“Aren’t you coming back?” Elias asked. He could see Jack was weary, too.
“No, Ernie. I will search a while longer,” Jack said. “If Max isn’t at the house, leave the back gate open for him, and put Jasper and Rex in the barn for the night. If Max comes back by himself, I want him to be able to get in,” Jack said.
When he got back to the house, Elias looked for Max in the garden, but he wasn’t there. He was about to take Jasper and Rex to the barn, when Abbey called him from the backdoor.
“Has Mr. Hawker found Max yet, Elias?” She’d been checking the garden periodically herself.
“No,” Elias said sullenly. “He’s asked me to put Jasper and Rex in the barn for the night and leave the gate open. Will you tell Marie and Elsa to feed them in the barn and see that they have water?”
“Yes, of course,” Abbey said. “Do you think Max will come back tonight if Mr. Hawker doesn’t find him first?”
Elias shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I think, does it?”
Abbey was taken aback by his coldness. “I was only asking for an opinion,” she said.
Elias looked at her for a few moments in silence. “I think something has happened to the dog,” he said. “More than likely we’ll find him dead or never find him at all.”
“Mr. Hawker will be heartbroken,” Abbey said, her eyes misting. She’d become fond of Max in the short time she’d known him. She couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to him. She wondered why Elias would think the dog was dead.
“He’ll get over it,” Elias said, and disappeared through the gate.
Abbey was stunned, and for a few moments stared at the empty space where he’d been standing. She thought Elias was a rather heartless man and wondered what had made him that way.
Sybil had heard Elias’s voice from the kitchen, and when Abbey went inside, Sybil asked her if the manager had any news.
“No,” Abbey said. “He thinks Max won’t ever be found, or will be found dead. When I said your son would be heartbroken, he just said that he’d have to get over it. What a truly callous man he is.”
“Most people who work the land seem heartless when it comes to animals. They’re just matter of fact about them because they are constantly dealing with accidents and death, usually from snake-bites or sending livestock to market. They can’t afford to become attached. My son is the exception to the rule, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
Sabu suddenly stormed into the house. “There are dogs in the barn,” he declared. “How can I pray in the barn with dogs in there?”
“They’ll be tired, so they won’t bother you, Sabu,” Sybil said.
“I need to have complete tranquility to pray,” he said almost hysterically. “I can’t be in the company of dogs.”
“Max is missing, and Mr. Hawker asked Elias to put the other two dogs in the barn so that the garden gate can be left open all night in case he comes home,” Abbey informed him.
“You’ll just have to find somewhere else to pray, Sabu,” Sybil added unsympathetically.
Sabu’s eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared. He was obviously not happy that something important to him was being treated as if it were of no significance.
Abbey sensed an argument brewing, and she wasn’t in the mood. She was too worried about Jack and Max. “You could pray on the balcony, Sabu,” she suggested. “It’s peaceful up there.”
“Bah,” Sabu said angrily. “How can it be peaceful with so many people in the house?” He threw his hands in the air and walked away.
“He’ll sulk for days now,” Sybil said, rolling her eyes.
“Hopefully Max will return tonight, and then Jasper and Rex can go back in the garden and sleep in their kennels,” Abbey said.
Elsa and Marie fed Jasper and Rex in the barn, as instructed, and left them a bucket of water. The dogs had been out much longer than usual and were very weary, so they soon curled up on the straw and went straight to sleep.
***
Another hour passed, and Jack had still not returned. Abbey was going mad waiting for news, so she tried to keep busy. As Elsa and Marie had already retired to their rooms, she looked for chores to do. She intended to try to avoid Sabu, but he made it easy by disappearing after dinner, still in a huff. She didn’t know whether he’d gone to the balcony to pray or to his room, which was on the ground floor opposite the kitchen.
