Not until a few minutes had passed anyway. Then he began to recover a little and his wits began to gather. He noted that the waves were smaller than when he went down, and that the sun seemed very bright.
‘Where is the white launch?’ he wondered. After checking that he was in fact floating well in his BCD he took out the alternate air source and looked at Muriel. “What happened? Where is your boat?” he asked.
Muriel had pulled her face mask down and he saw her already distressed face crumple. “Gone,” she cried. “He has left us to die.”
It took a few moments for the import of that to sink in. Even then Andrew did not want to believe it. ‘Gone?’ he thought stupidly. But a look in all directions revealed nothing but ocean- just rippling waves as far as he could see in all directions. A sickening new chill of apprehension began to grip him. ‘We will never be able to swim to land,’ he thought in dismay. The awful story of the two American tourists left accidentally by a dive boat on the Barrier Reef a few years before popped into his mind to torment him.
‘Oh my God!’ he thought. ‘I might still drown yet!’
CHAPTER 39
BY A THREAD.
Andrew pushed his facemask up onto his forehead, the better to look around. The words of the dive instructor saying not to do that because it was the sign of a distressed diver then crossed his mind. He reached up to pull it down and then gave a feeble shake of the head.
‘I am a distressed diver!’ he thought. He felt so weak and wrung out that he doubted if he could swim fifty strokes. In his mind it was a certainty that without the inflated BCD to keep him up he would just sink. His arms and legs felt so weak he could barely move them.
Then a wave slopped into his face and he swallowed salt water. That made his eyes sting and he coughed and wanted to retch. To prevent being hit in the face again he pulled his face mask back on and placed the mouthpiece of the snorkel in his mouth. That did not work however. Not only was he coughing so much but he just could not stand the claustrophobic feeling and the sucking, rasping sounds and sheer effort needed to breathe. Vivid memories of the last dive caused panic to well up and he had to snatch the snorkel out and gasp at the fresh, clean air.
Muriel still had a grip on his BCD straps and he saw that she was clinging to the rope netting attached to the orange buoy. She turned him so that his back was to the prevailing wind and waves. After another look around he asked, “Where are Carmen and Doug?”
“I don’t know,” Muriel replied.
“Is Carmen still inside the wreck?” Andrew asked.
Muriel shook her head. “No. She swam out,” she replied.
A sicking feeling of dread settled like a cold jellyfish in his stomach. Again he anxiously scanned the waves in all directions. “What happened?” he croaked between hacking coughs.
Muriel let out a sob, causing him to look at her. He saw that her face was convulsed with distress. She said, “I..... I... I did it.”
“Did what?”
“Cut her air tube,” Muriel answered.
Andrew was aghast. Vivid memories of holding the cut air hose to his grandfather’s helmet caused him to shudder and cringe. ‘Carmen- with her air cut!’ he thought in shocked dismay. He turned to look at Muriel as both fear and anger stirred in him. “Why did you do that?” he asked.
Muriel looked back at him with guilty defiance written all over her face. Then she shook her head and tears filled her eyes. Several times she tried to speak but her voice choked up and she sobbed. Finally she managed to say, “When I looked into that empty room and I saw the diver’s helmet and suit there I felt stunned. I realized that what you had said, and what I had secretly denied and feared, was true. It hurt so much!”
Her voice tailed off and she stared away across the waves. Then she began to weep again and sobbed, “You have no idea how much it hurt!” she cried. “To find out that the man you had loved all your life, the dear, sweet grandad who had cared for you and been so kind and gentle, might actually be a murderer!”
Andrew felt her pain but his own anger rose even more. Bitter words about how much it hurt to be locked in a room to die, or to have your air hose cut, rose to his lips but with an effort he kept them unsaid. Instead he let her weep for a minute or so before asking, “But why hurt us? Why cut Carmen’s air hose?”
Muriel turned red, haunted eyes on him and wailed, “Because it was you two who brought this about! If you hadn’t gone nosing about and digging up things none of this would have happened. I was just so angry that I lashed out. I wanted to hurt you.”
