When they were clear, Tunggaree looked back at the jumbled rocks. “If this works, we won’t have to worry about the Goobahs following us. I want everybody to whistle as loudly as you can.”
Nathaniel looked around and then joined in when Billy, Tarrapaldi and Tunggaree began sounding their individual, shrill whistles. Muchuka sat on Bo’s back clutching the saddle in front of her without making a sound, silent tears trickling down her cheeks.
Gravel began cascading down the walls, but after a while, it petered off and stopped. One by one, the whistlers stopped their noise.
“What a pity,” Nathaniel thought. “It is only an old wives’ tale.”
In the silence that followed, Muchuka released her grip on the saddle and put two fingers of each hand in her mouth. With tears dripping from her chin, she took a deep breath and blew.
The high pitched sound that came from her mouth caused Nathaniel to jerk in fright.
What happened next, terrified him.
Chapter Fifteen
The supporting stone slab cracked a foot in from each side, and along its entire length. Like a giant sledgehammer, thousands of tons of rock dropped ten feet, and slammed into the tunnel’s floor.
After the initial WHUMP – the silence was painful. Not a sound could be heard while a cloud of dust rolled over the people standing fifty feet from the collapsed tunnel.
When the dust settled, Nathaniel saw Tunggaree sitting cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed, head back, his hands resting on his knees.
Tarrapaldi put a hand on Nathaniel’s arm to restrain him from going to see if the older man was hurt. With her chin, Tarrapaldi pointed to the crow that swooped down to land on a nearby rock.
The crow bobbed its head twice, cawed once, and then launched itself and flew west, over the fallen rocks.
A cicada shrilled in a nearby shrub. Two swallows flittered and twittered around what had been the opening to their nest. The normal sounds of the bush were beginning again when the crow returned, landed on the same rock, bobbed its head, cawed, then departed towards the south.
Tunggaree opened his eyes, lowered his head, and rose straight up from his cross-legged position. “It is done. The tunnel and everything in it is buried. Only a part of the cart and John Newman’s feet are uncovered. Now we must leave.”
Caruthers looked up from the ground he was inspecting. “What was that, sergeant?”
“I have no idea. The only time I’ve felt anything like it, was when a mine collapsed back home when I was a child.”
“There’s no mines in this country,” Caruthers said.
MacLaughlin studied the cart tracks leading downstream. “I’m aware of that, Sir. Or at least, I’m aware there’s none that we know of. I’m also aware that the people in this cart are leaving us very clear signs as to where they’ve gone.”
“Exactly my thoughts, Sergeant.” Caruthers turned to the mounted troops behind him. “Men, we’re going to follow these criminals. They’re armed and extremely dangerous. They’ve murdered Corporal Newman, one of the army’s best NCOs, and a personal friend of mine and Sergeant MacLaughlin’s. We didn’t know, although I did suspect, that Trooper Pike was one of this seditious group. Your orders while we follow these villains, are to keep a good look out, and shoot to kill. These people, including Pike, are outlaws, and I don’t want anyone taking any chances with them.”
Caruthers turned his horse and drove his spurs into the animal’s sides, causing it to leap into a gallop.
“Wait, Sir,” MacLaughlin yelled.
But Caruthers didn’t.
“Oh Jesus. Loose your weapons, check your primes, and spread out into a loose line abreast,” MacLaughlin roared to the men while wheeling and spurring his mount after the departing officer
“Unless I miss my guess, you bloody idiot,” MacLaughlin muttered to himself, “we’re going to be in for a nasty surprise before long.”
The horses were blowing hard and lathered in sweat when Caruthers pulled the reins. “We must be getting awfully close, Sergeant. With these valley walls closing in like this, there’s nowhere for the runaways to go.”
“Very true, Sir,” MacLaughlin said. “Unless of course there’s a way out of the valley we don’t know about yet.”
