The Cadet Sergeant Major (6 page)

“What is it?” Kate asked from close behind.

“Dimbo Doyle. His section has run into some more First Years. Roger Dunning's section I think. Yes it is. I can hear Roger,” Peter replied. He gave a chuckle. “They are taking a ‘Life' off each of Dimbo's cadets. Get ready to run back down the creek if they come this way. Sean, you go up to the top of the bank and keep watch out to either side.”

LCpl Parnell nodded and crawled up so he could just see over the top of the bank from behind a small, prickly bush. The others crouched waiting. There was no breeze in the gully and the sun blazed down so that they began to sweat.

Peter kept watch up the creek. After a few minutes, during which the two sections stood and swapped stories, Dimbo's section continued up the creek bed. Peter tensed, ready to run. To his relief he saw Roger lead his section off to the left, up onto the top of the bank beside the fence which crossed the creek at that point. For a moment Peter wondered if there might be a checkpoint where the fence crossed the creek. Then he decided there wouldn't be. ‘The OC wouldn't plan it that way or the exercise would be impossible. He said that if we did the right thing we should have a fair chance of sneaking through.'

Peter signalled the others to follow as soon as the last of Roger's cadets was out of sight. He continued up the creek bed, scouting as he went. On reaching the barbed wire fence he crawled under it and waited till all the others were through.

“Have a drink,” he ordered. “Sean, have another look up on the bank.”

LCpl Parnell walked up a well-worn cattle pad beside the fence. No sooner had he reached the top than he turned and came scuttling back down. “Quick! Run! Another section is coming: Brassington's. They are coming down the fence from the east.”

Peter had just taken out his waterbottle. He swore; then said, “This way!” At the run he set off up the creek. The others followed, Leah spilling water from her open canteen. Luckily it was only fifty paces to the next bend. Even as they rounded it Peter remembered their boot prints. ‘We shouldn't have run in the sand,' he berated himself. ‘Never mind. Too late now.'

Once all were around the bend he slowed down but kept on walking. The creek had changed again. It had narrowed to only one or two meters of sand in a steep, V-sided gully with bare, eroded banks. There was almost no grass and only a few bushes. A few scraggly trees gave almost no shade and even less cover. Outcrops of rocks stood between small washouts. It felt very hot.

After creeping along for another five minutes Peter pointed up a small side gully. He led the way up it to a clump of rocks near the top. He sat so that he could just see over the top of the bank and indicated the others should also sit. Kate sat beside him. The rocks were so hot they hurt to touch. The cadets were all perspiring freely and Peter was worried about heat exhaustion. After cautiously raising his head he looked around the surrounding bush but could see no sign of movement. He did not think that Barbara's section was following but still posted Leah to watch the rear.

“We will have a break. Make sure you all have a big drink,” he instructed.

Peter still had his waterbottle in his hand so he unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. He had just returned his waterbottle to its cover when he detected movement through the trees out to his left. It was a section of First Years and they seemed to be heading directly towards them.

“Here comes a section. Hide, quickly!” he hissed. He lay flat in the washout with his head between two rocks. To his surprise Kate squeezed in beside him and pressed against him. Peter looked around but could not see the other two. That was a relief. He was very conscious of Kate's touch and realized he could smell her. ‘I hope I don't smell,' he thought, very aware that he had been sweating a lot.

Peter looked at Kate and noted with wonderment that her eyes seemed to have a dreamy look to them and that her lips were slightly parted. Her head was only a few centimetres from his and she was looking directly at him. In a sort of trance he studied her. Those lips! So soft and kissable! ‘Nice teeth too,' he noted. He felt confusion and something like panic well up in him. ‘Does she want me to kiss her?' he wondered. But he was too frightened to do anything in case he had mistaken her signals; in case it was just his rapidly mounting desire.

The approaching section now drew his attention. It was Anne Hopewell's and she was obviously having trouble with them. By the grumbling they must have taken a wrong bearing and now had to walk extra distance to get back on course. Most of the cadets were plodding along with heads down while Anne and the lead cadet were concentrating on the compass.

“They haven't seen us,” Peter whispered to Kate, his eyes noting the delicate shape of her ear. “I don't think they will find us.”

Peter watched the First Years closely as they trudged past twenty paces away. He was enjoying both the mild thrill of the fieldcraft; and the more intense sensation created by Kate's closeness.

The First Year section straggled past, the cadets muttering and grumbling. They went down into the creek, up the far bank and headed off across the flat beyond.

Peter watched until they were out of sight. “OK. Let's go,” he said. He stood and helped Kate up. Once again he was thrilled by the touch of her hand and he continued to hold it longer than he needed to. She didn't seem to mind.

