A moment later I was climbing a fir tree that stood close against the telephone wires. I had my testing box slung round my neck. I clipped the wires on and waited, my eyes on my watch. At eleven-fifteen exactly I reached into my pack, pulled out a pair of pliers and cut both wires close by my clips. Then I lifted my receiver and wound the handle in a long single ring. There was no answer. I repeated the ring. Suddenly a voice was crackling in my ears. ‘Valley guard.’
I held the mouthpiece well away from me. ‘Trevedian here,’ I bawled, deeping my voice. ‘I’ve had a report-’
Another voice chipped in on the line. ‘Butler, Slide Camp, here. What’s the trouble?’
‘Get off the line, Butler,’ I shouted. ‘I’m talking to the Valley guard. Valley guard?’
‘Yes, Mr Trevedian.’
‘I’ve had a report of some falls occurring a couple of miles up from you. Go up and investigate. It’s by that first overhang just after the hairpin bends.’
‘It’d be quicker to send a truck down from the camp. They could send a gang down-’
‘I’m not bringing a truck down through this snow on a vague report,’ I yelled at him. ‘You’re nearest. You get up there and see what it’s all about. There’s a short-cut-’
‘But, Mr Trevedian. There’s a truck just gone just gone up. He’ll be able to report at the other-’
‘Will you stop making excuses for getting a little snow down your damned neck. Get up there and report back to me. That’s an order. And take that short-cut. It’ll save you a good fifteen minutes. Now, get moving.’ I banged the receiver down and stayed there for a moment, clinging to the tree, trembling so much from nervous exhaustion that I was in danger of falling.
‘Are you coming down?’ Boy called up.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Not for a moment.’ I lifted the receiver again and placed it reluctantly to my ears. But the line was dead. Neither the man up at the camp nor the guard had apparently dared to ring back. As the minutes passed I began to feel easier. I glanced at my watch. Eleven twenty-three. The guard should be well up the road by now.
‘Got rid of the guard?’ Boy asked, as I climbed down.
‘I think so,’ I said. ‘If Bill isn’t here in the next five minutes we’ll know for sure.’
We waited in silence after that. It was very dark. The snow made a gentle, murmuring sound as it fell and the wind stirred the tops of the firs. From behind us came the sound of water. Every now and then I glanced at my watch and as the minute hand crept slowly to the half-hour my nervousness increased. One of the trucks might have developed engine trouble. Maybe the snow had already drifted down towards Keithley. Or they might have got bogged down.
Suddenly Boy’s hand gripped my arm. Above the now familiar sounds of water, wind and snow I thought I heard a steady, distant murmur like the rattle of tanks in a parallel valley. The sound steadily grew and then a beam of light glowed yellow through the curtain of the snow. The light increased steadily till we could see each other’s faces and the shape of the trees around us. Two eyes suddenly thrust the black dots of the snow aside and an instant later the hulking shape of a diesel truck showed in the murk and panted to a stop. I glanced at my watch. It was eleven-thirty exactly.
That you, Garry?’ Boy called.
‘Sure and it’s me. Who d’you think it was?’ Garry leaned out of the cab. ‘What now, Bruce?’
I signalled Boy to clamber on and swung myself up on to the step. ‘All your trucks behind you?’ I asked.
‘Yeah. I checked about five miles back. What do we do now? What’s the plan, eh?’
‘Get going as fast as we can,’ I said.
The driver leaned forward to thrust in his gear, but Garry stopped him. ‘Before we go ahead I want to know just what sort of trouble I’m headed for.’
‘For God’s sake,’ I said.
‘I’m not budging till I know your plan, Bruce. There’s six vehicles here and a man to each vehicle. I’m responsible for them. I got to know what I’m heading into.’
‘We’ll talk as we go,’ I said.
‘No. Now.’
‘Don’t be a fool,’ I shouted at him angrily. ‘The guard is off the gate. Every second you delay-’ I took a deep breath and got control of myself. ‘Get going,’ I said. ‘My plan works on split timing over this section.’ I glanced at my watch. ‘You’re half a minute behind schedule now. If you can’t make up that half a minute you might just as well not have run over from 150 Mile House. And if you miss it this time, there won’t be another chance. All your effort will have been wasted. I can only do this once.’
He hesitated, but I think the earnestness of my voice convinced him as much as my words. He motioned to the driver. The gears crunched, the big motor roared and the trees began to fall away from us on either side as the heavy rig truck gathered speed.
‘I see you cut the telephone wires.’ Garry’s voice was barely audible above the roar of the engine.
‘That’s why I can’t do it again,’ I said. ‘All we’ve got to do is rely on confusion. I’ve been tapping the telephone wires and issuing orders in the name of Trevedian. That enough for you to go on with?’
He hesitated. Then he suddenly nodded and squeezed my arm. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘You got something up your sleeve. I know that. But if the guard is off the gate up here, I’ll agree you’ve been smart and leave it at that for the moment.’
All the way up I was watching for Bill, but there was no sign of him and as we rounded the bend where the guard was posted I saw that the gate was swung open and knew that it was all right so far. I caught a glimpse of the deserted guard hut as we passed and then we were climbing. ‘Can you manage on sidelights?’ I shouted to the driver.
For an answer he switched off the heads. The night closed in. Snow was beating against the clicking windscreen wipers. He switched on the heads again. ‘Too dangerous.’ I leaned out from the running board and looked back. The other trucks had their headlights on now. I counted five. A pity about the heads, but it couldn’t be helped. I glanced at my watch. Eleven thirty-six. The guard should be on the shortcut now. Slowly we approached the point where the shoulder of rock rose, blocking the road and forcing it away to the right into the hairpins. A figure loomed suddenly in the headlights — a figure on horseback, ghostly in his mantel of white.
At a gesture from me the driver checked. ‘Bruce?’ Bill called. And then as he saw me leaning out towards him he shouted, ‘It’s okay. He’s on the trail now. Started up at eleven thirty-three.’
‘Fine. See you at the Kingdom.’
His ‘Good luck!’ came faintly as the engine roared and we swung to the first of the hairpins.
That first bend had me in a panic. The truck was big, probably a lot bigger than the ones Trevedian was using. If we got stuck on the hairpins …
But we didn’t get stuck. The driver knew his stuff and we scraped round with inches to spare. The second and third bends were easier, but on the fourth we were forced to run back slightly. And then we were over the top and running out to the cliff where the overhang was. ‘Now listen, Garry,’ I shouted. ‘I’m dropping off in a minute. You’ll go on till you get to an area of swamp ground where a lot of hard core has been thrown in to make a causeway. Just beyond that you’ll find a place where you can turn off to the right into the brush. Get all your vehicles parked in under the trees and all facing outwards, ready to go on up the road at a moment’s notice. All lights out. No smoking. No talking. I’ll bring the last truck in myself a little later. Okay?’
He nodded. ‘Another phone call to make?’ he said with a grin.
‘That’s right,’ I said. The road was a shelf now, running along the cliff face. The headlights showed rock and road, and beyond, nothing but black emptiness. Slowly the big truck rounded the bend under the overhang and then dipped her nose for the long, straight run down to the swamp ground. And as the nose dipped I dropped to the ground.