Caruthers studied the cart tracks leading into the jumbled rocks. “Send two men forward. Have them follow the tracks and report back to us with what they find.”
“Miles, Billings,” MacLaughlin said, “You two move forward on foot, then report back with where the cart has gone. The rest of you dismount and tend the horses. Be real careful, lads. It’s Billy who’s out there in front of us with his friends. If their backs are against the wall, they’ll come at us like snakes.”
Miles and Billings moved off quickly. Each covering the other while they leap-frogged forward in short dashes from one piece of cover to the next.
“That’s no way for English soldiers to advance, Sergeant,” Caruthers said.
“The men aren’t English,” MacLaughlin said, “they’re Scottish. And Lieutenant Harrington trained them to advance like that, Sir. We’re not on a battlefield here. We’re in the bush. And that requires different tactics to what you’re used to.”
“Absolute nonsense,” Caruthers said. “The men are soldiers of the crown. And while they’re under my command, they’ll jolly-well behave as such. They are not to behave like thugs slinking from tree to tree. Is that clear?”
MacLaughlin nodded.
“Very good,” Caruthers said. “Now be a good fellow, and trot off to those two chaps, and explain what is expected of them.”
“You’re joking!”
“No, Sergeant, I’m not joking. I’m ordering you to go up there and show those men how to behave like soldiers.”
“But, Sir, we won’t stand a chance if Billy, or anyone else in his group, starts shooting.”
“Don’t worry, Sergeant. If Pike is stupid enough to attack you, I’ll come up with our other 15 men, and we’ll cut the murderers to ribbons. Now off you go.”
MacLaughlin clamped his jaw, turned his weary horse and spurred it to trot after Miles and Billings.
“Are you out of your mind, Bob?” Billings shifted the aim of his gun when he saw it was MacLaughlin who’d come up behind them. “You went within a fairy’s fart of being blown out of your saddle.”
“We’re going to go a lot closer to being shot than that, M’boys,” MacLaughlin said. “The Lieutenant has ordered us to advance down the track in clear view, like soldiers.”
“You’re pissing on my boot, Bob. Right?” Miles said. “Even Lieutenant No-Brains isn’t stupid enough to order men to walk out in the open in front of Billy Pike’s gun.”
“I agree it seems stupid. But there’s a way we might be able to do it. Uncock your weapons and sling them over your shoulders. Then form up on either side of my horse, and we’ll march down the track. Billy won’t shoot us in cold blood.”
“Billy mightn’t. But what about the blacks and that runaway he’s joined up with? I heard the Lieutenant telling you he could see Johnson down here in the nuddy with his black girlfriend. And the word’s out, they’re wilder’n a Tasmanian devil what’s been prodded with a sharp stick.” Billings said.
“Yes, well there’s no guarantees, are there?” MacLaughlin stood in his stirrups and cupped both hands around his mouth to form a speaking trumpet before shouting. “Pike, Johnson — we don’t want to hurt you, or the people you’re with. But we need to hear your side of the story. Come out and nobody’ll be hurt while we listen.” Then quietly to the troopers beside him. “All right, lads,” MacLaughlin said. “Slings over your shoulders, and let’s step out like soldiers of the King, shall we?”
Moving with parade ground rigidity, the two troopers fell in on either side of the sergeant’s horse while they marched along the tracks left by the cart.
“Do you think them’s Johnson’s feet stickin’ out from under the rock, Sargn’t?”
“Must be. He’s the only white was runnin’ around down here naked. Here,” MacLaughlin dismounted and handed his reins to Miles. “Take my horse and go fetch the lieutenant. He’ll be happier to see this than a bride at his weddin’. Billings, you and I’ll have a go at climbing these rocks and take a look at what’s on the other side.”
“Climb these rocks? Hell’s breath. A man’d have to be a goat to even think about it.”
MacLaughlin smiled. “I know. But the Lieutenant’ll tell us to climb if we’re not trying to when he gets here. If we’re halfway up though, and a few rocks fall, he’ll yell at us to come back down.”