“Well you’ve succeeded!” Andrew retorted, bitterly, sick and angry at his sister’s probable death.
“I’m sorry,” Muriel cried. Her distress was genuine but that only peeved Andrew more.
“Was it you that locked me in?” he asked.
“Yes.”
For a few seconds Andrew was speechless with anger and sick memories of his terror and near drowning. “I don’t think you have any idea what you did to me,” he commented.
Muriel began to weep again. “I do! I’m sorry. I am so ashamed of myself. I just want to die!”
That got Andrew even more worried. The last thing he wanted was someone else to drown. He looked at her and said, “Why did you come back and let me out?”
“Oh why do you think!” Muriel cried, her distress making her voice catch. “I surfaced and that horrible Trevor wouldn’t let me get back into his launch. He pointed his gun at me and wanted to know what was going on and where the gold was. When I told him there wasn’t any he just opened the throttle and left.”
She pointed off towards the north, then said, “By then I had calmed down a little and realized what I had done. I felt so guilty. It came as a terrible shock to me to realize that I was possibly doing exactly the same thing my grandfather may have done, leaving another diver to drown. I.. I .. just... just couldn’t… I knew I couldn’t live with myself.”
Andrew gave a short, sardonic laugh and retorted, “You couldn’t live! I was only seconds from drowning.”
“Sorry.”
Andrew looked at her tear-streaked, face and trembling lips. “Yeah, well, thanks anyway,” he said. He was now worried about surviving with her in close proximity; scared she might do something irrational. Then another thought crossed his mind and he asked, “What became of Doug? Did he go on the boat?”
Muriel shook her head. “No. When I cut Carmen’s air hose she tried to swim to the surface. I think Doug went with her. I know he dropped the spear gun.”
On hearing that a spark of hope leapt in Andrew’s heart. “So she might be alive?”
Muriel nodded. “Maybe. But I didn’t see any sign of them when I surfaced the first time.”
“The current took them away,” Andrew said, speaking more to himself and staring off across the jumbled waves along the west side of the reef. Now his hopes sagged again at the thought of Carmen and Doug being swept away from the reef and off into open water. He knew from hard experience that the sea was so big that the chances of them ever being found before they died of exposure were so slim as to be almost non-existent. Harsh memories of his own ordeal in the sea with Graham and Ken the previous year rose to depress him further.
Andrew shivered, then it dawned on him that he and Muriel were in dire peril from the same source. He realized that he was shaking not only from reaction and shock but also from the cold. Even with the wet suit on he felt chilled. ‘We will both die of exposure before the day is out,’ he told himself.
That was a chilling thought but somehow it was much easier to face out in the open air and bright sunshine. For the third time in a few hours he began to mentally prepare himself to die.
All this while he had been floating, buoyed up by his inflated BCD and held by Muriel. As he bobbed up and down on the waves his eyes automatically scanned the sea. Suddenly his heart skipped a beat. Something black! ‘A shark’s fins?’ he anxiously wondered.
The sick feelings of fear gripped h
im again as he strained his eyes to study the surging waves a hundred metres away. Then he saw it again and his heart turned over with fear. He was just about to warn Muriel when he saw a thin, black object go up and then down. ‘That was a person’s arm!’ he told himself.
As they rose on the next wave he shielded his eyes and looked more carefully. This time he almost shouted with joy. Two black blobs were visible side by side. He pointed and then yelled, “It is Carmen and Doug! Look! There!”
It was. One of them waved again and Andrew managed to summon up the energy to wave back. But there was no possibility of going to help them. It was all he and Muriel could do to cling to the float. He knew that if they let go the current would wash them away and he would not have the strength to swim back to it. So he had to watch with his heart in his mouth from anxiety as the two divers battled against the current. For a while it seemed they were making no progress at all and Andrew became fearful that Carmen might slip away when so close.
‘But close to what? Even if she reaches us we will still all die,’ he thought. ‘Nobody will ever notice us this far off the beaten track.’
