If you make a copy from this site 

send me a dollar its alright

Don Johnson

3 south stn rd Booval 4304
Ipswich Queensland Australia
 

                        Arthur sat deep in thought, he earnestly sat think­ing about how he should operate , his friends had lost interest in war and were trying to return to a normal life.  Jack was teaching Ivan how to crutch a sheep with a pair of old blade hand shears , to keep the maggots away from old sheep`s rear end.  They had mustered a dozen wethers from the horse

paddock. These sheep were kept there for the meat supply .

There were fresh  vegetables  growing in the garden and fresh meat was hanging in the butcher shop. Clare had made damper and brownies, bush bread and cake, and life was almost normal. But Arthur had to go for a look to  see if he could help  repel the invaders.  The next morning he met Ivan outside at four am, and they moved off in the early morning mist. After driving to the helicopter, they uncovered it hurriedly and loaded some  provisions for Arthur.    Once airborne Arthur directed  Ivan back to the area he had left the old Ford ute.   Ivan thought Arthur was going to drive back to the station, as Arthur had said via some back roads .  They changed the battery, unloaded the provisions and petrol. Then well satisfied Arthur handed Ivan a note for Jack which explained his mission.

 Ivan lifted off in the chopper and disappeared south.     Arthur smiled grimly and headed down the bitumen past burnt out wrecks dodging craters heading east travelling flat

 out .    An hour later he swept around a curve and almost hit a truck parked near a bore drain. The Indonesian

soldiers were having a meal and were slow to react. Arthur

jerked the steering this way and that to make a bad target

for the soldiers, but hot lead sprayed the back of the ute

as he sped on at  full speed. A mile or so later the motor

coughed and died of petrol starvation, and he steered old ute into the timber line nearly hitting a few trees. The small bushes finally stopping him.  An hour later he finally made camp some distance from the ute preferring to be safe than sorry and ate a meal of cold mutton and damper.  As the sun finally set he rolled into his swag, his rifle under his arm and slept lightly. Sometime after midnight he came awake with a start ,   something was grunting nearby. Hastily pulling on his boots he picked up the Russian rifle and moved off carefully to see what was happening.  Silently he approached the noise and came upon a sow pig and her several suckers feeding on a dead sheep. Satisfied he walked back to his bed but had a sleepless night thinking of his options for the morrow. He was up at daylight next morning back pack on walking to the road, being careful not to be seen by the enemy traffic.     

CHAPTER 24    So Arthur walked purposefully along a parallel track to the road, just hidden from view by the timber in this red soil country . Screened by bushy grey low mulga trees, mixed with iron bark and gum suckers. Regrowth rising in country cleared by a  bull dozer years before. After walking for a few hours in the heat he was nearly exhausted when he came to a bore drain. Ground water from a local artesian bore miles away, channelled through this dry country .  The drain was a metre deep and two metres wide .  Arthur hot and thirsty drank his fill of this brackish water and stripped his clothes off and lay in the drain .  After a while he dressed and moved off feeling refreshed .

Suddenly  he moved desperately clawing at his shirt , a

frilly lizard had mistook him for a tree, and   had run up

his torso ,to Arthur`s surprise .  " That woke me up" he

thought ," Soon have to hitch a ride."     A few trucks passed in the next few hours and then a car lurched into sight and eventually stopped not very far from his position.  When the utility slowed ,  and stopped .  The driver

climbed out of the Ford x.d. ute and kicked the mudguard, steam rose from under the bonnet. Good old buggered

ther­mostat said Arthur to himself .  The driver worked under the bonnet and sure enough the thermostat was tossed over his shoulder. Arthur waited until the guy had finished the job, and topped up the radiator .

Now Arthur moved prodding the driver with the barrel of his gun.  Fear showed in the drivers eyes and his hands  went up.   Arthur spoke to him and got answered in a foreign tongue. Pointing  with the rifle Arthur sent him south   into the timberline, saying to him "Keep going poddy." After a few turns the hot motor fired   and Arthur had wheels again.

CHAPTER 25

     Arthur drove towards Dalby putting the miles behind him .  Suddenly to his horror , bullets slammed the windscreen and he  swerved to the other side of the road away from the shooting   hit a tree stump and got the car grounded on a red soil water table drain. Jump­ing out of the ute  he headed for cover finally dropping behind a box log.

