The Cadet Under-Officer

by Christopher Cummings

  Graham watched Margaret as she walked as quickly as she could, her freckled face red with effort. ‘She’s a good worker,’ he thought, ‘solid and reliable’ - no, solid was an unfair choice of words as it had the implication of being big and fat. Margaret was fairly short but was wide in the hips. She didn’t have an hourglass figure but she had a cheerful, friendly face. As she went past she grinned.

  Graham had to smile back. “You carry on Cpl Lake, I’m going back to Pl HQ. See you blokes later,” he said. Graham walked back across the causeway as the other two cadets broke cover to cross. At the water he paused to wash his face, then walked back along the gravel road. For two hundred metres he was alone, out of sight of anyone as the road curved through the vines. He was glad to come in sight of the group sitting with the packs. Lt McEwen, Roger and Elizabeth were all busy writing. Graham went through the fence via the cattle grid on the road and then down the slope and across the creek. When he joined the others he sat and had a drink.

  “How’s it going?” he asked.

  Lt McEwen thrust a computer printout at him. “Start copying this. There’s more to this than we thought,” she replied. Graham took it and began to copy.

  CHAPTER 13

  BLACK KNOLL

  There certainly was more to it than they’d realized. Midday came and they weren’t even half done. The sections came in and sat around having lunch. Graham gave a tin of mixed vegetables to help provide a meal for Elizabeth. As they sat eating, a single engine, high-wing monoplane came low overhead and began to drone back and forth.

  Graham studied it for a minute. “Search plane,” he suggested. He noted its registration letters as it went past again further east.

  “These crooks must be pretty worried by now,” Roger said.

  Graham nodded. “If I was them I’d clear out while the going was good,” he said.

  Lt McEwen swallowed some mixed fruit and looked up. “I think they would,” she added. “Except they might need some of this information - or they need to know that the authorities haven’t got it.” She had been giving this some hard thought and though she didn’t say it, so as not to alarm them, she was secretly terrified by the whole situation.

  She said: “As soon as we’ve had lunch I’ll drive over to the shop at Bunyip Bend and buy more food and some postage stamps while you walk up onto Black Knoll. I will join you there in about half an hour. I’ll go on my own and be as quick as I can.”

  Lt McEwen packed her eating utensils and drove off. Graham called in the corporals and gave instructions. As he did the NORMAC helicopter clattered overhead and began circling over Sandy Ridge.

  Graham watched it, then said: “It might be a good thing if, from now on, we practice hiding from aircraft. Brief your people that as soon as they hear an aircraft they are to run to the nearest cover:- to stand behind trees or lie in the branches of fallen logs or hide under bushes and not move. If they are in the open they should lie curled up and not stretched out and above all not to look up, even if they think they are seen. If they look up the light reflects on their face and it stands out both as a change of surface and as movement. Now let’s get moving - Ten Section followed by HQ, Eleven and Twelve.”

  The cadets pulled on webbing and packs. The air was still and seemingly as hot as a summer day. Cicadas made the air quiver with their never-ending shrill call. The noise of the helicopter, now away to the south out of sight, merged with this. Cpl Kenny’s section set off in ‘Arrowhead’, widely spaced - 25 paces apart. They went west across the road and up the barren, rock-strewn slopes of Black Knoll.

  Graham followed. As he crossed the Canning Road at the cattle grid he looked back and saw that the man in the Landcruiser at the road junction was watching them but was confident he was unlikely to notice Elizabeth limping at that distance. More noticeable was Cadet Roberts who was hobbling slowly at the rear with Roger.

  Black Knoll was very well known to Graham. He had taken part in two exercises to defend it over the last two years. All of his cadets, being ‘Second Years’, had been there during the previous annual camp. The knoll was covered with a scattering of medium-sized iron barks which in places formed an almost continuous canopy. The trees were almost bare and the straggly looking leaf cover gave little shade. There was almost no grass. The ground was overgrazed and eroded, with only an occasional small bush or young tree. There were several outcrops of large stones. As the cadets climbed higher up the slope the top of the hill became visible under the trees. The actual knoll was a pile of black granite boulders about 50 metres across and 10 metres high. The top of the knoll was level with the tops of the surrounding trees.

