by Tony Parsons
So the body of Angus Campbell was brought home and people came from near and far for his funeral. Some of the great men of the land helped to swell the church to overflowing. The Reverend James Currie conducted a polished and inspiring service. He told the mourners that Angus Campbell was a ‘fine, Christian gentleman’ and that he had made a pilgrimage to the holiest place in Scotland to reinforce his belief in God. This was the first time the family was made aware of why Angus had travelled to Iona, for at that stage they hadn’t read his diary. When the diary finally arrived Catriona read it first before handing it to David. She took it across to Stuart who, like his sister and David, was very much surprised by the nature of its contents. Angus driving about in a van was surprising enough because he had usually stayed at good hotels or quality inns, but his pilgrimage to Iona and the way he had written about it left them baffled.
What they also discovered from his last diary entries was that Angus had bought a border collie bitch for Inverlochy and he thought she would surprise them. Subsequently the London exporters contacted Stuart to tell him that Meg was on the way to Australia and would be in quarantine for three months. There was no mention anywhere of what Angus had paid for the dog.
Catriona re-read the diary when it came back to her from Stuart, and this time she wept. She had thought she knew her father well, but he had surprised her so much at the end that she realised there was far more to him than she ever knew about.
Stuart went to Sydney to examine Meg in quarantine. Like his father, he was surprised by her appearance. She resembled a cross-kelpie more than a border collie. Stuart was even more surprised when he saw Meg work. He had asked David to come across for the occasion because David had been named a director of Inverlochy in the new will Angus had had drawn up just before he left Australia. Despite his personal liking for his brother-in-law, Stuart was a bit peeved that his father had seen fit to superimpose David onto the Inverlochy situation. Of course, Angus was a canny man and he had simply acted true to form. He knew that David was an exceptional manager and livestock judge and he had wanted him on hand as a kind of insurance.
Stuart had come on a lot as a sheepdog handler. Meg surprised him because she wasn’t at all ‘sticky’ in eye and had a ton of go in her. In his father’s diary Angus had explained that the bitch was only well started and would need more training, but he thought she was a ‘natural’. He was sure David would agree.
Stuart worked Meg for David. He was conscious of the vast gulf in handling ability between himself and David and this had once worried him. It didn’t so much now. There was nobody in the area who came up to David MacLeod as a handler. Stuart knew that he had improved a lot and that it had been David who was responsible for this improvement. He didn’t know the commands for Meg anyway, and she had to do the job herself for the time being.
David was smiling broadly when Stuart walked off with Meg. ‘You look pleased about something, David,’ he said.
‘The old chap got it right at the finish, Stuart. That bitch is a ripper. The best border collie bitch I’ve seen for a long time. I reckon that in two years I could give the National a big shake with her,’ David said.
‘Why don’t you take her, David. I think Meg has too much dog in her for me,’ Stuart offered.
‘Rubbish. Work her down, Stuart. Work her down on flock work. Don’t try and screw this bitch down with commands. That’s the way a lot of good keen young kelpies have been ruined. I reckon maybe that’s why the Scot let her go. Meg probably had too much go in her for those dopey sheep over there. I’ll bet when Angus saw her he knew what I’d say about her. Meg will breed you a great line of dogs, Stuart. Never let her leave your hands,’ David said.
David’s ringing endorsement of Meg meant a lot to Stuart. Meg was his father’s last present to him and that, too, was not something to be taken lightly.
‘I’d like to know what Angus paid for this bitch,’ David said. ‘If you find out, would you let me know?’
‘Well, in the Bank of Scotland statement there was a sum of £4000 made out in favour of a Willy Cameron, and it was Willy Cameron whose name is on the export papers. I couldn’t believe Dad would give that much for a bitch that wasn’t fully trained. It would be a fair price for a trained dog,’ Stuart said.
‘Angus knew what he was about, Stuart. I told him before he left not on any account to buy another strong-eyed clapper. Angus admired Clancy’s work a lot and if you watch this bitch closely you’ll see that she has some of his movements. Well, she’s certainly not a typical border collie but she’s a good bitch. Meg is something to remember Angus by, Stuart.’
