Tarrapaldi

by Wayne T Mathews

  Nathaniel frowned. “Quickly, I’d say. I don’t trust Caruthers any further than I could spit an anvil. So we’ll need to get our claims in just as soon we can.”

  Harrington nodded while still looking down the valley. “You’re already one hell of a judge of men, m’man.”

  When Tunggaree saw Nathaniel shake hands with Harrington, he came over with Tarrapaldi and looked at the map while Muchuka stayed back, with her spears still at the ready.

  Tarrapaldi placed her hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder. “Has he agreed?”

  “Yes. But we’re going to have to do some things quickly. We’ll need to round up at least 100 horses, and take them down to Sydney.”

  “100 horses?” Tunggaree gently shook his head. “That won’t be easy. They’re wild, and very fast.”

  “True. But let me talk to the Pike boys.” Nathaniel looked over to where the brothers were still talking. “Billy, would you and your brothers be interested in doing a job for us? Lieutenant Harrington has agreed to grant us the valley, and lease us a tract north of here as well. But we have to round up at least 100 horses and deliver them to Sydney. Will you lend a hand? We’ll pay you well.”

  Billy walked over, his brothers following, to look down on the stock they could see in the valley. “There’s a pass out of the valley a mile or three west of here that the horses know about,” Billy said to his brothers. “If we block it off at the top, and then come down and drive them into the pass, we’ll have them boxed in. What d’ya say? Are you game? It shouldn’t take more than but a week or two.”

  “Too right,” Richard said after looking at Andrew’s huge grin. “Does he want them broke, do you think? ‘Cause that’ll take more than a couple of weeks if he does.”

  Nathaniel smiled when he saw the young men’s enthusiasm. “Not this time, fellahs. We haven’t the time to break them. The army’s calling for the animals now, and we need to prove our ability to supply them. When we negotiate the contract we want though, I’d be happy to try for a saddle-broke bonus. If you want the work, that is.”

  “Want the work?” Andrew said. “Mate, there’s no finer work around than being a horse breaker.”

  Nathaniel looked at Harrington, who returned the look, and then shrugged before saying, “To each his own.”

  “That’s exactly right, dear,” Claire said. “And while the boys get on with their work, I think we should get on with ours. We’ve got a lot of miles to travel. You’ve got a survey to complete. And we need to decide where to put the homestead.”

  Harrington smiled at Claire before turning to Nathaniel. “She’s right. I need to look at the land before I can write my report and recommendations. What say I meet you back here in five days?” Harrington asked. “Will that give you enough time to get the barriers up and round up the horses?”

  Nathaniel turned to face the brothers. “Billy?”

  “Shouldn’t take us but a day or so to put the barriers up,” Billy said. “And then, if Tunggaree points out where the horses gather, it’ll only take a couple of days hard riding to pen them. Give it another day for them to have a spell, and get used to us being around. And yeah, we should be ready to drive them down to Sydney town in five days or so.”

  “Fair enough.” Harrington stood, folded the map and put it back in his saddlebag. “Mount up, Claire. We’ve got some serious riding to do over the next few days. Before it’s over, I’ll wager you’re wishing to God you hadn’t been so headstrong.”

  “Take it easy on her, Dennis,” Billy said. “That gelding of hers isn’t carrying as much weight, but he’s not as sure footed, or have the stamina your mountain mare has.”

  “Brutus’ll be fine, Billy,” Claire said. “It’s my backside that’ll be the problem. But what the hell, big boy.” She grinned at Harrington. “You’ve been telling me for ages, that I’m a pain in the rear. Well here’s your big chance to prove it. Lead on m’man. Do your damnedest. I’ll be with you at the end, or I’ll be dead. You can bet the bank on that,” Claire said.

  Harrington shook his head, swung into the saddle and trotted off. Claire followed while waving back at the people they were leaving.

  “Bloody brave words for a pretty thing like that,” Billy said. “Do you think she’s up to it?”

