by Tony Parsons
After a few weeks Dianne felt that she had become part of the High Peaks operation because she often had to ask David to explain some aspect of management. Recording the bull figures was difficult at first. However, after a while she absorbed what was being done and became so proficient that she had no difficulty understanding the jargon tossed around by cattlemen in the agency office – quite an achievement for a girl of her age.
What made Dianne’s visits to High Peaks so enjoyable was that both David and Catriona were unfailingly kind to her. They would often send her home with a piece of beef or a side of lamb from Catriona’s coolroom. Emily would phone and thank them and tell David or Catriona that they didn’t have to send anything as they were managing quite well but it made no difference. Emily wanted to do something to repay their kindnesses but as much as she racked her brains, she couldn’t find a way to do it.
The three MacLeod children all expressed some interest in David’s computer program. They had all been introduced to computers at school and knew their way around them, as the saying goes. The degree of interest varied from child to child. Moira, in her quicksilver way, was very quick at picking up anything, and if her father was expounding some point to Dianne she would sit and listen with interest. However, as soon as David left the scene Moira would follow. Angus took a perfunctory interest but horses and dogs had greater appeal so he would never hang about for long. As he grew into his teens Angus was more interested in Dianne than the computer but she was several years older than him and her put-downs finally quenched his interest.
Of the three children Dougal was by far the most computer-literate, and Dianne found him an interesting boy and enjoyed his company. Dougal had absorbed the technical aspects of bull recording, and having all the bull records accessible via the computer was something that appealed to his intelligence. He was also very courteous, and would ask Dianne if she minded him sitting alongside her while she worked. This early experience of livestock recording was to stand him in good stead in later years.
When the children returned to boarding school Saturdays were much quieter. David and Catriona often went away for the day after giving Dianne the accounts and whatever else they wanted put on record.
Dianne’s visits to High Peaks continued for some years, until Moira finished boarding school and took over the computer. By this time Dianne had a very nice boyfriend and was quite happy to relinquish her Saturday excursions to High Peaks. The money she had earnt had been a big help to herself and her mother and she was very grateful to David and Catriona for their help. What Dianne managed to save went towards sending Sarah to Longreach Pastoral College.
David and Catriona marvelled at Dianne’s selflessness, but also wondered how Sarah would cope at Longreach with its preponderance of male students. Sarah was a striking girl and sure to attract a lot of attention. She had come to David for advice about her schooling, and told him that she wanted to work with sheep, cattle and horses rather than farming. David suggested Longreach because it was more pastorally orientated than some of the other colleges. Longreach was where he intended to send Angus when he finished at boarding school – David reckoned that would round him off nicely and perhaps settle him down, too.
Although David was unhappy about Dougal’s decision not to return to High Peaks after finishing school, he was not altogether unhappy about the boy wanting to be a vet. If he had to do anything besides working on the land, being a vet was the best option by far. There would be certain advantages in having a son who was a vet. David had plans to utilise artificial insemination for his sheep and to create an elite Hereford herd using embryo transplantation. Dougal could specialise in these areas and become an integral part of the overall High Peaks operation as David had always hoped he would be. But Dougal had other ideas.
Moira came to David midway through her final year at boarding school. ‘Well, Dad, not long to go now. What do you want me to do when I finish school?’
David looked at his daughter in some amazement. It was hard to believe that she and Dougal were brother and sister. Dougal wasn’t at all interested in what his father wanted whereas Moira was just the opposite. He wondered how the blazes he would be able to keep Moira with him because except for the dark hair she was Catriona all over again – in short, a knockout – and David feared a young man before long would sweep her away from High Peaks. David had pushed her and Angus into every judging competition in sight in their holidays and they had loved it. The boys had loved Moira, too, but she had kept them all at arm’s length.
David decided to take an entirely different tack with Moira. Rather than try to steer her his way he would allow her free rein.
‘Well, now, sweetheart, you must do whatever you wish, just as Dougal is doing.’ This comment was a bit below the belt because Moira knew how disappointed her father was over Dougal’s ‘defection’, having set up a mini-empire of properties with the expectation that Dougal would be on hand to help him run them and eventually take over.
‘The thing is that I don’t really want to go to uni or away to college like Sarah Matheson. What I’d really like to do is come home and help you run the show. Maybe take over the showing of the cattle and sheep.’
David beamed. ‘Nothing I’d like more, Moira. But what say you do one of these external courses? Dianne was telling me that you can do them from home by correspondence and only have to go away for short periods. Anyway, have a think about it,’ he said.
‘I’d like to take over the recording from Dianne. I know you and Mum gave her the job to help the Mathesons but the thing is that Dianne has a boyfriend and I think she’d be happy for me to take over,’ Moira said.
This was even better, David thought. ‘What about some riding?’ he suggested.
Moira wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t think so, Daddy. I shall never be in Mum’s class and getting togged up in a fancy outfit isn’t my go. I’d prefer to help you with the stock. Shaun can stay at home and we can show away.’
