Blood in the Dust Page 10

  The butcher came around the desk, fists held in front of him. ‘You can’t just barge in here and start throwing wild accusations around.’

  Toby widened his stance and lifted his own fists, prepared to meet the butcher’s advance. ‘You’re as bad as those thieving mongrels,’ he yelled. ‘Do you just let anyone offload cattle into your yards without checking their story?’

  The butcher’s right fist shot out and struck Toby squarely on the chin. He staggered back and came up against the wall, braced himself and then launched forward. The butcher tried another jab, but Toby rolled his head and the fist grazed past his ear. Inside the strike of those iron-hard fists, he swept the butcher up and carried him into the back wall. The calico parted like a pair of theatre curtains and they crashed through onto the ground outside. Toby managed to get his knee up and struck hard for the butcher’s groin. The man let out a howl of pain and Toby lowered his knee to strike again, but rough hands pulled him away. Two workmen hauled him to his feet and held him between them.

  ‘You all right, Mr Hatherway?’

  Another worker helped the butcher to his feet, but the man couldn’t stand straight. He rubbed at his groin and panted hard, doubled over. Finally, he gasped, ‘One of you fetch the constable.’

  The man who had assisted the butcher ran off to do his boss’s bidding. Hatherway managed to pull himself up straight, but stood with his legs splayed. ‘Get the little bastard into the hut. The traps can sort him out.’

  The two workmen dragged Toby inside. Hatherway straightened his desk and placed a horseshoe on some loose papers. He glared at Toby, but said nothing.

  A constable, a man named Gillies, arrived ten minutes later. After listening to the versions of the story he spent a few minutes examining the cattle and a few more with the papers Hatherway had drawn up for the sale. Finally, he pushed his spectacles back onto the bridge of his huge hooked nose and announced that everything was in order.

  ‘The hell it is!’ The two workmen had released Toby, but remained close at hand. ‘Those duffers stole our cattle at gunpoint and you say everything’s in order?’

  The constable scowled at Toby, obviously not used to being spoken to in such a manner, especially by someone who was little more than a boy. ‘The cattle are branded and the paperwork is in order. You have no right accosting Mr Hatherway. He runs a respectable business. You may be facing charges here, young man. I have your descriptions of Mr O’Rourke and his brother or Scotchy and Dundas or whatever they’re called. Very distinctive-looking gentlemen. If they’re still around here I’ll find and question them. A report will go to Melbourne with the next mail and someone will check your story from that end. I can do little more than that.’

  ‘That could take weeks,’ Toby pleaded with the policeman. ‘We need to find them before they get too far.’

  ‘I can’t have boys running around here taking the law into their own hands. The good Lord knows I have enough trouble just keeping the peace among the miners. Justice will eventually be served, young man, but you will have no part in it.’

  Toby opened his mouth to protest, but the policeman got in first. ‘Now, let’s discuss the matter of your assault on the person of Mr Hatherway.’

  ‘But he hit me first,’ Toby protested.

  ‘In self-defence I would say,’ Gillies offered, turning to the butcher.

  Hatherway nodded. He came around the desk and perched on the edge gingerly. ‘It’s all right, Constable. I don’t want to press charges. If he’s telling the truth, then he has every right to be worked up.’

  ‘Consider yourself lucky, young fellow. If I were you, I’d thank Mr Hatherway for his kind gesture. As for this matter of the stolen cattle, I’ll begin my enquiries immediately. Now, get out of here and stay out of trouble. If I have any more dealings with you then you’ll find yourself chained to a tree and awaiting the magistrate.’

  Without saying another word, Toby turned and walked back out to where he’d left Moonlight tied up. Not wanting anyone to see, he led the horse into a shallow gully behind the yards before pulling the Lovell from its scabbard to check it was loaded and primed.

  Moonlight sensed the tension in him and whickered softly as Toby mounted up.

  ‘So, I’m a mongrel cattle duffer who’s just made a pile of money,’ he said to the horse. ‘Where do I go to spend it?’

  Moonlight’s ears twitched back and forth at the sound of his voice.

  ‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Toby answered himself. ‘I would celebrate with a nobbler or two of rum.’

