Coasts of Cape York (53 page)

Graham grinned and wiped sweat off his face. “That showed the mongrels!” he cried jubilantly.

“They've given that plan up,” Andrew added.

Carmen looked back down the hill and then said, “They are going back down. I hope they are going to clear out.”

The friends crouched among the rocks, puffing and perspiring as the last of the sun went off them. Willy watched with intent interest as Gator walked along the beach to join Corey near the boats. The two men pulled off their balaclavas and wiped sweat from their faces while they talked. Then they moved to the launch and both used their strength to shove it back into deeper water. Gator scrambled aboard. Corey passed up the anchor and then his rifle. Then he walked to the boat.

“They are going to take our boat!” Graham muttered.

They did. The boat was pushed off and the anchor rope used as a tow rope to attach it to the launch. Corey clambered back into the launch. Then the launch got under way, backing out and turning. The friends watched in silence, although Willy felt like jeering their retreating enemy. As the launch headed North West across the channel Julia spoke.

“How will we get help? Is there a town on the island?”

Graham shook his head. “No. What you see is what you get.”

“But.. but… we might die!” Julia cried.

Graham gave a wry grin. “Hardly likely. We will just play Robinson Crusoe for a while. We might be marooned but we will survive.”

Mrs van der Heyden joined them, followed by Jacob. He had apparently been higher up the hill. ‘Bloody coward!' Willy thought, but he managed to hold his tongue and not say it. Mrs van der Heyden was also very worried about being left on the island but Willy snorted. “At least we are all alive,” he said, giving Jacob a pointed look.

Mrs van der Heyden looked bewildered. “But what will we do?” she asked.

Graham answered that. “First we will get drinking water. If we hurry we might just make it before it gets dark. Then we will wait until tomorrow and see what else can be done.”

Willy switched his gaze back to follow the progress of the launch and boat. They went between Blackwood Island and Flinders Island, then turned to starboard and vanished from view behind Flinders Island.

“I wonder where they are going?” Julia asked.

“To find the treasure,” Willy replied.

“Come on,” Graham snapped impatiently. “We don't want to be struck on top of this bloody rock pile in the dark.”

He set off walking diagonally up the slope to his right. The others followed. As they climbed over more rocks Mrs van der Heyden asked anxiously, “But what if they come back?”

“They won't!” Willy snapped irritably. “If they meant to finish us off they would have stayed to do it. They are going to get your crown jewels.”

Graham paused on a big rock and called back, “And even if they do come back they won't find us in the dark. Now hurry up and save your breath for climbing.”

The group fell silent, save for heavy breathing and panting as they clambered up the slope. Ten minutes more of hard climbing had them at the crest of the hill. As they paused on top three facts at once made an impression on Willy. The first was the view. From there they had a magnificent panorama of sea, reefs, islands and the coast. The Rattlesnake Channel lay below them. The second was that the last of the sun was going off the highest peaks on the Bathurst Range and that dusk was swiftly setting in. The third was the wind. As they came up to the crest it began to buffet them.

“Bloody wind is strong,” Andrew commented.

“From the South South West still,” Carmen said, adding, “I don't like that. It might mean that cyclone is coming closer.”

“It is hundreds of kilometres to the South East,” Graham replied. “Come on, we might have days and days here to do sightseeing.” He set off down the other side of the hill.

Going down was nearly as hard as coming up. It was certainly less safe as they had to continually lower themselves down from one rock to another. The growing darkness did not help. Willy noted a thin scatter of clouds moving with the wind. ‘It is a definite weather change,' he decided.

Fifteen minutes of awkward scrambling later the group were about half way down the slope. Willy was finding it all unpleasant as they were moving down the exposed side of the hill, almost directly into the rising wind. He paused to choose the best way down another rock and then a light caught his eye. It was out to his left on the sea. Shielding his eyes from the wind he looked more carefully. “There's a ship!” he cried.

“Yes, we see it,” Andrew replied.