Moira’s words were music to David’s ears. There was nothing he wanted more than to have Moira with him. Of the three children Moira looked the pick. Dougal was too academically inclined and his heart wasn’t in the place and Angus had a lot of growing up to do before he could take over. The big drawback with Moira was that she was a girl. If he grew to rely on her too much, he would be awfully disappointed when she left. He couldn’t see how she wouldn’t be whisked away by a handsome beau because she was too spirited and damn good-looking for fellows to ignore. He secretly thought that a fourth child would come in handy now. But there was no fourth child and he had to be content with what he had. Maybe he would have Moira for a few years, by which time Angus would be ready to take her place.
Having established that he would have his daughter with him for some time, at least, David knew it was time to take the next step – perhaps the final step – towards making the High Peaks Pastoral Company a really worthwhile operation. Most people would have thought it was that already but David still had visions of building on what his father had started so long ago. For a long time he had wanted to purchase a merino breeding property so that he could source his replacement wethers, as he was buying wethers in virtually every year. Most of these wethers came from the larger merino properties in north-western or western New South Wales or even from the Riverina. Because they were nearly all Peppin strain sheep, some of them were too strong in the wool for David’s liking. A lot of the Peppin sheep carried too much colour and in a wet year, the flies gave them curry. You could jet and minimise the problem to some extent, but David was committed to using fewer chemicals wherever possible.
His chief objective was to use the rams he was breeding on Glen Morrison in a commercial ewe flock and to bring the annual wether drop back to his three hill-country properties. If he could do this he would get more of the kind of wool he was seeking and he could market the wool from the three places under the same brand, which would be a great advantage. As it was, the three clips were now branded unde
r the various property names.
David reckoned that with wool down in price, the time was ripe to hunt out a decent-sized merino breeding place before the cotton boys grabbed the best of them. Some of the best places in recent years had already been utilised for cotton production because cotton gave such good returns, so David was aware that competition for good land was fiercer than ever.
He put his idea forth to the other directors, Anne and Kate. Anne thought David had quite enough on his plate without an additional property, but Kate supported him. She saw the merit of what David was trying to achieve and that a merino breeding property would complement the existing operation. Finding the right place was something else again.
Angus, meanwhile, suffered a little by being the youngest of David and Catriona’s three children. A free spirit by nature, Angus often went to extraordinary lengths to get himself noticed. He broke an arm in a fall from a horse and he would ride up to the peak of Yellow Rock just as his father had done. He was a good handler of sheepdogs, and his ponies could do all the tricks David had taught to his own ponies. Like his father, he had no trouble guiding straggler wethers down off Yellow Rock. In short, on the score of natural ability, Angus was just about all that David had hoped for in a son. Except for one thing – responsibility. There were times when Angus didn’t care whether the cow calved or busted, to use an earthy bush saying, so long as he was enjoying himself. David had given him a few wallopings and he hoped that the boy would change as he grew older.
Falling off a horse was one thing but playing the devil in a motor car was quite another. Angus, like his father, and like most bush children, could drive a tractor, truck or car long before he reached the legal age to acquire a vehicle licence – the problem was, Angus was far less skilled behind the wheel than he thought. It was Lew Hooper who wised David up to his son’s shenanigans.
‘You should have a word in your young fellow’s ear, David. He’ll kill himself in that old utility. I know a lot of young people in the bush can drive long before they’re old enough to get a licence and the police don’t worry much while they stay off public roads, but young Angus has been driving on a public road and he’s been skylarking,’ the former police officer said.
‘What’s he been up to, Lew?’ David asked.
‘For a start, he’s been driving too fast. But he’s also broadsiding the vehicle as he comes to the Poitrel and Glen Morrison entrances. Puts it in a big skid to turn the damned thing.’
‘Is that so? I’ll have a word to him, Lew. And thanks for the tip-off.’
Hooper nodded. ‘He’s a hell of a good kid with dogs and horses but a bit wild, David.’
David had more than a few words with his younger son. He tore strips off him, and threatened him with a hiding if he heard another adverse report about his driving. But when Angus ran David’s near-new utility off the road, David was ropeable.
‘Damned young idiot. That’s it. He can stick to horses until he learns some sense.’
Angus wasn’t allowed to touch a vehicle until he gained his licence.
‘It’s your own fault, Angus,’ Moira told him.
‘That’s all right for you to say, Moira. You’re Dad’s pet.’
‘That’s not true. I just don’t go around smashing up expensive motor vehicles, that’s all. Dad is expecting a lot from you and you keep letting him down. I shouldn’t have to carry all the weight for my two brothers,’ Moira said.
‘I don’t expect you to carry me, sis. I’ll do my share when I finish at school,’ Angus said.
‘I should hope you would,’ Moira said. ‘I should remind you that Dad was doing a man’s job looking after High Peaks and Poitrel when he was your age. And he was part of the reason we own Poitrel today, let alone Aberfeldy.’
‘Oh, yes, he was a bloody marvel. You’re a bloody marvel too, Moira. You get a boyfriend Dad doesn’t like and you’ll see his true colours,’ Angus said sulkily.