“Hssst!” Parnell hissed. He pointed back down the creek and slid back into cover. They all crouched amongst the rocks again.

A cadet had come into view moving up the creek. For a moment Peter thought he must be from Barbara's section. Then he noted the yellow epaulets. It was CUO Coralie Bates of 4 Platoon. She was followed by three of her cadets.

Peter stood up, making them jump with fright. He grinned. “This is our gully, find your own,” he said. He walked down to join them. They had a quiet laugh and exchanged stories for a few minutes. This allowed Peter to regain his composure. CUO Bates then led her group on along the creek. Peter made his group have another drink, very conscious that Kate was continually meeting his eyes and smiling. It made him all hot and confused and he began getting aroused again. Feeling a little flustered and stressed he turned and led them on up the creek.

About two hundred metres further on the group came to the head of the gully. This got smaller until it was just a rill on the flat ridge top. There was no option but to walk from tree to tree. The group crossed the vehicle track that led from Sandy Ridge to the gravel scrape near the Canning. The area was dry, open bush with visibility for several hundred metres. The tree trunks were all too thin to provide effective cover.

Peter halted to assess the best option. CUO Bates' group could be seen in the distance. They were just walking quickly down the long, gentle slope. As they vanished into a fold in the ground Peter made up his mind.

“We will spread out and crawl slowly from tree to tree. Keep looking in all directions and if you see anything just freeze,” he ordered. The others nodded and they began moving.

When Graham led his group up the right hand creek he was acutely aware that Allison was following close behind. Every time he looked back their eyes met. He found it very disconcerting. They were the most beautiful eyes:-a lustrous grey-green that seemed to sparkle. He knew, from frequent past experiences, that she was signalling an invitation.

Normally Graham would have leapt at the chance. He loved girls; and flattered himself that they loved him. Certainly he had no difficulty in meeting them or talking to them; and he always seemed to be in love.

‘But not now,' he told himself. ‘I am the CSM. No fraternizing across the rank levels; that is the OC's policy. Be strong Kirk. Don't weaken. Your job is to maintain discipline!'

But Oh, it was so easy to weaken! Especially now when Allison was crawling along the creek bed on hands and knees so that the front of her camouflage jacket has sagged open and he could see inside. The sight made his heart pound and his mouth go dry.

Graham shook his head, wiped sweaty palms on his trousers and reluctantly tore his gaze away to peek over the creek bank instead. He watched Cpl Ward's section crossing the flat fifty paces behind them. He had identified the section as Lofty's at more than twice that distance because Lofty's 2ic was LCpl Wendy ‘Wobbles' Werribee. She had the most enormous bosom for a girl of 14 and these made her obvious from quite a distance. They also gave her the nickname. Now she was trotting along behind Lofty like a faithful puppy.

‘There is another worry,' Graham thought. There had been a number of rumours about what Lofty and Wendy might have been up to.

Satisfied that his patrol wouldn't be seen by the First Years Graham led them on. The creek wound across a sandy flat which was bare and open except for a few large trees and a scattering of bushes. The creek had scoured a bed from the sand and the banks were so low they could no longer walk upright and stay hidden. He knew the area well from crossing it on the previous year's annual camp when he had been a section commander.

“We will have to crawl the next hundred metres or so,” he explained.

“That's OK,” Allison replied. She gave what Graham interpreted as a wicked grin and went back down on her hands and knees. So did LCpl Henning. Not so Cadet Denton. She moaned and grumbled before lowering her fat bulk grudgingly. ‘Bloody cow!' Graham thought. ‘Why on earth did she join the army cadets?'

They began crawling. It was easy enough on hands and knees but out in the open where there was no shade the sand was uncomfortably hot to the touch and they were soon perspiring. Graham kept glancing back frequently. Each time he was granted a glimpse of Allison's breasts. ‘Oh that's lovely!' he thought. ‘And she knows I am looking.' Then Cadet Denton caught his eye. ‘Ooh! Bloody Denton!' he thought. “Keep your head down Cadet Denton,” he growled. ‘And your fat bum!' he thought. ‘Must look like a bloody elephant from behind.'

The creek became even shallower until they would need to crawl on their stomachs to stay below the banks. Graham considered this. ‘No, be a mug's game,' he decided. He raised his head behind a tuft of grass and looked carefully around. About a hundred metres to the right he spotted a Land Rover parked at the turn-off to Canning Junction. Lt Maclaren was sitting in it with his back to them.