  He urged the horse forward and they climbed out of the gully. Two diggers were working a nearby claim.

  ‘Where could a fellow get a drink at this time of the day?’

  One of the miners looked up and studied him from beneath the brim of his cabbage-tree hat. ‘Little early for drinking, young fella, but if you’re in desperate need to slake your thirst, you might try O’Shaunessy’s coffee shop.’ He gestured over his shoulder with a thumb. ‘It’s over beyond the blacksmith shop by the creek.’

  Toby thanked the man and urged Moonlight forward. He found O’Shaunessy’s where the digger had indicated. Two horses were tied to a rail outside a grubby white tent and he could hear the low rumble of voices from inside. Neither horse belonged to Scotchy and Dundas, but Toby dismounted, pulled the Lovell from its scabbard and went inside.

  There were three men in the tent, but he had never seen them before. The conversation stopped abruptly as he stooped beneath the fly and all eyes were on the musket. One man was polishing a glass with a piece of rag. He stepped nervously forward.

  ‘Can—can I help you?’

  ‘I’m looking for two men,’ Toby said, wondering if stepping into the tent while armed was a good idea. ‘One is missing an eye and the other a hand.’ He held up his own hand to show them, but was dismayed as all three shook their heads.

  ‘Ain’t seen no one like that,’ the shopkeeper said.

  ‘Where else would a man get a hard drink at this time of day?’

  The three men pointed in three different directions and Toby made a mental note of the names they gave him. He thanked them and went back out to Moonlight.

  By mid-afternoon Toby had visited every coffee house and grog shop on the diggings. The closest he had come to finding Scotchy and Dundas had been when one patron had said he’d seen them riding out on the north road. Toby galloped along the road for six miles before he came across someone heading south. The weary digger shook his head and told him he hadn’t passed anyone on the road since daybreak.

  With disappointment weighing heavily in his heart Toby decided it was time to go back and find Paddy. As he walked Moonlight south along the track, he wondered what this meant for the farm. Would Henry Pelham give them more time to pay the debt? Even as the thought crossed his mind a niggling feeling of doubt started to eat through the worry he already felt. Pelham had a motive behind buying out his father’s debt. Toby wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew he couldn’t trust Henry Pelham.

  ‘I’ll fetch Paddy and we’ll make camp here at the diggings,’ he told the horse. Hearing his own voice gave him some small comfort now that he’d decided on a course of action, but it did little to ease the worry. ‘We’ll scour the countryside every day until we find those two bastards.’

  ‘This is it, my sweet,’ Frank said. ‘She was once battered and scarred by the colony’s roads and the axles were so worn the wheels wobbled like a drunkard. I’ve spent many a day working on her and she’s right to take us to Ballarat.’

  Maree eyed the wagonette. The vehicle still bore many gouges and there was more raw wood showing than the original blue paint, but, as far as wagons and carriages went, she trusted her husband fully. She knew Frank had worked long into the nights to get it ready, and he was good at his craft.

  ‘What about a horse to pull it?’ she asked.

  ‘Already taken care of,’ Frank said, pointing to a roan gelding tethered to a nearby tree, grazing hungrily
from the limited grass.

  Betty squealed delightedly and ran ahead of the little group. By the time they caught up she was stroking the horse’s muzzle and smiling up at him. ‘Oh, Papa, he’s beautiful. Does he have a name?’

  Frank scratched the back of his head. ‘I didn’t think to ask. Tell you what, Betty, why don’t you name him? Make it a good one. He has a lot of hard work ahead of him.’

  Betty took a step back and studied the animal, looking for all the world like a seasoned horse trader. ‘He looks strong. I think he is the strongest horse ever. We should call him Samson.’

  ‘That’s a wonderful name,’ Annie said. ‘Samson, the horse that will take us to Ballarat to make our fortune.’

  Maree listened to the excitement in the voices of her daughters. The second part of their great adventure was about to begin. She turned to the west. Ballarat was out that way, she had learned. The sun felt warm on her face. Despite her original misgivings, she was coming to like this strange land. The days were not so hot now and the air was pure and clean, especially in the mornings. The long voyage out from England had taken its toll. Tom’s death had nearly destroyed her, but her family needed her. It had taken all her strength to fight her way back. Now they were on the cusp of the last leg of their journey.