Sybil made a pot of tea to share, so Abbey washed the cups and saucers afterwards, and then collected some washing to take to the laundry. She had just deposited it in the laundry trough to be done by Marie the next day, when she thought she heard a strange noise and froze. It was quite dark in the laundry. She hadn’t brought a lantern out with her, so the only light spilled from the kitchen window into the garden, with only faint light reaching the open door to the laundry. The only sounds she should have heard were insects hurling themselves against the kitchen window, attracted by the light, and the chirping of male crickets in the grass. Abbey’s heart began to race. She hadn’t imagined the noise. There was enough light to make out the table in the laundry, a cupboard, and a wash trough, so she would have been able to see someone standing nearby in the shadows.
“Who’s there?” Abbey asked, glancing under the table. There was nothing there but a basket and two buckets, one containing cleaning rags. Then she heard the noise again. It was almost a whimper, and it had come from the direction of the trough. Abbey bent to peer under the trough, which was behind the door, hidden in the shadows. She glanced in the space underneath and thought she saw the outline of something. She stared at it, holding her breath, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Suddenly, she jumped. She was looking into two shining eyes that did not blink.
Abbey froze for a moment and tried to pull herself together. “Max, is that you?” she asked softly. She was sure if it had been an intruder, he would have jumped out and attacked her by now. When nothing happened, she slowly bent down and looked again. Then, in the darkness, she could make out the white tip of the dog’s tail protruding from under the trough. It was Max.
“Max, what are you doing under there?” she asked, relieved. “And why are you hiding? You’ve had everyone worried sick about you, me included.” When he didn’t come out, she wondered if something was wrong and knelt down. To get closer, she got down on all fours. The palm of her right hand landed in something sticky on the floor.
“Ugh,” she said and lifted her hand to look at it. It took a moment for her to realise the dark stain was blood. Abbey’s own blood ran cold. Obviously, Max had been hurt. “Oh, no,” she said, trying to see Max again. But it was too dark under the trough. “Come out, boy,” she asked, but the dog refused. She tried harder to cajole him, but he still wouldn’t come out.
Abbey stood up. “I’ll be back in a minute, Max,” she said. Pulling the door closed, so he couldn’t run away, she ran to the kitchen to fetch a lantern. She ran back to the laundry, went inside, and shut the door behind her. She placed the lantern on the floor, where she could see droplets of blood from the doorway and smears of blood near the trough. She knelt down again.
Max was leaning on the wall under the trough. He looked terrible. His eyes were dull, his head was hanging, and he was trembling. Abbey looked him over. His body seemed fine, but then she looked underneath him and gasped. His back leg, the one nearest the wall, was covered in blood, and there was a terrible wound. Abbey was shocked to see that there was something sticking out of the dog’s leg.
“Oh, God,” she groaned, feeling sick. “What have you done to yourself?” Had he gotten tangled in a fence? Her eyes filled with tears. She wished Jack would come home.
Abbey panicked. She didn’t know what to do. The dog’s wound was bleeding profusely, and she had to stop it before he bled to death. She decided to fetch Elias.
Leaving the lantern and shutting the door behind her, Abbey
ran out of the back gate and headed for the manager’s cottage to find Elias. Luckily there was enough moonlight to illuminate her way. She was passing the tack room, beside the stables, when she caught sight of Elias putting his saddle and bridle away.
“Elias,” she called. “Max has come back, and he’s hurt badly.”
Elias left what he was doing and came towards her. “Where is he?”
“In the laundry, under the trough. He has a terrible wound on his back leg.”
Abbey and Elias hurried back to the laundry. Without a word, Elias bent down to see Max. The dog had been sitting up, leaning on the wall when Abbey left, but now he was lying down, and there was a lot more blood around his leg.
Elias looked at the animal’s leg in silence. Then he stood up. “I’ll get my gun,” he said.
“What?” Abbey said in disbelief. “What for?”
“He has to be put out of his misery. He won’t last long, anyway,” Elias said.
“You can’t shoot him,” Abbey said, on the verge of panic.
“It’s the kindest thing to do,” Elias said unemotionally.