David’s words of advice were very sound because two years later Stuart won the local Open Trial with Meg. David’s son Angus ran second with Charlie, the kelpie David had loaned Sarah Matheson to work. Moreover, Meg produced a great line of dogs, which were very much in demand. These dogs were part of the legacy Angus Campbell bequeathed to his family.
Chapter Seventeen
Catriona wrote regularly to Dougal during his sojourn at university in the United States. Dougal, however, wrote infrequently and his letters were usually brief and penned hastily because most of his time was spent studying or visiting horse studs. When he finished his course he didn’t come back to Australia but spent six months at a leading horse clinic. From there he travelled to Britain, and by invitation spent another six months at a large animal practice in Wales. There followed trips to Ireland to inspect some of the United Kingdom’s leading thoroughbred sires and finally, a trip to Deau-ville in France.
Dougal MacLeod had become not only a top vet but a walking encyclopaedia on thoroughbreds, thanks to his remarkable retentive memory. He had studied all the major breeding theories, from Bruce Lowe to Colonel Jean-Joseph Vuillier. The Lowe system was largely old hat now, but had once influenced some thoroughbred authorities. Vuillier sought to determine the relative importance of the blood of Eclipse and Herod. Some studs, such as the Aga Khan’s, were influenced by the work of Vuillier. Under the Vuillier system there is an arithmetical formula for working out the ‘dosage’ of blood of any offspring.
The ‘average’ thoroughbred breeder would never study genetics at the level Dougal achieved, but the real cranks certainly did and the percentage of blood of certain horses was considered of great importance. It was the study of thoroughbred genetics that consumed Dougal’s spare time. Dougal was a smart fellow and he realised that to be accepted as a top vet in Australia he had to know as much – or more – about thoroughbred genetics as his clients.
The passing of Angus Campbell coincided with the return of his prodigal grandson. Dougal arrived back at High Peaks without any fanfare, driving a new four-wheel-drive Toyota. He parked outside the old homestead and found Anne in her garden. Anne’s first thought was that Andy had returned to her, Dougal was so much like him.
‘Dougal, you’re back,’ she said, as Dougal embraced her. ‘It’s so wonderful to see you – Catriona didn’t say a word!’
‘I didn’t tell anyone,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d surprise you all.’
‘No doubt you will,’ Anne said. ‘Are you back for good?’
Dougal nodded. ‘I may go overseas from time to time but I’ve returned home to work here, Nanna.’ He could see that his grandmother had aged since he left for the States, and it was good to see her again. But when she offered him a cup of tea he said that he had better pass for this time and go on down to see his parents. He would come again and have a meal with her.
Catriona was just as surprised to see him as Anne had been. ‘Naughty, naughty, not letting us know you were coming, Dougal.’ She, too, was struck by his resemblance to Andy.
‘Where’s Dad?’ he asked, after their long hug. Dougal was thinking how trim and terrific his mother still looked for her age.
‘With clients at Glen Morrison, Dougal. Are you home now? For good?’ Catriona couldn’t resist asking.
‘I am,’ he said.
‘Have you any idea wha
t you’re going to do?’ she asked.
‘I’m thinking of opening a practice in Scone. I’m sure the horse capital of Australia could support a specialist horse vet. I’ve earned as good a lot of credentials as any vet in the country, and I understand thoroughbred genetics as well as anyone.’
‘Scone isn’t far away so that would be wonderful,’ Catriona said. ‘I’m so very proud of you, Dougal. Do you need some money to start up?’ Catriona wanted to get the money business discussed before David came home. Yet although Dougal’s defection still rankled, David was quite proud of what his son had achieved. Catriona used to read him their son’s letters and she noticed that he always seemed to listen intently. However, Catriona had doubts whether he would be a party to giving or lending Dougal money.