  You were right, my boy. This will be a far better life than anything we could have had in England.

  ‘When shall we leave, Frank?’

  ‘The tent is paid up till the end of the month and I still have some work to finish up here. While I’m doing that, you and the girls can start getting our gear together. We should make a list, but we’ll be needing a tent of our own, mining and panning equipment. I’m told you can buy that stuff on the diggings, but the prices are high. Far better that we buy it here and take it with us. Flour, sugar, pots and pans. Everything we’ll need for a permanent camp.’

  ‘The end of the month? We go to the diggings at the end of the month?’ Annie said, squeezing her father’s hand.

  ‘Yes, my girl.’ Frank gave her a brilliant smile. ‘Then we’re going to dig up a gold nugget like the one in the window of the bank.’

  ‘Samson will have the best stable ever,’ said Betty, kissing the horse’s muzzle. ‘Pride of place.’

  Listening to her family, a smile played on Maree’s lips and her gaze turned westwards again. A breeze made the trees sound like they were whispering to each other and she lifted her face to the sun. In the distance there were hilltops. The track led off into the forest until it disappeared in shadow. Annie’s words spoken on the deck of the ship came back to her then:

  ‘Everything we have ever wanted is waiting for us behind those hills.’

  She wanted to be happy, like her family. They laughed and joked and made their plans for the future. Her husband and daughters relished the adventure that lay ahead of them. But this adventure had already claimed the life of her son. What more would it claim before it was over?

  Toby sat his mount in a loose manner as Paddy drove the wagonette, Patch tied to the tailgate. He tried not to think too much about what lay ahead of them as they neared home. They had stayed on the diggings for two weeks, searching from sunrise until dark, but Scotchy and Dundas had vanished. Toby would have stayed longer, but their money had quickly run out and he was left with no choice. He could only hope Pelham had truly bought out their father’s loan to hold the bank off, then he might give them some more time to get another herd together.

  They rounded the last bend in the track and Toby felt his pulse quicken. Smoke curled away from the homestead’s chimney and there were unfamiliar horses in the yard. A sulky sat beside the verandah. Swinging off Moonlight, he pushed open the slip rails and yelled to Paddy, ‘Bring the wagonette up to the shed. I’m going to the house. We have visitors.’ He swung back onto the horse and galloped towards the homestead. As he drew up to the verandah he recognised the sulky as the same one Pelham had used to attend his parents’ funeral.

  Henry Pelham sat at the far side of the table, as far as possible from anyone coming through the door. He nursed one of their mother’s bone china cups and George Grey stood behind his boss with his back to the stove. He too had a cup in his hand that he used to salute Toby as he came through the doorway. Two men, Pelham’s stockmen, sat on chairs facing the door.

  ‘Ah! Young Toby,’ Pelham announced, absently turning the teacup with his fingertips. His expression reminded Toby of a dingo that had found its way among the lambs.

  ‘What the hell are you and your men doing in our house? You have no right to be in here.’

  ‘That’s what you think.’ Grey took a step forward. ‘It’s Mr Pelham’s house now. The magistrate has said so.’ He went to take another step, but Pelham held up a bony hand, stopping him mid-stride.

  ‘I don’t give a tinker’s toss what the bloody magistrate has said. You can’t just march in here and take over the place like this.’

  Pelham turned his hand towards Toby in a pacifying gesture. ‘I’m terribly sorry, my boy. I gave you a way to pay off your debt. It’s a downright shame you fell victim to the many rogues and scoundrels preying on unsuspecting people, but I can’t be expected to do any more.’

  ‘How do you know about that?’

  ‘I should think the entire Colony of Victoria has heard of your unfortunate incident. Word travels fast, my boy.’

  ‘Not as fast as you travelled to the bloody magistrate when you heard, I bet.’

  The smile slipped from Pelham’s face.

  Paddy came up to the doorway behind Toby and looked into the crowded kitchen, a bewildered look on his face.

