The Cadet Under-Officer

by Christopher Cummings

  Suddenly Bargheese stiffened. “Where is the girl?” The thought suddenly came to him. “There was a girl in the front with Schein - where is she?” A little dark cloud of concern began building in his mind.

  “There’s a suitcase here,” said Berzinski. He bent closer. “Miss Elizabeth Schein, 9 Mango Avenue , Cairns,” he read from the label.

  “Break it open. See if the briefcase is in there. Look for footprints,” Bargheese snapped.

  Amos pointed at the sandy creek bed. “Here, Mr Bargheese, footprints, going under the bridge.”

  “After her! You too Berzinski. Vyajana, break those windows so that these bullet holes don’t show. Then search this car and collect everything,” Bargheese ordered. Then he scrambled up onto the roadway. He saw that the driver of the blue car was standing looking at something. Bargheese ran over to him. “A girl - have you seen a girl?” he snapped.

  The man pointed. Bargheese looked. And there she was- a big girl in a white blouse and purple skirt - highly visible. She was running away up a long grassy slope and she was carrying the black briefcase! Bargheese dashed across the road and screamed orders at Amos and Berzinski who looked, then ran to the fence and scrambled over. There was no doubt from the girl’s actions that she knew too much and had to be caught. Had to be!

  A truck pulled up and distracted Bargheese. He put his pistol away and then, again pretending to be a policeman, ordered both drivers to move on so as not to create a traffic hazard at the broken bridge. The blue car and truck drove off. Bargheese grabbed the car radio and made contact with Falls, the boss of Mine Security, while watching Amos and Berzinski run across the rough pasture after the girl. She went out of sight into a dip in the ground and he began to experience a twinge of alarm that she might somehow escape.

  Impatiently he snarled, “Hurry up Vyajana! Get that suitcase and other things up here and put them in the boot.” On the radio he told Falls to move his men and vehicles to join him and, confident there were no incriminating clues other than one bullet hole no one was likely to notice, to inform the police and the ambulance. Then he turned to watch the chase.

  Bargheese watched the girl crawl under a fence and begin running along the railway towards the Bunyip Bend railway station. To his consternation he saw there was a train there! ‘That means people! She must not get a chance to talk to people,’ he thought.

  Gesturing angrily he shouted, “Get in Vyajana, quickly. Turn around and drive to that railway siding, hurry!”

  They scrambled in but had to wait while two trucks and a car went past in different directions before they could safely turn around. As they drove up the hill Bargheese saw Amos and Berzinski crawl under the fence beside the railway.

  The train sounded its whistle. Bargheese then cursed as he saw the girl still running and still ahead of the two men. Suddenly she tripped and he cried out with satisfaction, then swore as she rose and ran on. The car quickly drew ahead and the scene was cut from view by two large store sheds beside the tracks. The car raced to the little settlement of Bunyip Bend - a few widely scattered houses, a petrol station and shop and a small railway station. Vyajana pulled the car off the highway onto a dirt side road leading to the station, a single timber building. They pulled up with a skid in the loose gravel.

  Bargheese jumped out, coughing as their own dust enveloped him as he ran out onto the ‘platform’ of packed earth. The train was a long line of cattle wagons which stank and whipped up grit and dust as it picked up speed. Curling his lip with disgust he stepped back, blinking furiously as he strained to see, oblivious to the curious stare of a railway employee.

  The last wagon rattled past and Bargheese saw Berzinski being helped to his feet by Amos a hundred metres back down the track. Anxiously he sprinted towards them, fury and alarm mingling in his heart.

  “Where is the girl?” he shouted.

  Amos pointed. Bargheese turned and looked. The train was just vanishing out of sight through a low cutting and clinging to the outside of a box car was the girl, her white blouse plainly visible.

  Grinding his teeth he snarled, “You fools! Come on! Into the car!”

  They ran back along the track. Bargheese called to the railway employee who was standing in the door of the one-room timber station building: “When does that train stop next? Can you stop it?”