“No,” Abbey said, her dismay turning to anger. “He’s Mr. Hawker’s dog, and he’s the only one who can make that decision. He loves Max. He’ll try to save him, I know he will.”
“I’m the farm manager, and I’m the authority when Jack isn’t here. He’ll not thank me for watching his dog bleed to death.” Before Abbey could object further, Elias left the laundry and headed for his cottage.
Abbey looked down at Max. His big brown eyes were open and looking at her, as if pleading for help. She knew he must be in terrible pain, but he’d bravely made it all the way home. How could Elias even consider shooting him? “Don’t worry, Max, I won’t let him …” She couldn’t say the words out loud. With only a few minutes to spare, she struggled to push the cupboard and table against the door, which didn’t have a lock.
Abbey had only just got the table up against the cupboard, which was against the door, when Elias returned. He tried to open the door, but Abbey was leaning on the table.
“Go away,” she cried, breathless from the effort of pushing the heavy cupboard. “You are not coming in. If you don’t want to help, at least let me try to save the dog.”
“This has to be done, so open the door,” Elias demanded impatiently. “If you don’t, I’ll break it down.”
“Go away,” Abbey yelled. She pushed against the table, but she could still feel Elias lean his weight on the door. Slowly the table and cupboard began to slide.
“Stop,” Abbey yelled. “You are not coming in.”
“What’s going on?” Abbey heard someone ask sternly.
She felt faint with relief. It was Jack.
“What are you doing, Elias?”
“Jack,” Abbey called before Elias could answer him. “Max is here, and he’s hurt.”
“What?”
Abbey pulled the table away from the door and then struggled to move the cupboard aside. The door opened wide enough for Jack to enter. He seemed confused about what she was doing, but his attention was drawn to Max, lying under the trough. “Oh, Max, what happened to you?” he asked gently. Ernie had found what he thought was a blood trail leading towards the road. Jack had been terribly worried that Max had been seriously injured. He knew he wouldn’t have run off, but he didn’t understand why the trail went towards the road. It was certainly out of character.
The dog’s tail barely moved as Jack knelt before him and examined his leg. For a few moments, he stared at the wound, shocked by how bad it was.
“Abbey, go inside and get towels, a clean bowl of water, and some iodine. Grab a couple of those bandages that Doctor Ashbourne left behind for Clementine’s father.”
Abbey wondered if Jack was trying to get rid of her. She knew he must have seen the gun Elias was holding. “You won’t shoot Max, will you?” she asked.
Jack blinked in shock. “What? Of course not. Hurry,” he said. “Max has already lost a lot of blood.”
Abbey looked at Elias as she passed him. His expression gave nothing away.
When Abbey got back, Jack was talking to Max, telling him they were going to help him and that he had to be brave. Her heart melted.
He asked her to lay one towel out on the table, and then he asked Elias to help him lift the dog onto it. Max was weak, so he didn’t put up any resistance. Jack gently washed the blood away from the wound, and then he asked Elias to hold Max down. “Keep him steady,” he said. “This is going to hurt like hell. He might jump and fall off the table.”
Elias did as he asked, while Abbey laid her hands on the dog’s head and tried to soothe him. Jack gritted his teeth and took hold of the object in the dog’s leg. He quickly pulled it out. Max yelped and tried to jump up, but Elias held him steady.
“I’m sorry I had to hurt you, Max, but the worst is over now, boy,” Jack said soothingly. “You’re a brave dog, and you’ll be all right. I promise.” His tone belied his words. Obviously, he wasn’t so sure.
Jack looked at Abbey. “He’s lost so much blood. I don’t know whether he’ll make it, but we have to give him a chance. At least the bone wasn’t broken.” It was obvious to Abbey that Jack was trying to be courageous when what he really wanted to do was break down.
Jack quickly but thoroughly cleaned the wound and bandaged it firmly to stop the bleeding. He then asked Elias to grab some blankets from the stables and take them to the barn to make a bed for Max. When Elias had gone, Jack asked Abbey why she’d barricaded the laundry door.