Billings chuckled. “Your dad must’ve been a fox.”
“For sure, he was an old fox. But I didn’t learn to think like this from him. I learned it while surviving the stupidity of English officers.
Caruthers started to smile when he saw the shattered parts of the cart near the feet poking out from under the rock. But when a half dozen or so good-sized rocks came tumbling down from above, he looked up, and the smile vanished.
“What the devil do you think you’re doing, Sergeant?” Caruthers roared. “Get down from there immediately. You’ll bring the entire rock face down on the troop if you’re not careful.”
“Yes, Sir. But I thought you’d want to know what’s on the other side?”
“Not if the men are going to be buried by another rock-fall I don’t. Come down. Now.”
The mounted men on the valley floor were all concentrating on controlling their skittish horses. No one but MacLaughlin saw Billings’ foot twist, sweeping the second pile of rocks off the ledge the two men were clinging to.
The rocks fell, hit other rocks, dislodged them, and within seconds, tons of jagged, freshly-broken rock, roared down to bounce and roll around the horses and men below.
The horses, more frightened than tired, turned and bolted. Caruthers allowed his horse to run past the huge, time-weathered boulder. Brutally heaving on the reins, he dragged his terrified animal to a jittery stop. The rest of the men, still struggling with their horses, milled around him.
“Sergeant,” Caruthers called, “are you still there?”
“Of course I’m still here,” MacLaughlin shouted back while Billings and he tried to form themselves into the rock-face without moving.
“What did the idiot think we’d done?” Billings said quietly. “Grown wings and flown away?”
“Probably,” MacLaughlin said. “He’d have been hoping we’re dead and flying with the angels. Now he’ll have to think of some reason why he can’t help us. And he will, you mark my words.”
“It’s too dangerous being under you near the rock face,” Caruthers shouted from behind the boulder. “Can you make your way down by yourself?”
MacLaughlin moved his grip to another rock. Several small splinters broke free and trickled down the face. “The rocks a lot more unstable than I thought. It’d be better if we go up and over. Can you go back up to the rim of the valley walls, and then work your way around to find us?”
“That’ll take too long,” Caruthers shouted. “The men and horses are about done in. We’ll go back a ways, set up camp, and wait for you to work your way down and then come and join us.”
“Fine, Sir. Put the kettle on and we’ll join you for a cuppa, just as soon as we squirm our way out of this dung bucket you’ve led us into.” MacLaughlin shouted back sarcastically.
“Now don’t go getting down in the mouth, Sergeant. It’s your own fault you’re stuck up there, you know,” Caruthers said. “You’re the one who decided to climb the rocks, not me.”
“And there you have it, lad,” MacLaughlin said quietly to Billings. “You can’t beat the bastards. They’re always responsible for the successes, but never the mistakes.”
“Well he does have a point, Bob,” Billings said. “It was our being clever dicks what led us into this.”
“Codswallup! This is just the latest cock-up, in a series of cock-ups, Sir Dick-wit has led people into.” MacLaughlin studied the rock-face. “We’re on our own, lad. But if we’re careful, we just might be able to climb down without burying ourselves under this mountain of gravel.”
Moving with almost comical caution, the two men slowly climbed down, testing every hand and foothold carefully before committing their weight to it.
At the bottom of the terrible descent, both men sank, trembling, to the ground.
“Will you look at that,” MacLaughlin said. “The bastard didn’t even leave someone to keep an eye on us.”
At the top of the rock-face, small pieces of gravel and sand trickled out from under a large rock that was supporting an even bigger slab.
Billings picked up a fractured piece of rock, held it up and turned it to confirm the golden light being reflected from its jagged edge. In the way of a man amazed at what he’d found, he whistled.
