He gave quick orders and the police moved to guard the partisans. These were systematically searched and handcuffed. DS Crowe was called down off the mound.
“Go and disarm the prince and Hauptman Ritnik. Be polite but firm. Then guard them,” Inspector Sharpe ordered. He then walked over and sat in the police car and began talking on the radio. After a couple of minutes he walked back over to where the boys stood and said: “Watch this.” He grinned and turned to look down range towards the eastern end of Mt Baldy.
A minute later the air began to vibrate.
“Helicopters!” Graham said.
Around the end of the ridge, just above the trees, appeared the dark shapes of Army Black Hawks.
“One, two, three, four, five!” Graham counted aloud. “And more of them over there.” He pointed as four more appeared.
The first five helicopters came swooping down to land one behind the other along the Rifle Range. The valley filled with the roar of their motors and the fierce downdraught of their rotor wash blew in the boy’s faces.
CHAPTER 37
BUT WHERE?
As the helicopters landed soldiers in full battle order began jumping out, hauling out radios and machine guns before throwing themselves flat. Three more helicopters roared overhead and vanished up the valley and another three swept up beside Mt Baldy to the summit.
“Regular soldiers from Townsville,” Inspector Sharpe shouted above the roar of engines.
The five helicopters rose and swept overhead and off to the north. They vanished over the tree tops in the direction of Atherton. Roger stared down the range with excitement as the soldiers rose and began moving off in disciplined groups.
“Look, a mortar,” Graham pointed. “And another.”
Lines of camouflaged infantry began filing off into the forest on either side. A group of a dozen with several radios walked towards them, obviously a headquarters.
“Hercules!” Roger cried, pointing down range. Three of the RAAF transport planes passed in the distance, going out of sight behind the hill on which Atherton stood. They had their wheels down and were heading for the airfield.
As the army HQ reached them Inspector Sharpe stepped forward and introduced himself. A solid looking Lt Colonel shook his hand.
“Smith, CO of the battalion. Can you give me details of where these Kosarian Royal Guards are Inspector?”
“Well, there is a bit more to it than that. I think you are too late to catch any more of the Royal Guards. But I can offer you a platoon of fully armed and very aggressive Communist Partisans instead.”
“Communist Partisans! What the devil is going on?” the Lt Colonel asked in astonishment.
“It’s a long story but there are six of them sitting there.” Inspector Sharpe indicated the prisoners. “Here, I will show you on the map. Where is Commander Simkin?”
“On his way. He is not happy. Now, tell me what you want me to do?” the Lt Colonel replied. He and the Inspector went into a huddle over a map board held by a captain. Roger stood there feeling very self-conscious under the stares of the soldiers.
Something the Inspector said made the Lt Colonel and his officers turn to stare at the cadets. Then they looked across to where the prince and princess knelt tending Hauptman Ritnik.
“A real prince! And a dinki-di princess? This is becoming unbelievable!” the Lt Colonel said, shaking his head. He took a radio handset from a sig and began explaining the situation to an obviously puzzled company commander. Then he turned to another officer. “OK Major Pike, set up HQ over amongst those trees and secure this area. Get the RMO and his team up here at once.”
Inspector Sharpe looked up. “I have an ambulance on the way, and more police,” he explained.
The Lt Colonel walked over to the two cadets. Graham came to attention but lacking a hat did not salute. Roger did likewise, unable to remember when he had lost his own hat. ‘Anyway we are “In the field”,’ he decided. By custom the Australian Army does not salute in the field.
The Lt Colonel looked them up and down, his face interested. “You are the cadets who did all this? Bloody good job. Well done!” He shook their hands. Roger glowed with embarrassment and pleasure.
The Lt Colonel then turned. “OK Inspector, let’s meet their Royal Highnesses.” He walked off, followed by his adjutant and two signallers.
A nuggetty RSM came over to the two cadets. “Bloody good work CSM. And you too corporal. And you need a shave CSM.”
“Yes RSM,” Graham answered, standing rigidly to attention. The RSM grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Good lads. Stand easy. Now, what are your names?”
