To Touch the Clouds : The Frontier Series 5 (43 page)

‘This must be the first time that I have ever seen you looking just a little flustered,’ Patrick said to his eldest son, taking a sip of the excellent imported French wine.

‘It is not every day that one announces the fact that one is to be married,’ George replied.

For a moment Patrick saw the son that he wished he had always known – a young man who was facing the huge responsibility of marriage and the probable birth of children.

‘I only wish that your brother and sister could be here,’ Patrick sighed. ‘I think that they would approve.’

George did not respond. ‘Father, Colonel and Mrs Hughes, I must excuse myself,’ he replied. ‘I see that Sir Keith, Lady Gyles and Louise have arrived.’

George made his way through the guests and went to his fiancée and her parents.

Gladys Hughes immediately waved to a friend from her bridge club and excused herself from the company of the two old soldier comrades, leaving them alone to discuss military matters as she knew they would.

‘I am sorry to say that we have heard nothing of Alex and Matthew,’ John Hughes said quietly. ‘But I can get you up-to-date information on the progress of the AN and MEF,’ he said, glancing around to ensure that their conversation would not be overheard. ‘They have been tasked to capture the radio stations at Yap, Nauru and Rabaul. The New Zealanders are going after Samoa. Our navy friends have taken out all stops and we have the full support of our best surface ships to escort the invasion force north. The AN and MEF are currently laid up in Port Moresby. It will only be a matter of time, maybe a week, and they will be in Rabaul’s harbour. When that happens, I am sure we will get the boys back safe and well.’

‘I pray that you are right,’ Patrick replied. ‘Life is very lonely without my children.’

‘Well, you have the consolation of knowing George will probably continue the Macintosh dynasty with that fine young woman,’ Hughes said, nodding in the direction of George now in conversation with Sir Keith Gyles, who was standing proudly by his daughter and wife.

‘Yes,’ Patrick said without much enthusiasm. ‘All going well he might make me a grandfather.’

Even as the two soldiers stood aside from the guests at George’s afternoon tea party, Giselle Schumann and her
mother arrived. Patrick noticed the two women and broke off his conversation with Hughes. ‘I’m sorry, old chap,’ he said. ‘But I have to welcome a couple of guests that I have personally invited.’

John Hughes looked across at the two women who had attracted his colleague’s attention. They were standing just a little awkwardly among the guests. ‘I say, old man, a couple of true beauties. Would I be correct in assuming they are mother and daughter?’

‘Yes,’ Patrick answered. ‘Mrs Karolina Schumann and her daughter, Giselle.’

Hughes turned to Patrick. ‘You don’t mean Frau Schumann and Alexander’s young lady?’

‘I do,’ Patrick replied. ‘They may be considered enemy aliens but I doubt that two women are a real danger to our national security. Besides, Giselle Schumann was actually born in Sydney and holds British citizenship.’

‘I did not intend to upset you,’ John Hughes hurried to say. ‘It’s just that in your position it may not be wise under the current circumstances to be seen consorting with German nationals.’

‘I believe that Alex is very much in love with Giselle Schumann,’ Patrick said. ‘I have spoken with her and it seems that she was prepared to escape with him from her father’s plantation, except that things went a bit wrong for her. She is the only real link I have with Alex until he is returned – or we learn that he has been killed by the Germans.’

John Hughes patted Patrick on the back with a gesture of sympathy for the father agonising over the unknown fate of his youngest son. ‘He will come home to us,’ Hughes said reassuringly. ‘Go to the ladies and be assured that I would also like to make their acquaintance.’

Patrick nodded, grateful that his friend was prepared to provide a public show of support. When he reached the two women they turned to greet him.

‘Thank you for your invitation, Colonel Duffy,’ Karolina said. ‘It is a little warmer than that from some others I recognise here this afternoon. They seem to pretend not to see me, as if I were a ghost in the dark.’

‘Don’t worry about those people,’ Patrick said. ‘I am sure that when they see I am more than happy to have you both here on this day they will warm to you again.’

‘Louise!’ Giselle suddenly said.

Patrick turned to see Louise Gyles pushing her way through the guests towards them with a beaming smile.

