The helicopter turned and slewed around in the turbulence, then slid across the tree tops. It took a few minutes of anxious searching before the clearing was sighted. Graham described the layout and what to expect. This time the crewman unclipped a metal frame stretcher from the landing skids and went down with that. Graham leaned out and watched anxiously as the crewman went down past the wildly thrashing tree tops into the clearing. Rain still flogged in and he knew he was getting soaked but did not care. All he could think about was his friends below.
The crewman unclipped himself when he reached the ground. Graham saw him move towards the wreckage of the Old Prospector’s shelter. At the same moment a blur of white across the clearing caught Graham’s eye. It was Bert, staring up at the helicopter. The crewman saw him and sloshed across to him. Graham heaved a sigh of relief.
The stretcher was unclipped and carried off into the jungle. All the while Graham was aware that the pilot was wrestling with the controls and that the helicopter was buffeting up and down so that the tree tops appeared to rise and fall.
Several minutes of anxious waiting went by, the helicopter hovering with difficulty. Graham could hear the pilot talking to the crewman on a radio but could not hear the crewman’s answers.
Then a group appeared in the driving rain below, bent over and crouched against the fury of the storm. They were carrying the stretcher and Graham recognized Bert, Allison, Stephen and Uncle Bill. At that he relaxed a fraction. At least they were safe.
The stretcher was clipped on and winched up, the crewman riding with it to steady it. As it reached the level of the cabin the doctor reached out and swung one end in. It was hauled in and then slid lengthwise, to be secured on the floor at their feet. On it was Victor. Graham saw that he had a ghastly wax-like look and had blue lips and forehead.
As the crewman went down again with a second stretcher Graham asked: “Is he still alive?”
The doctor reached down to check. He nodded. “Yes, but only just.”
At that Graham began to shake and then cry. He was barely able to help pull the next stretcher in the door. Strapped to it was the Old Prospector, his soaked hair matted over his face and beard. Then, to Graham’s consternation the crewman seated himself, unclipped and secured his winch harness and slid the door shut.
“What about the others?” Graham cried in dismay.
The crewman turned his face to him and said nothing for a moment. Graham realized he looked exhausted and battered. The man said: “They are alright. We can’t take any more without overloading dangerously. We are going to get these people to hospital first, then come back.”
Graham accepted this. He looked down as the doctor knelt to examine the Old Prospector and was relieved to see him nod. The Old Prospector was alive as well.
The engine note changed abruptly and the helicopter spun round, then raced over the tree tops, climbing rapidly as it did. Graham glanced out and noted they were now racing north along the Mulgrave valley. Satisfied they were now at a safe height he concentrated on what the doctor and crewman were doing.
Now reaction set in and he found himself shivering and cramping. After a while he sat back and closed his eyes. Almost at once exhaustion and relief took over and his consciousness swam. Once he opened his eyes and found himself staring into the sullen and baleful eyes of Burg, but it was Burg who broke the contact and stared out the window.
Going through the gap from the Little Mulgrave to Davies Creek was a bit hairy. Graham opened his eyes in fright as the helicopter was tossed around. “Nearly three hundred knots!” the pilot informed them. “We’ve got a bit of a tail wind.”
On the north side of the mountains the flying conditions dramatically improved. There were only occasional showers of rain and the wind died noticeably. They flew fast just under the clouds.
Within minutes Graham recognized Mareeba below. The helicopter settled in an open area beside the hospital. To Graham’s relief there were uniformed police there. As soon as the helicopter had settled, these ran forward with the hospital staff. The door was slid open and the crewman unbuckled Burg.
When Burg saw the police he snarled hate at Graham. The crewman sneered at him. “You should be thanking him, not cursing him. The kid saved your life.”
Burg was taken off, then Donk taken out and placed on a stretcher to be wheeled off. Victor and the Old Prospector followed. Graham went to unclip his seatbelt and found his hands trembling too much. The crewman did it for him and the doctor took the haversack and helped him out. More white clad orderlies and nurses were waiting and before Graham realized what was happening, or could protest, they had lifted him onto another stretcher and started wheeling him into the hospital as well.
“Don’t lose our gold,” he called to the doctor.
The doctor laughed and assured him it was safe. As he was wheeled into the building Graham began to really relax, satisfied he had done all he could.
“Please ring Gran and check that Kylie and Margaret are safe,” he asked.
He was taken into a ward, stripped of his sodden boots and clothes and taken to the bath. The wonderful process of recovery began. As he was doing that he heard the helicopter start up and lift off. “Is it going back to rescue my friends?” he asked.
“Yes, now relax,” the nurse replied. But even in his exhausted state Graham had trouble doing that as she was very pretty and he had never been bathed by a lovely young woman before. It was both embarrassing and enjoyable.
He was just being tucked into a deliciously warm bed when the report came through that the others had also been rescued by the helicopter. “Another half hour and it would have been too dark,” the nurse told him. “Then your friends would have had to spend the night there.”
‘A second night!’ Graham thought. ‘That would have been the death of them.’ “What about my sister and Margaret and Roger?”
“The police have reported they are safe at your grandmother’s farm,” the nurse replied.
That was what Graham had hoped to hear. At that he let go and slipped into oblivion.