They told him. He then walked over to join his CO, leaving the two boys standing in the middle of the range unsure what to do.
Three more vehicles appeared: a police 4WD, a police car and an ambulance. These pulled up and more police spilled out. Peter and Stephen were with them- and so was Captain Conkey, this time in uniform.
“What have you lot stirred up this time?” Captain Conkey said. “I thought I told you to keep out of trouble? Well CSM?”
“Sorry sir. It was Roger’s fault. He kept on poking his nose into the Kosarian’s civil war,” Graham replied.
Roger sparked up at this. “Oh sir! That’s not true. We were all in it together.”
Capt Conkey gave a smile. “Tell me the story. Is that Inspector Sharpe over there?”
“Yes sir.”
“Who is hurt?”
Roger turned to look. The ambulance had driven across the range to where Hauptman Ritnik lay. The ambulancemen moved quickly to check his wounds. A stretcher was laid ready beside him.
“I think they want us over there sir,” Peter said, indicating Inspector Sharpe who was beckoning.
Capt Conkey and the four cadets walked over to join the group. Hauptman Ritnik looked up and said: “I just wished to thank you for saving their Royal Highnesses,” he said.
Graham answered: “Thank you sir. It was a real adventure and we enjoyed it. Sorry we spoiled your plans.”
“But you did not spoil our plans!” Hauptman Ritnik cried, struggling to sit up. “They had already been betrayed by traitors.” He indicated the partisan sergeant standing at the rear with DS Crowe. “The partisans knew all our plans. If you had not discovered our ambush they would have found Prince Peter and Princess Mareena with only five men guarding them.”
Hauptman Ritnik slumped back. He looked haggard and very sick. Princess Mareena gripped his hand and stroked his cheek. Prince Peter spoke: “That is enough. We can talk later. Get the Baron to hospital.”
Hauptman Ritnik was lifted onto the stretcher and then carried to the ambulance. Two policemen climbed in the back with him. The ambulance turned and sped away, escorted by the police car with two more police in it.
Captain Conkey was introduced to the prince, princess and Lt Col Smith. The Lt Colonel said: “Your lads are a credit to your unit Captain. They have done a marvellous job. What exactly were they doing to get mixed up in all this?”
“They were doing a five day, hundred kilometre expedition for their ‘Duke of Edinburgh Award’. To make it a challenge, with navigation as a major element, I put out clues for them to follow. They had to navigate from one clue to the next and had five days to do it in.”
Graham spoke up: “This is Day Six sir. I suppose that means we failed.”
“I think the circumstances were such that you will have passed,” Capt Conkey replied with a smile.
“That’s good sir,” Peter said. “Roger wouldn’t like to have to go over Mt Baldy again.”
“Mt Baldy?” Capt Conkey asked, glancing at the mountain and looking puzzled. “What were you doing up there?”
“One of your clues sent us there sir. In fact at least two clues mentioned it,” Peter answered.
Captain Conkey looked mystified. “No they didn’t. All the clues were just Grid References.”
The boys looked at each other in surprise. Peter dug in his map p
ocket. “But I’ve got one here sir. Look. We found this one on top of Mt Baldy only an hour ago.” He held up the clue in its plastic bag.
There was a gasp from Princess Mareena which made them all glance at her. She blushed and shook her head. Prince Peter frowned at her. Capt Conkey took the clue. “This isn’t mine. As I said, mine were all Grid References and were on light blue cardboard.”
“Blue cardboard!” Peter exclaimed. The boys looked at each other in astonishment.
Graham spoke first: “But sir, we followed these yellow clues all the way. I’ve got all the others in my webbing.”
“Blue cardboard!” Roger cried. “Remember when we were at Mobo Creek? The leader of the KSS, the old man, he had a couple of Grid References on blue cardboard in that plastic bag he tried to hide, the one which had Captain Krapinski’s diary in it.”
“You are quite right Roger,” Inspector Sharpe agreed.
Peter nodded. “They were the ones the KSS were using for their search,” he agreed.
