Graham felt a rush of pure fear as the torch beam stabbed the night. Then he saw that it was aimed at two other people. Transfixed by the light were Cadet Mal Thompson and Cadet Krissy Dunstan. Both were standing near Krissy’s hutchie, arms around each other. Krissy appeared to be wearing only a shirt, her white legs glowing in the torch beam.
“Stop that and get to bed you pair!” Capt Conkey snarled, his voice tense with anger.
By then Graham had recovered from the initial shock. ‘He hasn’t seen us!’ he thought. With that he ducked down, hauling Kirsty down with him. “Back to your hutchie,” he hissed, giving her a push. At any moment he expected to hear Capt Conkey get really mad at Mal and Kristy but all he heard was another growl to ‘get to bed, your own bed, and behave yourselves or I will phone your parents and send you home tomorrow!’
As quickly but quietly as he could Graham crawled around the far end of his hutchie, keeping it between himself and Capt Conkey, who he could hear walking towards him. Kirsty did the same thing, scuttling across to her bed and sliding onto it. With his heart hammering rapidly and his mouth dry with fear Graham slid into his hutchie and onto his sleeping bag. Trembling with anxiety he tried to drag it over him. ‘Mal and Kristy might have gotten away with it,’ he thought but he felt sure that if Capt Conkey caught him and Kirsty he would be very angry. ‘They are the same rank but I am a corporal and Kirsty is only a cadet. At the very least I could lose my stripes,’ he thought anxiously.
By then Capt Conkey was very close and Graham froze. At every second he expected to be called out, or to have the torch shone on him. Neither happened and Capt Conkey walked on towards the officer’s camp. It took a while for Graham to accept that he had not been seen and wasn’t in trouble. Then he lay back and sighed, closing his eyes and feeling his heart still hammering.
After that he did not dare budge. He wriggled into his sleeping. As he lay there and tried to relax he could only shake his head at the closeness of the escape. Sleep came in a mix of emotions and doubts.
---------------------------------------------------
Day 5 began as usual with a check parade. Graham woke up feeling light headed and alert. He was surprised he didn’t feel tired but noted that Kirsty looked a wreck: hair all messed up and eyes puffy and bleary. Unsure if she regretted their actions the night before he anxiously met her eye and forced a smile. To his relief she smiled back.
Sgt Grenfell bellowed to get out on parade so Graham hurried, unable to meet Roger’s eye because of his guilty conscience. To hide this Graham went and roused at Halyday and Andrews to hurry them out. This time 4 Section was the first ready. Stephen’s was last. He heard Stephen calling, “Hurry up Cadet Dunstan!”
Krissy called back, “I can’t find my pants.”
“Ask Thomo!” called LCpl Lucas.
That caused a ripple of laughter from the rest of the section, quelled by Sgt Grenfell’s angry bellow. Graham met Kirsty’s eye and blushed fiercely with guilt. To his annoyance she smiled and her eyes laughed. At last Krissy found some trousers and the platoon marched to the parade area.
CSM Cleland was in a savage mood too. He barked his orders and bawled out anyone who made mistakes. This got them all doing good drill very quickly. When he called for reports CSM Cleland even rebuked Sgt White for poor drill. That was so unusual that Graham stared in surprise. He knew the CSM should not correct the sergeants in front of the troops. CSM Cleland then called, “Cadet Thompson; Cadet Dunstan, after parade report to the OC.”
‘They are in trouble for fraternizing,’ Graham thought.
From behind him Stephen whispered, “Storms today!”
Gwen replied, “After last night I’m not surprised.”
“Silence in the ranks!” growled Sgt Grenfell out of the side of his mouth.
When the sergeants gave their reports Graham listened intently, curious to know what had become of Carnes. He heard Sgt Gayney say, “Posted strength eleven, on parade ten, one sick.”
‘Does that mean Carnes isn’t in hospital?’ he wondered.
CSM Cleland then reminded the company that they were moving that day and were to have everything packed by 0730. He then handed back to the sergeants. As they marched back to their area past HQ Graham noted a person lying in a hutchie. It was Carnes. ‘He’s still here, poor bugger! He should be sent home.’
After being fallen out Graham strode straight over to the 4 Platoon latrine for a pee. He was in such a mood that he did not care who was there. In fact he met LCpl Telford who told him that the Hutchie Men were about to head off on patrol as soon as they had eaten breakfast.
Mess parade followed. Kirsty stood behind Graham and then sat next to him while they ate but she looked tired and did very little talking. Afterwards they walked back to the hutchies in relative silence. Roger walked with them so there was no chance for a private conversation. The next thing was to pack up. Graham and Roger dropped their hutchie and dragged it aside, then folded it. Next the bedding was rolled up into their packs and everything needed for three days transferred from their kit bags to their packs. Graham was then kept busy walking around the section ensuring they were packing the right things in the correct places.
