Jack & Harry (40 page)

‘Yeah, I can't sleep. What a day? Do you think Bruno'll be alright, he seemed a bit crazy?'

‘At least he's still alive, Harry. I thought he was a goner, didn't you?'

‘Makes ya stop and think, eh? It could have been us down there when that roof caved in ya know.'

‘Don't want to think about that, Harry. I'm amazed at Reynold, though; he worked like a demon down there even though he hates bein' underground.'

‘He's a good mate. Everyone was surprised when I went for help and said that Reynold was with you back in the drive tryin' to reach Bruno.'

‘Didn't take ya long to get help, Harry.'

‘The first blokes I told jumped into their truck and raced into town. Before long there was a stream of vehicles and men headin' out. Took and hour or so though.'

Jack was amazed that it had been over an hour that he and Reynold had furiously clawed at the rocks. It had seemed like only minutes. The two boys were quiet for a while each locked in thought.

‘Jack … do ya ever miss home?'

‘Of course I do, Harry. I just don't talk about it that's all.'

‘Me neither, but I do miss it. Do ya think we'll ever get back there one day?'

‘Yeah … one day I guess.'

‘It'd be good to see everyone again wouldn't it, Jack?' He patted the mattress. ‘Sleep in a proper bed, eat good tucker.'

‘I miss the water, Harry. There's no bloody water around here
or
tall trees. It'd be great to go down the creek, catch a coupla yabbies … go for a swim.'

‘A swim? Wow! How about a day at the beach?'

‘There are a few things I miss out here, Harry, apart from the family.'

‘Like what?'

‘Well …' Jack propped himself up on an elbow. ‘Girls for one. There are no girls out here.'

‘Girls?' Harry stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. ‘Yeah … I suppose so. Never really thought about girls much but now that ya mention it I haven't seen any around.'

‘Do ya know what I miss the most though, Harry?'

‘What's that, Jack?'

‘Promise ya won't laugh?'

‘Of course I won't, mate. What
do
ya miss the most?'

‘Mum's hugs.' He turned out the light.

‘You awake, lads?' Shaun Logan pushed the curtain aside and peered into the room to find both beds empty. He was surprised but then realised that they probably woke up before dawn every morning. He found them outside and smiled when he saw they had found his old bat and were playing two-man cricket, using the wall of the dugout for a backstop.

‘You blokes play cricket, I see.'

‘Haven't for ages,' Harry replied as he bowled a spinner at Jack who returned it expertly. ‘We used to play regular at home.'

‘There's a couple of teams here you know. We're a bit rough around the edges but enjoy a get-together now and then. Maybe you could join in. We could certainly do with a couple of good hands.'

‘Maybe,' Harry said as Jack walked up to them, swinging the bat at imaginary balls.

‘That's my spare bat,' the priest said, ‘and there are two or three old worn-out balls about the place. Why don't you take 'em back with you and have a hit now and then. You can't just work all day, every day you know.'

‘Thanks, we will, eh, Jack?'

‘Yeah, be good fun. We could even teach Reynold a few of the finer points.' He laughed thinking how Reynold would take to cricket.

‘I suppose you miss kids your own age to mess around with? What made you come out here?' Shaun Logan asked, then saw the closed expressions shadow their eyes and knew he had innocently touched on a sensitive issue. He quickly changed the subject. ‘Let's grab a bite of brekky before we head off to see how Bruno is.'

Both boys were quiet while they ate and the priest wondered what it was that had brought these two young boys from Perth to Coober Pedy. He was curious as to how they knew Father O'Malley but refrained from asking any questions, knowing that a man's business was his own, especially out here in the opal fields. Even though the boys were young in years they had proved a maturity many older men had yet to achieve.
When the time is right,
he thought,
they'll tell me.

They drove in Logan's car toward the medical centre but on the way the priest pulled up at a building that had a sign out the front clearly marked, ‘POLICE STATION.' As he parked the car and switched off the motor he noticed the nervous looks on the boys' faces that fuelled his curiosity further but he made no comment.

‘I'm going to leave Bruno's opal with the sergeant.' Shaun Logan stepped from the car with the stone wrapped in a small blanket. ‘I don't want the responsibility of looking after this. It's too valuable so I'll let the police mind it for Bruno. Won't be a minute.'

The boys shrank down in the seats hoping the policeman wouldn't see them if he came out of the station. The sergeant had been at the rescue the day before but they had avoided any contact with him and he seemed oblivious to their presence, which suited them. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs when the sergeant walked from the station with the priest, both heading to the car.

‘So!' The policeman walked to the window. ‘You're Jack are you?' Jack was mortified but when he held out his hand in greeting he tentatively shook it, avoiding any eye contact. ‘I just wanted to say that without you and your mate here …' He went to Harry's door, ‘… poor old Bruno wouldn't have made it.'

The policeman took their nervous looks for shyness and he stepped back from the car. ‘You blokes need anything at any time, just give me a call.' He told Shaun that he'd look after the opal then walked back into the station.

The nursing sister told them that Bruno was all right physically, but dehydrated. His mental state was a concern, she said, as he had obviously been affected badly by the trauma and isolation of being buried alive. ‘You can go in to see him but don't expect any response. He just lies there, staring into space, won't communicate and hasn't eaten anything.' She directed them to Bruno's bed.

The three of them filed into the room where Bruno was. It was strange to see him lying quietly in the bed and cleanly shaven. Normally he was covered in dust, waving his arms about and with three days' stubble on his face.

‘Morning, Bruno.' Shaun Logan spoke cheerfully, moving close to the bed while Jack and Harry held back, not quite knowing what to say. ‘How are you feeling?' There was no response so the priest indicated with his head for the boys to come forward.

