A Town like Alice

this team to the back axle of the utility, groping and spluttering under the water to do so. In ten minutes the vehicle was on dry land; a performance that left Jean awed by its efficiency.
    She got down from the back and went to Joe, who was lying on his back under the front axle. She stooped down with him to look; the cast iron sump was crushed and splintered. "Say it, Joe," she said quietly.
    He grinned at her, and said, "It's a fair mugger." He picked the broken pieces of cast iron from the hole, and got out from underneath. He went and got the starting-handle from the cab and turned the engine carefully. He sighed with relief. "Crankshaft's all right," he said. "It's only just the sump."
    He stood in deep thought for a minute, starting-handle in his band; the rain poured down upon them steadily. She asked, "Where do we go from here, Joe?"
    "I could patch that," he said, "good enough to get her home. But then we haven't got any oil. It's no good going down to fetch the truck the way these creeks are rising." He stood watching the water for a minute or two. "Never get the truck through by the time it got here," he said finally. "There's only one thing for it now. He'll have to be flown out."
    The country round about was covered with rocks and trees. "Is there anywhere an aeroplane can land here?" she asked.
    "I know one place it might," he said. "Five hundred yards, they want, and then a good approach."
    He took his horse and went off to the south; by the river they unpacked the tent and arranged it over Don Curtis to keep the rain off him. The wounded man said faintly once, "Joe Harman's a clumsy mugger with a car. He's a good poddy dodger, though."
    Jean laughed. "Pair of criminals, the two of you," she said. "I'm going to have a word with Mrs Curtis."
    "Don't do it," he said. "She don't know nothing about this."
    She said, "Lie still, and don't talk. Joe's gone off to find a place where the aeroplane can land to fly you out."
    "Hope he makes a better job of it than he did driving this bloody truck," said Mr Curtis.
    Joe came back in a quarter of an hour. "Think we can make something of it," he said. "It's only about a mile away." With Bourneville he harnessed up the tandem team of three horses to the front axle of the truck, and with Jean at the wheel they set off through the bush, steering and manoeuvring between the trees.
    They came presently to an open space, a long grassy sward with low bushes dotted about on it. It was more than five hundred yards long, but there were trees at each end. It would be possible to make an airstrip there. "Clear off some of those bushes," Joe said, "and fell some of those trees. I've seen them use a lot worse places than this."
    An axe and a spade were part of the equipment of the utility; they had tools enough. Their labour was quite inadequate for the work. "We'll have to get the boys up from Midhurst," he said. "Everyone that's there. And get a message down to Willstown about the aeroplane."
    She said, "I'll ride down with Bourneville to the homestead, Joe. Then he can bring the boys back, and I'll go on to Willstown."
    He stared at her. "You can't ride that far."
    "How far is it?"
    "Forty miles, to Willstown."
    "I can get to Midhurst, anyway," she said. "If I can't go on I'll send Moonshine in with a note to Sergeant Haines. He's the best man to tell, isn't he? "
    "That's right. If you do this, there's to be no riding alone. If you go on from Midhurst to town, you've got to take Moonshine or one of the other boys with you. I won't have you trying to cross them creeks alone on a horse."
    She touched his arm. "All right, Joe. I'll take someone with me." She paused. "We could get on the radio from Willstown," she said. "We could get some people over from Windermere to help you then, couldn't we?"
    "That's right," he said. "It would be better if we had a radio at Midhurst." He paused. "There's one thing that they'll all want to know," he said, "and that's where this place is. We're about six miles west-south-west of the new bore. Can you remember that?"
    "I've got that, Joe," she said. "Six miles west-south-west of the new bore." She paused. "What are you going to do?" she asked.
    "I'll make a camp here." He looked around. "I'll pitch the tent over the back of the utility," he said. "We don't want to shift him again if we can help it, not until we get a stretcher. After that I'll start and fell some of those trees for the approach."
    "What about your back? " she