THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED Tinned carrots and corned beef – that was my first meal after escaping from Puckapunyal. And I was truly grateful for it. Presumably, the Sergeant had grabbed what he could from what was lying about in the mess and had thrown it into the kitbag. For ‘dessert’, there was a packet of rock-hard ‘dog biscuits’. Very nutritious, I’m sure, and lots of fibre – but they tasted like baked excrement. (Imagine being up to your thighs in mud, in the trenches of the Western Front, and then having to eat those dog biscuits. Yuck!) I gave some corned beef to David. Predictably, he looked at it scornfully (inasmuch as dead eyes can express scorn), made a very disapproving noise (which sounded like flatulence) and promptly discarded it. This was something I would need to work on. I knew I couldn’t readily obtain a regular supply of freshly killed human flesh. So, David would just have to find something else that suited his zombie palate. (And corned beef was obviously not that ‘something’.) By mid-afternoon, we decided to do a little exploring. On an adjacent hill-top, a hill which was much higher than the one into which the tunnel had been driven, there stood an abandoned watch-tower. You know, one of those spindly wooden towers that fire-fighters sit in to watch for any signs of smoke on the horizon or, close by, in the bush. This one had definitely not been in service for many years. Its structural members, made of local timber, were rotting and cracked. The whole thing had developed a discernible lean and the original cover for the platform that sat atop the structure had been blown away a long, long time ago. (Bits of it lay about the base, slowly melting into the humus.) Nevertheless, the tower was not entirely on the point of collapse and I was able, with some difficulty, to climb it. Just as I had suspected, this vantage point afforded me with a view not only of the surrounding bushland for miles around but, in the distance, of the main base at Puckapunyal. Far more importantly, I could see (more or less) right along the road that led to the base from the Scrub Hill area.
AN HELGHOR HA’N HUNI HELGHYES Karetys yn kanna ha bewin sellys – henn o’m kynsa boes wosa agan diank dhiworth Pukkapunyal. Hag, yn hwir, y hwodhva meur ras anodho. Dres lyklod, an Serjont re dhalgennsa pyth a ylli sesya yn mysk an taklow ow korwedha war vynkow y’n voesva ha’ga thewlel y’n sagh keyn. Avel melyssand, yth esa fardellik leun a desennow-kales, kales dres eghenn, leshenwys ‘tesennow-kales rag an keun’. Leun a vegyans, sur ov, ha gans meur a fiber – mes yth esens dhedha blas a gawgh fornyes. (Gwra tybi dha vos y’n kaskleudhyow an Voward a’n Howlsedhes, a’th sav down yn leys – hag ena res o dhis dybri an tesennow-kales na rag keun. Thukk!) My a ros tamm bewin sellys dhe Dhavydh. Yn targanadow, ev a viras orto, meur y skorn (mar kyll dewlagas marow diskwedhedhes skorn). Yn apert, kas o dhodho yn y gever. Ev a wrug son kepar ha bramm ha’y dewlel dhe-ves a- dhistowgh. Homm o neppyth may fia edhomm dhymm oberi. My a wodhya na yllyn menowgh kavoes proviansow a gig denel kro, heb meur a galetter. Ytho, res a via dhe Dhavydh kavoes neppyth arall dhe dhybri, neppyth o gwiw dh’y stevnik-zombi. (Ha nyns o bewin sellys an ‘neppyth’ na, yn apert.) Hanter-dohajydh, my a erviras gul neb hwithrans. War benn an nessa bre, bre ughella ages an huni le mayth esen ni, bre an gowfordh, y sevi tour-goelyador forsakyes. Henn yw leverel, onan a’n touryow, gwann ha prennek, may hwre esedha tangasoryon rag hwilas sinys a vog orth an gorwel – po y’n gwylvos nes dhedha. Yn sertan, ny via an huni ma devnydhyes dres lies blydhen. Yth esa ow leytha (ha felsys) y lithyow framweythel – gwrys gans prennyer dhiworth an gwylvos ma, heb dhout. Dres henna, yth esa poesans apert dhe’n drehevyans dien hag y halsa nans o termyn pur hir an skovva a esedhsa war y benn. (Yth esa temmyn anedhi skoellyes oll a-dro y ven, ow teudhi yn lent y’n dor.) Byttele, nyns o an tour hwath ow fyllel yn tien hag ytho y hyllyn, gans neb kaletter, y grambla. Kepar dell gryssen, penn an tour a ros dhymm gwel an lasneth oll a-dro, a-dreus milvilyow anedhi – hag, y’n pellder, my a ylli gweles selva Pukkapunyal. Ha, dres henna, y hyllyn gweles a-hys oll an fordh (po ogas) a ledya dhiworth an gwylvos a-dro dhe Vre an Krann dhe’n selva.langbot langbot