It seemed a bitter irony. So he flexed his aching fingers and reached over to grab the buoy, allowing Muriel a short rest. She was showing signs of exhaustion by then and allowed him to grab her BCD and keep her in position while she rested.
Five long minutes passed before Carmen and Doug finally reached them. By then both were gasping and showing signs of collapse. Muriel reached out as soon as they got close enough and grabbed Doug’s gear. Andrew took a firm hold of Carmen’s.
“Oh! Thank God!” Carmen gasped. “I thought we would never make it. Thank you Doug.”
For some minutes neither could speak. Only after they had recovered their breath could they answer questions. When asked what had happened Carmen glared at Muriel and said, “I would have drowned if Doug hadn’t taken me up using his alternate air source.”
“Did you lose the rope?” Andrew asked.
Carmen nodded. “Yes we did. There were so many bubbles we were lucky to even get outside. We just went to the surface and then inflated our BCDs. By then the current had swept us right past the side of the reef.”
Doug then joined in, saying, “Luckily a back eddy took us in behind the reef in the shallow water.”
“I recognized the place as being near where we anchored,” Carmen said. “So we started swimming back along the edge of the reef.”
“Then we saw the launch leave,” Doug added. “We thought you were on it. What happened? Where did Trevor go?”
Muriel answered that, giving the same story as she had told Andrew.
Doug listened then swore and sneered, “The gutless rat has run out on us!”
“So what do we do now?” Muriel asked.
“Not many options,” Doug replied.
“Should we try to reach the coast?” Muriel asked.
Doug shook his head and so did Carmen. Andrew answered her. “Hopeless! It is eighty kilometres at the closest point and the current will take us north and make it three times as far. We have no hope of doing that.”
Carmen agreed. “The current is about five to seven knots. That means thirty to forty hours in the sea. The cold and exhaustion will get us before we even sight the coast, if we ever do.”
It was a terrifying prospect and Andrew’s spirits, which had risen with Carmen’s arrival, now began to slump again. In desperation he cast around for some plan to survive but could think of none. ‘This reef doesn’t even have a little sandy cay which is exposed at low tide,’ he thought. It all looked very grim. He shivered again and that set his teeth chattering.
Carmen saw this and said, “Are you alright Andrew?”
“Bit cold and worn out,” he answered.
“What happened to you two?” Carmen asked, looking from him to Muriel.
Andrew instantly decided not to make the situation worse so he shook his head. “Tell you later. I got stuck in there and Muriel got me out,” he replied.
“What did you see?” Carmen asked.
“Not a lot,” Andrew answered. “The sediment got so stirred up I couldn’t even see the door or even work out which was up. I dropped my torch.”
As he said that he remembered the knife slash and glanced at his knuckles. A shallow, raw cut ran across them but only tiny traces of bleeding still showed. ‘I hope that doesn’t attract the sharks,’ he thought.
“Was there any gold?” Carmen persisted.
Andrew thought quickly and shook his head. “No,” he answered. “Just some rotten packing cases and mush.” The memory of the ordeal made him shudder and he trembled so badly he found it hard to hold on. ‘I will only tell Carmen about Grandad if we look like it is really the end,’ he decided.
“We must form a huddle to keep warm,” Carmen suggested. Andrew saw the sense in that and Doug backed her up so they grouped tightly together, Andrew clinging to Carmen and Muriel. Andrew knew that he was near the end of his strength so he clipped one of his BCD straps around the buoy rope and another through Carmen’s straps. That made it much easier and all he had to do was float. For the next hour the four just floated in a group. Andrew became quite sick and could not stop shivering. That made him feel desperately anxious as he recognized the early symptoms of hyperthermia. ‘I won’t last till sundown,’ he thought.
Once again horrible thoughts of his body being ripped into shreds by fish as it rotted came to haunt and terrify. For the fourth time that day he began to pray and consider how he might face death. It made him both sad and angry that he had involved Carmen in the adventure and that she was going to die too. ‘What a tragic waste!’ he thought, thinking of what a wonderful life she might otherwise have lived.
