Flyer was showing off most of the day, so was Prancer. We should go home, we have an early start tomorrow morning, suggested Scruffy, who was really excited.

Suddenly Chaffy shouted, Look at me I have been practising all afternoon and now I think I have perfected the perfect move. He was right at the top looking down at them. Most of the