Roger glanced nervously up the
wooded slopes of Mt Baldy. ‘Will a sniper’s bullet suddenly strike me?’ he
worried. Then he wondered, ‘Where were the other partisans? And what are they
doing?’ He put down the two jackets and realized Peter’s had the captured radio
in a pocket. He held it up.
“Sir, we could turn this on and
listen to what the partisans are saying.”
“Good idea. Better still, DS
Crowe send over our Comrade Platoon Administrator,” Inspector Sharpe called.
The partisan sergeant came over
looking very worried. “Yes sir?”
“I want you to turn this radio
on. Make contact with your officers and tell them that the prince and princess
are both in the safe custody of the police. Also tell them that the Australian
Army is now hunting for them and they should come out and surrender to prevent
a serious diplomatic incident. Come, we will do it where the prince can hear
what you say.”
“Plis, can you my hands untie?”
the partisan sergeant asked.
“Yes alright. Roger, untie him.
Here, CSM, take this rifle,” Inspector Sharpe said. He passed the rifle to
Graham, who checked it was on ‘safe’. The Inspector took out his pistol. Roger
untied the man’s hands, remembering how much the experience had hurt him the
day before.
Inspector Sharpe then took the
radio and motioned the partisan sergeant to walk ahead of him over to where
Prince Peter and Princess Mareena sat amongst the trees. Roger noticed that
when he got there the man clicked his heels and bowed from the waist.
Graham nudged Roger. “They might
have been Commos for half a century but they still haven’t forgotten how to
grovel,” he commented dryly.
“Can we sit?” Roger asked. He
felt overwhelmed by weariness and trembled with reaction.
“No. We will walk slowly up and
down. Play act we are guards,” Graham replied.
The two friends walked slowly
across the mowed grass talking. Roger’s feet and legs really hurt but he said
nothing. Minutes ticked past. His stomach grumbled loudly.
“Strewth I’m hungry. I could eat
a horse.”
“It sounds like you have,” Graham
replied with a laugh.
“Well, it’s twelve forty five.
Lunchtime.
And I have missed five meals now!” Roger said.
“So have we all, but you will
have to wait. Here, have a drink.”
“Thanks. Oh look! Here comes a
vehicle.”
A white car had appeared out of
the trees at the town end of the Rifle Range.
“Police car.
Thank God for that!” Graham
said.
The car raced up the gravel road
and braked to a standstill. Four uniformed police wearing bullet-proof vest and
carrying guns scrambled out. Inspector Sharpe walked over towards them, peeling
off the shredded remains of the army raincoat as he did.
He gave quick orders and the police
moved to guard the partisans. These were systematically searched and
handcuffed. DS Crowe was called down off the mound.
“Go and disarm the prince and
Hauptman Ritnik. Be polite but firm. Then guard them,” Inspector Sharpe
ordered. He then walked over and sat in the police car and began talking on the
radio. After a couple of minutes he walked back over to where the boys stood
and said: “Watch this.” He grinned and turned to look down range towards the
eastern end of Mt Baldy.
A minute later the air began to
vibrate.
“Helicopters!”
Graham said.
Around the end of the ridge, just
above the trees, appeared the dark shapes of Army Black Hawks.
“One, two,
three, four, five!”
Graham counted aloud.
“And more of them over there.”
He
pointed as four more appeared.
The first five helicopters came
swooping down to land one behind the other along the Rifle Range. The valley
filled with the roar of their motors and the fierce downdraught of their rotor
wash blew in the boy’s faces.
As the helicopters landed
soldiers in full battle order began jumping out, hauling out radios and machine
guns before throwing themselves flat. Three more helicopters roared overhead
and vanished up the valley and another three swept up beside Mt Baldy to the
summit.
“Regular soldiers from
Townsville,” Inspector Sharpe shouted above the roar of engines.
The five helicopters rose and
swept overhead and off to the north. They vanished over the tree tops in the
direction of Atherton. Roger stared down the range with excitement as the
soldiers rose and began moving off in disciplined groups.
“Look, a mortar,” Graham pointed.
“And another.”
Lines of camouflaged infantry
began filing off into the forest on either side. A group of a dozen with
several radios walked towards them, obviously a headquarters.
“Hercules!”
Roger cried, pointing down
range. Three of the RAAF transport planes passed in the distance, going out of
sight behind the hill on which Atherton stood. They had their wheels down and
were heading for the airfield.
As the army HQ reached them
Inspector Sharpe stepped forward and introduced
himself
.
A solid looking Lt Colonel shook his hand.
“Smith, CO of the battalion. Can
you give me details of where these Kosarian Royal Guards are Inspector?”
“Well, there is a bit more to it
than that. I think you are too late to catch any more of the Royal Guards. But
I can offer you a platoon of fully armed and very aggressive Communist
Partisans instead.”
“Communist
Partisans!
What the devil is going on?” the Lt Colonel asked in astonishment.
“It’s a long story but there are
six of them sitting there.” Inspector Sharpe indicated the prisoners. “Here, I
will show you on the map. Where is Commander Simkin?”
“On his way.
He is not happy. Now, tell me
what you want me to do?” the Lt Colonel replied. He and the Inspector went into
a huddle over a map board held by a captain. Roger stood there feeling very
self-conscious under the stares of the soldiers.
Something the Inspector said made
the Lt Colonel and his officers turn to stare at the cadets. Then they looked
across to where the prince and princess
knelt
tending
Hauptman Ritnik.
“A real prince!
And a dinki-di
princess?
This is becoming unbelievable!” the Lt Colonel said, shaking
his head. He took a radio handset from a sig and began explaining the situation
to an obviously puzzled company commander. Then he turned to another officer.