The rock supporting the slab shifted, then suddenly dropped three feet, changing the pivot point under the larger slab. The sudden change of levered pressure caused the rocks pinning the slab’s foot to erupt. The slab pivoted and dropped twelve feet before striking another rock. The impact caused the slab to bounce clear of the rock-face and begin tumbling.
MacLaughlin and Billings heard the slab break loose and strike the lower rock like a gunshot report. Both men looked up and saw the slab tumbling towards them. MacLaughlin was too terrified to move. He sat there petrified as the slab fell.
Billings leapt to his feet clutching the rock he’d been inspecting, and began to run.
The slab’s end hit the ground four feet behind the running man. Like a giant fly swatter, the slab slammed flat. In what seemed like slow motion, MacLaughlin saw Billings being crushed. Only the hand holding the fractured rock survived the swat. It sheared off from its arm to bounce free amongst the blood and gore that shot out from under the descending slab.
MacLaughlin rose to his feet. Moving slowly, he walked over and picked up the only part of Billings that was left. Prying the fingers open, he was about to discard the rock when the glint of reflected light caught his eye.
Holding Billings’ severed hand in one hand, and the gold bearing rock in the other, MacLaughlin turned back to the rock-face. “Sweet Jesus, you’re a cruel country. But I know your secret now, you bitch,” MacLaughlin said. “And you’ll not make me run.” He raised his voice to the roar he normally used only on the parade ground. “Do you hear me, you whore? I’m not going to run. I’ll be back. I promise you I’ll be back.”
Harrington stood holding the bridle of the chestnut thoroughbred Claire was astride. “This isn’t good, Claire. You scandalize the community enough with your refusing to ride sidesaddle. Coming with me on a journey into the wilderness is out of the question.”
“Nonsense. I’m only going with you out to Aunty Joan’s place at Richmond. And on these horses,” Claire indicated her thoroughbred and Dennis’s gray with a nod of her head. “We’ll be there this afternoon. There’s no impropriety in that.”
“The hell there’s not,” Harrington said. “Your Aunty Joan’s coming to town for the ball. And you know it.”
“No I don’t. I haven’t seen her in months. I told Father you’re going out to Richmond to talk to a man about some land we may be able to get. He said I could go with you if I stay at Aunty Joan’s. So there it is. I’m coming with you.”
“And if we meet Joan on the road. Will you turn around and come back with her?”
“Of course. It wouldn’t be proper if I didn’t.” Claire leaned down to whisper. “But between you and me. I’m going to go out of my way to make damn sure we don’t meet her and Uncle Jim.”
Harrington laughed. “All right. You can come with me as far as Richmond. But the land I’m going to look at is on the other side of the mountains, so you’ll have to do what your father said, and stay at your Aunty’s.”
Claire leaned further forward, gripped Dennis’s head, kissed him quickly and chuckled. “Father advised me what to look for in the land. He didn’t tell me how long I had to stay at Joan’s. Now come on. We’re wasting time.” She turned the horse and squeezed him with her thighs while saying, “Get up, Brutus. Let’s show Miss Waratina your heels while we can.”
With a clatter of hooves and flying gravel, the gelding galloped for the gate and the road beyond.
Harrington leapt into his saddle. Without any urging, the gray mare took off after the bigger horse.
A mile later, the gray’s stamina began to tell. A half mile later, with the two horses thundering along, neck to neck, and people leaping off the track to get out of the way, Harrington reached out and caught hold of Claire’s reins.
“Enough,” he said through the laughter and cheers of those who’d seen the chase. “We’ve still got a ways to go. So let’s not blow them before they’ve had a chance to do their job.”
Claire laughed. “That’s not the message I was getting from you this morning. You tried hard enough to wear me out before you scampered out through the window. Sometimes I feel you’re more concerned about your horse than you are about me.”
“Get out of it.” Harrington grinned at her, released her reins and straightened in his saddle. “It was you who was crawling all over me when I woke this morning. You have no appreciation of a male’s need to rest.”
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