The Mystery of Yamashita's Map

Chapter Ten

Lisa awoke to the sound of Joe banging his fist on one of the gauges on the control panel.

‘Come on!’ he was shouting. ‘Come on!’

She rubbed her eyes.

‘I think we’re in trouble,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘Fuel, we’re running low.’

Quickly, Lisa grabbed the aviation map that lay on the floor of cockpit. By this time Fraser and the professor had also woken and were straining to hear from the back seats.

‘What’s wrong?’ the professor asked.

‘Nothing,’ Lisa lied. ‘Just a little problem with fuel.’

Fraser screamed, ‘Didn’t you check when we left?’

‘Well, I had a quick look, yeah.’

‘A quick look!’ Fraser exclaimed. ‘We’re hundreds of feet above the South China Sea and you say you had a quick look!’

Joe turned. ‘Do you want to fly this thing?’

Fraser sat back in his seat and looked out of the window, wishing he were somewhere else.

Joe fiddled with the controls on the panel, while Lisa studied the map.

‘Look,’ she said. ‘I think we should be near land by now. If we could just glide for a bit we might make it.’

Joe was sweating as he flicked the fuel gauge. ‘This ain’t no glider,’ he said in a panic. ‘If we go down we go down… fast.’

Lisa pointed to a lush green island in the near distance. ‘There it is, there it is, surely we can make it.’

Beside them the engines spluttered their last as they were starved of the fuel they needed to keep functioning.

‘I think they’re going,’ Joe said.

Suddenly there was silence. The steady hum that they had got used to over the last few hours stopped and all they heard was the wind rushing past the windows as the plane fell steadily.

‘I’ll try to bring her in near the island,’ Joe said. ‘But you might have to get wet.’

Lisa leaned over and held Joe’s hand. She squeezed it a little and he looked at her. For the first time since he had known her she looked scared. He reciprocated and tightened his grip on her fingers.

‘You’ll be OK,’ he said. ‘Professor, can you swim?’

The professor was busy getting himself ready. He had taken his shoes off and stuffed them into the pockets of his jacket.

‘Oh, yes, Joe, don’t worry about me, I manage ten lengths a day. I’ll be on the island before you.’

Joe laughed. ‘Fraser?’

Fraser didn’t say anything.

‘Fraser.’

‘Er… yes?’

‘You ready?’

‘Course, er, course. I can’t actually, er, swim.’

‘Well, this would be a damn good time to start,’ the professor said. ‘If you can stick by me as we hit the water, I’ll try to carry you.’

Fraser noticed Lisa looking at Joe and suddenly found his voice again. ‘I’ll be fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll learn.’

Joe turned to Lisa. ‘See you on the beach.’

The first thing each of them noticed was the force of the landing. It threw them forward in their seats and then the whole world seemed to turn upside down. Suddenly it got dark as the plane’s wings snapped off with the force and the fuselage rolled underwater. The professor had managed to open the door just as they hit the water but its coldness and the sudden lack of light stunned him for a moment. With all his strength he kicked his way out of the plane, pulling Fraser behind him. Quickly he headed for the surface where the water was a lighter blue. Behind him, Joe and Lisa were pulling themselves free. He saw them exiting the plane and, kicking elegantly, make their way to the surface.

The professor realised that Fraser was weighing him down — something was not right. He tugged at his shoulder but he didn’t move. The professor swam down to look at his face but it was too dark. He placed a hand over his mouth and felt bubbles coming out, a sure sign that he was breathing but that he was unconscious, unable to hold his breath. The professor assumed that the force of the landing had knocked him out cold, so he grabbed hold of his shoulders and kicked for all he was worth towards the surface. The more he kicked and struggled the heavier Fraser became, and the heavier Fraser became the harder it was to drag him to the air.

The professor flailed his legs and arms but to no avail. He felt himself being dragged under by the dead weight of the man he was clinging on to. Above him Joe and Lisa had realised something was up when the professor and Fraser hadn’t surfaced. They ducked under the water but again could see nothing. Lisa dived under the water frantically searching with her arms in the darkness. It was so cold she could no longer feel her fingers. She knew that none of them could last long in the water; they had to get out on to dry land and warm themselves.

Eventually, her hands caught hold of her uncle’s jacket collar and she kicked for all she was worth. Gradually, with Joe’s help, she managed to pull both the professor and the unconscious Fraser to the surface, where they trod water for a while, breathless and scared. Joe held Fraser’s chin above the surface.

Lisa looked concerned. ‘How is he?’ she asked, nodding towards Fraser.

The professor swam over. ‘He’s still breathing. Better take him to the shore where we can have a look. It might only be concussion.’

Lisa, the professor and Joe, carrying Fraser, swam to the shore where they lay for a while in the early morning sun. Joe looked at the ocean just in time to see the wings of his plane disappearing below the surface.

‘There she goes,’ he said.