By 0730 the section’s packs were placed in a neat line and the section was busy filling waterbottles. While they did they saw Thomo and Krissy come walking back from a meeting with the OC and CSM. Both looked unhappy. Roger pointed and said, “What did they do?”
Before he thought about it Graham answered, “The OC caught them kissing after lights out.”
Roger gave Graham a very sharp look and said, “How do you know that?”
Graham realised he had made a mistake but he decided not to lie to his friend. “Because I saw it. I was talking to Kirsty.”
Roger shook his head. “You be careful or you will be demoted and spend the rest of the camp digging dunnies.”
“I will be careful! We didn’t do anything,” Graham replied. But he blushed and thought of the classic excuse of ‘We were only talking’ and knew it was not what he was thinking of doing.
Roger just made a face and shook his head, then went to ask Thomo what had happened. He then told Graham. The pair had been reprimanded, reminded of the rules and been given the job of digging latrines or filling them in for the next two days.
After that the platoon was moved on parade. As they did Graham noted a miserable looking Carnes sitting in the CP beside an army radio. CSM Cleland ‘right dressed’ the company and checked the number on parade, then handed over to a grim-faced Capt Conkey.
That Capt Conkey was deeply angry was evident from both his body language and the tone of his words. And he did not mince them. “Last night,” he shouted, “Three cowardly bullies attacked and greased Cadet Carnes. He was so badly burned by the liquids they used that he had to be taken to hospital for treatment.”
He paused, glared and pointed, then bellowed, “Wipe that smirk off your face Cadet Poschalk! If you think it is funny then go and get your bags and we will send you home now! And that goes for any of you. I have spoken to Cadet Carnes’ parents and they are considering asking the police to investigate. That could mean criminal charges of assault! I am really angry about this. There has been too much nonsense already but this is just cowardly and stupid.”
He paused and ran his eyes over the company. The anger in them made Graham feel like flinching, even though he was innocent. Capt Conkey went on, “Worse still we have had to report the incident to Cadet HQ in Townsville and they have reported it to AAC HQ in Canberra. The whole affair makes the unit look very bad. When we find out who carried out this attack I will give them a dishonourable discharge and send them packing within the hour, and I will pass their name to both the army and the police.”
There was a shudder of dismay through the ranks and Graham shook his head but then nodded it in agreement. Capt Conkey waited to give time for his words to sink in, then said, “And I warn you, if there is any more of that sort of harmful nonsense the persons involved will also be chucked out of cadets. I will not have the good name of this unit destroyed by malicious fools! Remember that the officers have given up their holidays to be here so don’t make things harder. And remember you have all promised to me personally to behave.”
Graham flushed with shame at that and felt sure that Capt Conkey had been staring straight at him when he had said these words. He berated himself for being so weak and resolved to do better in future.
Capt Conkey then handed back to the CSM and told him to sit the company in section lines. When that was done new photocopied maps of the area were handed to the corporals and Capt Conkey organized and briefed them for the orienteering exercise. This was run as a ‘treasure hunt’ and the results counted as part of the annual section competition. Graham had not thought much about the section competition and realised with a jolt that he probably had a lot of leeway to make up. ‘If I want to get to be a sergeant it might help to have the best section,’ he thought.
The treasure hunt was also a race that required a team effort because all the clues were in some sort of code. Capt Conkey handed out code sheets and an Instruction sheet explaining the various codes used. That made Graham anxious as he knew he was competing with Peter. ‘He is a whiz at this sort of thing,’ he thought unhappily. What made it difficult was that there were a dozen messages to decode but at least seven of them all appeared the same: letters in groups of three as ‘Trigrams’ but all arranged by different methods.
Having handed out all the necessary stores Capt Conkey then nominated a CUO or sergeant to each section. These came from a different platoon and were there for fairness and safety. The rules also insisted that sections move together and that no work could begin on a new clue until every member of a section was there. The ‘DS’ for 4 Section was Sgt Yeldham. That did not please Graham because he did not particularly like him.
By the time Capt Conkey read out the first clue in the ‘phonetic alphabet’ Graham was sweating with anxiety. It was also becoming warm and promised to be another hot day. Certainly there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. As soon as he had the message copied down Graham called on the section to get up and follow him. He moved them 25 metres away and then sat them down.
“Take out your notebooks and copy this down,” he ordered.
“I haven’t got a notebook,” replied Andrews.
“Nor have I,” added Dianne.
“Why not? You were told to bring one to camp,” Graham replied. Then he realized he was wasting time. He tore several pages out of his own notebook and passed his spare pencil to Dianne. Roger gave Andrews a pencil. The message was letters in Trigrams and Graham now read them out. To his annoyance he found that neither Andrews nor Halyday understood what he meant. As quickly as he could he explained, then said, “Now, Roger, you do the ‘Alternate letters’ method. Pat, you do the ‘every second letter’ method. Kirsty, you use the Trigram sheet. Lucy, you use the codewheel. Dianne, you try the ‘writing normally but grouping’ method. Halyday, you try ‘writing backwards’.”