“OK Major
Pike,
set up HQ over amongst those trees and
secure this area. Get the RMO and his team up here at once.”
Inspector Sharpe looked up. “I
have an ambulance on the way, and more police,” he explained.
The Lt Colonel walked over to the
two cadets. Graham came to attention but lacking a hat did not salute. Roger
did likewise, unable to remember when he had lost his own hat. ‘Anyway we are
“In the field”,’ he decided. By custom the Australian Army does not salute in
the field.
The Lt Colonel looked them up and
down, his face interested. “You are the cadets who did all this?
Bloody good job.
Well done!” He shook their hands. Roger
glowed with embarrassment and pleasure.
The Lt Colonel then turned. “OK
Inspector, let’s meet their Royal Highnesses.” He walked off, followed by his
adjutant and two signallers.
A nuggetty RSM came over to the
two cadets. “Bloody good work CSM.
And you too corporal.
And you need a shave CSM.”
“Yes RSM,” Graham answered, standing
rigidly to attention. The RSM grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Good
lads. Stand easy. Now, what are your names?”
They told him. He then walked
over to join his CO, leaving the two boys standing in the middle of the range
unsure what to do.
Three more vehicles appeared: a
police 4WD, a police car and an ambulance. These pulled up and more police
spilled out. Peter and Stephen were with them- and so was Captain Conkey, this
time in uniform.
“What have you lot stirred up
this time?” Captain Conkey said. “I thought I told you to keep out of trouble?
Well CSM?”
“Sorry sir. It was Roger’s fault.
He kept on poking his nose into the Kosarian’s civil war,” Graham replied.
Roger sparked up at this.
“Oh sir!
That’s not true. We were all in it together.”
Capt Conkey gave a smile. “Tell
me the story. Is that Inspector Sharpe over there?”
“Yes sir.”
“Who is hurt?”
Roger turned to look. The
ambulance had driven across the range to where Hauptman Ritnik lay. The
ambulancemen moved quickly to check his wounds. A stretcher was laid ready
beside him.
“I think they want us over there
sir,” Peter said, indicating Inspector Sharpe who was beckoning.
Capt Conkey and the four cadets
walked over to join the group. Hauptman Ritnik looked up and said: “I just
wished to thank you for saving their Royal Highnesses,” he said.
Graham answered: “Thank you sir.
It was a real adventure and we enjoyed it. Sorry we spoiled your plans.”
“But you did not spoil our
plans!” Hauptman Ritnik cried, struggling to sit up. “They had already been
betrayed by traitors.” He indicated the partisan sergeant standing at the rear
with DS Crowe. “The partisans knew all our plans. If you had not discovered our
ambush they would have found Prince Peter and Princess Mareena with only five
men guarding them.”
Hauptman Ritnik slumped back. He
looked haggard and very sick. Princess Mareena gripped his hand and stroked his
cheek. Prince Peter spoke: “That is enough. We can talk later. Get the Baron to
hospital.”
Hauptman Ritnik was lifted onto
the stretcher and then carried to the ambulance. Two policemen climbed in the
back with him. The ambulance turned and sped away, escorted by the police car
with two more police in it.
Captain Conkey was introduced to
the prince, princess and Lt Col Smith. The Lt Colonel said: “Your lads are a
credit to your unit Captain. They have done a marvellous job. What exactly were
they doing to get mixed up in all this?”
“They were doing a five day,
hundred kilometre expedition for their ‘Duke of Edinburgh Award’. To make it a
challenge, with navigation as a major element, I put out clues for them to
follow. They had to navigate from one clue to the next and had five days to do
it in.”
Graham spoke up: “This is Day Six
sir. I suppose that means we failed.”
“I think the circumstances were
such that you will have passed,” Capt Conkey replied with a smile.
“That’s good sir,” Peter said.
“Roger wouldn’t like to have to go over Mt Baldy again.”
“Mt Baldy?” Capt Conkey asked, glancing
at the mountain and looking puzzled. “What were you doing up there?”
“One of your clues sent us there
sir. In fact at least two clues mentioned it,” Peter answered.
Captain Conkey looked mystified.
“No they didn’t. All the clues were just Grid References.”
The boys looked at each other in
surprise. Peter dug in his map pocket. “But I’ve got one here sir. Look. We
found this one on top of Mt Baldy only an hour ago.” He held up the clue in its
plastic bag.
There was a gasp from Princess
Mareena which made them all glance at her. She blushed and shook her head.
Prince Peter frowned at her. Capt Conkey took the clue. “This isn’t mine. As I
said, mine were all Grid References and were on light blue cardboard.”
“Blue
cardboard!”
Peter exclaimed. The boys looked at each other in astonishment.
Graham spoke first: “But sir, we
followed these yellow clues all the way. I’ve got all the others in my
webbing.”
“Blue
cardboard!”
Roger cried. “Remember when we were at Mobo Creek? The leader of the KSS, the old
man, he had a couple of Grid References on blue cardboard in that plastic bag
he tried to hide, the one which had Captain Krapinski’s diary in it.”
“You are quite right Roger,”
Inspector Sharpe agreed.
Peter nodded. “They were the ones
the KSS were using for their search,” he agreed.
Lt Colonel Smith frowned. “Who
are these KSS you mention; and what were they searching for?” he asked.
“Nazis from Paraguay sir,” Graham
replied.
The Lt Colonel looked as though
he thought they were pulling his leg. “Nazis from Paraguay?” he echoed, a touch
of sarcasm in his voice.
“Yes sir. They were searching in
the jungle over in the Danbulla State Forest,” Graham replied.
“For a treasure,” Roger added.
“A treasure!”
Lt Colonel Smith exclaimed in an
incredulous tone.