Coasts of Cape York (33 page)

He turned and was about to start running back to the car park when his father's car pulled up. It was driven by his father, who switched off and got out. Willy ran over to it. “Dad, don't stop! After him! They will get away!”

Willy's father shook his head. “No. I am not going to try chasing a motorcycle all over the Atherton Tablelands. That is a job for the police. Now, are you hurt? I saw that brute knock you down.”

“I'm fine!” Willy cried in angry frustration. He was aware that his head did hurt a bit and that he had some gravel rash but he ignored it. His father pulled out a mobile phone and called the police, then said, “You lot quickly write down any details, descriptions of what those men looked like, their clothes and so on, and their motorbike type and number.”

That made Willy feel foolish. He hadn't thought to note the registration number of the motorcycle. He wasn't even sure what colour it was. Luckily Andrew had got that information. Stick knew his motorbikes and was able to provide the details of brand name and colours.

“Right, back to the house and we will wait for the police,” Willy's father ordered. He waited for them to climb in and then started the car and swung it around. A minute later he parked it back in the car park. They were met by Willy's mother, who at once began to fuss over the blood trickling down from his right knee. She hustled him into the house and Marjorie and Mrs Beck joined in worrying.

“Never mind me,” Willy cried in exasperation. “It's only a scratch. What happened? What did the burglar take?”

Mr Beck came through from his study and Willy could tell by the expression on his face that it was bad news. Mr Beck said, “He's taken all my information on the plane wrecks. All of it.”

Willy was stunned. He shook his head in disbelief, then said, “Does that mean we can't find them?”

“Mr Beck shook his head. “No, but it will be a lot harder, and it means someone else wants them very badly and they might be trying to beat us to them.”

“Oh no! We must hurry! We can't let those crooks get there first!” Willy cried.

 

 

CHAPTER 21

 

WILLY IS IMPATIENT

 

As the implications of the theft sank in Willy was aghast. “We must do something. We can't just wait and let those crooks find our wrecks.”

“Not much we can do. We don't have a ship until next Saturday,” Willy's father pointed out.

“Can't we see if Captain Kirk can start earlier?” Willy asked. His impatience was steadily rising.

Mr Beck shook his head and said, “I believe he has another contract until then.”

“There must be other boats!” Willy cried.

“Then you find one and hire it,” his father said. “Now calm down and let your mother wash that gravel rash.”

His mother nodded and bent to dab antiseptic on the scratches. “You have another week of school too,” she pointed out.

“School! Oh piffle!” Willy snorted. “All the exams are done. We are just filling in time.”

Stick now said, “There must have been two of them. That bloke on the motorcycle must have been watching.”

“He was,” Willy agreed. “I saw him looking at the yellow tank but thought nothing of it. I would have caught that bloke but for him.”

“And probably had more than a few scratches to show for it!” his mother snapped. “Now sit still. Marjorie, pass me that bandage.”

Willy looked up at Mr Beck as his mother began bandaging. “The crooks must have been waiting until there was no-one home so they could break in and steal your maps Mr Beck,” he said.

Mr Beck nodded and aid, “Looks like it.”

“But how would they know we were away?” Willy asked.

Norman answered. “It was no secret. We told plenty of people we were going.”

Willy thought about that but was puzzled. “But if they go to the wrecks we might catch them there, or will know who ends up with them. I don't see how they think they can get away with it.”

“They might sell them to someone else who will deny it,” Norman suggested.

“Jemmerling,” Stick cried. “I'll bet he paid them to do it.”

“Be fair Stick,” Mr Beck replied. “You have no proof that Mr Jemmerling had anything to do with it.”

“Yeah, but it looks mighty convenient to me. He hires the crooks, then takes us all away for the whole weekend to give them a chance to steal the maps,” Stick replied.

To Willy that sounded plausible but he felt quite uneasy about it. “Mr Jemmerling has just given us a real treat. I don't believe he is like that.”

“I've heard he is a really unscrupulous character,” Mr Beck said. “There have been stories for years about how the Jemmerling Collection was put together. But I still don't like to think ill of a man who has just done me a favour.”