  It was about 300 metres from the road to a fairly flat area on the north side of the knoll. This flat area terminated abruptly in a steep line of cliffs which dropped 50 metres to the bed of the Canning. From the top of the cliff there was a clear view for a kilometre or more either way along that river. The concrete causeway was clearly visible, as was the NORMAC vehicle parked there. North of the river, beyond the tangle of thick vegetation lining its banks, was a large open paddock dotted with a few thorn bushes. The ground rose slowly to a gentle bare hill on which stood the homestead and associated outbuildings of ‘Canning Park’ station.

  On the spur they had walked up there was a rough vehicle track which led to a low, gentle crest a hundred metres south of the knoll. A low saddle extended across from the end of the track to the knoll. To the east and west of the saddle were fairly deep rocky re-entrants. A second long spur led down from the flat area to the causeway.

  Graham had the platoon deploy quickly in a rough ‘all round defence’ on the flat to the north of the knoll but with sentry posts on both sides facing south. He then ordered them to drop packs and rest for ten minutes as it was hot enough and hard enough, at least for 15 year olds not too used to carrying a pack, to have raised a sweat. They had a drink and sat in groups in the shade of the few trees.

  As they did the red and white light aircraft came into view to the North East. It followed the course of the Canning and flew past the knoll almost level with them. By then Graham had the platoon hiding in what little cover there was. He watched from behind a tree and could clearly see the pilot and observer; but their eyes were on the trees in the river bed, not the apparently bare hill. Graham was sure they hadn’t seen the platoon. The aircraft banked sharp left at the junction with the Bunyip River and flew off to the south.

  “Righto! Out you all come! Move in here,” Graham called. The platoon came in and sat in a group in the shade of large ironbarks.

  Hodgins had meanwhile screwed the long rod aerial onto the radio. He spoke into it for a minute then reported. “I’ve raised Company HQ on the radio sir. They have our new location.”

  “How is reception?” Graham asked.

  “OK sir. We are higher now so it’s nearly line of sight,” Hodgins replied.

  Graham then began a ground orientation. From where they sat they had an impressive view out over many kilometres of bush. The area was a vast, gently undulating plain with an occasional prominent hill similar to Black Knoll. Some of these were as much as 50km away and he could even see distant flat-topped mountains which the large scale map indicated were over 100km away. One of those hills Graham noted was called Whaleback Hill and it was next to Brendan Creek. His eyes narrowed and he stared at the distant hill to the West.

  That was the enemy base!

  Apart from two dirt roads, the buildings of ‘Canning Park’ and a glimpse of part of the silver-painted girders of the Bunyip River rail bridge 3km to the South West there was no other sign of human settlement in all that vast vista. It was inland Queensland at its best. Graham felt contented and at home.

  He looked at Elizabeth sitting amongst the others and his heart skipped. It was wonderful to be alive and to be here at this time. ‘This is real romantic adventure,’ he thought. He looked over his platoon with affection and in doing so caught Margaret’s eye. She looked troubled and he felt an odd
twinge he couldn’t interpret from her look.

  For safety every cadet always carried a photocopy of the map, a box of matches and a waterbottle. They all took out their maps and the NCOs also took out compasses. Graham spent ten minutes pointing out the main features and boundaries. As he was finishing Lt McEwen’s car drove up the track to park on the other rise a hundred metres away. She walked over to them along a cattle pad. When she arrived Graham and Roger spoke to her a little away from the group.

  She said: “There’s a checkpoint on this end of the Highway Bridge. There are three men watching the river banks and checking cars. At the Bunyip Bend Roadhouse there is a police road block. They are searching cars there.”

  That really bothered Graham. “Did you have any trouble Miss?”

  “No, they were very nice to me. I’ve got some food, the stamps and I also looked up the phone book to get the right address for the Federal Police, as I didn’t know where to mail it. I thought of phoning them to come but the man in the shop used to be a policeman. There was a policeman talking to him.”

  Graham bit his lip. “I’ll go on with the afternoon lessons then while you and Roger keep writing,” he said.