‘This island looks too small to be Mindanao. What if we’re miles away?’ Lisa asked but no one answered; they just watched the bubbles breaking the surface of the ocean that, every now and then, brought forth a fresh piece of debris and deposited it on the beach. The sun was only just above the horizon but it spread a warm glow on to the faces of Joe, Lisa, Fraser and the professor and seemed to give life to their bodies which were wet and cold.

Lisa held Fraser’s head in her arms and, as if coming back from the dead, he opened his eyes and stared at her thinking that she was, perhaps, an angel. Suddenly he started fighting for his life. The last image he had in his mind was of the plane under water, he struggled with the waves, gasping for breath, not wanting to let them win, to drown him. Lisa held his head and whispered in his ear, ‘Easy, easy, you’re safe now. We are on the beach.’

Fraser became calm. Lisa felt his body relax under her grip as his eyes and his mind became adjusted to the situation.

‘You nearly pulled us all under there,’ Joe said. ‘I thought we had all had it for a moment.’

Fraser sat up. ‘Is she gone?’ he said, nodding to the ocean.

‘Yes, just now,’ Lisa explained.

Fraser’s head fell back onto her arm and he gave a sign that seemed to speak for them all. Slowly, the professor adjusted the collar of his shirt.

‘The sun will be fully up soon; we should be getting along.’

‘Where would we go to?’ Lisa asked.

‘To find the gold,’ he said.

‘But where? We needed the plane. The plan was to spot the area by plane. Now that’s gone.’

‘We can walk. This island’s not so big. We’ll find it, I am sure.’

Joe laughed. ‘You are mighty optimistic all of a sudden.’

The professor smiled at him. ‘We are here, aren’t we? I think that is reason to be optimistic enough.’

About a hundred yards away from the beach, in the shadow of the trees something moved. It was barely noticeable against the dark background of the dense undergrowth of the jungle but, in the early morning sun, the glint of metal shone. It was raised to the horizontal and aimed at those on the beach with a military precision, but no sooner had it locked on to its target than it was lowered again. Now was not the time, it seemed to think, later would be better.

‘We need food and provisions, uncle, and how the hell are we going to get off this island? Who knows we’re here? No one.’

The professor tried to calm her but the words were hard to find. Tears formed in Lisa’s eyes as the shock of the crash and the thought of the island brought home how isolated they were. Joe shifted on the sand and sat next her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ll make it,’ he said tenderly. ‘We’ll make it.’

And Lisa dried her eyes. ‘Now you’re sounding optimistic,’ she said with a sob. Joe leaned over and kissed Lisa on the cheek, drying one of her tears with his lips. ‘Have I ever let you down yet?’ Joe asked, and Lisa laughed.

‘Once or twice.’

The professor got to his feet. The sun had partly dried his clothes and they hung off his body in a sandy misshapen lump, making him look more comical than usual. He brushed himself down and fumbled in his pocket. He pulled out the map, enclosed in a bag.

‘Good, good,’ he said. ‘Still intact. This, after all, is why we came here. Now, where do you think we should start?’

Fraser raised his head from Lisa’s lap. ‘We should try to find a base. Are there people on this island?’

The professor scratched his head. ‘Yes, yes, there may be inhabitants here, small villages, I don’t doubt they have a radio. I’m afraid the modern world stretches everywhere these days. I guess the problem is finding them.’

‘So you think we could radio for a plane?’ Joe asked.

‘Possibly, possibly, if they have one, if we find them… if it works and if there’s anyone on the other end.’

‘Hmm, that’s a lot of possibilities, prof.’

‘Yes, but a lot of possibilities is better than one “not at all”.’

‘Did you get that out of a cracker?’ Joe asked.

The professor looked at him. ‘Possibly,’ he said, and started to walk along the shoreline.

‘Wait, uncle,’ Lisa shouted after him.

‘Well, come on, come on.’

In the undergrowth someone observed them stand and leave. They watched the younger ones go towards the sea and retrieve anything they thought might be useful from the wreckage of the plane that had washed up, then hurry after the older one. They noticed the skin and the eyes and the hair of the two who looked Japanese and they thought that one spoke with an American accent; even this far away it was noticeable and made the hatred and bile rise up in the throat and cause it to burn and sting. A bead of sweat ran down a forehead and was brushed off with an alert arm which was thin but strong. It was hot in the jungle, humid, but they were used to it, they had made it their home, ever since the great general had conferred upon them the sanctity of its boundaries, ever since the Imperial Emperor himself had decreed that it must be protected from whoever tried to take it from them.

They had cooked and eaten and slept and lived and been wounded and cured in the jungle. They had treated it with respect and it had reciprocated with kindness; for almost sixty years it had fed and clothed them, given them water and a place to sleep. They had been given the mandate to protect the jungle and that is what they had done and would do until word came from the Emperor himself. As Lisa and the others disappeared behind the bend in the bay, the figure stepped out from the shadows and stood, in the full glare of the early morning sun, in the uniform of the Imperial Japanese army. Over his shoulder a rifle was slung and in his breast pocket orders from the great General Yamashita who would one day come back and relieve him.