They left it at that because the police had arrived. For the next hour they were all busy being interviewed. The police examined the back of the house and reported that the back door had in fact been broken open. The whole incident left a bad taste in Willy's mouth and threatened to destroy his satisfaction over the weekend flights. Already he sensed that it would linger in his memory as one of the great flights of his life.

It was well after 5:00pm before they left. This necessitated phone calls to Andrew's and Stick's parents to warn them that they were all safe but would be late. On the way they stopped for a few minutes at Aunty Isabel's. It was nearly 7:00 before they dropped Andrew at his home and by the time they had dropped Marjorie and Stick and driven home it was just before 8:00pm.

During the whole evening Willy puzzled and fretted over the robbery. ‘Who did it, and why?' he wondered. He found it hard to believe that Mr Jemmerling might have been behind the theft. ‘I like him,' he thought. Besides, Willy felt grateful for the ‘Catalina' flight. So all he could do was carry on with his normal life while feeling irritable and wish they could move faster.

Monday came, starting the last week of school. Willy found that very irritating. With Captain Conkey away at the Army Cadet Promotion Course and half the students absent- for all sorts of vague reasons- there was no real study to be done. During History and Geography the rump of the class was joined to another and supervised by the Chemistry teacher, who had no interest in teaching anything. So Willy just sat and fretted.

After school he made his way to the city and purchased a couple of 1:50 000 scale topographic maps of the Bathurst Bay area- just in case. He also went to the library and borrowed some books on the early sea explorers of Australia. These at least kept his mind occupied. The on-going arguments between the historians who claimed that the Chinese charted the coasts of Australia in 1421; those who gave the credit to the Portuguese under Cristovao de Mendonca exploring the east coast in 1520 or 1521; and those who clung to the more traditional views that it was the Dutch- Jansz and so on- all kept him interested.

Willy also began packing and preparing for the expedition. To him the time seemed to drag and he continually imagined the men locating the wrecks and hauling them away, although how and where to he could not decide. He became so short tempered and irritable his mother snapped at him to stop being impatient, “And if you are bored, help by doing some weed pulling in the garden.”

Each night his father phoned Mr Beck and they discussed both the expedition and the theft of maps and notes. The police made no progress in their investigation. That did not surprise Willy. ‘It will be just another ‘break and enter' to them. It won't have a high priority,' he thought. Mr Beck assured them that he had purchased more maps and charts and was asking old friends for clues.

Mr Beck also mentioned that the
Pterodactyl
had flown out that day and had not returned. He said the people at the airport had not been able to tell him where it had gone. All they could confirm was that Mr Jemmerling and his man Hobbs had been on board. This news disturbed Willy even more and his impatience gnawed at him so that he felt he had a physical itch.

‘Surely Mr Jemmerling isn't the thief?' he mused. Then he shrugged. ‘If he is then he will beat us to the wrecks for sure.'

It was like this for the next four days. The only relief was a few cuddling sessions with Marjorie. At school he and his friends discussed every aspect of the proposed expedition and became increasingly excited as Friday drew nearer. The discussions also gave Willy more sober food for thought. Present at many of the meetings were not only people like Carmen and Tina but also Noddy and Luke Karaku and other friends.

‘So many people know about this expedition it is no secret,' Willy thought. Then he worried about which one, if any, might be in the secret pay of rivals. ‘Our security wasn't very good,' he mused.

The other distraction was getting his Christmas shopping done. This he found very difficult. ‘What on earth can I buy Marjorie?' he wondered. ‘What do you buy a teenage girl? And who else to buy presents for, and what to get them?' It at least kept him busy after school and on Thursday evening.

Friday came at last. That evening was the last Air Cadet parade for the year. Willy made sure his uniform was as perfect as he could, polishing and ironing and then, after dressing, studying himself in the mirror until his brother Lloyd teased him. His mother drove him there and he could hardly contain himself. All he wanted to do was tell everyone about the flight in the ‘Catalina' but he was aware it would sound like boasting.