When he caught his breath he peered carefully over the log

and bullets whacked his fallen tree ," Take that you yellow

git!"   Came a voice from the far side of the road .  Arthur laughed hystericly , calling out " You almost killed me pal, I`m a true blue Aussie mate!" " Come on over here then mate," came the voice ," Be bloody   careful though." Arthur shook his head in disbelief ?   and stood upright. Seeing nothing he walked towards the  others position  . A bearded man stepped from behind a big belah tree , he held a 303.25 rifle at the ready, covering Arthur taking no chances. "G'day" he said ," Names Bob I`m the roo shooter round these  parts."                                                                                                                                                   

 Arthur looked Bob over, here was one tough c­ustomer.                             Over six feet tall , about sixteen stone , big calloused hands gripping the big rifle with its six power scope .

 " I`m Arthur" he said " I was trying to get back to Dalby to see my sheila, and her family if they are still alive ?"

" Don`t like your chances mate," frowned Bob ," Nothing but bad news, from that direction , a slaughter house my friend.

We'll put the billy on eh and tip a hot feed into you."

  They finally came to Bob`s camp a mile off the road .

 In the tall timber there were kangaroo hides pegged

on the ground in every clearing  nearby. Bob had cut up

fencing wire into 5 inch lengths and had driven these nails

through the borders of each hide, and left them to dry in

the sun .  A big stew pot sat in the dying embers of his

cooking fire and soon a mixture of potatoes and meat fed the two men . "What was it mate?" Arthur inquired nodding at the pot . " Kangaroo tail soup," Bob laughed," Didn`t you like it mate ?"  "She's ok mate," Arthur grinned "Good tucker, long as you keep the worms out of the meat."" Don't worry," Bob said  " They won't hurt you mate, I cook them old stomach worms as well, its all food  mate."  After talking for hours to Bob of the situation in their part of the country, and of their recent history. Arthur asked Bob , for some means of transport  to Dalby.   Bob was quiet for some time, and then said "Well buddy if you was to cross my sandhill over there , my rabbit supply .                                              

Then you would come to a station homestead , might be something there to drive."   Arthur glanced at the sandhill, pockmarked with rabbit   warrens, and said, "You trap em eh." "Just got one trap left," Bob said . Arthur left after another mug of tea . He climb­ed the sandhill and slipped through the six wire fence, and looked   for the homestead .

CHAPTER 26

     As he approached it he met a cattle dog blocking his way, a typical blue dog. This dog attacked Arthur from the rear trying to heel him with his fangs . Arthur stepped into a bush butcher shop, where the meat was cut up, and looked about.  In this gorse screened room , on the gallows bar there hung a sheep kidney fat complete with kidneys .  Grabbing this off the gallows he started to befriend the dog who was starving .  After talking  to blue for some time and feeding him, they became friends at last . He checked the house and harness room and then the horse paddock .  Down the other end stood a grey gelding, a cunning type who trotted away as Arthur drew near. " Fetch him up Blue," Arthur called to the dog and old Grey was yarded   on the first circuit of the horse paddock .  Soon the horse was  bridled and saddled  for a journey east towards Dalby.

 Arthur stepped onto this grey horse and bumped him in the ribs to wake him up . Old grey started bucking, and threw   Arthur out of the saddl But he clung to the saddle and   managed to climb back in as the old horse tired of the sport.                                                                           

    After feeding the horse on hay from a shed, himself and the dog on canned bully beef from the pantry , he felt more human. Then when old Blue finally finished the tin.  Arthur found an empty sugar bag and filled it with rations plus tea leaves and sugar and came back to the grey gelding in the yard .  The horse pulled away and pigrooted around the yard scattering Arthur`s gear .  After catching the horse he reloaded him with supplies and climbed aboard. The trio moved  off with the dog leading the party down to the front gate .  Soon they were travelling parallel to the road screened from view by the low   scrub near the road . After travelling for hours Arthur thought over what Bob had said of not want­ing to become involved in the war .

Bob was a bushman and lived off the land very well. He

seemed to like his own company and was very likely a hermit.  He had avoided all contact with friend or enemy unless he

felt threatened.   That evening about dusk Arthur called a halt, and hobbled the grey out to feed around the camp . He and Blue had a can of bully beef for supper and they

curled up together , in a   blanket on the grass .

CHAPTER 27

     Some hours later Blue growled softly and Arthur, startled, sat up and searched the moonlight for a sign of trouble.                                                                                                                                                                

After pulling on his boots, he moved  carefully in the

direction old Blue was looking . And then  he saw the camp. A Toyota station wagon  quite battered looking in the moon

l­ight, scrat­c­hed  and dented everywhere it seemed,  was   parked under cover.  There was someone sleeping in the back, gear was scattered nearby .  "City feller" thought Arthur, "I'd better wait for daylight." But  Blue took the initiative and charged in barking while Arthur tried to stop him going too close, muttering fiercely "Shut up you mangy mongrel!" A woman`s voice called "Who is that , who is there?"  Arthur called in return, "I'm an Aussie  how about you ."  She said "Come here my friend I need help, my husband is dying."  So  Arthur  met the lady .