  “Buggered if I know,” Nathaniel said. “But I’d not be surprised if you shucked her down, you’d find a big brass pair betwixt her knees.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  MacLaughlin walked over and stood beside Caruthers, who was sitting, filling in details on the map he’d been working on since the rock fall.

  “We’re running low on rations, Sir. How much longer, do you think, before we go back?”

  Caruthers continued shading in the area he was working on without looking up. “Being out in the bush getting a bit much for you, Sergeant?”

  “No, Sir, it’s not. Being in this valley is not a hardship. But if we don’t leave for Bathurst soon, the men’re going to be hungry before we get there.”

  “Ah, yes. The men. Wouldn’t do to have them go hungry while I do my work, now would it?” Caruthers folded the map and placed it in his sling. “All right, Sergeant. Have my horse brought over, mount the men, and we’ll head for home.”

  “Which pass would you prefer us to leave by?” MacLaughlin asked.

  “I should think the one we came in on would be the quickest.” Caruthers said. “And I wasn’t looking at the land with mapping in mind, at the time. So, yes. We’ll go back the way we came.”

  “Oh, oh.” Billy straightened from helping to haul a log into position. “We’ve got company coming.”

  “What?” Nathaniel saw everybody else looking down the track that led to the valley. “There’s getting to be more people around here than’re at a county fair.”

  Tarrapaldi placed her hand on Nathaniel’s arm, preventing him from going over to an outcrop that gave a good view of the track coming up from the valley. “It’s the soldiers, Nathaniel. We need to hide until they’ve gone by.”

  “How do you know it’s the soldiers?”

  “The noises they’re making, and we’re just beginning to get whiffs of their smell.”

  Nathaniel lifted his head and sniffed. “I can’t hear or smell anything.”

  Tarrapaldi let go of his arm and stepped back with her eyes downcast. “I know. But if you say you can when you tell us to hide, it will help to establish your reputation as a Koradji.”

  Nathaniel glanced at her before looking around at the others. “It smells and sounds as though Caruthers and his troop have decided to come back up this pass. Billy, you go with Tunggaree and Muchuka. Take Bo with you, and stay out of sight until they’ve gone. Richard, Andrew. You two keep working. When the troopers get here, be friendly. And when they ask, tell them your working for Lieutenant Harrington, who’s been commissioned by the Governor to bring in horses for the army. Move lively, Lads,” Nathaniel said. “We’ve not got a lot of time before they’re here.”

  Everybody rushed to obey his commands, including Tunggaree, Tarrapaldi and Muchuka, after Billy translated what Nathaniel had said.

  Within minutes, the area was cleared of any sign that more than two had been there. Andrew and Richard were grunting with the effort of moving another log when the troopers came up to the barricade.

  “Hello,” Caruthers said. “What are you two up to?”

  “Morning, Guv.” Richard wiped sweat from his face with a rag he pulled from his hip pocket. “Beautiful morning for it, isn’t it?”

  “It is a beautiful morning,” Caruthers said. “But I asked you what you’re doing.”

  “Why, we’re building us a barricade, so as to catch us some of the brumbies, the wild horses, that live here abouts.”

  “And who, may I ask, gave you permission to catch horses on crown land?”

  “Lieutenant Harrington. He’s got a letter
from the Governor to come out here and get as many of the mountain horses as we can for the army.”

  “Really?” Caruthers was startled to hear Harrington’s name, his eyes darted around the area. “And just where is Lieutenant Harrington at this time?”

  “Don’t rightly know, Guv. Him and Miss Claire headed off west of here. Said something about having to survey some land. Said he’d be back to help us drive the horses down to Sydney in a few days,” Richard said.

  “Claire Wordsworth is with him? Out here? How many troops has he as an escort?”

  “No escort, Guv. Just him and Miss Claire. They headed off that way,” Richard pointed with his chin. “You can see their tracks as plain as day, if you care to look.”

  Caruthers turned to MacLaughlin. “The boy’s lying. It’s totally preposterous that Claire would be out here with Harrington, unchaperoned. And him without an escort of troops. She simply wouldn’t do it.”