‘Don’t be so childish, Angus. You’re far better with dogs and horses than I am – and you’re smarter, too. You simply need to grow up a bit. And I don’t envisage going out with a man Dad doesn’t like,’ Moira added.
When Angus finished at boarding school and acquired his driver’s licence – as well as a taste for beer – matters got worse. Catriona was worried every time Angus drove off – all over the country – to a dance. She found it difficult to sleep until she knew he was home safely. She always left the outside light and the verandah lights on so that Angus could find his way in. On one particular occasion Angus had gone to a dance in Merriwa and he told his parents that he should be home by one a.m. The grader had been along earlier in the week and gravel was banked up along the edges of the road from near Inverlochy to the low level crossing below High Peaks, which gave Catriona further reason for concern. She had found it quite skiddy if you took the road too fast, especially the one big bend halfway between the two properties.
This particular night the girl Angus had set his heart on conquering had told him that she had heard too much about him to be seen dead with him – the first time he had been turned down flat. When he left the dance, girl-less, to drive home, he was cursing the injustice of the situation. As he turned the bend towards High Peaks, driving too fast as usual, two roos jumped from the side of the road not far in front of him. Two roos could make a mess of a vehicle as Angus well knew, and he slammed on the brakes. The utility skidded on the fresh gravel, left the road, hit a rock and then slammed up against a tree. Angus heard the windscreen splinter before he blacked out.
David awoke from a deep sleep to find Catriona shaking him. ‘What is it, Cat?’ he asked sleepily.
‘Angus isn’t home, darling,’ she said.
‘What time is it?’ he asked.
‘It’s after three,’ she said.
‘The young devil said he’d definitely be home by one,’ David said.
‘Something tells me that he’s had an accident, David. It really does,’ Catriona said. ‘I want you to go and look for him.’
‘Will I ever be free of worry where Angus is concerned?’ he grumbled as he got out of bed.
‘Would you like me to come with you?’
‘No, Cat. I’ll handle this one,’ he replied.
It took David only three or four minutes to reach the utility. David left his car lights on and walked across to the smashed utility. His son was unconscious inside. Unconscious, or dead. A brief examination suggested he was still alive. David swore softly and then walked back to the car to dial the ambulance and Catriona. Moira drove her mother down to the site and the trio waited anxiously for the ambulance to arrive.
‘Well, he’s got bad concussion, at least,’ Eric Wood said. Eric had been one of the ambulance officers who had ridden up to Wallaby Rocks to treat Kate when she broke her leg. Eric was growing old in the ambulance service. ‘If he doesn’t come out of it, they’ll probably send him down to Newcastle, David.’
Catriona travelled with Angus in the ambulance, while David and Moira watched its lights disappear around the bend. It was very quiet. Moira took her father’s hand and squeezed it.
‘I’m sure Angus will be all right, Dad. Footballers get concussion and they don’t take long to get over it.’
‘Any hit on the head is serious, Moy. It could be concussion and it could be a coma. The young idiot was probably driving too fast. Lordy, I hope he’s going to be all right. There’s a lot of good in him if only he wasn’t so mad-headed at times. He seems to be intent on trying to kill himself. He’s got a big job ahead of him to run all our properties one day. I didn’t acquire them just for Cat and me,’ David said.
‘You’ve got me, Dad,’ Moira said.
‘Thank goodness for that, Moy.’
The following morning Moira watched her father leave the homestead and walk up the stone path that led to the consecrated knoll where his father was buried, presumably to tell him about what had happened. She knew that if they lost Angus, or if he never came out of a coma, which
amounted to the same thing, she would be the only one left to carry on her father’s work. It was a sobering thought. Damn you, Angus, she thought. Why did you have to do this to him?
Later, at the hospital, they waited for news of Angus’s condition.
‘How do I get him to change, Moy?’
‘If he meets the right girl, he might change, Dad,’ Moira suggested.
‘That’s a profound suggestion, Moy,’ he said.
‘You aren’t being condescending, are you, Dad?’ she asked.
‘Not a bit, sweetheart. I was thinking how much more mature you are than your brother. If only …’
‘I wasn’t a girl?’ she suggested.
‘Cut that out, Moy,’ he said sharply. ‘I’ve never regretted the fact that you’re a girl. You’re as good as any boy and more conscientious than most, and I would have missed an awful lot not having a daughter. It’s just that I thought I’d get at least one son who was a bottler fellow just like you’re a bottler girl.’
Moira put her arms round his neck and kissed him. ‘Angus is almost a bottler, Dad. He’s better than me with dogs and horses and he’s smarter than me. Because he’s the youngest, he’s probably been noticed the least. Mum and I both think that he does mad things to be noticed. When he comes out of this, you should make him more of a mate, Dad.’
David looked at his daughter in astonishment. Moira had grown up very fast. Once again her insight had left him flabbergasted.
Angus was unconscious for three days. It seemed like an age to the other MacLeods, but eventually he came to and smiled weakly at his mother. ‘It was two roos, Mum. I swerved to miss them because I reckoned Dad would go crook if they damaged his ute. The ute skidded on the new gravel.’