  ‘Pelham’s come to kick us off our land,’ Toby spat. ‘He’s just as much a thief as those two bastards that stole our cattle.’

  One of the stockmen leaped to his feet and slapped Toby across the face with the back of his hand. Toby staggered and tripped over Paddy. Both boys sprawled onto the floor of the verandah amidst a chorus of chuckles from the watching men. Rolling to his feet, Toby launched himself at the stockman’s legs and took him above the knees with enough force to carry both of them back into the kitchen. They came up against the far wall with a thump that rattled the crockery on the sideboard. Toby was the first to his feet and landed a punch to the stockman’s midriff. The man let out a bellow of pain and Toby cocked his fist, aiming for the whiskered face. Someone grabbed him by both shoulders and pulled him away.

  The other stockman spun him about and held him against the bedroom door by the throat. His free hand went back, knuckles bunching into a fist. Toby braced for the blow, but before the punch came the stockman was swept sideways by Paddy’s wild charge. They crashed into the boys’ bedroom door and it gave way under the onslaught, slamming back on its hinges. Paddy laid into the stockman, fists and boots flying in a mad frenzy.

  The first man forgot about Toby and tried to go to the aid of his friend. Toby stepped in behind and punched him in the kidneys. He howled with agony and tried to back away from the fight. Toby wasn’t prepared to let him go so easily. He drew his fist back again, but rough hands seized his arm and he was spun back against the wall and pinned there by Grey’s considerable bulk.

  ‘Take it easy, boy,’ Grey snarled, his mouth mere inches from Toby’s ear. ‘If it wouldn’t upset Mr Pelham so, I’d knock the daylights out of you right here and now.’ Toby struggled to shake free, but Grey’s strength was too great.

  The two stockmen managed to get a grip on Paddy’s thrashing arms and legs. They held him against the floor, cursing under their breath.

  Pelham rose from the table. He crossed the room and laid a hand on Toby’s shoulder, then nodded to Grey and the other stockmen. They released the brothers and stepped back, but not too far.

  ‘I’m not the sort of man who would turn two boys out into the cold, Toby. You and Patrick are welcome to stay in this very house in my employ. You will do the things you did before and be paid well to do them.’ He dropped his hand from Toby’s shoulder and stood back. ‘The only
change will be on the title of the papers concerning this land. You will have men to help you. I will even make you a foreman so you will never have to do any of the cooking or wood chopping or other menial tasks. Surely that must sound good to you?’

  Toby scowled and Pelham turned to Paddy, who had climbed up from the floor.

  ‘What about you, young Patrick? Do you want to remain living in this house?’

  Paddy came to his brother’s side. He looked up at Pelham and shook his head.

  ‘We can still pay you back, Mr Pelham.’ His Irish temper abating, Toby switched tack and tried to reason his way out of the godawful mess. ‘There are scores of wild cattle in the hills. We can get another herd together and raise the money. All we need is time.’

  Pelham shook his mane of grey hair. ‘I’m sorry, my boy, but time is not a luxury I can afford. With the gold rush the colony is growing fast. The time for expansion is now and I can’t wait any longer. I have an agent in Portland negotiating a herd of prime beef I plan to run on this land. The wheels are turning and I couldn’t stop them even if I wanted to.’

  ‘You didn’t waste any time, did you? To have someone in Portland you must have sent him weeks ago. How did you know we wouldn’t get our mob into Bendigo Creek?’

  ‘You have to stay a jump ahead if you want to make it in this world, my boy. If you had managed to raise the money I would have simply taken that mob to Bendigo, where the prices are somewhat inflated as you know, and shown a tidy little return for my investment. However, I would rather work that herd into the best quality beef in the colony. You can still be part of it – both of you.’

  The next words almost stuck in Toby’s throat. It took a great force of will to spit them at Pelham, each one tearing out a little piece of his soul. ‘If it’s not our land or our cattle we want no part of it. We’ll take what’s rightfully ours and go.’ Toby pushed himself away from the wall. ‘What are we left with?’

  Pelham pulled a folded sheaf of papers from his vest pocket. He smoothed them open on the kitchen table and gave two of the sheets to Toby.