  Caruthers paused, looked off in the direction Richard had indicated, and then back at MacLaughlin. “Unless of course, there’s something underhand going on. — Sergeant,” Caruthers said, “I want you to gather up the rations we have left. Give them to one of the men. I’m going to take these two half-castes and the man with the rations, and track down Harrington. I want you to take the troop back to Bathurst, resupply them, and then come back here.”

  “And then what?”

  Caruthers glared at MacLaughlin. “And then, Sergeant, you’ll set up a base camp before you bring half the troop, and follow the signs we’ll leave for you. Miss Wordsworth is in mortal danger. And we will help her.”

  “Miss Claire’s in no more danger than we are, Guv. You’re making it sound like the lieutenant done something wrong. But the truth is, when he left here, she went trotting after him with a grin on ‘er dial like a cat what ate the budgie.” Andrew said.

  Caruthers frowned, then turned to MacLaughlin. “The man’s a liar. Though it’s probable she would feel safer with Harrington, than with a couple of half-castes.”

  “Can I speak with you for a moment, in private, Sir?” MacLaughlin moved his horse off and waited until Caruthers came up to him. “The man said Lieutenant Harrington is doing a survey. It would be best if we filled out our claims, for the land we want in this valley, and got them off to Sydney as soon as possible.”

  “What’s your rush, Sergeant? There’s any amount of land to be had. And Harrington is surveying land to the west of here. Not this valley.”

  “Sir, Lieutenant Harrington knows the easiest way to travel this country is to stay on the ridge lines. He may well be traveling around the rim and looking down on the valley while he surveys it.”

  “It won’t matter if he is. I’m the land commissioner now, not him. I decide what claims are submitted for approval.”

  “Sir, please, humour me. If Lieutenant Harrington has a letter from the Governor, commissioning him to come out here and get horses, then the odds are, he’ll have the Governor’s ear.” MacLaughlin shifted in his saddle. “If he gets his claim in before ours are approved, he’ll get the land. Not us.”

  Caruthers studied MacLaughlin for a few seconds. “Why are you so concerned about this land?” Caruthers asked “What’s so special about it to you?”

  MacLaughlin shifted in his saddle again, took the rock from his pocket, and handed it over in a way that no one else could see what he’d done.

  Caruthers palmed the rock, pulled it close to his chest and looked down. His eyes bulged for a second before he looked around, and hurriedly put it in his pocket. Leaning closer to the sergeant, he whispered, “Where did you get this, dammit?”

  “Billings had it in his hand when the rock slab swatted him. He’d only just picked it up off the ground.”

  “And just when did you intend telling me about it?” Caruthers demanded.

  “When were you going to tell me about the rocks, the ‘magic stones’, you saw being loaded on the cart?” MacLaughlin replied.

  “You knew they were gold?”

  “Not at first,” MacLaughlin said. “I worked it out when I realized there’s gold in this valley. I was waiting to see what you would do, but Harrington being out here with a letter from the Governor changes everything. I’m going to have to tell you about my plan, and how you’re going to be an important part of it.” MacLaughlin drew his pistol, and laid it across his lap so that it wasn’t pointed at anyone. But the intent was clear. “As of now, Clive, you work for me. You don’t have to, by the way.”

  “You wouldn’t dare. There’s witnesses all round us. You’d be hanged.”

  “If I shoot you, Clive,” MacLaughlin smiled cynically. “The only question any of these men will ask me is, what’s the story I want them to tell? They don’t like you, Clive. They don’t know anything about the gold, and they’re not going to. But they do know that’s good land down there. They know it’s fully stocked. And if it wasn’t for me, they know you’d have kept all of it for yourself. Now, do you work for me? Or are you going to have a tragic accident?”

  “Officers do not work for enlisted men!”

  “Wrong answer, Clive.” MacLaughlin cocked his pistol and began to lift it. “One more chance.”