It was a big ship, a bulk carrier type. In the dusk its details were obscured but the lights on its masts and superstructure blazed out and Willy could even see the endlessly repeated puffs of white as the ship's bows slammed into the waves. It was heading west through the Rattlesnake Channel.

A sense of frustration gripped Willy. It was obvious that no-one on the ship was likely to see them in the gloom and he knew none had a torch. Julie voiced his thoughts by saying, “Oh, if only we could signal to it!”

Andrew ignored that but said, “That bulk carrier is almost empty. I wouldn't like to be on that in this weather.”

“He might be running away from that cyclone,” Graham suggested.

“Maybe, or heading for Weipa to load,” Carmen said.

They watched the ship pushing along for a few minutes but it was at least 2 kilometres away and, Willy thought, it might as well have been on the moon for all the help it was to them. Led by Graham they resumed their climb down the hill. As they did the ship vanished behind Blackwood Island.

Twenty minutes later, as the last glow of dusk was dying to the west, they reached the lower slopes just above the sea. This section of coast was steep and rugged, almost cliffs, so Graham turned right and led them along the slope. Willy found it even more awkward to make his way along the side of the hill and he was starting to feel tired and cold. The wind was making his eyes water and he blinked continually.

After another ten minutes Graham led them down to where a clump of trees grew at the base of a cliff. “Wait here while I do a bit of a recce,” he ordered. “I've only been here once and that was by boat in daylight.”

He vanished into the gloom. Willy joined the others in the shelter of a boulder. Even just getting out of the wind was a relief. Now he knew he needed water as his mouth felt dry and his eyes were beginning to feel scratchy. There was little conversation. Most were too worn out. Now that the fear and excitement was over Willy just felt drained.

Five minutes later Graham came back and beckoned them to follow. Willy found that during the short halt several muscles which he had not been aware of had tightened up. He was not alone in this as there was a good deal of groaning from the others. It was a short distance but difficult because of the steepness of the slope. It took fifteen more minutes of careful detouring and lowering to reach a rocky ‘beach' right on the tide level. Small waves were breaking on the ‘beach' and spray began to splatter them as the moved cautiously over the wet, slippery rocks.

The spring was in under a cliff overhang and among several large boulders. It was only 20 metres back from the sea and only a few above it. Three large mangrove trees grew among the rocks of the ‘beach'. Graham pointed to a white mark on the cliff above the spring.

“Painted by the navy years ago to help ships find water,” he explained. He led them in under the overhang and indicated the water. In the darkness Willy could barely make out what he was looking at but he gathered that there were a couple of small rock pools. Graham knelt and used a cupped hand to scoop some water up to his mouth. “Tastes OK,” he said.

Willy grimaced and was glad he could not see what he was drinking. When it was his turn he sucked in four handfuls and immediately felt better. Andrew and Carmen both drank without comment but Mrs van der Heyden protested. “I can't drink such unhygienic water,” she complained.

“It's all there is,” Graham answered.

“But.. but it could have anything in it,” Mrs van der Heyden objected.

“It might have a bit of bird poo and some salt and dust,” Graham agreed, “But the human race evolved drinking dirty water so I doubt if it will hurt you much. Anyway, the other choice is going thirsty and tomorrow that will mean heat exhaustion and death.”

Julia added her encouragement. “Come on Mum. I will go first.”

“Don't you dare Julia. It hasn't been treated,” Mrs van der Heyden snapped.

“I'm thirsty,” Julia replied and knelt to drink. After a few sips she said, “It tastes OK.”

Jacob then hesitantly moved up to drink but his mother still refused.

Carmen then turned to Graham, who had become their acknowledge expert on being cast away. “What do we do now?” she asked.

“Find somewhere to shelter for the night,” Graham said. “This place is no good. The wind is blowing straight into it.”

He led the way back among the boulders to the west and found a sheltered nook. It even had some sand in it so wasn't too uncomfortable. The group moved out of the wind and settled themselves. Willy sat between Julia and Carmen and stretched out his legs.