    She said " My name is Maria, my husband is Russian, we tried to get away from the army to join the rebels , but Igor was shot as we drove through a roadblock." She was East

German extraction, dark hair in disarray framing her olive face.   Igor groaned and tried to speak ,"Da comrade da." And blood ran from the corner of his mouth .  Death hover­ed

nearby smiling .

    Arthur studied the pair while she made Igor more

 comfort­able.  " How far could he trust this big brown

 Rus­sian, or the petite  wife ? Not far." he mused.

 He asked "Maria have you any petrol left " She said ,"Yes , some you look and see my friend." He looked at the gauge,

and it showed a quarter tank.                                                                                            

" Great stuff," he muttered softly, "Where`s the next gas station I wonder?"  Arthur had breakfast with the couple and discussed their options for the morning, "Come further off the road he advised her, come to my camp. Igor needs

docto­ring."   Later in the day after the move to his camp, Arthur checked the big Russian Igor`s wound, the bullet had passed through his chest and lung and had come out of his body, leaving two wounds.

All Arthur   could try was antibiotic powder on the wounds

and a bandage.   Even so Igor was dying slow, his breath

making bloody bubbles. That afternoon Igor died in his

wife`s arms. She sat by him in shocked silence. Arthur eventually dug a shal­low grave and lowered Igor into his final rest­ing place . She said a prayer for  Igor and stood by as Arthur filled in the grave.  A tear or two slipped from her eyes in her silent grief.

CHAPTER 28

    The next morning she was composed, as Arthur made small

talk  about what they should be doing . He asked her

"What is happening in Dalby are they leaving it for the coast, or is it still occupied." She said  " I think they go from there in  few days maybe." He decided then to wait in camp for three days and took her walking through the

pad­docks nearby. Showing her how to get a meal from vario­us natural supplies, whitchety grubs, porcupine, snake, or smelly goanna. It was the Aboriginie. way .                                                                 

     He commented, " Me, I like Aussie bush tucker, old sheep is pretty good or beef if you can get it."  He caught a sheep and led it back to near the camp, made a bush

gal­lows from fence wire and a broken bough. Soon he had an old wether sheep cut up, and  chops and liver cooking on a frying pan barbecued over a small open fire .  After a hearty meal she talked of her life in the Russian army.

 She said, she was in the signal corps and had been a base

camp signal radio operator , in her husbands regiment some

five years. After secretly marrying Igor they had been in  a  convoy on route to Indonesia and the crunch came changing the world, and their destination. She and Igor had chosen to   escape from the futile war with tragic results for her. Arthur   pondered this new turn of events and then he

held her firmly and said "You`re an Aussie now mate , you'll do ok." She frowned a little and asked " Will the other

 people accept me like you did?"  " They will in time" Arthur vouched quietly. A goanna ran up a yellow jacket near her and she clung to Arthur for protection .

On impulse he kissed her full lips and she pulled away for a moment, then came back her eyes tearful as held her and kissed her  passionately. Finally they parted, he, quite ashamed of his action, she filled with mixed emotions , not believing her own reaction and, surprised at her own   acceptance of this strange man .

CHAPTER 29

     Arthur left camp to check the area, for peace  of mind and to think of where he stood with regard to Clare, in his

troubled state of mind .   He resolved to go  no further

with Maria, reason being she could still be a plant for her

masters.. Of course there was still his girl Sheila to

consider but she probably had a new bloke by now .

That night they went to their separate swags to sleep, but

both tossed and turned for hours. She was sleeping in the

back of the wagon, he had his blankets on the ground, nearby old Blue slept soundly.  She called softly, " Are you awake." Arthur sat up and looked her way. "What is it?" he asked?

   " You can climb in with me," she said "A snake might bite you, down there on the ground,"  " No funny business" she said , " I`m used to sleeping with Igor and cant sleep alone, now."    He climbed into the back of the station wagon and got under the blankets on the thin mattress. He noticed that Maria was wearing, just panties and a singlet .

With an effort he controlled his natural urges and they

drifted off to sleep . He awoke hours later and this lady

was holding him and fondling him muttering in a foreign tongue. Moving gently and slowly he entered her softly and moved with her, after a long time he came explosively, and withdrew after a time. She still muttered and appeared to be asleep .                                                                                                                                                          

   Next morning when he woke up she was cooking breakfast

and little  seemed to have changed they talked together as

if nothing had happened .