*****
A week later Graham stood in the same hospital ward in Mareeba. With him were Peter, Stephen, Roger, Kylie and Margaret. They stood beside the bed in which the Old Prospector lay. Uncle Bill and Mrs Kirk came in to join them, followed by Bert and Allison.
The Old Prospector smiled up at them. “It’s guid ter see ye,” he said. “I hear ye walked over the mountains in the cyclone to get help?”
“Five of us,” Graham replied. “It wasn’t that hard. Even Kylie managed it.”
Kylie glared at him and Margaret frowned her disapproval. She said: “We couldn’t just leave you to die.”
The Old Prospector nodded. “You are two very brave lassies. Never mind these hulking louts. Now, tell me the tale in detail, all I’ve got so far is a gabbled outline.”
“You tell it Graham,” Kylie said.
Graham recounted events after the tree fell on the shelter, with Margaret and Kylie adding details that he left out.
When Graham finished the Old Prospector nodded. “And how is Victor now?”
Bert answered: “He is still in hospital in Cairns. They had to operate to lift part of the skull which had been depressed and fractured. The doctors said he would not have lasted more than another few hours. We got him to hospital just in time.”
The Old Prospector nodded and looked at Graham. “I hear that ye guided the helicopter through the storm to rescue us.”
Graham flushed with embarrassment. “Yes, and those two men.”
“Oh aye. And where are they now?”
Like Graham, the two men had only been kept in hospital overnight and then had been taken into custody. “They broke their bail conditions about keeping away from the girls,” he explained.
“Good. Justice might be done. And I hear that ye got yer gold back,” the Old Prospector said.
“Yes we did,” Uncle Bill answered. “And it’s all been banked and things are fi
ne.”
That made Kylie feel very good. She explained: “The farm has been saved. Uncle Bill was able to pay his debts.”
“He’ll be more than able to pay his debts if he’s found the famous ‘Jewellers Shop’,” the Old Prospector commented.
Uncle Bill laughed. “They all will. We have registered all the claims and I am in the process of negotiating with a mining company to do the actual mining. I’d rather stick to cows.”
“Sensible fellow,” the Old Prospector replied. “Ye could end up like me otherwise.”
“We have all combined our leases and are going equal shares,” Kylie said. “And we all agreed you should have a share too.”
The Old Prospector turned to her and smiled. For a moment his eyes went moist. “That’s real kind of ye, but ye’ve no need.”
“We insist,” Kylie said. “You helped, and you are our friend.”
The Old Prospector struggled with emotion at that. Stephen suddenly snapped his fingers and dug into the bag he was carrying. “That reminds me,” he said. He held out his hand. “This is yours I think.”
In his hand was a gleaming gold nugget the size of a large potato. For a moment they were all stunned speechless by the size and beauty of it. The Old Prospector reverently took it in his hands and fondled it. He looked quizzically at Stephen.
“Mine ye say?”
Stephen nodded. “Yes. It was stuck in the roots of that tree which blew down on your camp. There were more too, but I didn’t have time to get them.”
“Well bless my soul!” the Old Prospector said. “And me digging for months in the wrong place and it was right under me feet!” At that he began to laugh loudly. After a moment the others joined in. Graham gave Margaret a smile (which she thought was worth more than a gold nugget any day), and Bert and Allison kissed passionately.
THE NAVY CADETS SERIES
Davey Jones’s Locker
The Navy Cadets: Book 1
Christopher Cummings
Fourteen year-old Navy Cadet Andrew Collins enrols in a SCUBA diving course on the Great Barrier Reef to impress Muriel, the girl of his dreams. There’s only one problem: Andrew is terrified of diving, not to mention the sharks, eels, and every other dangerous critter inhabiting the Coral Sea.
Despite his fears, Andrew inadvertently stumbles onto an old family mystery: the mysterious disappearance of his grandfather, lost at sea many years before. The deeper they delve into the mystery the deeper they are caught in a deadly web of lies and danger.
Andrew must face some agonizing choices and do battle with his worst nightmares.
THE AIR CADETS SERIES
Coasts of Cape York
The Air Cadets: Book 1
Christopher Cummings
Fourteen year-old Air Cadet Willy Williams jumps at the chance to take a flight in a restored World War 2 PBY ‘Catalina’ seaplane along the Queensland north coast. During flight however he makes a shocking discovery, one that endangers his very life.
Willy is tested to his limits, both emotionally and physically, as he travels to the remotest and most dangerous parts of Far North Queensland. He soon learns that there is more to the world of aircraft wrecks and vintage planes than meets the eye – rivals, false friends, and dangerous enemies.
What is the mystery and how do Willy and his friends cope? To find out read on and join the flight up the coast of Cape York.
THE ARMY CADETS SERIES
The Cadet Corporal
The Army Cadets: Book 1
Christopher Cummings
Now in his 2nd year as Army Cadet, trouble-maker Graham Kirk is faced with the biggest crisis of his cadetship. The annual field camp has begun and over nine gruelling days he will be forced to face challenges and temptations that test his integrity, courage and loyalty to the limit.
Top of the list is Pigsy and his gang, soured by jealousy and resentment. And of course the girls. Will they stand in the way of his promotion to sergeant or will he rise to the challenge and become the leader nobody thinks he can be?
The Publicity Push Page 34