Lt Colonel Smith frowned. “Who are these KSS you mention; and what were they searching for?” he asked.
“Nazis from Paraguay sir,” Graham replied.
The Lt Colonel looked as though he thought they were pulling his leg. “Nazis from Paraguay?” he echoed, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
“Yes sir. They were searching in the jungle over in the Danbulla State Forest,” Graham replied.
“For a treasure,” Roger added.
“A treasure!” Lt Colonel Smith exclaimed in an incredulous tone.
Peter spoke next. “The Kosarian Crown Jewels,” he said, looking directly at Princess Mareena.
She gasped again. “Oh! We don’t know. We...” She fell silent as Prince Peter gripped her arm. She bit her lip and hung her head. Every eye was on her.
“So you were searching too?” Inspector Sharpe asked.
Prince Peter nodded, mouth set in a hard line.
“What for? What is it?” Inspector Sharpe probed.
“We don’t know,” Prince Peter replied. “Something very valuable. Only Captain Krapinski knew. He had kept it hidden and secret all these years. It was only a month ago that he first contacted us and only last week that we received a cryptic message from him that he had something valuable for our cause. We hoped it might be the crown so that I could wear it on my return.”
“And now we will never know,” Princess Mareena added. “Only Count Krapinski knew what it was and where it was hidden; and he is now dead.”
“Are there no clues?” Inspector Sharpe asked.
After some hesitation, during which the prince and princess looked at each other, Prince Peter replied: “Only one. It is in that briefcase Detective Sergeant Crowe is holding. It looks like the one young Bronsky has.”
Inspector Sharpe called to DS Crowe to bring the briefcase while the boys looked at the clue in Peter’s hand in amazement. Prince Peter took the briefcase and unlocked it. After a moment’s shuffling inside he drew out a plastic bag. Inside was an oblong of yellow cardboard. Printed on it in black block letters was:
ALL FIVE
PLATYPUS LOOKOUT
“Platypus Lookout!” the boys all cried.
Roger felt a sharp chill of dread. “That is where Captain Krapinski was murdered,” he said.
“It is where I put the first of my clues,” Capt Conkey added.
Graham scratched his head. “But....? I don’t get this,” he said.
There was a short silence. Then Prince Peter said: “We received this from Dorkoffsky in a sealed envelope. By mail we received two keys. I have no idea what they open but they were fastened to a piece of the same yellow cardboard by sticky tape. There was no explanation.” He held up the keys, then said, “We went to Platypus Lookout and searched but found nothing. We searched for hours.”
What a mystery! Roger was agog. He racked his brains. What did it all mean?
Peter spoke first: “I’ve got it! Dorkoffsky read the note. He told the KSS and they came to search. They probably tried to capture Captain Krapinski too. But they found the blue clue left by Captain Conkey, instead of the yellow clue left by Count Krapinski.”
“Yes! That would be it. Where were your clues sir?” Graham asked.
Captain Conkey thought for a moment, then said: “Platypus Lookout, Robsons Creek, the Chimneys. The next one was down a timber track in the rainforest; to test your navigation. So was the next one at Mobo Creek. Then there was one at the junction of the Danbulla Forestry Road and the Gillies Highway, then Lake Eacham, Lake Barrine, Malanda Falls, Bromfield Swamp, Wongabel and Atherton.”
“Not Mt Baldy?” Roger asked.
“No Roger, not Mt Baldy.”
They all laughed. Roger sniffed. His stomach rumbled audibly.
Peter spoke again: “So that must be why you could not find any clues Your Highness.” He looked at Prince Peter. “The KSS took ours and we took yours.”
“Knowing that does not help much does it?” Prince Peter replied.
“Yes it does sir,” Graham said. “We’ve got them all here. We followed them all the way.”
“On foot,” Roger added.
They all laughed at his tone. Graham swung off his webbing and undid the pack. He took out the clues in their plastic bags. Then he held up his hand. “May I have yours sir?” he asked. Prince Peter handed it to him. The others stood around in fascinated silence while he sorted them out and laid them on the grass in order.