  “We’ll be lucky to get this writing finished before dark.”

  “Then we will have to post them tonight and they can go tomorrow,” Graham said.

  For the next forty minutes Graham explained to the cadets how a platoon could deploy itself. Roger took over for twenty minutes and revised ‘Night Sentry Duties’. During this Graham helped copy.

  Lt McEwen held up an envelope. “We’re nearly done. This packet is complete and it goes to our school principal. All the copies are back in the briefcase. You can write out these names, addresses and numbers in this little notebook,” she said. She passed Graham the brown leather bound notebook then licked some stamps and put them on the buff envelope.

  Elizabeth sat copying as well. She had been watching Graham instruct and was quite amazed how well he did it. ‘He is a different person from the one he is at school,’ she thought. She was feeling better and more rested now and not as frightened. She was also more familiar with the cadets and how they operated. The platoon had come to represent security in her mind.

  ‘He’s not such a silly boy after all,’ she thought. ‘In fact he’s quite handsome and very nice.’

  Lt McEwen held out an envelope. “Right, there’s the envelope for the Federal Police. Put that in your pack too, Graham.”

  Elizabeth suddenly noted movement. “Look! There are more cadets!” she cried. She pointed South West. Graham and the others looks. Out on the dirt road leading towards the junction of the two rivers could be seen a long line of distant figures, strung out and plodding along under the weight of their packs. Their boots stirred up little puffs of dust which hung in the still air.

  “That’s the rest of the company,” Graham said. He saw Elizabeth only partly understood this so he went on, “There are three platoons of ‘First Year’ cadets and Company HQ - about another eighty cadets. They are going to bivouac at the junction of the two rivers for the next two nights to learn fieldcraft and patrolling.”

  Roger came over and pointed to the company.

  Graham nodded. “Yes, we’ve seen them. I’ll give orders in five minutes,” he replied. He put the brown notebook in his basic pouch and took out his Field Message notebook to check what he had to say and made a few changes. By then the platoon had dispersed back to where their packs were scattered around the hilltop. The Platoon ‘O’ Group seated themselves on rocks facing down towards the causeway so the afternoon sun was at their backs. Graham stood in front of them, notebook in hand and began to give a full set of Defence Orders, following the standardized headings in his ‘Aide Memoire’.

  He had covered ‘Ground’, ‘Opposing Forces’, ‘Friendly Forces’ and ‘Civilians’; and was giving their ‘Mission’ when he saw two army Land Rovers and a NORMAC Landcruiser drive up the other spur to stop near Lt McEwen’s car. He stopped his orders and called out while the vehicles still had their motors going.

  “Elizabeth! Get back to Cpl Lake’s section.” He saw her look around, then fear show plainly on her face. She scrambled to her feet and began to scurry and stumble across the rocky ground. “Don’t run! Act naturally!” Graham called.

  Elizabeth gave him a scared look which changed to a sickly smile. She slowed and sauntered slowly over to sit with the others. Lt McEwen pushed all the paperwork into Graham’s pack and closed it, then stood up to await the visitors. Graham went on with his orders while watching out of the corner of his eye. He wished he didn’t feel frightened and hoped he wouldn’t sound nervous.

  Eight people had dismounted from the vehicles and now walked towards them across the low saddle:- the OC, 2ic, Barbara, Bert Lacey, a cadet signaller; and three NORMAC men. One was the Indian man, Bargheese and his presence gave Graham a chill feeling deep in his stomach. The pot-bellied security chief and another security man, the hard faced man with a crew cut, completed the group.

  Lt McEwen met them fifty paces away. Graham hoped she could keep them away but to his dismay they came and stood behind the corporals. Graham said ‘Good afternoon sir’ to the OC, then went on with his orders. The Cadet Officers listened attentively. The NORMAC men stood watching with barely concealed impatience. Graham tried not to look at them but on one occasion his eye was held by Bargheese’s. Instantly a mental image of a bird mesmerised by a snake formed in Graham’s mind. ‘And I am the bird!’ he thought. The man’s black eyes were intense and malevolent and Graham broke into a sweat wondering if he knew.