‘He might see us in the rear vision mirror,' Graham considered. Then he shook his head. ‘Too bad. We will take the risk. He won't chase us.' He said, “Come on, stand up and walk quickly.” They rose and trudged up the creek line. As he strode along Graham kept searching in all directions. By then they were approaching the lower end of the spurs which ran down from Sandy Ridge. Graham knew there were four or five small creeks and gullies which joined to form the creek they were in. These offered plenty of cover right up to Sandy Ridge.

As they entered the area of low spurs the creek bed deepened again to waist deep, with higher ground on both sides. Graham slowed down, noting with annoyance that Cadet Denton had fallen fifty paces behind.

Graham's eyes detected movement over to his left front. He signalled to take cover and crouched in a washout. Allison squeezed in with him, pressing against him. He loved it but was a bit annoyed with her. He forced himself to ignore her while he watched the advancing cadets.

They were a patrol of First Years. Their route led diagonally across the gullies a hundred paces upstream. ‘They are heading for Lt Maclaren's checkpoint,' he decided. ‘They won't spot us.'

The patrol crossed the creek and went over a low rise to their right. As soon as they were out of sight Graham stood up and continued walking.

‘Which creek?' he puzzled as they came to a creek junction. He decided to go right. ‘If we go too far left we will end up at camp and there is a check-point there.' This made him consider how they were to cross the open expanse of Sandy Ridge. He studied the map and concluded they should cross the Canning Road. ‘We should have crawled through that dip down from Lt Maclaren's check-point,' he thought. ‘Oh well, too late now. We will push on.'

They angled up a small gully to the right. This led into a fairly dense stand of small trees which gave reasonable cover. To Graham's annoyance the gully ended in a series of small washouts about fifty paces from the Canning Road. From the gullies to the road was almost bare: a few tufts of short grass, sandy soil and a few spindly trees.

Graham rose, ready to walk quickly forward. As he did movement up to his left caught his eye. To his annoyance a section of First Years was tramping down the road. He went flat in a tiny erosion rill, conscious that most of his body was above ground level. Feeling very exposed he peered through the few stalks of grass.

‘Charlie Cox's section,' he noted. He hoped the others in his group were all under cover. But he did not dare move to look. To his relief the section just came trudging down the road, the cadets talking and not searching at all.

Suddenly, from the creek line behind Graham there was a hullabaloo of shouting. “There they are! There they are!”

‘Blast!' Graham thought. ‘Someone else has been seen.'

Cpl Cox's section halted and looked in the direction of the noise. ‘Big Charlie' led them into the trees. Graham silently cursed. They were heading almost directly towards him! He pressed himself flat. Allison pressed hard against his right leg. The section moved past just to their right. Graham could see every detail and could not believe that none of them had seen him or the others in his group.

One of Cpl Cox's section, Cadet Hodgins, walked past only about five paces away, his eyes on the distant creek line. From this came more shouts of “There they go!” and “Stop, we've caught you!” Hodgins moved out of Graham's vision but he did not move his head to look. Then he heard the footfalls stop just behind him. The rest of the section went trampling on down the slope.

There was a liquid piddling sound. Graham swivelled his head to look. Hodgins stood only ten paces away facing them. He had pulled out his penis and was urinating. Graham saw that Allison and Marcia Denton were both watching. It made him all embarrassed. It was obvious that Hodgins had no idea they were there. Graham opened his mouth to tell him to stop but before he could speak Hodgins suddenly saw Denton.

The look on Hodgins' face was so comical that Allison and Henning both laughed aloud. Hodgins' pee dried up and he stood holding himself, mouth agape.

Then he covered himself and shouted. “Corporal Cox! Corporal Cox!”

Graham stood up. “Put that thing away Hodgins!” he snapped.

Hodgins goggled at him in astonishment then hastened to obey.

“I'm sorry,” Graham apologized to the girls. He was deeply concerned that this could easily develop into a real incident if one of the girls complained.

“It's OK. Not your fault,” Allison replied with a grin. “Besides, the OC did warn us to watch out for snakes.”

Graham had to smile at that. “Your mother should have warned you about that sort.”

“She did,” Allison replied with a giggle. The sparkles in her eyes set Graham's imagination flaring. For a moment he fantasized about being with Allison.

Graham turned back to face an anxious looking Cadet Hodgins. “You should have gone to the latrine Cadet Hodgins,” he said.

Hodgins looked amazed. “What! Walk all that way through the bush, just for a leak.”

“Sir,” Graham added. But he had to agree so he said, “You should look more carefully and go in among some cover then. We don't want any complaints,” he said. As he did he glanced at Allison and Cadet Denton. To his relief Allison shook her head.