Roger ran his eyes over them. They read:
ALL FIVE
PLATYPUS LOOKOUT
MT BALDY
THE CHIMNEYS
HIGH SCHOOL
CURTAIN FIG
MICROWAVE TOWER
RAILWAY TUNNEL
SEVEN PINES
MT BALDY
BUTTS SHED
ATHERTON RIFLE RANGE
Prince Peter studied them closely. “Are they in the right order?” he asked.
Graham nodded. “Yes sir. That is the order in which we went to them. I am not sure about the first one though.”
Peter pointed. “See, Mt Baldy is mentioned twice,” he said.
“You followed these? How?” Prince Peter asked.
Graham explained. “Well sir, we got the first one at Platypus Lookout. It said ‘Mt Baldy’ and ‘The Chimneys’. We found those places on the map. The Chimneys was closer so we walked there. There we found the next one. As we didn’t know which High School we went to the Curtain Fig. Then on to the Railway Tunnel and so on.”
“We followed the bottom clue in each case,” Peter added.
“Where were you to go next?” Prince Peter asked.
They all looked at the clues.
Graham shook his head. “I don’t know sir,” he replied.
“Around the top clues perhaps?” Stephen suggested.
This time Peter shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. We would have to go back up Mt Baldy. We’ve just been there,” he disagreed.
Stephen frowned. “There must be another clue then, at the Butts Shed,” Stephen suggested.
“Yes, come on. Let’s look,” Graham cried.
They went to run off. Inspector Sharpe stopped them. “Wait a minute! Let’s have something to eat and drink first. Crowe, have something brought over to the shed. I’m famished.”
“Me too,” Roger agreed. His stomach rumbled loudly and they all laughed.
Graham scooped up all the clues and the group began walking across the rifle range. The captured partisans still sat in a dejected group on the mound, guarded by two policemen. A couple of the partisans glared at them but Roger noted that at least three stared at the prince and princess in awe. Five helicopters clattered across behind them heading for the Herberton Range.
As they walked Prince Peter said: “But why did Count Krapinski lay such a complicated trail? Why not just meet us and take us to the treasure, or give it to us?”
Graham answered. “Excuse me Your Majesty, but I can guess,” he said.<
br />
“Yes?”
“I think he was suspicious. Did he know any of you by sight?”
“No, I don’t think so. But how does that explain it?”
Graham replied: “If he did not know you to look at he would want to check. So he picked isolated places where he could hide and watch who came to collect the clue. If he was not satisfied he could have broken the trail, or stopped them.”
“You may be right. But he could only have stopped someone by using force,” Prince Peter replied.
Stephen frowned. “Is this thing that is hidden worth killing someone for?” he asked.
Prince Peter nodded grimly: “Yes. If it is what I think it is, it has cost many human lives.”
Graham nodded. “He could easily have sprung an ambush at any of those places,” he commented. Roger re-examined the places in his memory and agreed.
Peter waved his arm around. “Like here. Who would take any notice of shooting at a rifle range?”
Prince Peter nodded. “Yes. You could be right. Count Krapinski was a very good rifle shot, a marksman. When we commenced our enquiries we discovered that he was a very keen member of the local rifle club and would sometimes come here to shoot every day. But we did not find a rifle in his house.”
“Be in the lake,” Roger said. Then he wished he hadn’t, as the awful memories flooded back.
They walked around the end of the earth mound. Behind it was a concrete retaining wall and walkway with steel frames to raise and lower the targets. Nearby was the corrugated iron shed. It was unlocked so they trooped in and began to search. The place was full of stacks of plywood figure targets, paper patches, planks, odd tools and assorted junk. Princess Mareena remained outside.
By the time DS Crowe and two constables had arrived with cordial and sandwiches the group had searched every nook and cranny, turned over every target and looked on every beam and rafter.
“Must be outside,” Stephen suggested.
“Have some lunch,” Capt Conkey ordered.
Roger needed no prodding. His thirst and hunger were so acute that even the excitement of a real treasure hunt was dulled.
Behind Mt. Baldy Page 38
