to hurry in case one looked over his shoulder and noticed me.
Once on the north side, the road abruptly turned left behind
the last row of houses and my quarry disappeared from sight as
they did the same. I spurred the horse until I reached the corner
and once again slowed down, taking the corner quietly, while I
kept a sharp lookout for my three dubious friends. They were
no longer in sight, but three brown horses, two still decked out
with travelling kit, were tied to the back fence of one of the
houses along the row. I went past slowly and could plainly see
into their yard, before I broke into a sprint to the west end of
town on my way back to the stables.
I walked from there to the boarding house with my rifle,
scabbard, canteens etc., and deposited my burdens on the front
verandah, where I knocked a few times before I opened the
door and stepped over the threshold.
After I had washed, the landlady approached to say that her
daughters would be back soon and would I like to join them in
the kitchen for some afternoon tea. I certainly would. I was
soon seated with a cup and a plate of warm scones in front of
me.
“Like some jam with those?” enquired my hostess.
73
“Yes, thank you. That would be nice.”
“You can call me Harriet if you like.” She gave me a subtle
smile and placed a small white bowl of orange jam in front of
me.
Harriet appeared to be approaching forty and was pleasant
looking, with blonde hair beginning to streak with grey. Her
kitchen was neat and roomy, with a large, rectangular, country-
style table, while pleasant baking smells wafted through the
whole room. Framed embroideries hung from one wall while a
wedding portrait of my hostess with someone who was
obviously her husband, hung from another.
Just then, the sound of feminine voices in the hallway
reached my ears and two young women emerged.
“Oh, hello,” said the older as they strolled to the bench
with a number of parcels. At a guess she would’ve been around
nineteen or twenty; her hair was up and her skirt long. They
deposited their burdens and the older one disappeared.
“She’ll be back in a minute,” confided Harriet, smirking.
The younger one sat down at the table. She was about ten and
oozed young lady charm; her hair was long and she sat
chatting to me as though she had known me all her life.
Obviously, they were used to having tea and talking with
strangers from afar.
Catherine, the older one, returned and looked immaculate
with her face scrubbed, a more feminine blouse that did her
considerable justice and her blonde hair brushed without a
strand out of place.
“You talk quite posh,” stated the younger one. “Are you
English?”
“No, I’m from New Zealand. My mother was a school
teacher.” I looked at the older one, who seemed to be
embarrassed by her younger sister’s directness. I also noticed
that she had the most arresting green eyes.
“Oh, that’s exciting. We’ve never had anyone from New
Zealand before.”
I looked back at the younger one. “Yes, I suppose.” I
wasn’t sure just how much I should tell them about that.
“Are your friends from New Zealand too?”
74
The older one gave her sister a sharp look. “Nellie! Don’t
be nosey!”
I laughed and smiled at Nellie, then swung my eyes back to
Catherine in time to catch her quickly look away.
“It’s alright, I don’t mind; no, they’re not from New
Zealand. One’s from Canada, one from Australia and one from
South Africa.”
“Oh, how exciting. It’s like the whole world is here.” All
three stared. There was no real point in hiding where we came
from; they would work it out soon enough.
Anyway, I needed to change the subject.
“The scones are nice. I’m glad the others aren’t here.”
Harriet smiled and sat down opposite to pour herself a cup of
tea. The words had hardly left my mouth though, when I could
hear the sound of feet and voices approaching.
“Afternoon ladies,” greeted the Colonel, who was first
through the door. “Ah Wilson, there you are. Trust you to find
the best place in the house.” He looked at the three women. “I
see you are more than adequately entertained too.”
“Tea and scones gentlemen?” enquired Harriet.
The Colonel beamed. “Why, thank you ma’am, pleased if
we do.”
Harriet rose from the table to fetch more cups, while to my
dismay an avalanche of hands grabbed at the plate of scones,
demolishing the pile in the blink of an eye. Harriet seemed to
be enjoying the sudden swell of male company and more
chairs were produced, the teapot refilled and more plates and
knives appeared. She must have noticed me looking at the
empty scone plate in disappointment, for she produced a bowl
covered with a wet tea towel that contained more scones.
While the others were still busy munching I grabbed the
biggest one.
“Well gentlemen,” said Harriet, “now that you are all
together, perhaps we can be formally introduced?”
“Why certainly, ma’am,” said the Colonel, standing
quickly to his most impressive height. “Forgive me my
manners ma’am; this is Harold Potts, Ambrose Floyd an’
Richard Wilson.” Harriet beamed at each of us. “An’ I’m
Colonel Anderson. Please call me Walt.”