‘I will need some financial assistance, Mum. I can probably get a decent loan from a bank,’ Dougal said thoughtfully.
‘Let me know what you need, Dougal,’ Catriona answered.
‘I’ll be looking for a house with a few acres that I can use for horses. I’ll have to build a surgery and stalls. There should be something suitable around Scone.’
They talked about his sojourn overseas and Catriona brought him up to date with the latest developments at home.
‘Do you have a girlfriend, Dougal?’ Catriona asked.
‘I have no time for girls, Mum. I put all my time into studying. I didn’t go overseas to have fun.’
‘I realise that, but I thought you might have met someone special,’ Catriona said, smiling.
‘Well, I didn’t. Plenty of time for ladies after I get set up here,’ Dougal said. ‘But speaking of new wives, how do you like Sue-Ellen, Mum?’
Catriona had sent Dougal the money for him to fly back for his brother’s wedding but he hadn’t stayed long and Angus and Sue-Ellen had left the night of their wedding.
‘Sue-Ellen is strong and capable, and probably the best possible girl Angus could have, Dougal. She has great commonsense and is so very very practical. Angus was fortunate to find her. Of course, he has settled down very well since he came back from Longreach. Angus and David are working well together. David is very pleased with Angus.’
‘Where’s Moira?’ he asked.
‘With David, Dougal.’
He nodded. It seemed nothing much had changed there. ‘Does she have a boyfriend?’ he asked.
‘Not a one. There are plenty of would-be boyfriends but they look pipsqueaks after David,’ Catriona said, and sighed. ‘Your father has acquired a new property in New England called Glenview. We’ll have to take you up there, Dougal – it’s such a pretty place.’
Dougal wasn’t greatly interested in properties, but he was impressed by the fact that his father now had eight of them.
‘I thought you might like to come over to Scone with me, Mum. We can have a look around at what’s on offer in the property line,’ Dougal suggested.
‘I’d enjoy that, Dougal,’ Catriona said enthusiastically. ‘When do you plan on going?’
‘Oh, in the next day or two – no point wasting time. I’ve spent umpteen years studying and it’s time to start making a living!’ Dougal said.
Catriona thought silently that David would second that. He reckoned that Dougal should have begun working after he finished at university, but Dougal had had other ideas.
‘You look great, Mum,’ Dougal said by way of an afterthought.
‘Thank you,’ she said. Catriona liked to be told that she looked well. She didn’t work out quite so strenuously these days and as a consequence had put on just a smidgin of weight. She considered that as David had withstood Sarah Matheson’s appeal and her avowed love for him, she had very little to worry about now. She was currently a much happier and more relaxed woman.
‘And how is Dad?’ Dougal asked. He and his father had never really been matey but Dougal had enormous respect for what his father had achieved. He had great respect too for his father’s ability and acumen where horses were concerned. Dougal knew that from a practical point of view his father could lose him. A case in point was the way that his father had looked after Western Star. For a man professing only a small interest in and knowledge of thoroughbreds, his handling of the stallion had been masterly. He had not pushed the horse into early racing, instead judging in some undefined fashion that Western Star needed time to mature. He had ridden Star until he was four and then raced him only lightly that year. At five the stallion carried all before him. There was no doubt about it, his father had a great talent with animals.
‘Busy, as you would expect of a man with eight properties. We are short-handed but Angus is really pulling his weight, which is a big load off David’s mind. Sue-Ellen has been the making of Angus. She and David both knew there was a lot of good in Angus even though he behaved like a clown at times,’ Catriona said with a smile.
Dougal, who had never in his life behaved like a clown, nodded sagely. Angus had inherited their father’s instinct for working with animals.
‘I suppose that now you’re back for good, you’ll be looking for a nice young woman,’ Catriona suggested with a smile.
‘Slow down, Mum. I want to get my practice set up before I even think about marriage,’ Dougal said.
He sat talking with his mother and drinking tea until his father and sister came home. Moira hugged him and his father shook hands with him, which was par for the course when the two men met.