  The railway man shook his head. “Won’t stop now till it gets to Mingela mate,” he replied.

  Mingela! Bargheese searched his memory and images of another tiny town of a dozen scattered buildings came to mind. It was 30 km or so away but while it was only small Bargheese knew it had a policeman resident in it. ‘We must stop that train before then and get that girl off without too many prying eyes,’ he thought. He ran to the car and scrambled in.

  Gesturing angrily he shouted, “Drive! On along the highway towards Townsville, quickly!”

  Vyajana nodded and pressed the accelerator. The car swung round and bounced along the track to the highway.

  Bargheese sneered. “Fine pair you two are, letting a girl get away from you!” he snapped at the two sweating security men who were panting for breath in the back seat. The car turned right onto the highway and accelerated. At that point the road curved away from the railway which was lost to sight for several minutes until they topped the long rise leading down to the Bunyip River. About 2 km away to the right Bargheese saw the train crossing the huge, steel girder bridge which spanned the river at that point.

  Even as he looked the last wagon, the one with the girl, went onto the bridge. There was no sign of her but he had not expected there to be as she had been clinging to the other side when he last saw her. But darts of doubt made him break into a cold sweat. ‘Is she still on the train?’ he wondered. ‘Or has she jumped off?’

  By then the locomotive was already passing the collection of half a dozen buildings which comprised the siding of Bunyip Bridge. ‘Too late to stop the train there,’ Bargheese thought. So he urged Vyajana to drive faster. As the car roared onto the half-kilometre long concrete road bridge he explained his plan to the others. The river bed, he noted, was mostly dry sand with trees lining the banks and only a small flow of water near the far bank.

  Berzinski listened then pointed ahead. “Just over the next rise there’s a road which goes off on the right that crosses the railway. It leads into an army camp,” he offered in an attempt to redeem himself.

  Bargheese nodded. “Good, we will stop it there. Drive faster man!”

  The car sped up the long open slope on the far side of the bridge at over 120 kph, rapidly passing the distant train which was travelling at less than half that speed.

  Half a kilometre on they passed the turnoff to Bunyip Bridge siding - a dirt road going off to the right. Another dirt road went up a bare, grassy ridge on the left. Bargheese noted that the railway was now angling in so that road and railway were converging. The car sped through several small cuttings with open savannah woodland on either side then over a long gentle rise.

  Berzinski pointed. “Here’s the turnoff, on the right,” he called.

  Vyajana hastily applied the brakes. The car screeched almost to a halt where a bitumen road led off. A skid on loose bitumen almost ended the chase there and then. Berzinski swore loudly and Bargheese cried out in alarm. He found himself staring at a large painted sign which proclaimed:

  AUSTRALIAN ARMY

  Bunyip River Stores Depot.

  Restricted Area

  Vyajana changed gears and the car accelerated along the road to the railway level crossing a hundred metres away.

  “Stop across the tracks,” ordered Bargheese. As the car pulled up he jumped out, pistol in hand. As he did the locomotive came into sight through a low, curved cutting. The diesel was labouring to haul the train over the crest.

  Bargheese drew his gun and waved it. “Come on! Amos, Berzinski, you go on the other side of the train. Vyajana, watch the road and keep contact with Falls and his men,” he ordered. He then set off running on th
e right hand side of the track towards the train. It was obvious that the driver had seen them as the locomotive’s air horn began blaring repeatedly and brakes came on with a deafening noise of metallic squealing. The big diesel engine slowed down and the driver leaned out calling angrily.

  Bargheese stopped and pulled out his driver's licence and flashed it, too quickly to be clearly read.

  “Police!” he shouted. The clothes and the gun backed that. “There’s a girl hiding on this train. We must arrest her. Hold the train here.”

