9: THE MADMAN OF COASTWATCHERS HILL

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PHOTO above - Rabaul today

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PHOTO above - Rabaul today. Two of the volcanoes are gone, blasted away during an eruption in the 1990s that destroyed the town again. But the people came back once more and rebuilt it.


OMG! Just a little dip in a volcano!

Brad Cooper gazed down from the airplane at Rabaul Town below, his heart pounding away a thrill at what lay ahead. He had read about the place and knew it was the capital of New Britain and an exciting cosmopolitan city popularly known as 'The Pearl of the South Pacific'.

New Guinea was still ninety percent uncivilized, its location just south of the equator making it a hot steamy jungle mostly unexplored and uncharted. Before the First World War the islands had belonged to Germany and were known as the Bismarck Archipelago. After Germany's defeat in that war, the land was given to Australia to govern as a 'mandated territory'. Not long after that, Rabaul became a pivotal location in the recent Second World War.

Occupied early on by the Japanese, tens of thousands of enemy troops had been stationed there and as many Allied prisoners of war held captive. Not only was the town now infamous as a destination for adventure and thrill seekers of all kinds, but it had also proved geographically important in the winning of the recent war against the aggressive nation who had sought world domination.

Brad tensed as Pocka banked the Dragon and headed down toward the almost landlocked harbor guarded by the volcanoes and the background of mountain ranges. He could see schooners, freighters, fishing trawlers, luggers, and small native outriggers moving through the aquamarine waters. He suddenly realized that the airplane was heading directly toward the volcano that Jimmy had called Vulcan. The mountain's monstrous plume of smoke and ash was billowing straight up into the sky.

"Whoa ... Pocka!" Brad blurted out. "Don't go flying into that volcano!"

"Doncha worry, Jack," the pilot shouted above the roar of the engine. "Just a little look-see, boys."

"Wow." Jimmy leaned over Brad to look out the portside window. "Vulcan is really blowin' its top today."

Brad tensed back as the plane raced toward the mountain as if Pocka was going to attack it. He found it almost impossible not to grab Jimmy, the boy's head and shoulders so close Brad could have kissed him. He'd never been with any other boy except Clint, and he sure as hell was hankering now for a taste or a touch of Jimmy. He could feel his dick growing hard. Brad looked out at Vulcan's slopes to distract himself. They were a dull brownish gray, leagues deep with ash. Banking steeply, the Dragon flew right to the rim of the volcano's pit.

"Yow-w-w ... " Clint grunted uneasily, peering into the very center as the plane wing-hopped the rim. "There's the fires of Hades, right down in there, fellas."

His pulses throbbing because Jimmy was still leaning over him, Brad caught a quick glimpse of what looked like 'fire and brimstone' before Vulcan's thundering plume got in the way and Pocka had to level off and fly outward to escape its dangerous heat.

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