‘Er … g'day, Bruno, it's me, Jack.' There was a flicker of Bruno's eyelids indicating he had heard and recognised the voice but there was no other reaction.

‘Hello, Bruno.' Harry moved beside the bed, receiving the same flicker but nothing else.

The silence was awkward so Jack spoke up again. ‘That was some opal you found, Bruno.'

The little man blinked rapidly and turned his head toward Jack. ‘Itsa mine!' He started to get agitated and tried to sit up but fell back on the pillows.

‘It's OK, Bruno.' Shaun Logan put a hand gently on the Italian's shoulder. ‘We know it's yours and we have it in a safe place. Nobody will take it.'

‘Mine. I finda her … itsa mine,' he mumbled, his voice trailing off into silence.

They stayed another couple of minutes but Bruno seemed to have fallen asleep so they left, concerned that he had indeed lost his mind. The nursing sister told them he would be kept in for observation for a few days to see how he progressed before any decision was made to transfer him to Adelaide for further treatment.

Shaun Logan asked the boys as they walked to his car if they would act as caretakers of Bruno's claim until he was well enough to make a decision as to what he planned to do with it. It was the priest's opinion that Bruno would never be fit enough mentally to handle going underground again but didn't reveal his thoughts to them, not wanting them to be overly concerned about their friend.

‘Do you think it'd be all right with everyone though?' Harry felt there were probably more qualified people to look after it. ‘Maybe that Mr Leslie bloke wants to do it. He left a couple of his men to guard it last night.'

‘I know Jim Leslie.' The priest got into his car and pressed the starter. ‘He's a good man in an emergency but he's a hard-nosed miner with a big operation to run and he won't want to waste time, or men, looking after Bruno's small claim … particularly as nobody can work it without him being there.'

He moved off into the street without checking for cars as there was very little traffic in Coober Pedy. ‘I'll talk to Leslie and tell the police sergeant you blokes will mind it. That's if you want to?'

‘We can keep an eye on it, for sure.' Jack was a little concerned about involving the police but figured that it wouldn't be a problem as the sergeant obviously hadn't been advised that he and Harry were both wanted in Western Australia. Jack was sure the sergeant would have arrested them long before this otherwise, and especially this morning when he talked with them.

‘It'd mean that at least one of you would have to stay there overnight. That's when moonlighters would have a go, the gutless buggers.' He spoke vehemently. ‘They wait till dark then slip in and pinch another bloke's opal.'

The priest dropped them off at the nine-mile where the car was greeted aggressively by Anna until Harry stepped from the vehicle, when her barks turned to whimpers and furious tail wagging.

Discussing Shaun Logan's suggestion of looking after Bruno's claim the three boys decided between them that, as it was the one most threatened by pilfering, that Reynold would stay at the nine-mile and Jack and Harry would go over before dark each night to the eight-mile diggings at Geraghty Hill.

Working deep in the drive that afternoon they were conscious of how vulnerable they were if there was a cave in. While Reynold and Jack had been clawing at the rocks, digging clay with their bare hands to try and reach Bruno, the danger hadn't occurred to them in the heat of the moment but now, the memory so vivid, they continually glanced at the sandstone ceiling of the drive.

‘Let's take a break, Harry.'

‘Suits me.' Harry took another glance at the roof and taking the hurricane lantern went ahead of Jack out of the drive.

‘Find anything, Reynold?' Harry went to where Reynold was sifting through rocks from the sieve on an old sheet of corrugated iron they had set up as a sorting table.

‘Nah. Rennol‘ look 'n look but no colour today, Harry. Yu look at 'im, maybe yu get lucky.'

Harry and Jack joined Reynold, poking at the small rocks, picking the odd one up for closer inspection but discarding them all as just that … rocks.

‘Someone 'e come.' Reynold looked up, his head tilted at an angle.

‘What d'ya mean, Reynold? I can't hear anythin', you must be imaginin' …'

They then heard the sound of a car approaching and Jack looked at Reynold with a smile. ‘You've got great hearin', mate; wonder who it is?' Checking that the rifle was in easy reach, they waited for the vehicle to appear.

‘Hope it's not that bloody copper, Jack.'

‘No,' Reynold said, ‘copper 'e drive one a them Lan' Rovers.' He listened intently again. I think it that priest car 'gain. Sound laik 'im anyway.'

They relaxed slightly, having learned to trust Reynold's hearing and intuition. A minute passed and Shaun Logan's Vauxhall appeared, bouncing toward them along the corrugated track.

‘Must have forgotten to tell us somethin',' Jack said half to himself wondering why the priest would return.

‘Funny bloke, that?' Reynold nodded at the approaching vehicle. ‘That Logan 'e lot diff'rent 'n Father O'Malley … 'e never wear priest clobber, eh?'

Jack went to comment then stopped, noticing a passenger in the priest's car. ‘Got someone with him. Wonder who that could be?'

The car came to a stop in a swirling cloud of red dust and Shaun Logan stepped from the driver's door. They couldn't see the passenger clearly as he came around the front of the vehicle but there was something vaguely familiar about the way he walked, or rather ‘bounced' along beside the priest. Anna growled a warning until Harry said, ‘sit, good girl.'

The two men paused at the foot of the slope. ‘Is it OK to come on up?' Shaun Logan called.

‘Rennol 'e not see that other fella before. Yu bloke know 'im? Sure got funny 'at on.'

Recognition hit both Jack and Harry at the same time and they gasped in disbelief. Reynold looked at them with a puzzled look and was about to ask again if they knew the stranger when his two friends took off down the slope waving their arms and yelling to the two men standing in the desert heat, one carrying a brown Gladstone bag.