A Town like Alice

fracture of the left leg two and a half days old, probably left ankle broken in addition. Position of the camp is six miles west-south-west of Harman's new bore. Tell me now if this is Roger. Over."
    The girl's voice from the speaker said, "Oh, I am glad- we've all been so worried this end. That is Roger, but I will repeat." She repeated. "Over to you. Over."
    He said, "Okay, Jackie. Now take a message for Mr Barnes. Message reads. Request ambulance aircraft at Willstown soon as possible prepared for bush landing. Just read that back to me. Over."
    She read it back to him.
    "Okay, Jackie," he said. "Now call Windermere for me and let me speak to them. Over."
    She said, "Eight Able George, Eight Able George, this is Eight Queen Charlie calling Eight Able George. If you are receiving me, Eight Able George, please come in. Over to you. Over."
    A tremulous woman's voice said in thirty speakers in thirty homesteads, "Eight Queen Charlie, this is Eight Able George. I've heard all that, Jackie. Isn't it marvellous the way prayer gets answered? Oh my dear, I'm that relieved I don't know what to say. I'm sure we all ought to go down on our bended knees tonight and thank God for His mercy. I'm sure we all ought to do that. Oh-over."
    Miss Bacon turned her switch. "I'm sure we'll all thank God tonight, Helen. Now Sergeant Haines is waiting to speak to you. You stay listening with your switch on to Receive, Helen. Eight Love Mike, will you come in now? Over."
    In Willstown Sergeant Haines said, "Eight Love Mike calling Eight Able George. Mrs Curtis, you've heard Joe Harman's with your husband up at the top end of Midhurst. He's got to make an airstrip for the ambulance to land on, and he's taken all his stockmen up there. Will you send everyone you have upon your station to help make this airstrip? I'll give you the position. If you have a pencil and a bit of paper write this down." He paused. "The place where Joe Harman is making the strip is six miles west-south-west of his new bore. Six miles west-south-west of his new bore. I want you to send every man you've got there to help him, and pass that message to Constable Duncan if he's with you. Is that Roger, Mrs Curtis? Over."
    The tremulous voice said, "That's Roger, Sergeant. Six miles west-south-west of Joe's new bore. I've got that written down. Eddie Page is here, and I'm expecting Phil Duncan to come back tonight. I'll send everybody up there. Isn't it marvellous what God can do for us? When I think of all His mercies to us suffering sinners I could go down on my bended knees and cry." There was a pause, and then she said, "Oh, I keep on forgetting. Over."
    He turned his switch and said, "It's not only God you've got to thank, Mrs Curtis." He was very well aware that most of the housewives in a hundred thousand square miles of the Gulf country would be listening in to this conversation, and one good turn deserves another. "Miss Paget rode forty miles down from the top end of Midhurst to bring this message about Don. You know Jean Paget, the English girl that's started the shoe workshop and the ice-cream shop? She was out at Midhurst spending the day when we heard Don was missing, and she rode forty miles to tell me where this airstrip was to be. She's only been astride a horse six times before, and the poor girl's so sore she can't stand. Sister Douglas has her in the hospital for a good rest. She'll be all right in a day or two. Over."
    She said, "Oh my word. I don't know what to say to thank her. Give her my very dearest love, and I do hope she'll be better soon." There was a pause, and then she said, "I've been so troubled in my mind about that ice-cream parlour. It didn't seem right to have a thing like that in Willstown, and opening it on Sundays and Christmas Day and all. I couldn't find nothing in the Bible either for or against it, and I've been that perplexed. But now it seems God had that under His hand like everything else. I do think it's wonderful. Over."
    "That's right," said Sergeant Haines non-committally. He had been uncertain about the shop closing hours himself and had written to his head office for guidance; it was a good long time since he had been in a district where there was a shop to close. "Now I must sign off, Mrs Curtis. Eight Queen Charlie, this is Eight Love Mike. It's okay here if you want to close down your listening watch for tonight, Jackie. I'd like to have a listening watch in daylight hours tomorrow, from seven o'clock on. Is this