    She seemed happy, contented, though a little sad with her loss.  Arthur left it to her to broach the subject if she wanted to, and took her with him to a homestead nearby.

  A bit of exploring would take her mind off her troubles .

 In the pantry they found supplies and she demanded wood for the stove and began to cook biscuits and cakes, humming a tune to herself that was unfamiliar to Arthur .

  He looked over her shoulder while she worked, and she

turned into his arms and kissed him fiercely on his lips.

Stunned he stood there a few seconds, and then he dropped all reservations and they were tearing the clothes off each

other in their hurry to make love on the kitchen table .

 Once she was undressed he lay her back on the table, her

clothes for a pillow and entered her roughly, and kissed her breasts and lips as he moved in her, after a few minutes they both were climaxing together. Later he led her to a bedroom to get some sleep, to recover from his exhaustion .

CHAPTER 30

    Some hours later when he woke up there was no sign of Maria. He found his clothes and dressed hurriedly. Arthur pondered awhile and decided she must have went back to the camp for something.

 So shortly he was walking back towards the camp through the thick Mulga regrowth bushes in this red soil country. 

 He got to where the Toyota was parked in time to see

her drive off in a hurry. Puzzled he shook his head and took stock of what had happened. Was she driving off to join the enemy again ? Or had she had a gutful of him, and needed to be on her own?  After calling blue and tracking down the grey horse , he took the hobbles off the grey rogue and led him back to be saddled up .

CHAPTER 31

    Arthur mounted and the grey nag dropped his head and pigrooted around for awhile till Arthur reefed his head up stopping his act. After a few hours he decided she wasn't returning . Arthur set out again down the road towards Dalby just out of clear sight of the road . After riding several hours he was relaxed in the saddle half dozing . Suddenly there was a truckload of troops roaring forward towards him shooting as they came. He booted the grey into a gallop through the iron bark and yellow jacket scrub with the truck gaining on him with every stride of the horse. He changed direction constantly to throw their aim off . Then suddenly he found a clearing and almost fell off the horse as the grey stumbled and jumped a bore drain.

The truck driver didn't stop in time and went into the metre deep drain about fifty miles an hour.

 The sudden stop put the two men in the cab through the windscreen . The half dozen in the back were stunned and hurt . So Arthur made good his escape thinking "did Maria set me up?"   He decided to cross the road and to travel on that side in case there were more people waiting for him . But after hours of riding he hadn't seen a soul. Then he came to a clearing . There stood the Toyota alongside a truck and it was a rape scene. The Indo`s were taking turns and there was a line up . There were no guards posted . Arthur left his horse and moved forward carefully . He moved forward quietly to get into a position so the truck shielded him from view. He looked in the cabin and found the driver's automatic rifle. Also there was two hand grenades . Pulling both pins he gently threw them behind the line up and the grenades  were not noticed until just before they exploded killing many . Arthur started firing as they fell . Then to his horror one yellow man cut her throat . Arthur stitched this one with bullets instantly but was too late . The remaining five men ran to get weapons but Arthur kept shooting to kill. When they had all fallen , he moved from man to man finishing them off.

CHAPTER 33

    He found a shovel in the truck and he dug a hole in the soft red earth to bury Maria . He placed her gently in the hole and covered her with a blanket before filling in the hole .                                                                                                                                                  

 The yellow bastards could feed the crows for his money. He found rations army style in the truck and he packed some on to horse . He found himself mistrusting cars on this Moonie highway now . "Safer on a horse" he muttered. 

After a couple of hours he was ready to leave the area. He then drove the Ford truck away from the ambush site half a mile down the road to a place he could get off the road without leaving many tracks. He finally parked the truck a mile off the road in dense timber. He shoved the distributor cap and keys up a hollow log. Returning to the grey horse he had just mounted and was reefing the grey's head up to stop him from rooting . When he heard a vehicle stop on the road and he heard curt orders shouted. So he drove his heels into old grey's gut and the grey bounded into the air and landed. He was  galloping off while Arthur tried to fend off bushy limbs as the horse forced a path through the thick scrub. He travelled down the stock route which followed the road and included it . In some places there was no station boundary fence with the stock route, so he went further off the

road . Old blue still followed he was a bit sore footed

from the burrs. Stopping he hauled Blue up and carried him on the pommel of the saddle. The dog's tail wagged franticly enjoying this treatment. Seeing a distant homestead he turned towards it through the yellow jacket timber. The house was not visible from the road .