“But I can’t write backwards,” Halyday cried.
“Can’t write at all!” teased Andrews.
“Stop the teasing Cadet Andrews!” Graham snapped. He shook his head in exasperation and turned to Halyday. “You don’t write backwards. You take the last letter and put it first, then the second last and put it second, and so on till you see if it makes a word.”
“What about me?” Andrews asked.
“Help Halyday,” Graham cried. He then set to work writing out two alphabets along the edges of two pages. These he was then able to slide them up and down beside each other, in the same manner as the code wheel worked. Very quickly he realised that one of the alphabets needed to be double. While he was doing this he was dismayed to see that Gwen’s section had cracked the message and was on the move.
The direction they went in at least gave a clue to the sorts of words to look for. Graham set to work moving the letters one to the right so that A became B and so on. As he wrote his alarm was increased when Bannister’s section set off, followed almost immediately by Peter’s. “Keep working!” Graham called, seeing that Andrews had stopped to watch.
Then Harriet’s section moved away, followed by Stephen’s. That irked Graham and he broke into a sweat. ‘It must be easy to work out,’ he thought. He hadn’t seen any of the people in the other sections using their codewheel or code sheet so he stopped and thought. ‘I will try backwards,’ he decided. As quickly as he could he began to copy the message placing the last letter first and then reversing each letter’s place. Almost at once a word began to appear. A wave of exhilaration swept through Graham. “Backwards! That is the method.”
“So why am I being made to do it if you are too?” Andrews asked sarcastically.
Graham did not answer. Instead he rapidly decoded the message, then sprang up and showed it to Sgt Yeldham. Sgt Yeldham shook his head. “You have to write it out neatly so I can read it.”
Graham opened his mouth to protest, then gritted his teeth and quickly re-wrote the message. This time Yeldham nodded and Graham said, “Come on Four Section! Get up and move! Let’s go!”
Andrews and Halyday muttered and grumbled and were last up. Roger helped urge them all along. They set off at a fast walk across the top of Sandy Ridge. Almost at once Cpl Gallagher called on his section to get up and move. As quickly as he could walk Graham hurried his section down into the hollow where Lt McEwen had conducted the static observation and on up to the flat tongue of rocks. There were already five sections there and, to Graham’s dismay, he saw Gwen’s section get up and head off on the second leg even before he had arrived.
After copying the message, Graham got the whole section to copy it.
“Don’t see why I should bother,” Andrews grumbled. “If you are going to do it too.”
“Oh please co-operate,” Graham said. He didn’t want a bickering match to bring the teamwork unstuck.
By then Peter’s section was also on the move, followed within a minute by Bannister’s. ‘Oh come on!’ Graham thought anxiously. This time he concentrated on checking whether the alphabet had been moved on to the right or left and allowed the others to work at the tasks he had given them. Most of his energy was then used up in keeping Andrews, Lucy and Kirsty at their tasks. Kirsty looked very tired and was in a bad mood. He did not dare annoy her by trying to urge her to work faster.
Crane’s section arrived. Harriet’s and then Stephen’s left. Then Gallagher’s also moved, passing Graham’s. “Oh come on!” he urged. “Just try the first four or five letters. If it isn’t working try something else!”
Then Kirsty spoke up. “It’s this Trigram sheet.”
That annoyed Graham a bit because, when he looked at it, it was both obvious and easy. As quickly as possible he copied the message neatly, aware that Crane had overheard Kirsty and was also now decoding the message. Worse still, two more sections were hurrying across the dip towards them: Rankin’s and Cpl Parnell’s.
4 Section set off with Crane’s hot on their heels. The route led them north on a compass bearing to a creek junction in the gullies leading down from Sandy Ridge. On the way they hurried past the odd formation looking like a railway embankment washed out by floods. Graham could not decide whether it was a natural ‘dyke’ or an old dam constructed by miners in the 19th Century.
By the time they reached the next clue Gwen’s section had already left and Capt Conkey was visible hurrying after them. Peter’s section set off as Graham arrived. That all made him feel very anxious and flustered. Once again he quickly copied the message, then got the section to make copies. “Stop talking and concentrate on your own task!” he cried as Dianne and Lucy began talking.
As they did Graham’s impatience increased as first Bannister’s, then Stephen’s and Harriet’s sections all got up and hurried on ahead. As they did Graham felt his hopes of doing well sinking. Then Roger handed him a neatly printed message.
“Alternate letters,” Roger explained. “That is the complete message.”
