Chapter 21

While Jacky worked, quite a few more trips were made back to the lorries to empty them.

Having another twenty-five men help the Ghost team made short work of the exercise. Despite their excitement, Brian made sure the lookouts moved even further out to make sure any noise they made didn’t attract any unwanted attention.

Anton supervised the unloading and even helped. Several times the teams had to stop as they heard lorries moving slowly up and down the road. They had to sit tight once more when another troop of Japanese soldiers did a general search of the area.

They, however, chose a spot further to the north. This time, Anton sent Abe, Stan, Ernie, Bluey, Tommy, Louie, and Joe to assist David in encouraging the Japanese to move on. David’s team were not surprised that he could also convince the enemy to go home.

For some reason, this squad headed back towards Same.

It was a very merry bunch of men around the fires that night.

The men told the newcomers what they had been up to, where they were from and how the companies that they had originally been part of had been disbanded. Abe made sure that all of their names, ranks and other pertinent information was written down.

Abe also collected the names of those people that the survivors knew were missing, dead or in prisoner-of-war camps. Many of these tales and the tallies of the lost were hard for the new men to hear and the others to retell.

The Ghosts also distributed paper, pencils, and envelopes so the men could write home. The letters and the records would be sent to the ship with the wounded when it came back in a few days.

The tins of tobacco, Zig-zag papers and boxes of matches went over well. They even gave out the packets of durries (pre-rolled cigarettes) from the ration packs. The chocolate bars and even the boiled lollies were just as popular.

A lot of men went to bed very happy that night.

The next day, the Ghosts and Spiders were busy.

After a day of semi-rest, the commandos got the six critically wounded loaded onto the carts, and they helped the six walking-wounded as they made their way back to the trucks. The lorries were precisely where they had left them and had remained undisturbed overnight.

To the surprise of many, Major James had elected to stay at the camp. He said that he wished to get in contact with the Commander of the other company. He handed over the operation to take the wounded to the ship to Abe, although they all knew that Jacky would actually be in charge.

The Japanese took to using the red cross on their trucks to ferry wounded like the other nations of the world did. While some of the men painted the red crosses onto the trucks, the others who had come with Abe’s team, since he was now officially in charge of them, unloaded the last of the supplies that hadn’t been collected the day before.

Blair’s people happily ferried the last of the supplies back to their hide-out with the handy waggons. They had to chuckle as they got both Australian Army rations and the new American ones.

The boxes of tinned toothpaste powder and packets of soaps were appreciated. The Peanut Paste and Vegemite would be rationed, as they tended to disappear fast. The two big barrels of flour for damper was also greatly received. The new ammo, machetes, and TNT wouldn’t go amiss either.

In Blair’s caverns, no one commented very much when new wooden tables and more stools appeared in the mess alcove of the cavern system during the night. It was now a much more comfortable place for the commandos to sit and eat.

The kerosene lamps were also a pleasant addition, as was the camouflage netting to hide the entrance. Jacky and David had made some other modifications while in the caves that many didn’t really notice at first. The rocks that everyone stumbled over or banged their heads on had disappeared.

The walkways seemed to be wider, have smoother floors, and so did the walls. The storage and gathering areas were roomier than before and seemed to have a cool breeze lazily wafting through them, making the caverns very pleasant once out of the sun.

The commandos were all glad that ‘someone’ had done it.

The wounded were soon loaded into the trucks.

Those who were missing parts and had reduced mobility were made comfortable on cots. Those that had fevers were all on the mend, and they joked it was the magic chocolates that did it, not the medicines and vitamin tablets that the doctor gave them.

Interestingly, none of those men wanted to go back. They preferred to stay with Captain Black as they regained their health. They were a tight-knit mob considering what they had been through.

They trusted Blair to look after them, as he had for the six months they had been separated from the other soldiers in their battalions.

Abe had argued that just his team should do the run to the coast. Blair wasn’t super happy, but he knew Abe wasn’t under his control, being of the same rank. Getting the supplies to Blair’s people and ferrying the sick to a ship was Abe’s mission. Plus, that was what the Major had ordered.

Blair was mollified when Anton told him that his men were supposed to come back and stay with them for another three or four weeks while they waited for the ship to return with more supplies.

Blair knew that he could always do with good men and hoped they did succeed. He knew that the coast was heavily watched by submarines, and the Japs had spies amongst the local fishermen.

Blair was surprised when Jacky handed him a compass in a leather holder and said, “If you need to use the lay-by, you have to have this with you, or you will never find it.”

“Just follow the red end of the needle wherever it points. Your people should be safe while in the lay-by camp, but I would recommend that you keep the noise down.”

While bemused, Blair took the device from Jacky. He didn’t know why, but he had believed the man. He pocketed the compass before he helped his men get comfortable in the lorries and wished them well.

Once loaded, the trucks headed off.

Most of the local people just ignored the lorries as they made their way back towards Betano.

It wasn’t until the trucks tried to drive out of Same that they ran into trouble. Same had once been the principal city of the area and was moderately well developed, with several suburbs and principal buildings in its centre.