By then Cpl Cox's section had come running back. They surrounded them and there was much laughter and chafing.

“I flushed them out with my secret weapon,” Hodgins boasted, recovering his poise.

“Secret weapon! Little Willy you mean,” sneered Denton.

Hodgins blushed scarlet. “You'd know, you fat troll!”

“That will do!” Graham snapped. He wasn't offended but he felt he had to maintain standards.

Reluctantly he unbuttoned his shoulder strap and handed over a yellow epaulet to a jubilant Cpl Cox. The others did likewise. Graham's pride was hurt at being caught. He had a drink and ordered the others to do likewise, then walked them across the road to continue the exercise.

On the other side he led them diagonally down a slope away from the road. The others followed in single file, Allison close on his heels and the other two further back.

“Sorry about Hodgins,” Graham again apologized to her.

“That's OK. We weren't offended. He was just being a boy,” Allison replied cheerfully.

Graham wasn't quite sure how to handle this. Having that sort of conversation with a pretty girl was embarrassing. But it also got him speculating and he was tempted to make Allison a suggestion which might lead to her being alone with him.

‘As CSM I should have no difficulty in organizing things so that she and I could sneak away for an hour or two without anyone noticing,' he mused. The more he thought about it the more he liked the idea. His mind began exploring various erotic fantasies. He was sure now that she was making a pass at him, just by her body language and eyes.

The group crossed a small, dry gully and came to the open western slope of Bare Ridge. Graham halted amongst the last trees for a careful look. Allison stood so close to him that their arms touched. It was like an electric shock. He felt an almost overwhelming desire to put his arms around her. He found he was taking rapid shallow breaths.

‘Calm down, you silly fool,' he told himself. ‘Think about it but don't do it. Save it for after camp.' Regretfully, he sternly repressed his urges and concentrated on the exercise. Denton and Parnell joined them and that helped.

“What will we do now?” Parnell asked, indicating the kilometre long expanse of Bare Ridge.

“Just walk in the open down near the fence,” Graham replied. “I reckon the curve of the hill will hide us and I can't see any check-point there.”

In this he was correct. From down at the boundary fence the gentle swelling of the ground hid them from any check-point at the road up on top of the ridge. They simply walked along the fence until they reached the highway. It gave Graham a very exposed feeling as they could see for miles. ‘Like flies on a ceiling,' he thought. As he walked he studied the rail bridge which he could see clearly a kilometre or so away. Vivid memories of the previous year's exercise flooded his mind.

The fence led them to the junction of the Canning Road and Flinders Highway. There was no shade so they had to sit in the sun beside the road. While they waited they told jokes and talked. Graham sat beside Allison and concentrated on her. She kept giving him encouragement and he became aroused again. Once more his mind explored the possibilities of a relationship with her.

Half an hour later Capt Conkey arrived in his Land Rover.

“OK CSM, hop in. You others can walk back to camp,” he said.

This brought more moans from Denton. “But sir, I've got sore feet!”

Capt Conkey's eyes flickered with annoyance. “Alright. Get in all of you.”

Graham hopped in the front beside Capt Conkey. The others clambered in the back. Capt Conkey drove down to the Flinders Highway, turned left and drove along it as far as the turn-off to the army camp. The only other group they saw were the ‘Control Group'. They were also missing one yellow epaulet each, the result Sgt Crane sourly remarked, of a meeting with Cpl Brassington's section.

The ‘Control Group' was told to walk back up the slope to camp- only about half a kilometre. Capt Conkey parked the Rover in the shade of a bloodwood and they waited for other groups to appear. First was CUO Bates', followed a few minutes later by Peter's. They came out of the tangle of rubber vines and bushes along Scrubby Creek. Sgt Griffin's appeared, each minus one epaulet, on the crest near the camp.

These groups were all sent home. Capt Conkey then drove back along the Highway to the Canning Road. Three more groups were found at different points: Costigan's, Cpl Scott's and Cpl Laidley's. All, Graham noted with some relief, minus one epaulet.

“Only one to go isn't there?” Capt Conkey asked.

“Yes sir. Cpl Doyle's,” Graham replied, pursing his lips and trying to keep his feelings out of his voice with the other cadets listening in the back.

“Quite so,” Capt Conkey replied dryly, labouring under the same handicap. “Let's go back to camp and see if they are there.”

A three minute drive returned them to Sandy Ridge. Cpl Doyle's section was not there. Capt Conkey called him on his section radio. When Dimbo answered Capt Conkey said, “Where are you Cpl Doyle?”

“Er.. er.. in a creek somewhere sir, over,” Dimbo replied.

“Are you east or west of the Canning Road, over?”