Behind Mt. Baldy Read Online Free PDF Page B

led
into the trees.
    Roger began looking around each
boulder and each tree. He even peered up into the branches. There were a few
pieces of litter discarded by tourists; film packets and chocolate wrappers,
but nothing that looked like a clue.
    Stephen yelled from the front of
the rock, “Here it is. I’ve found it!”
    Roger hurried around to the edge
of the clearing. Stephen had scrambled up a steep little mound overgrown with bushes
to look behind a large broken slab of rock half way up the side of the big
boulder. As Roger arrived Stephen slithered down, holding the clue in his hand.
    It was an oblong of bright yellow
cardboard in a plastic bag. On it were printed, in black felt pen, the words:
     
    MOUNT BALDY
    THE CHIMNEYS
     
    Graham and Peter came running to
join them. They all looked at the clue.
    “What does it mean?” Graham
asked.
    Stephen shrugged. “We go to those
places I suppose,” he replied.
    “But which
one?” Peter
asked.
    “The closest one first, then the
other,” Roger suggested.
    Graham agreed. “Yes, but where
are they? Let’s look on the maps.” He pulled out two maps and spread them on
the grass; the ATHERTON 1:50 000 and BARTLE FRERE 1:100 000.
    “Look at this one Roger,” Graham
said, passing him the TINAROO 1:50 000 he had been using.
    The boys knelt over the maps and
began to pore over them. “Be systematic,” Graham ordered. “Go up and down the
columns of grid lines.”
    Roger began to do this, starting
on the left of the map. As his finger tip ran up and down his eyes skimmed the
names. He found it wasn’t as hard as he’d expected.  Much of the map was
dark green for jungle with hardly any words printed on it. The Tinaroo Dam took
up a large area as well. When he found Platypus Lookout he changed his pattern.
He began to follow the main Danbulla Forestry Road eastwards. The words slid
past his eyes: Kauri Creek, Pine, Tower, Robsons Creek, numerous small tracks,
Coi Creek, Lake Euramo, The Chimneys.
    “Here it is. The
Chimneys!” Roger cried. He pointed to show the others.
    “Over in the Danbulla State
Forest near Lake Euramo,” Graham noted.  “That’s a fair way. Let’s see.
It’s...hmm ..” He roughly measured the distance. “Seven
grid squares in a straight line. Be more than twice that along the road. We
won’t make that tonight.”
    “What about Mt Baldy?” Peter
asked.
    “Don’t know. It’s not between
here and there so it must be further out,” Graham said.
    Roger looked up. “There’s a Mt Baldy near Atherton. My aunt’s house is near the bottom
of it.”
    “Atherton Map,” Graham called,
snatching it from Peter.
    “Yes, there it is, right near
Atherton,” Stephen jabbed his finger down.
    Graham fitted the two 1:50 000
maps together. “Gosh! That’s a long way.”
    “So we obviously go to The
Chimneys first,” Roger said. “Otherwise the shortest way to Mt Baldy is to
backtrack through Tinaroo.”
    “Hope you are right,” Peter said.
“It’s a long way round the lake.”
    Graham snorted. “Not that far.
We’ve done it before, on that Senior Exercise with the Navy Cadets last year.”
    Roger had been on that 8 day
exercise and had found it equally enjoyable but painful. During it the army
cadets had done a night route march from near Lake Euramo to Camp Barrabadeen-
16 kilometres in darkness so black they had trouble staying on the road. The others
exchanged stories about it and Graham’s enthusiasm annoyed Roger.
    Stephen chuckled, “That was when
you had your sights on that female navy cadet, Tina,” he said to Graham.
    Peter nodded. “And she went
missing, kidnapped by those bird smugglers.”
    “And she gave you the flick in
favour of Andrew Collins,” Stephen added.
    “Bite your bum!” Graham snapped.
    Roger knew that losing Tina to
his rival, another navy cadet, had hurt Graham. To change the subject he said,
“I wonder if Mt Baldy is the end of our hike?”
    “Could be,” Graham replied,
biting his lip and