‘Giselle, Mrs Schumann, how wonderful to have you both here today,’ she said, hugging both of them briefly in turn. ‘How did you know . . . how did you arrive in Sydney, oh, I have so many questions . . . Do you remember Harold Quinn . . .’

The excited prattle between close friends continued and Patrick felt a warmth towards his future daughter-in-law for her uninhibited welcome of his two guests. It was obvious that Karolina Schumann was being gently pushed out of the exchange of gossip between the two young ladies and Patrick guided her across to meet John Hughes and his wife. He sensed that his act had thawed a little of the animosity she obviously held towards him as the father of Alexander. For a short time he left Karolina chatting in the company of Mrs Hughes who did not appear to hold any hostility towards the other woman on account of her nationality. In fact, he actually heard Karolina laugh as she and Mrs Hughes discussed holidays in the Bavarian Alps. Patrick found himself gazing at the mother of Giselle just a little more than he should. She was, after all, an enemy alien but
still, Patrick admitted to himself, she was a damned beautiful woman.

Once the trivialities of gossip had been covered Louise noticed that her old school friend appeared sad.

‘What is it?’ she asked Giselle. ‘You appear to be upset. Have I offended you?’

‘Are we able to go somewhere private?’ Giselle asked, touching her friend on the wrist.

‘I am sure that we can go to George’s sitting room to be alone,’ Louise said, guiding Giselle by the elbow across the lawn away from the guests. When they reached the house they went inside and Louise sat Giselle down with a small glass of sherry from the decanter on the sideboard.

Giselle sipped gratefully at the liquor. Louise sat down beside her on the settee. ‘What is troubling you?’ she asked gently.

‘Oh, I am sorry for being so melancholy on your special day,’ Giselle answered. ‘It is just that you were always my very best friend when we were at school and when I visited Sydney. And now, here you are, about to wed the brother of the man I love.’

‘You are in love with Alexander!’ Louise exclaimed. ‘How bully!’ Then she suddenly fell silent, remembering that George’s younger brother had mysteriously disappeared on a voyage to German New Guinea. Neither George nor his father would speak about the disappearance, but Louise had gleaned from bits and pieces George had mentioned that there was a good chance that Alex might not be returning from some kind of secret mission.

‘Oh, I am so sorry,’ Louise said, impulsively rubbing Giselle’s arm as one would consoling a child. ‘I have heard that something may have happened to Alex.’

‘I was with Alex on our plantation only weeks ago,’
Giselle confided. ‘We had talked of marriage and I was even prepared to defy my parents and elope with him to be married in Sydney. But everything went wrong and he and Mr Matthew Duffy were taken under armed guard to Rabaul. Since then I fear for his safety.’

‘I was never told of your feelings for Alex,’ Louise responded. ‘If only the colonel or George had said something I might have been able to have been by your side for support.’

‘There was nothing you could do,’ Giselle assured her. ‘Alex is a soldier and I fear that might have put his life in extreme danger.’

‘I did not know that Mr Matthew Duffy was with Alex,’ Louise said. ‘The last time I saw him he promised to take me up in his aeroplane to touch the clouds. I must confess that I was very attracted to him but, without a word, he simply disappeared from my life.’

‘Matthew is a fine man,’ Giselle said. ‘He and Alex were as close as two men could be when I knew him at our plantation. I hang on to the hope that their friendship will keep them safe as they look after each other.’

‘It will,’ Louise agreed. ‘The little that I came to learn about Matthew Duffy impressed me. He is a man of action and has lived through many dangerous situations in his life. Just the man who should be with Alex.’

Giselle hugged Louise. ‘Oh, I dream that one day you will be my guest at the colonel’s house when Alex and I declare that we will be wed.’

‘Louise.’ The two women broke their embrace as George’s voice carried through the house. ‘Louise, it is time to join me as I make our announcement.’

‘I am coming,’ Louise replied, rising from the settee and patting down her dress. She extended her hand to Giselle.
‘I would like you to be beside me when George makes his speech and next time it will be me beside you when Alex makes his.’

For three days after reaching a low ridge line east of Rabaul Matthew and Alex had little else to do other than attempt to observe the shipping anchored offshore from the German settlement. They were too far away to make notes on troop movements and the time passed slowly. Joshua had left them with enough supplies for four days and returned on the evening of the third with four of his young men. The rough living was taking its toll on the two Australians living under a fierce tropical sun on the monotonous rations of starchy food and poorly cooked pork. Their bodies were covered in weeping sores and they had both lost a considerable amount of weight.