For something to talk about he asked Muriel how she knew that Echo Reef was the place to come. Muriel made a sour face and said, “I took a digital photo of that chart at your place. Grandad wouldn’t let me see that chart of his and that made me sick with horrible suspicions. I just had to know!”
“So you got Doug and his mate to bring you here by cooking up the story about finding the gold,” Carmen said accusingly.
Muriel nodded and wept a little. Then she said, “We got here and started diving and it was quiet a shock when another boat turned up. It was even more of a shock to see you and Andrew on board. Where did you get that boat? Who are those two black men?”
“Torres Strait Islanders,” Andrew answered. “One of them is the grandson of one of the crewmen on the Deeral- Solomon Tapau. His name is Moses Tapua and he is Luke Karaku’s uncle.”
That caused another grim train of thought. Not only had Muriel’s grandfather murdered Bert Collins but he must also have murdered the two T.Is as well! Seeing Muriel looking very unhappy he asked, “How did you get your mum and dad to let you come with Trevor and Doug?”
Muriel shook her head and said, “I didn’t. I just ran away.” She turned to Doug and said, “I’m not really sixteen Doug. I’m only fourteen.”
Andrew saw a look of sick dismay cross Doug’s face. Doug shook his head. “Well don’t you say anything about us,” he said. “I don’t want any more trouble.”
“If we survive!” Carmen put in.
A wave of sick jealousy boiled in Andrew as the implications of Doug’s comments, and earlier ones by Trevor, now hit him. ‘She has given Doug sex in return for the use of the boat!’ he thought. It made him both nauseous and sad.
Another period of silence ensued. Each bobbed on the waves, wrapped in their own grim thoughts. Time passed slowly and Andrew began to shake continually and feel dizzy. He knew he was very thirsty. Once again he considered trying to swim to the mainland but the mathematics was too compelling. ‘Even trying to navigate would be hopeless. We would swim in semi-circles as the sun kept moving and we kept forgetting to adjust our course,’ he told himself. He also knew that adrift in that vast area of ocean meant no hope at all. ‘At least here a boat might arrive, some fishermen, or even Dad,’ he told himse
lf.
He was now shivering and cramping up and his head began to ache. To ease his growing thirst he allowed seawater to wet his mouth. The stories about shipwrecked sailors in boats going mad from drinking salt water he ignored. ‘The cold will kill me long before I go mad!’ he thought grimly.
The end seemed near. The sun was now high in the sky and Andrew thought they had been in the water for four or five hours. ‘Time to tell Carmen about Grandad,’ he decided. He had been dreading having to do that, mainly because it might spark a violent and irrational response from Muriel. Now he shrugged. ‘So what? I’m going to die soon anyway. I’d better tell her while we are still alert enough to make sense.’
Andrew opened his mouth to speak and then stopped. ‘What is that noise?’ He struggled to turn his head. Yes, a noise- and not a sea noise of waves and wind, rather a vibrating, tremor. Hope surged and he shielded his eyes from the glare and looked around.
“A helicopter!” he croaked.
Several kilometres away a tiny dark object was visible in the sky. To Andrew’s unspeakable relief it grew rapidly larger and seemed to be heading straight for them. But as it got closer he saw that it would pass half a kilometre to the east.
“Wave!” he shouted (or croaked). To be so close and to have salvation pass them by! It was exquisite agony and irony! He began to wave and shout. The others joined in. To his intense disappointment the helicopter actually turned away and went off eastwards. His hopes turning to bitter despair Andrew watched with dismay as it dwindled in size.
With his heart in his mouth he watched the now distant machine. When it was a kilometre or so away it turned north. Then it began to slowly circle. ‘It is following the edge of the reef,’ he decided. Even so he did not dare hope that it might come back, lest he be disappointed again. But then he had to hope, in spite of trying to steel himself for another crushing blow.
Davey Jones's Locker Page 44
