I’ve got to get going, he thought—or thought he thought, his mind now so frayed that it felt a separate thing, a weight, a boulder; and all he knew for sure was that he was panicked and that he had momentarily passed out.
He gathered his balance, and, angry at the rock, the world, his life, he leant down, picked up a piece of the limestone and, with what strength his small fury could drag out of his fevered body, he hurled it at the jungle.
There was a soft thud and a simultaneous curse. His body tensed.
Fuck you, Gardiner, a familiar voice hissed.
Darky Gardiner looked about. Rooster MacNeice stepped out from a bamboo grove, hand on his head.
You coming with us or giving us away?
And behind Rooster MacNeice there appeared six other prisoners he didn’t recognise, and behind them Gallipoli von Kessler, who gave Darky his familiar, somewhat casual Nazi salute.
We thought you were onto us, Kes said.
Onto what? Darky Gardiner asked.
We thought you knew and were just going careful, pretending to have a quick kip, Rooster MacNeice said.
Knew what? Darky Gardiner said.
Our rest day. Japs won’t give us one so we’re taking our own.
Darky Gardiner looked back up the track.
We’ve been counted this morning, and the Japs don’t count again till evening parade back at camp, Rooster MacNeice went on. Out on the Line they never count and never notice. We hide away and rest up and just fall back in with everyone else as they head back to camp. Fall in, get counted, Tojo’s your uncle.
You can’t expect others to cover for you, Darky Gardiner said. It won’t work.
We did it last week, not a squeak out of the squint-eyed bastards. And we’re doing it again today.
But you blokes are in my gang today, Darky Gardiner said.
So? Rooster MacNeice said.
So how’s it fair on the other blokes?
Kes said they’d found an overhanging cliff half a mile away, out of the rain. No one could hear or see them, and they had a good pack of cards, only missing the jack of diamonds. How was his five hundred?
They’ll flog the hide off you, Darky Gardiner said.
How will they know? Rooster MacNeice said.
They’ll work it out and they’ll flog you.
You’ll cover for us, Rooster MacNeice said. You’re sergeant in charge of the gang today. Micky did it last time. Said nothing. Sliced and diced it a bit different so there were still men on each job. Just one less on each of the gangs.
Kes said that not having the jack of diamonds made five hundred a lot more interesting. And—
That’s not the point, Rooster MacNeice interrupted. At all. It’s about refusing to collaborate with the nips’ war effort. We have to make a stand somewhere, sometime, and this is it.
Darky Gardiner thought about it, but not a lot.
I can’t stand five hundred, Darky Gardiner said.
Kes said that, to be honest, there wasn’t that much else to do. Five hundred or sleep. Maybe patience, but who ever saw the point of that?
Fuck it, said Darky Gardiner, to whom sleep sounded good and whose head was once more throbbing. I’m too buggered to argue. But it’s an order. I don’t mind you skiving, but I do mind if others suffer for it.
No one’s going to suffer, said Rooster MacNeice.
You will, said Darky, if you disobey me. Let’s go.
But when he picked up the rope, furled and shouldered it once more, and resumed his hapless march to the railway cutting, only Gallipoli von Kessler went on with him.
Gardiner’s too weak a sergeant to ever say anything, said Rooster MacNeice to the other men as they turned and headed away from the path and into the jungle. Not a leader like the old leaders.
15
COLONEL KOTA WAS less than surprised that his fears had been realised. The Thais were not to be trusted in the mass and were spectacular thieves in the individual. In the four hours of night between him and his driver leaving their truck in the middle of the jungle and a rescue crew of POWs arriving to push it into camp, some Thai bandits had stolen several hoses, rendering the truck undriveable. He was forced to stay at the camp until a guard—expected by dusk—returned from the closest camp with some new hoses.
Having been delayed for the day, Colonel Kota decided on an inspection of the work on the railway line. With the Goanna as his guide, he was making his way to the Line when they came upon two prisoners, one sitting, the other lying in the mud. The sitting prisoner leapt to his feet, but the one lying across the track did nothing. He seemed unaware of anything. They thought he was dead, but after the Goanna rolled him over with his foot they realised their error and yelled at him. When that did no good, the Goanna gave him a good kick, but the man only moaned. They could see that he was beyond threats and blows.
Colonel Kota found it despairing. How can we build a railway, he thought, when they can’t even walk to the job? And then he noticed Darky Gardiner’s neck.