Abbey looked at him blankly for a few moments. How could she tell him that his manager, a man he trusted, had been going to shoot Max?
“And why were you yelling at Elias?” Jack asked. “Surely he just wanted to help Max.”
Abbey couldn’t believe that he had interpreted the situation that way. “Do you think I was trying to stop Elias from helping Max?” she asked incredulously.
“It looked that way,” Jack said, absently picking up the object he’d removed from the dog’s leg and examining it.
Abbey couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but Jack was now preoccupied with trying to work out what the object was. He couldn’t make it out as it was, so he washed it in the bowl of water Abbey had fetched. She was watching him as his expression went from interest, to disbelief, to fury.
“What is it?” Abbey asked, looking closely at the object.
“It’s the tip of a spear,” Jack said. “Max must have been speared by an Aboriginal man.” His face grew red. “The spear head must have broken when it hit the bone in his leg.” He thought about the blood trail, leading to the road. Had they been hunting Max?
“That’s it,” Jack exclaimed angrily as he thought of the terrible pain Max had suffered. “They’ve gone too far. I thought spearing Tom might have been an accident, that they had only been trying to frighten us, but this was no accident.”
“What are you going to do?” Abbey asked.
“They can’t get away with this.” His voice trembled with anger. “Tom, or any one of you, could have been killed. It’s a miracle Max is still alive. He didn’t deserve to be speared while he was working the sheep. I had been going to work something out that would have benefited everyone, but not now.”
Abbey just looked at him, appalled by his grim determination.
CHAPTER 19
After Max was settled on a soft bed of blankets in the straw in the barn, Jasper and Rex approached him cautiously and sniffed him, concentrating their efforts on his bandaged wound. Max seemed to know they were there, but he didn’t acknowledge them with a tail wag, even when Rex licked his face. The dogs then settled down nearby, as if they knew their presence was a comfort. Jack offered Max water, but he just closed his eyes.
“He’s very weak,” Jack said to Elias as Abbey hovered in the background near the do
or.
“It might have been kinder to end his suffering,” Elias said casually. He glanced in Abbey’s direction.
Abbey waited tensely for Jack’s response.
“If he makes it through the night, he’s got a chance,” Jack said.
Abbey was taken aback. She’d imagined Jack would be furious, but he seemed to have that unemotional, pragmatic attitude that Sybil had mentioned most farmers had. That confused her. Sybil had said her son was different.
Elias nodded. “I’ll head off to bed if you don’t need anything else,” he said.
“No, you go,” Jack said.
Elias walked by Abbey, but she kept her eyes lowered.
“Will you come to the house for something to eat?” Abbey asked Jack in a small voice when they were alone.
“No, I’ll stay here with Max for awhile,” he replied.
Abbey had anticipated his response, so she went back to the house and made him a sandwich from the roasted leg of lamb that Sabu had cooked. While she was doing so, Sybil came downstairs.
“I thought I heard someone,” she said. “Is Jack back yet?” She’d been too worried to sleep.
Abbey explained that Max had been hurt, without going into too many details, and that Jack was sitting with him in the barn. “I’m just taking him something to eat because he won’t leave Max.”
“That’s good of you, Abbey, and typical of Jack,” Sybil said, yawning. It was quite late, and the others had already gone to bed. “I’m very happy my son is home, safe and sound, but once that dog recovers, he had better not come into the kitchen to steal food again, or he might not survive the consequences.”
“Did you consider the possibility that he may not have stolen the ham?” Abbey asked, thinking that it was unfair that poor Max was on the receiving end of her anger, especially after all he’d been through.
“I would if there were another explanation for the ham’s disappearance,” Sybil said.
“Sabu was cross with me for serving ham on a Hindustani holy day,” Abbey said, hoping Sybil would come to the obvious conclusion.
Shadows in the Valley Page 28