The one regret Catriona had out of her marriage was that her husband and eldest child weren’t close. Dougal had always been reserved in nature – even ‘prickly’ – and now, like a lot of vets, he had an air about him akin to arrogance. Knowledge sat on Dougal like a crown. For a young vet his technical knowledge of horses was awesome. There was probably no other vet of his age who knew more about equine problems than he did.
‘In the US it’s the age of the specialist vet,’ he told them after dinner that evening. ‘There’s a joke over there that there’s specialists for right and left eyes,’ he said with the glimmer of a smile.
‘And what is your speciality, Dougal?’ Moira asked.
‘Horses generally, and reproductive problems specifically,’ he said firmly. ‘Some mares have as many problems getting in foal as some women do getting pregnant. Sometimes it’s just a simple problem and sometimes it’s complex. If it should be the case with a valuable mare then it’s worth spending a fair bit of money to get her right.’
Although Dougal didn’t spell it out, they all knew he was probably referring to Starana, who had never produced a foal. At current prices, a Starana yearling would be worth a mint.
‘There should be enough problem mares in this area to test your mettle. They call Scone the horse capital of Australia and I suppose there’s justification for the reputation. There’s horses of every kind in the general area of Scone. Some of the thoroughbred investments are staggering. That’s even without what the Arabs have spent,’ David said.
‘That’s what I reckon,’ Dougal agreed, pleased to have this sign of support from his father.
‘Well, you’ve got your first account, Dougal. There’s a mare down at Strath Fillan that we haven’t been able to get in foal. You had better have a look at her,’ David said with a grin.
Dougal examined the mare and three months later she was in foal. He told his father that the mare had had an infection. He had cleared up the infection, let her go for one heat period and mated her the next. David was impressed, but Dougal told him that it had been a simple procedure.
With a bank loan and money from his mother, Dougal purchased a small property on the outskirts of Scone. There was a quite presentable house, some horse yards and a good water supply. Catriona assisted with some changes to the house and left Dougal to do all the rest. There was an office, a surgery, an operating theatre, recovery rooms and outside stables. This all cost a lot of money, but inside three years Dougal paid off the bank and his mother. Word of his skill spread throughout the district and beyond, and breeders were bringing him
problem mares even from Queensland.
Emily Matheson considered that because of her friendship with Catriona and David’s help over the years, she was honour-bound to use Dougal for her veterinary work at Glengarry. The first time he came was to sew up a mare that had cut herself on a loose sheet of iron on the corner of a shed. The second time was for a difficult foaling. This visit was memorable for two quite different reasons. The first was that Dougal recognised Starana in a paddock beside the house. The second was that he met Sarah Matheson again.
Sarah had tried working at different things since leaving High Peaks. She had been a governess, a shop assistant and a stud groom in turn, but never for very long. Being a stud groom was the closest she came to the life she had had at High Peaks, but when the manager mauled her she hit him with the handle of a pitchfork and left. She was advised she could sue the manager for damages but Sarah didn’t want everyone to know what had happened.
Because she was at a loose end and because she was so good with horses, Dougal offered Sarah a job. She was to be his secretary. Sarah said she’d think about it. Dougal hadn’t made a good impression on her when she was at Strath Fillan, and Sarah considered him ‘snooty’ and arrogant. There was also the fact that he was David’s son. Even now when she thought about David she was close to tears, although she hadn’t spoken to him since she left High Peaks, and had only seen him at funerals.
Sarah pondered Dougal’s offer for a week or so before deciding to accept it. She needed money and it seemed the best and most interesting job in sight. To get in on the ground floor of a new enterprise offered some kind of challenge.
It was a shrewd move on Dougal’s part to employ Sarah Matheson. Before very long all the many young men who were nuts about horses knew that the new vet had a slashing good sort for a secretary. One way to meet her was to give the vet some business. Which they did. Consequently, Sarah met quite a number of young men, some from very good families. None of them, however, made a lasting impression on her because they just didn’t stack up when compared with David MacLeod.