Almost at once Mrs van der Heyden began to complain again. “We can't stay here. Where will we sleep?”

“On the sand,” Graham replied matter-of-factly.

“Oh that's impossible! We must go somewhere else,” Mrs van der Heyden objected.

Graham obviously lost his temper as he snapped back, “Well off you go! I'm staying here. You can go where you bloody like. If you can find a better place then good luck to you!”

“Oh, there's no need to talk like that,” Mrs van der Heyden replied.

Carmen interceded. “We can find somewhere better tomorrow,” she said.

“We will get rescued by then surely,” Mrs van der Heyden queried.

“By whom?” Graham snorted.

“Your father.”

Graham shook his head. “He will have enough trouble getting the
Wewak
back out of the river. Then he won't know where to start looking. But yes, he will find us in a few days.”

“Or an aeroplane will,” Willy added. “He will radio for help.”

“A few days!” Mrs van der Heyden cried in shocked disbelief. “But what will we eat?”

“Nothing much,” Graham answered.

“But.. but we will die!”

“No you won't,” Graham replied. Willy could tell by his voice that he was getting exasperated. He went on, “It takes weeks and weeks to die of starvation.”

Carmen agreed. “I read somewhere that people have lived for sixty or seventy days without food.”

Mrs van der Heyden continued to grumble. Willy sighed. ‘This is going to be a long night if this keeps on,' he thought. To change the subject he said, “OK Jacob, tell us about the treasure you are looking for.”

There was a silence broken by Mrs van der Heyden who said, “That is our business.”

That annoyed Willy. He said, “We all just risked our lives to save you. I think that makes it our business too.”

“Oh but!”

“Mum!” Julia interjected. “Willy is right. If they hadn't saved us those horrible crooks would have… would have..”   She sobbed and Carmen moved over to hold her from one side while her mother hugged her from the other.

After Julia had been comforted Willy turned to Jacob who was sitting at the end. “Well Jacob? That is twice we have saved you. I think you owe us.”

When Jacob hesitated Andrew said, “It won't matter. It's not a secret anymore. Besides, the crooks will get to it first now.”

That convinced him. In the darkness Willy saw Jacob nod. Jacob then said, “You read the headlines on those magazine articles I had? Well that got it all going. If we had a light you could read them but I have read them so often that I can give you the gist of them.”

After a short pause Jacob went on. “The first article appeared in the newspaper in September last year. It is the one titled ‘Mystery of Makassang Crown Jewels?' Do you know where Makassang is?”

Willy did but Graham answered first. “It is a little independent island country next to Indonesia. We fought a war to help them stay independent a few years ago. My cadet company commander, Capt Conkey, fought there. He has told us a bit about it.”

Jacob nodded. “Well I didn't know until Grandad read the article and showed me on the map. He used to be an officer in the Dutch Navy you know, and back in the Second World War he was based there. The whole region used to be called the Netherlands East Indies. Apparently Makassang was what they called a ‘protectorate'. That meant that the local ruler ran the place with Dutch protection and guidance.”

“A rajah,” Carmen added.

“Yes, that's right,” Jacob agreed. “Well, in September last year they crowned a new rajah. The article is about the fact that they had to use imitation jewels and a fake ‘Sword of State' for the ceremony because the real ones had gone missing at the time of the Japanese invasion in February 1942.”

“The article says that it is a pity that no-one knows what happened to the jewels and asks the question- were they stolen or were they lost? Apparently the Japanese claim that they did not take them, that the jewels were missing when they occupied the palace. The Japanese ambassador suggested that either they were hidden by a person or persons who later died and took the secret with them, or they went with the royal family when they fled.”

Jacob looked around, and saw that he had their full attention so he went on. “That was the bit that got Grandad's attention. He told us that he was the navigator on a Dutch flying boat that evacuated some of the royal party the night that the Japanese invaded.”

Willy interrupted. “A ‘Dornier' Do 24, a big machine with three motors. The Dutch had about thirty of them in the East Indies.”