But it was Stick who did that, allowing Willy to put in seemingly modest additions. That was still enough to cause Finlay and others to turn up their noses in jealousy. The training paraded followed its usual course: first parade, an admin session during which he handed in his permission form and medical and Next-of-Kin forms for the January promotion course; and explanation of what to expect on the course; then drill and final parade. During the session on the promotion course Willy repeatedly thought about his friends on the Army Cadet Promotion Course.

‘It finishes in a few days time. I wonder how they are all going?' he thought. He also considered it a pity that the army cadets weren't coming on the expedition the next day. From what Mr Beck had said it was the one needing a bit of bushcraft. ‘Having expert navigators like Peter and Graham along would make things easier,' he thought.

That night he could hardly sleep for excitement. Willy had never been on a long sea voyage and was just a little anxious that he acquit himself well. ‘I don't get airsick, so I shouldn't get seasick,' he told himself. The idea of being seasick in front of the navy cadets was not something he wanted to happen!

It was an early start in the morning. Willy was roused from a restless sleep at 04:30.  After a quick shower and shave he dressed in old dark blue longs and shirt, gym boots and cap. His kitbag was all packed and he had a second bag with hiking and camping gear, plus maps and books. Before sitting down for breakfast he checked he had his camera, pocket magnetic compass and protractor. His father joined him at the kitchen table. As always his mother fussed about all the usual perils: falling overboard, sharks, crocodiles and getting sunburnt. Willy took all this with good humour. He was too excited to be annoyed.

By 06:00 a taxi had taken Willy, his father and mother to the Portsmith wharf where the
Wewak
was berthed. They were met by Captain Kirk who was supervising the final loading of a large yellow coloured machine. “For road making,” he explained. “We are taking it to Cooktown.”

Another taxi arrived and Mr Beck and Norman got out. Then a car deposited Andrew and Carmen. Mrs Collins got out to speak with Willy's parents. Willy was becoming a bit anxious by then as there was no sign of Marjorie. His anxiety increased when the mate, a tanned and chunky man named Lester Trembath, instructed them to bring their gear and to follow him. The group picked up its bags and walked along the wharf to the gangplank near the stern.

As he walked beside the landing craft Willy was struck by the nautical smells; the salt, paint, diesel mixture. He had visited ships before and been on short trips on the ferry to Green Island and so on but had never been on a large vessel. He had seen the
Wewak
before but had never really taken notice of its construction and layout but now he was struck by the length and by the chunk of white painted superstructure at the stern. She had been built, he knew, as a navy LCT- a Landing Craft Tank. He was aware there must be room for heavy tanks to be driven on across the bow ramp but because of the high sides he could not see into the well deck.

Going up the gangplank and seeing the dark water below gave him more of a thrill than he expected. ‘I am afloat,' he thought happily. ‘The adventure has begun!'

They were led onto a small space right at the stern, the deck seemingly covered with a capstan, chains and an anchor, plus the usual deck clutter of cleats and bollards, and small hatches. A semi-inflatable power boat hung on davits over the stern. From there they were led through a door into the saloon. Just going inside changed everything when a strong draught of hot air and engine smells engulfed them.

Willy saw that one side of the space was taken up by steps (companionways he was to learn) that led down to the engine room and up to the bridge deck, and by a tiny shower cubicle, a toilet, larder and galley. The cook, a small bald man named Frank, leaned out to greet them, all the while wiping his hands on his apron.  The starboard side of the saloon was a long dining table with bench seats on three sides, the longest against the starboard bulkhead.

Mr Trembath pointed at them and said, “The skipper said that it might be best if Mrs Williams and the two girls bunked down here. It isn't very private but it is out of the weather and the toilet and shower are right there.”

This was agreed to. Mr Trembath then pointed up the companionway on the port side. “Mr Beck, you and your son are to share the small cabin on the port side at the top of the companionway here.” He then turned to Andrew and said, “You are Andrew Collins? Good. You share the aft cabin to port up there. Take the top bunk. The other belongs to the deckhand, Spike Hartnett. Now, you others come with me please.”