Joshua remained with the Australians overnight and when the sun rose on the following day Matthew called him over to where Alex lay on his back in a fever, mumbling incoherently as he thrashed about.

‘I think he’s going through a bout of malaria,’ Matthew said to the clan chief. ‘We have to make a litter and get him back to the mission station.’

Joshua did not understand the English Matthew was speaking so Matthew switched to his crude German. Joshua nodded vigorously and shouted orders to his men who used their machetes to cut down saplings and string them together.

They rolled Alex into the improvised litter and the tough young Tolai men lifted it to their shoulders. It would be an arduous journey back into the hills, one fraught with danger from rival clans to say nothing of the rugged terrain
itself. Matthew had seen malaria in many countries before and had from time to time fought the deadly sickness himself. What he saw in the attack on his cousin worried him. Weakened as they were from living on the diet of starchy vegetables, their bodies were prone to infection. He hated to think what they both looked like. The ragged clothes he wore had taken on a distinct looseness since their escape from the gaol in Rabaul.

They struggled along the trail, ever climbing up and clambering down the slopes, with Matthew taking a turn at one end of the litter to relieve the Tolai men. Only Joshua did not assist in carrying the litter; his task was to guide and look out for any ambush along the way.

It took two days of hard struggle along the bush trails to reach the mission. When they arrived late in the evening it was the Irish nun, Sister Bridget, who met them, holding up a lantern to provide light for the Tolai men to take Alex to the infirmary.

‘And you would be returning to us, Captain Macintosh,’ she said, lowering the lamp to identify the patient. ‘You have learned nothing of being out of your own country. And who would you be?’ she asked, glancing up at Matthew’s gaunt, unshaven face.

‘I am Matthew Duffy,’ he answered. ‘And my grandfather was the big man himself, Patrick Duffy, who once roamed the north-east coast of the old country, son of Kate Duffy, sister to Tom and Michael Duffy.’

The Irish nun looked closely at Matthew with some interest, holding up the lantern to get a better look at the sunken eyes burning with a fierce challenge. ‘I have heard of Patrick Duffy, a true son of Ireland who it was said was murdered by the savages of Queensland.’

Matthew was too tired to explain that it had been a
treacherous police officer who had killed his grandfather. At least she had heard of his legendary grandfather and from the tone of her voice was suitably impressed by his pedigree. If she was the traitor in Father Umberto’s tropical parish then she just might not betray a fellow Irishman who had such an impressive record fighting the British. ‘We need your help,’ he said. ‘My cousin looks as if his fever is malarial. Do you have quinine?’

‘We do,’ Sister Bridget replied. ‘I am surprised to hear that Captain Macintosh is related to you as I have heard he is a Protestant and not of Irish blood.’

‘You are wrong on that point, Sister,’ Matthew said with a weak smile. ‘His grandfather was also Patrick Duffy. Captain Macintosh’s father is named in honour of the big man himself, but I am afraid Captain Macintosh’s side of the family dropped the rosary beads.’

‘Heaven protect us,’ the nun said, crossing herself as if she were in the presence of the son of Satan. ‘Despite the fact that Captain Macintosh is not of the True Faith, I will ensure that he receives the best treatment we can give him, as he carries in his veins the blood of a true Irish patriot.’

Matthew rubbed his forehead with the back of his grimy hand, satisfied that he might just have gained them forgiveness for being supporters of the British Empire. He knew that Alex was beyond any hope of moving for some time but he would not leave his cousin’s side until he was well enough to return to the jungle to avoid the German patrol. He prayed that Wallarie was still watching over them both.

The burly German reservist warrant officer saluted his superior. Major Paul Pfieffer stood by the machine-gun post in
a trench reinforced with heavy palm tree logs and manned by the warrant officer’s crew of young German reservist soldiers.

‘I telephoned what I heard from a native boy we had come to our post yesterday, sir,’ the warrant officer said.

‘Yes, Sergeant Major,’ Pfieffer answered, sweat trickling down his face from under his slouch hat. ‘You said that the native informed you that they had suffered casualties last week when they attempted to ambush the two escaped prisoners. Did he say where?’