  The driver looked dumbfounded and turned to tell his co-driver. Bargheese did not wait. He ran on along the train. The cattle wagons were full of beef cattle and dripped with urine and manure. He wrinkled his nose at the stench. There was nowhere much for the girl to hide, he decided. And anyway the last wagon was his objective. He came out of the cutting. The stationary train stretched ahead of him, then curved out of sight to his right into another low cutting. Scattered timber hid the last wagons. He ran as fast as he could along the sandy track beside the line, glancing between, under and in each cattle wagon as he passed. It was hot and he was sweating and winded but the urgency of the situation kept him moving.

  As he started running into the shallow cutting something caught his eye. Something white. It was the girl! She was not on the train. She had jumped off and had run down into some gullies heading for the highway!

  Bargheese stopped and gasped to fill his lungs. “Amos, Berzinski!” he shouted. No answer. He called again. A muffled cry answered him. He called again. “Amos, back to the car. The girl is over near the highway. Berzinski, follow me, run!”

  They called acknowledgment. Bargheese scrambled up a low rise to get a better look. As he did he glimpsed the girl as she went down into a gully quite near the highway. ‘She must not reach the road and get help,’ he thought.

  Pressured by growing anxiety Bargheese vaulted the fence and set off in pursuit. During the run over the rough ground he lost sight of the girl several times but was heartened to note that he was quickly catching up. But she was still some hundreds or metres ahead and he saw her crawl under a fence and then hurry out onto the highway. ‘Damn!’ he swore.

  The girl looked both ways but then Bargheese saw her run across the highway and scramble up a low bank beyond. As he raced gasping towards the fence she ran into the bush beyond. Bargheese flung himself under the fence, grimacing in pain and disgust as his skin and clothing picked up a coating of prickles and burs.

  Scrambling to his feet Bargheese looked both ways along the highway. The sight of a yellow Landcruiser coming from the direction of the bridge made him pause and wave his arms. He could see the girl running up a long gentle slope through a stand of timber. ‘She isn’t far. I will get my men to head her off,’ he thought. So he stood, sucking in great gulps of air as he waited.

  The vehicle was a NORMAC security Landcruiser. The mine security boss, Falls, was in it along with two others. It stopped.

  “That girl,” Bargheese said pointing, “Quick! Call the others, then get this vehicle up the road on that bare ridge back there to cut her off. She’s got the briefcase and must be caught - must be! At all costs!” Bargheese gasped. “One of you come with me.”

  He ran around the back of the vehicle and up a low bank to another fence. As he dropped to crawl under the fence he lost sight of the girl and when he got to his feet on the other side she had gone over the rise a hundred metres on. It was open bush and he ran easily through it.

  ***

  Sobbing with exhaustion and shaking with shock Elizabeth hung on to the side of the rail wagon. She began to tremble so much she nearly dropped the briefcase. For a moment she even thought she should get rid of it. But the memory of Uncle Jack’s last request made her grit her teeth and hang onto it.

  By then the train was going too fast to safely jump off and it seemed to rock and lurch alarmingly as it roared through a cutting. Then it came out onto a high, steep-sided embankment and she could see for miles across a huge open area to trees marking a river bank. A downward glance showed her that it was a steep embankment. ‘If I fall I will really get hurt,’ she thought. Fear kept her grip tight.

  She shifted the briefcase and wedged it between her body and the carriage, then used her free hand to try the door handle. No good. It was locked. She rested and realised her arm and hand were stinging with pain from the gravel rash and prickles. Carefully she changed her hands to ease the stiff cramping in her left hand. A bout of trembling shook her.

  The train roared out over a small bridge. It had no sides and from her position on the outside looking down there seemed to be no bridge at all and it looked a long way to fall. Elizabeth had a horrible illusion the train was rolling over on top of her. She shut her eyes and hung on till she was off that bridge. Then she looked ahead and straightaway got an insect in her right eye.

  Shivering with overexertion she rubbed her eye until it watered but she had seen enough to give her another real fright. They were coming to a big bridge - a huge monster of steel girders held up on massive concrete pylons. She realised it must be the Bunyip River bridge. But before she could think of what to do the train was on it and she experienced genuine terror as the criss-cross steel girders seemed to slice past very close to her back. She looked down and saw it was a terrifyingly long drop.