75
Harriet’s eyes widened. “I’m the widow Harriet Walsh.
Please do call me Harriet.”
Afterwards, the four of us retired to the lounge while
Harriet and the girls cleaned up. Harriet had asked the Colonel
if we were dining in tonight; as it was not too late to do a roast,
if that would do. The Colonel democratically and emphatically
stated that we would be dining in, to the apparent
disappointment of Potts, who would have evidently preferred
to dine out, given, of course, that the army was paying. For
myself, I was pleased to be eating in. Catherine, naturally,
would be there too.
“Well fellows, how’d you get on?” I was keen to know if
they had turned up anything.
“Not a brass razoo,” declared Potts in undisguised disgust,
as if he had accumulated this failure on top of the not entirely
unanimous decision to eat in.
“Yeah, disappointing that,” agreed Colonel Anderson, who
seemed a little preoccupied. “How did things work out for
you?”
“My hunch may well have been correct. I spotted three
people of interest and followed them back to town.”
“You lost them?” Potts was busy stuffing tobacco into a
pipe. The Colonel had followed Potts’ lead and had his pipe
out too.
“No. Quite the contrary, I followed them to a house on the
north-east end of town.”
“Well! That’s good. Tomorrow you’d better spend some
&n
bsp; time wandering around and see if you can spot them. It’s time
we were able to spy on them for a change.”
Dinner was interesting. Once the roast was ready, we waited
while the women sat down, then the men sat down too. The
roast was great. Lamb, with lashings of potatoes, carrots and
gravy, all sprinkled with some kind of herb and dished on
posh-looking plates. Nellie chose to sit next to me so I could
see Catherine over her head. Catherine looked marvellous in a
dark blue velvet evening dress with tight waist and bodice; the
sleeves accented by long button-up cuffs that extended almost
to her elbows while the front was adorned with large domed,
cloth-covered buttons.
76
Various discussions were held on a variety of subjects, the
war and politics naturally taking precedence. All the while,
Harriet kept her eye on the Colonel, who I noted had the
largest plate of food.
Sometime later, the conversation began to lapse and no
doubt sensing a willing audience in Harriet, the Colonel began
reciting stories of his ‘Mountie’ days. There were bear
encounters and brushes with wolves while following criminals
through sleet and snow for hundreds of miles, over mountain
passes and through unlimited forests. Then stories of heroics
and Indians, along with brave dogs, which were followed by
stories of equally nasty and troublesome brutes.
One morning, one particularly troublesome brute had
apparently refused to come out of his doghouse. Because he
was the leader of the dog team, it was an exercise in the
politics of who was boss. The other dogs would not perform
without their lead dog, so the Colonel was obliged to crawl
headfirst into the brute’s kennel and bodily drag the snarling,
leg-braced, hackles-raised, fangs-bared, un-cooperative sod out
by the scruff and harness him up, thereby establishing once
and for all who was boss of the outfit; no less for the benefit of
the other dogs who bore witness to the entire performance and
were therefore also in no doubt about who was boss.
At this point a scan of the faces around the table revealed
that Harriet was spellbound, while the reticent Potts looked
like he could willingly kill the Colonel. Floydie was his usual
abstract self and would be dreaming about the never-never,
while Nellie kept wanting to ask me questions about all and
sundry, only to be constantly told by Harriet not to speak while
the adults were talking.
After a couple of hours I decided to excuse myself, so I
could sit outside on the verandah where a bench seat was
waiting. Potts and Floyd had already bolted for a watering hole
and by now even the Colonel appeared to be running low on
yarns with which to impress Harriet, who it seemed had an
inexhaustible capacity for absorbing his tales.
As soon as I stood up and announced my intentions, Nellie
wanted to come too, so I was pleased to note that Catherine
also stood up to announce that she would keep us company.
77
We walked up the hallway to the front of the house where
the verandah looked out onto the courtyard, pulled the seat up
close to the edge of the verandah to catch the moonlight and
sat down; Nellie on one side and Catherine on the other. Early
evening was my favourite time of day, halfway between the
heat of the daylight hours and the cool of the hours after
midnight.
The moon was a giant orb in the sky, having just risen, and
so bright that one could almost read a book from the light it
shed. On the other side of the road one could make out the
dark bulk of the railway station which was in deep shadow, the
moon rising slowly behind it. Only the odd small light was on;
there was no one about at this time of night, for the war had all
but closed it down as far as people traffic was concerned.
Nellie put her arm through mine.