  “All right, damn you, all right,” Caruthers said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “That’s the spirit,” MacLaughlin leaned forward and spoke even softer than he had been. “I want you to send all the men back to Bathurst. You and I will take one tracker and find Lieutenant Harrington and Miss Wordsworth.”

  “And then what?” Caruthers asked. “Finding Harrington and Claire won’t get our claims in any quicker.”

  “No. But it will stop them putting theirs in.”

  “We can’t go running off on some wild-goose chase, Guv. We’ve got work to do,” Andrew said. “If you want to go find Miss Saucy-Britches, you do it yourself. Their signs clear enough. We’re too busy.”

  “Young man,” Caruthers said. “I don’t care how busy you are. Miss Wordsworth is in moral, if not mortal danger. One of you will come with the sergeant and me, and lead us to them, while the other stays here to work if you wish. Or you will both go back to Bathurst under arrest, for failing to give assistance required by the King’s men.”

  Andrew frowned and then spoke to Richard in the Dharug language. “This bludgers full of more wind than a bloated poddy calf. One of us better go with him though, or sure as hell, we’ll wind up in the lockup, and being blamed for these dipsticks turning up missing.

  Richard spoke in the same language, “You’ve not got much hope of catching up to the other two, what with this two riding the nags they’re on.”

  “True. But you never know,” Andrew said. “If Harrington stops every now and then, to write his notes and give Claire a spell, we might catch up.”

  “I don’t think much of your chances. But if you’re going to go walkabouts with these drongoes, take the carthorse,” Richard said. “He’s about the same speed as their two. And that way, we’ll still have three good horses here for the muster.”

  “Spend days up on that plodder? Not me. You do it. It’s your idea.”

  “God, you can be a sook sometimes,” Richard said to his elder brother, before walking off to saddle the chunky horse.

  After the troopers left for Bathurst, and Richard led Caruthers and MacLaughlin away to the west, the five who’d been hiding came out to join Andrew.

  “Good thinking about the carthorse, mate,” Billy said. “We’ve only got two saddles now, but with three good horses, we’ll do all right.”

  “Speak Dharug,” Tarrapaldi said. “I’ll interpret for Nathaniel, and that way, we’ll all understand what you’re saying.”

  “Makes sense,” Billy said, changing effortlessly to the language the only mother he’d ever known, had taught him. “We already know where one mob is. Andrew and I will go out and bring them in. We’l
l select a half dozen or so, and break them this afternoon, so we’ll have some spares for what’s ahead.”

  Nathaniel couldn’t understand Billy’s spoken words. But a heartbeat after he said them, Tarrapaldi repeated them in his mind. The feeling was eerie, but Nathaniel was able to follow the plan being laid out by the competent young bushman.

  When Billy and Andrew left to bring in the first herd of horses, Nathaniel worked with Tarrapaldi and Muchuka to finish the yard they needed to hold the horses. Tunggaree went off to locate the other herds, promising the girls he’d be back before dark.

  Chapter Twenty

  “We don’t seem to be traveling as many miles as I thought we would,” Claire said, looking over Harrington’s shoulder at the map he was studying.

  “Doesn’t seem to be much point. Everything I’ve seen so far indicates this map’s completely accurate. The detail and accuracy is incredible. It’s almost as though Nathaniel was looking at the country through the eyes of an eagle when he drew it.”

  “Are you sure it was Nathaniel who drew it?”

  “What do you mean? Who else would have done it?”

  “What about the old black fellah. If the stories we’ve been hearing since we were children are true, he may well have been looking at the country through the eyes of an eagle.” Claire said.

  Harrington looked up from the map. “Stuffing nonsense, woman. You know as well as I do, those stories about the Koradjies, and the Kadatchies, are fairy tales.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” Claire looked at the map, then raised her eyes to look down the valley they were in. “This isn’t as big as the Valley of Wonggaroa, but it’s almost as pretty. Do you think this would be a good place to build our homestead?” Claire asked.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Harrington said. “We could put the big house over there on that bit of a rise. If we built a verandah across the front, we could sit out there in the evenings and have a marvelous view.”