  Elizabeth screamed but wasn’t aware of it as her voice was lost in the thunderous roar of a kilometre-long train crossing a kilometre-long steel bridge. She closed her eyes and pressed herself against the dirty grey side of the wagon, holding on to the handrail and door handle. The bridge seemed to go on for ever but it was actually only a bit over a minute.

  Fearfully she peeked out and down and caught a glimpse of sunlight reflected on water and then the trees and grass of the far bank. A vehicle track swept by 50 metres below her. The train came out of the girders onto a short section of bridge with thick steel sides which hissed past close to her back. Then, to her great relief, it ran onto a steep, grassy embankment.

  The train slowed down as it began a long uphill climb. Elizabeth began to gather her wits and to tried to think ahead. She knew she couldn’t hang on much longer anyway, her fingers were now too stiff and she could feel herself weakening. She also suspected that the men would not give up. ‘They will follow in their car,’ she reasoned. ‘And then they will try to catch me as soon as the train stops.’

  The train crossed a farm track at a level crossing. There were houses there on the other side of the track but she was a long way past them before they came into view. On her side of the railway there was a low hill covered with fairly large gum trees. She noted an overgrown spur line which ran off to vanish in the bush.

  Then the brakes came on so suddenly Elizabeth was almost wrenched off. The carriages banged together on their buffers and air hissed loudly. The train stopped with a shudder!

  Panic began to seize Elizabeth. ‘The men will be coming for me! Oh help! What should I do?’

  The briefcase decided her. It began to slip from her grip. She dropped painfully down to the track, flexing her fingers and looking around. ‘Run,’ she told herself. But which way? ‘Not towards the engine. Back along the line to the houses? How far? It looked a long way. Into the bush?’

  Elizabeth turned to study the open savannah woodland on both sides of the railway. Then she heard a car. Worried it was the men she looked around the back of the train. In the distance a red car could just be seen through the trees. It was on the highway about half a kilometre away. In between were several deep gullies which seemed to offer some cover. ‘If I can reach the highway and flag down a car I might be safe,’ she thought.

  She walked across the railway and crawled under the fence, cutting her stockinged foot on some broken glass as she did. The ground was almost bare of grass but there seemed to be quite a few trees – black-trunked ‘ironbarks’ mostly.

  Still clutching the briefcase Elizabeth limped down into the head of a small gully. The gully had steep sid
es but was narrow and the bottom was rocky and hard on her feet. She was unused to such walking and nearly sprained her ankle several times. The gully twisted and turned and she was quickly out of sight of the train. Another gully came in from the right and as she looked along it she caught a glimpse of the train, and of the white-shirted black man with the gun. He was running along the railway on her side of the train. At the sight of him cold terror made her hair bristle and she began to run. The gully turned left and headed down into a large, open field. There was nowhere to hide there and it took her away from the road. Instead she climbed up the bank and headed across the open paddock towards the road, knowing that she risked being seen from the train.

  In the process Elizabeth trod on several burrs and thorns which drove deep into her stockinged foot. She cried out and paused to pluck out several but a glance at the man caused her to ignore the pain and run. A shout from behind told her she was seen. Quivering with fear and exertion she glanced back and saw the hated coloured man pointing and calling. He was still beside the train, a few hundred metres back but she sensed he was much more dangerous than the previous pursuers.

  As she watched he seemed to spring over the fence like some vengeful panther and she knew that death was on her heels.

  With a sob of despair she scrambled across another gully and raced up to the fence beside the highway, her breath coming in wracking sobs. She just hurled herself under this fence, oblivious to cuts and scratches. Staggering onto the bitumen road she looked frantically up and down it, hoping a car would come. She glanced behind and saw the black man bound down into a gully half way to the road. The sight made her cry out in fear and tears began to course down her cheeks.

  Then she saw a vehicle. It was coming from the direction of Charters Towers and was crossing the road bridge two kilometres away. It was a yellow coloured Landcruiser.