“You’re my friend, aren’t you Richard?”
“Yes Nellie, I’m your friend.”
“Would you play with me tomorrow?”
“Sure, if I can.”
“We could play battleships, couldn’t we?”
“Maybe. I don’t know how to play battleships.” I lied. She
looked up at me with an expectant face.
“I could teach you, it’s easy, isn’t it Cath?”
“Yes, it is,” said Catherine, smiling. Nellie yawned.
“Look at you. It’s time for you to go to bed, anyway.”
“Aw, I’ve been wanting to talk to Richard and everybody
interrupts.”
“You can talk to Richard tomorrow. Come on, I’ll brush
your hair for you.” They disappeared inside.
I found a pillow and fluffed it up a bit, lying back with legs
stretched out, arms folded across my chest, content with the
world, or at least this part of it. The train station was still dark
and mysterious, the moon still having some way to rise before
the front side of the station was illuminated.
Half an hour later Catherine returned and sat down.
“She likes you.”
“I know. Do you like me?” It was a clumsy attempt to be
provocative.
78
“Mm, I may do.” She tossed her head; a wisp of a smile on
her face.
“Mm,” said I, mimicking. “That sounds cryptic.”
Her expression changed. “Does it matter?”
“No, only teasing. You don’t have to answer that.”
Her grin deepened. “Good. I wasn’t going to anyway.”
Next thing, there was this god-almighty bang and the night
erupted into a huge, eye-searing, fireball of light.
79
Chapter Nine
ILLWE, Cape Colony. South Africa
The shockwave blew us over backwards, seat and all.
Catherine screamed. As my back hit the deck a lump of wood
bounced from the wall behind and landed by my head.
Realising, I rolled on top of Catherine and just in time.
Seconds later, debris came hurtling down and crashed into the
front of the building. Around us windows shattered. Timber
with nails protruding and bits of door came hurtling out of the
sky while pieces of brick came down on the roof.
The clatter of fallout stopped. There was silence. Dazed
and injured, I raised my head to look. The bulk of the railway
station had changed; charred framing was visible. Roofing
timbers poked up like stripped saplings in the moonlight and
small fires flickered through the haze. The lights I saw earlier
were gone.
Catherine stirred.
“Are you all right?” My voice barely seemed to croak. I
rolled off her and tried to push the overturned seat away with
my foot, but it hardly budged. It turned out that the other side
of it was stacked with masonry and debris that would have hit
us, were it not for the seat.
Catherine too was dazed and confused. “What happened?”
“Catherine!” it was Harriet, but I was almost too numb to
register it. I struggled to get up and began to lift Catherine as
the Colonel materialised t
o assist me. She groaned, but back on
her feet she returned to life while the Colonel and I helped to
steady her as we moved towards the front door. Still in shock, I
tripped over a lump of masonry and left her entirely to the
Colonel, who swept her up and carried her down the hallway
to the kitchen, closely pursued by a distraught Harriet, who
was joined by a confused and wild-eyed Nellie.
I got up slowly, aware of aches, and staggered over to the
front door where I leaned against the doorframe to take a
breather. Anderson reappeared.
80
“Come with me.” He breezed past, heading for the road
and the railway station. I straightened, and lifting my head I
reluctantly followed, weaving a path through the trail of debris
that lay scattered all over the courtyard. By the time I caught
up he was standing in front of the station, glaring at the
devastation. The whole central front of the building was gone,
although the back and the ends still stood. I felt numb. Never
before had I witnessed anything like this. Small fires still
flickered and the light they created made the entire scene seem
ghastly. There was a tearing noise, followed by a crash as the
remaining roof parts slowly imploded, heaving up another
cloud of dust while the ends were left standing alone;
seemingly pathetic and useless. Nothing of the roof remained
for them to support.
People arrived in droves, hushed and staring. The whole
town would have heard it. Potts and Floyd materialised from
the throng, pushing their way through. They looked speechless
and glanced over at the boarding house.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yes.”
“Any damage?”
“Some.” They turned their eyes away from the building
and gave me an odd look, before heading for the boarding
house. Next thing, a doctor with his medical bag appeared.
“Anybody hurt?”
“You can try that house over there. There’s a young miss
who may need attention.” He too, turned towards the boarding
house.
Two policemen walked around the wreckage with lanterns,
trying to see if there were any bodies to be found, but without
success; although the return of daylight would possibly change
that. In the meantime, the Colonel had spotted the man from
the telegraph office and the two of them disappeared among
the crowd.
There was nothing more anyone could do, so I followed the
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