CHAPTER 34

    No sign of smoke so he rode up to a cattle yard and tied the horse up in side the yard. He walked the hundred yards up to the house. There was no sign of life so he walked to the front door. He was just turning the door knob when a green ant bit him on his ankle.                                                                                            He stooped to brush the ant off as the door opened and a shotgun roared the blast took the hat off his head.

He rolled down the steps to the ground shocked. Shortly after he peered through the open door and spied the trap gun. Some old timer had left a present for the Indo's, to blow ones head off. A length of 3/4 water pipe loaded with a shotgun cartridge. The door pulled a length of fishing line which released a 2 inch nail spring loaded to strike the detonator of the cartridge. These trap guns were used by the old time 'Dog Trappers.' The men who trapped the western Dingoes with dog traps cruel or trap guns. These Dingo dogs could kill thousands of sheep if not checked and culled.

Arthur walked through the house looking over the rooms

personal belongings were still where they had been left.

A wallet full of money and a woman's handbag lay on the dresser . The beds were made and were comfortable looking so he lay down on one and slept for some hours . Something woke him and he sprang to his feet and carefully peered through a window.

Outside several vehicles were stopping and many men were walking towards the house. Panic gripped him for seconds. Then he remembered the ceiling trapdoor in the master bedroom. In desperate haste he rushed to it and pushed the trap clear of the opening . With a desperate lunge he dragged himself through the opening. He had managed to spring from the foot of a double bed . He quickly set the trap door back in place.                                                                                                

There were footsteps and voices and several men wandered through the house. Daylight went and the men settled down on the beds to sleep . Next morning most of the men left in the trucks but two or three remained sitting at the kitchen table. He was moving slowly to a position where some light came through the ceiling. Suddenly one man shouted below and several shots were fired . Arthur froze ! There came the sound of furniture being shifted and then the trapdoor was pushed aside. Arthur slouched as low as he could and watched the man who peered about in the darkness of the ceiling.

Finally satisfied the man muttered something and lowered the trap into place. He dare not move and lay like the dead for another day thinking of his recent life and the desperate situations he had endured. The next morning there was activity early. Some of the useful household equipment was loaded onto trucks and finally the Indo's left the area.   Relief flooded over him and he felt very hungry .

CHAPTER 36

    He removed the trap and dropped to the floor . He was searching through the kitchen cupboards for some food and found one tin of corned meat . He opened it and ate hungrily taking the edge off starvation a bit. Incredibly the grey horse was still in the yard and the blue dog was also. The saddle was a bit the worse for wear the rogue grey had pulled back and had rolled on the saddle at some stage . He climbed aboard and endured the Grey's usual humping and crow hopping about the flat . He called "come on blue". They'd have to find another homestead to get a feed now. They rode through a few boundary fences after cutting the wire with a bushman's pliers , kept in the saddle bag for just that purpose. They all had a drink at the bore drain. Blue tried to catch himself some yabbies without success. Then they came to a big house set back a few miles from the road . Here there were sheds and stables . So he rode up to a stable and put the grey in it. He fed the horse in a stall from the feed shed nearby. Arthur took Blue towards the house and Blue waited while Arthur tried the front door. No one answered so he entered the house very carefully remembering his last surprise . The smell was foul coming from the house interior there were several dead bodies inside. Holding his breath Arthur went directly to the kitchen and took tinned food from the large pantry .

He returned to the stable and with a can opener he soon fed himself and the dog . The over cast sky finally produced heavy rain which ran off the stable roof and down every wheel track . Feeling safer here where murder had been committed Arthur wriggled amongst empty grain bags and hay until he gained a half hidden position . With his rifle close and Blue watching the door he faded off to sleep.

Next morning he gave the grey horse a good feed of chaff and oats and after they had all finished eating he saddled up and they rode away east.

CHAPTER 37                                                                                                                                                       

     He saw the fires as he approached Dalby the whole town seemed to be burning . On the outskirts he met a few people with grim smiles on their faces . He asked for news and was told the Indo's had pulled out for the coast. People were putting out the many fires. In the centre of town the local resistance leaders were meeting. Several hundred dead bodies littered the streets all Indo's. A bulldozer was organised for a mass grave. The Roo shooters and farmers had driven off the yellow man he'd had enough of roughing it out west.

Arthur moved into the house of his girlfriend and waited there for weeks but no one returned . He spoke to the few neighbours there were many thousands of the townspeople gone forever. News came over their one radio station that the remnants of the Indo force were pulling out under fire in Brisbane.