  To his credit Graham kept on talking without a tremor in his voice and only an occasional lick of his suddenly dry lips. When he had finished he turned to the OC. “Sir, is there anything you would like to say before the corporals go to give their orders?”

  “Yes, CUO Kirk, I want them to do a check whether anyone is missing anything, especially things like food, pullovers or bedding; anything this missing girl might have taken to help her survive,” Capt Conkey said.

  Graham relaxed a bit. Bert Lacey was there and he made no comment about anything being missing from the ‘Q’ Store. At Graham’s command the corporals moved off to get their sections together for orders. Margaret’s section was grouped on rocks near the top of the cliff, Cpl Kenny’s on the spur nearby and Cpl Sheehan’s on the rocks of the knoll itself, each a good fifty metres apart.

  Graham was drawn into a circle of officers and NORMAC men, the discussion mostly on how training was going. Roger, Barbara and Bert walked off to stand behind Margaret’s section while she gave her orders. Miss McEwen and Mrs Standish sat talking on the rocks near Pl HQ.

  Capt Conkey was in a good mood. “The camp is going well,” he said. “This missing girl is the only fly in the ointment. If we can’t flush her out now that we’ve got the whole company here to work along both banks of both rivers, then I’ll be surprised.”

  Graham was aghast that Capt Conkey was planning to use the whole company to help the crooks search. “Do we do this search as a deliberate plan sir? Or do we just do it by training in the areas?” he asked.

  Capt Conkey gestured to the NORMAC men. “Mr Bargheese here is most anxious we do a proper sweep. He is putting more people out as a cordon and we will move out towards them. We will do it tomorrow morning. I’ll give orders at zero eight hundred hours down at the Junction. It won’t cause much inconvenience for your platoon. You can just search along the bank of the Bunyip where you were going to be anyway.”

  Bargheese had been listening intently and now spoke. “It is most important we find this girl. She has stolen important papers worth a lot of money which NORMAC will pay a large reward to recover. You must be very careful that she does not get a chance to steal food. By now she must be very hungry and if she is hiding in the bush another day or so of cold weather and lack of food must drive her to try to steal.”

  Hearing that made Graham relax. ‘He doesn’t suspect us and he’s a
very worried man,’ he thought.

  Captain Conkey and the 2ic walked over to listen to Cpl Kenny giving his orders and Graham found himself alone with Bargheese and the two security men. He decided to take a risk. “Who is this girl? Did she work for your company?”

  Bargheese shook his head. “No, she did not work for us. Her name is Elizabeth Schein and she is a schoolgirl from Cairns. She had come to Charters Towers by bus to stay with her uncle and aunt. It was the uncle who stole the papers. He was one of our mining engineers. He drove to town and met her and was driving this way when his car crashed.”

  As Bargheese talked Graham’s mind raced. ‘This man does not know that this cadets unit is from Cairns! He doesn’t know we are from the same school. He thinks we are locals; if he has thought about it at all,’ he decided. Then he shivered. ‘If he finds out!’

  Trying to appear helpful and co-operative Graham said in a respectful tone, “Would you like to speak to any of the cadets, sir?”

  “No!” Bargheese snapped rudely. He turned away and spoke to the hard faced man with the crew cut, “Berzinski, have a look in that gully, and amongst those rocks.”

  Bargheese then strode over towards Margaret’s section. Graham started after him, both offended and alarmed. Falls followed. Bargheese walked to where CSM Brassington, Staff Sergeant Lacey and Roger stood just behind the seven cadets who were listening to Margaret. ‘Bloody hell! Barbara or Bert might notice Elizabeth,’ Graham thought.

  To Graham’s dismay Bargheese stood almost directly behind Elizabeth and looked down at them. Luckily all had their hats on. ‘What should I do if he recognizes her?’ Graham thought. He began to mentally plan drawing the pistol and arresting Bargheese and his men while explaining to Capt Conkey. ‘Maybe I should just do that anyway?’ he wondered. But what he really wanted to do was get Capt Conkey aside to explain to him privately but one of the NORMAC men seemed to be always within earshot.