the lure of shares in a promised fortune is too much for burra to ignore when a gnarled old bloke in the pub claims that he has lived his life as a gold prospector, and so paints an alluring mental picture of a life that is productive as well as being adventurous. once burra has been infected by gold fever, the prospector named pete takes burra on a mental journey on how a nugget nominated as the rhubarb leaf was lost and now lies hidden in a deserted goldfield, waiting to be reclaimed. with each anecdote pete provides: plus being backed up by his assistant ralph, burra soon becomes besotted with the promise of a small fortune, so offers his hand to find this fabled nugget named the rhubarb leaf,. although burra insists through negotiation that one of his sons accompany him on the rush to fairy dell.once all the details are finalized, not only burra and his son archie are joining pete and ralph, but also two acquaintances of archie's; ned and shaun have offered their services as well, but burra demands one stipulation that is set in concrete as far as he is concerned…there must be no involvement from women who might derail the entire project, but this demand is squashed when the crew gathers to leave, for pete admits that he lives with his daughter and she is to join them as the cook, but the crew isn't complete yet. burra is blamed for offering clarence, a religious crank, a spot on the team, which naturally burra denies, and with the addition of clarence everything appeared finalized until pete realized burra has forgot to bring the guns, so there is another hold up until burra fixes the problem, and on arrival back at home, another of burra's sons, Arty, decides at the last minute to join the rush to fairy dell.there are many twists and turns involving each member of the crew and plenty of surprises involving personnel and situations in the quest for the hidden nugget. I will finish by mentioning that gold is found, but for the reader to know by who and how the gold is distributed you must read on.