“Good on you Roger!” Graham cried. He sprang up and showed it to Sgt Yeldham who was busy talking to Sgt White and did not seem inclined to hurry.
The section set off down the dry creek and angled across the hillslope on a compass bearing to end up at the junction of the road to Canning Junction. Lt Maclaren was there with a safety vehicle and water jerries so Graham told his cadets to refill their waterbottles as they were all perspiring in the heat. While they did that he copied the message, noting with satisfaction that all the sections ahead of them were still there.
“Must be a hard one,” He muttered, then focused on getting them all to work at their allotted task. Then Gwen’s section got up and moved, causing the sinking failure feeling to seep in again. Soon afterwards Peter’s section set off. Minutes ticked by and Graham determined that the message was not in any of the easy methods. “It isn’t backwards, or grouping, or every second letter, or alternate letters, and it isn’t the Trigrams so it must be the code wheel,” he said. He had already tried moving A to B and A to Z so now he concentrated on working around the Alphabet on the code wheel. He did C while Lucy and Dianne did D on the codewheel. Then he tried five letters of E and Lucy started on F.
“It’s ‘F’,” Lucy said delightedly. Graham at once set his two Alphabets to F and began working on the second half of the message while Roger wrote it down. “Kirsty, start making a neat copy while we decode,” Graham ordered.
By teamwork the message was cracked but not before both Stephen’s and Gallagher’s sections had moved off. Graham showed Sgt Yeldham and then got the section moving. It was a compass bearing and distance but he did not need it as the other two sections were walking ahead of them. They hurried after them, with Andrews and Lucy starting to trail behind and mumble about blisters and heat.
The leg took them only 500m, back across the same dry creek to a big Burdekin Plum tree. The next message was coloured naval flags drawn on a sheet of paper and Graham was able to decode it in seconds. Unfortunately so had all the sections ahead of them and they had all gone by the time he showed it to Sgt Yeldham. By then Harriet’s and Bannister’s sections were arriving.
“Come on, we have moved up from sixth to fifth,” Graham urged. He now badly wanted to stay in the front half of the company but could see two more sections hurrying across from Lt Maclaren’s vehicle. The next leg was only 150 metres- across the flat, down over the dry creek and up to the shed where Graham had handed Carnes over to Capt Conkey during the navex. The shed was visible from the tree so they just puffed up the slope without navigating.
By then the first four sections had already moved off. ‘Must be easy,’ Graham reasoned, and it was. The message was in ‘pig pen’ code and only took 2 minutes to decode. By then both Harriet’s and Bannister’s had arrived and Brown’s and Crane’s could be seen coming up the slope.
The message took them north along the road for 500 metres to the Canning River. It was a hot walk and the section strung out in the heat and it took all of Graham’s urging to encourage them. He had to resist the impulse to shout angrily at them. The road curved around the base of the large, low hill nicknamed ‘Black Knoll’ and Graham glimpsed the actual ‘knoll’ of black rocks on top amid the scattered ironbarks.
The Canning was a pleasant surprise. The river was about 200 metres wide and the steep banks were lined with a dense growth of trees and rubber vines. Most of the river bed was dry, white sand which was almost blinding in the sunlight but the ten metres closest to their bank was water. The water was crystal clear and only about knee deep. The road crossed the river bed on a long, low causeway which had a trickle of water flowing over it.
The message was in Morse Code but even so Gwen, Peter and Stephen had already gone on the next leg and Gallagher left while Graham was still copying the message. This turned out to be a very frustrating and disheartening stop because the message just would not seem to come out, at least not to Sgt Yeldham’s satisfaction, and Bannister moved ahead of Graham again. Worse still Harriet, Brown and Crane were all there before Graham finally realized he had made a mistake in his copying of the dots and dashes. Blushing at the mistake and feeling angry and ashamed he quickly corrected the message and set off.
The route led up a winding narrow gully which was in fact the lower end of the dry creeks flowing down from Sandy Ridge. This section of the gully was deep and the banks had a thick tangle of rubber vines on them as far up as the junction which had been the half-way point on the observation course the previous day. It was stiflingly hot in the gully and Graham found he was very thirsty. Both Kirsty and Lucy looked very red in the face and he insisted they drink.
The next message was taped to a rock in the creek bed. It was in Trigram code and this time Kirsty recognized it in seconds and they hurried on, the sections still in the same order. The leg was only a hundred metres, up onto the bare top of the North Gravel Scrape. To Graham’s surprise Gwen and Peter were only just leaving and the other sections were all still there. Lt Hamilton had a safety vehicle there with more water so Graham told the section to refill their waterbottles and to have a big drink while he copied the message.
By the time that was done Stephen’s and Gallagher’s sections were on the move but this time Dianne worked out the method was grouping and they managed to move off ahead of Bannister’s section. ‘We are now fifth again,’ Graham thought. ‘Maybe we are in with a chance?’