Legacy by Whiti Hereaka

Author:Whiti Hereaka
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Huia (NZ) Ltd
Published: 2018-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

13

3 JULY 1915

Today is beautiful, clear and sunny; the kind of day that makes a person feel optimistic – even if the order to sail to the front line could come at any moment.

Preparations are being made; stores and ammunition are checked. All of the men on board have checked their kits, and when the order comes at last they leave with whatever is strapped to their back or squirrelled in their pockets. Some have letters from home, or lucky talismans. Big Mo and Little Mo have each other, Rewai carries a photo of his wife, Jack has his brass ring and Riki has the diary. Matatau is secretive as usual, but Riki guesses that he has his bible, a letter from his sister and the scarab.

Before they disembark, each of them is given their rations; enough to last a day and a half in theory. Riki looks at his – half a loaf of bread, already stale, some sugar and some tea. How do the higher-ups expect their men to be at their best with food as poor as this?

They climb down from their large ship to a small steamboat: the SS Prince Abbas. It seems too small to fit them all; there’s hardly any room to move. But Jack makes sure that Riki is not stuck inside in the middle of the rows of men.

‘He doesn’t have sea legs,’ Jack says. ‘Best he’s on deck, or near it, if you want to save your boots.’ The other men let them squeeze past – it reminds Riki of trying to make his way to the front of a gig. Matatau stays where he is – confident that they’ll not be separated when they finally land. Riki is not so sure – he remembers the stories of the Anzacs being picked off on the shore.

The Prince Abbas departs in the early evening. As they sail past the warships, they can hear the men on board cheering for them.

‘Battleship,’ Riki says to himself.

It takes six and a half hours to get from Lemnos to Anzac Cove.

Six and a half hours is a long time to be sick to your stomach.

Six and a half hours is a short time to live. Even if they are not picked off on the beach like the men who landed in April, there is still a chance that someone will die tonight. This is war – proper war – not just make-believe in the desert.

It is well past midnight when they drop anchor in the cove. Riki can hear rifle shots up in the hills. The boom of heavy artillery is deafening, and shakes the little steamboat. Still, there is an air of excitement. They have arrived; they will finally have a chance to put all their training into practice.

Riki and his troop are ferried from the steamboat to the shore by a steam launch. It looks like big, flat barge. They are packed tightly on the barge, standing shoulder to shoulder. Luckily, Riki is on the end again.

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