Read Online Flight of the Jabiru by Elizabeth Haran - Free Book Online Page B

didn’t know that, but Sid told me,” she admitted.
    The kids moved away.
    â€œAlthough the canal is a marvel,” Lara said to Ron and Jessica. “It’s important to remember that thousands of laborers died on the project. It’s estimated that up to a million and a half laborers from several countries worked on it.”
    â€œIt must’ve been a huge undertaking,” Ron said in awe.
    â€œA bit like the building of the pyramids,” Jessica added.
    As the ship gradually moved through the canal in a convoy of several ships, the passengers gazed at the glistening sands of the Sinai Desert. They looked like a giant had used a spoon to swirl them, this way, and that. On both sides of the Suez all they could see was sand, and the same further south, in Sudan. It was like nothing they’d ever seen, a virtual wasteland. They could only wonder how people lived in the desert, especially in the heat, but they did.
    At some points along the eleven-hour journey they saw clusters of palm trees or a camel and rider, but overall there was not a lot to see baking under a merciless sun. At the half waypoint, they passed Port Sudan where two ships were unloading goods. They could see caravans of camels waiting at the port. Sid told them that the camels would transport most of the goods coming off the ships. He also said the temperature in July could reach a hundred and thirteen degrees. All of the passengers complaining of the heat were glad they weren’t travelling in July.
    As the sun slipped below the dunes in the distance, bringing relief from the heat, and turning the sky crimson, the passengers were told the ship had left the Red Sea and was moving into the Gulf of Aden.
    Dinner was served in the dining room where the crew and passengers ate together, although on separate tables. On the menu was cream-of-mushroom soup, cold roast ribs of beef, beetroot, potato salad, and ice cream. The name of the Australian cook aboard ship was Mick Thompson. The passengers adored his accent and enjoyed his food.
    In the evenings the passengers and crew played cards to pass the time so they got to know each other quite well. The radio was always on in the background because everyone was eager to learn news of the war, most of them tense because they had family who were involved. It was a topic discussed most meal times and evenings. When the passengers heard reports on the radio about the Japanese searching for islands suitable to use as a base in the Pacific region, they became worried. They pressed Captain Callahan for information on how safe he thought they’d be once they were in open sea crossing the Indian Ocean. The captain didn’t seem in the least worried.
    â€œYou might see a few Jap planes,” he told them. “But they’ll be off in the distance and not too interested in us.”
    â€œWhat if we’re torpedoed by a Japanese submarine?” Edith Elliott suggested dramatically.
    This statement alarmed the other passengers, but Captain Callaghan brushed off such a suggestion. “That won’t happen, Edith.”
    Ron had a pair of binoculars that he used to scan the horizon for other ships to relieve boredom. Henry played with them sometimes.
    â€œDad, I see a plane in the sky,” Henry called on the afternoon of the twentieth day of travel. They were six hundred miles west of the Australian mainland and had crossed the equator. Most of the passengers were sitting in deck chairs reading and relaxing. It was still warm, but there was a pleasant breeze. “It has a red ball painted on the side.”
    The passengers jumped to attention, including Ron and Jessica. Ron took the binoculars from Henry and looked through them. “Henry is right,” he said. “It’s a Japanese plane,” he added in alarm.
    â€œIs it coming this way?” Lara asked. She was sitting alongside Edith, who’d gone as pale as a bed sheet.
    â€œNo,” Ron said,