by Tony Parsons
David helped Catriona up into the helicopter and then whispered in Manny’s ear before taking his seat. Manny nodded, and the big bird lifted and banked towards Wallaby Rocks. For the next few minutes Anne was given a panoramic view of the four MacLeod properties. At the end of this tour Manny did two slow circuits of the area between Poitrel homestead and the Strath Fillan boundary fence. David seemed particularly interested in what lay beneath them. ‘Okay, Manny, back to High Peaks,’ he said at last.
It was as Lew Hooper had told him; cattle had been stolen from Poitrel.
Chapter Twenty
It was Lew Hooper who first twigged that the two men in the truck with the dark-green cattle crate were up to no good. The ex-police officer was getting on in years but his ingrained watchfulness had never left him. Lew knew all the local trucks and this wasn’t one of them. Many trucks visited Strath Fillan to deposit and pick up brood mares, so this in itself wasn’t suspicious. But this particular truck stopped beyond the Poitrel homestead and while one man urinated beside the truck, the other walked to the fence and looked up the hill. Through his binoculars Lew could see the man inspecting the fence. The truck then turned about and went back towards Inverlochy. It was before dawn the next day that the truck returned. Lew didn’t rise as early these days and the truck was just leaving when he walked out the back door. There were cattle in the crate but he couldn’t tell how many. Lew walked back into the house and rang David, who was having an early breakfast.
‘I think you’ve just lost a few head of cattle, David. There were two fellows in a truck behaving suspiciously yesterday evening. When I got up the truck was just leaving. I think they took cattle from Poitrel,’ Lew said.
‘Thanks for the info, Lew. Stuart says he’s lost cattle lately. Maybe we can grab them next time,’ David said. He hated thieves of any description but right now with the high prices for cattle, stock was being stolen across a huge area of country. The police Stock Squad was pitifully inadequate for the job it was required to do. It was undermanned, and had no chance of countering determined stock thieves. Ten good steers could nett thieves $5000, which was a lucrative return for a night’s work. Both sheep and cattle were being stolen. Wool could be shorn and lost through the wool selling system and there were butchers willing to acquire and slaughter cattle. David reckoned that if they had got away with taking his cattle once, they would try again, and if it was their practice to load at first light, he could circumvent them.
‘What is it, David?’ Catriona asked, as David came back from speaking to Lew. There was a grimness about him she had not observed for a long time.
‘That was Lew Hooper, Cat. He thinks two men just took cattle from Poitrel. It tallies with what Stuart told me. There’s others that have had cattle stolen too. Well, we shall have to do something about it, won’t we?’
Catriona knew that when David spoke in that manner he would certainly do something about it. Trucks with dark-green stock crates weren’t all that plentiful so a watch had to be kept for just such a truck. Lew Hooper alerted police to a description of the truck. David told Catriona, Moira and Angus that he proposed to sleep at Poitrel for the next few weeks and to get up early each morning. ‘Then I’ll stay there too,’ Catriona announced.
‘I’ll move over there too,’ Moira added.
‘There’s no need for you to be involved, Moira,’ David told her.
‘I want to be involved, Dad. I’m part of this outfit, aren’t I?’ Moira said with some heat.
‘Of course you are, but these fellows may never come here again. And if they do, it could get rough. I’m not going to let them get away,’ David said.
‘I’ve always got my shotgun under the seat of the ute so I’ll back you up,’ Moira said with a tight smile.
David looked at Angus and shrugged. ‘If they come, ring me straight off and I’ll race up to give you a hand,’ Angus said eagerly.
‘First thing we do is block their exit. They can’t get out via Strath Fillan so they’d have to head for town. We put vehicles across the road and that will box them in. You agree, Lew?’ David asked.
‘Absolutely, David. If they come I’ll run my old truck out to the road to help you block it. Then I’ll ring the boys and tell them to get here real quick,’ Hooper said.
‘There’s not much more we can do, Lew. If they’re going to pinch more cattle they have to use the Poitrel road or they can’t utilise a truck,’ David said.
It was over two weeks before the cattle poachers came again. David had been up at four a.m. each morning to watch the road. Nerves were beginning to become a little ragged because it seemed that their precautions were going to be unnecessary. And then through the darkness of a Sunday morning, the lights came up the road from Inverlochy. The truck was travelling very slowly and not making much noise. David quickly rang Angus and then Lew Hooper and gave them slightly differing messages. ‘This could be it. There’s a truck just going past us. Lew, don’t move until you see our two vehicles leave here and then put your vehicle across the road.’ And to Angus: ‘They’re here, Angus. Get yourself up to the last corner while it’s dark and Moira will call you when we make our move.’
David stood at the window and watched the truck creep up the road while Catriona and Moira got dressed. As darkness faded he saw that the two men had rigged up a small yard with collapsible steel panels and were bringing down a small bunch of Hereford steers. There was a dog behind the cattle and they seemed to be giving no trouble. They baulked at the makeshift yard and finally went in. Then they were forced up the ramp, which was closed quickly behind them. The yard was dismantled and strapped into place at the rear of the stock crate. The dog was jumped into a small crate and then the two men ran for the front of the truck.
‘Go, Moira,’ David yelled and ran for the utility outside. Both vehicles roared down the track and out onto the road. David knew it would be a near thing but he wanted the evidence on the back of the truck before he moved. Out of the corner of one eye he saw Lew Hooper’s old red truck come out onto the road as he slammed the utility across it with Moira right on his tail.
For a few seconds he thought the truck was going to try and crash through their vehicle blockade but when Lew Hooper added his truck to their vehicles the driver must have realised that he couldn’t get through that way and risk smashing his vehicle. The truck stopped and two men got out and sized up their opposition. The two women were judged of no account and the big old man hardly a bother. It was the man walking down the road towards them that they knew was the real opposition. And as David drew nearer to them there was something about one of the men – the dark-haired man on the passenger side of the truck – that stirred dormant memories. This man knew from what he had been told about David MacLeod that there was no point getting into a fight with him because MacLeod would slaughter him. When twenty metres separated David from the truck, the dark-haired man reached into the truck and came up with a shotgun. ‘This is for Stanley, you big bastard.’
‘No, Reggie,’ his partner yelled as the shotgun went off.
The blast hit David in the right shoulder and stopped him.
‘David!’ Catriona screamed.
Moira grabbed her shotgun as the man called Reggie paused to evaluate what damage his first shot had done. David swayed and looked down at the blood draining from his shoulder. He felt a cold rage sweeping through him and steeled himself to walk on. The fellow with the shotgun drew it to his shoulder as Moira triggered her gun. This time the cartridge missed David because the man called Reggie had collapsed on the ground. Angus, who had materialised while this drama was being enacted, kicked the man’s shotgun away and joined Lew Hooper beside the driver of the truck. Lew reached into the truck and pulled out the keys.
‘I’m making a citizen’s arrest. Get into the truck and stay there.’
‘I didn’t want any shooting,’ the man said.
‘Then you shouldn’t have teamed up with him,’ Hooper said, and jerked his finger at the o
ther side of the truck.
‘Is he all right?’
‘I should say he is far from all right but we’ll see what we can do for him until the ambulance gets here. Angus, you watch this fellow while I see how David is,’ Hooper said.
Catriona and Moira had David on the seat of his utility. They had taken off his shirt and Catriona had wrapped her blouse about his shoulder. It was already blood-soaked so Moira followed her mother’s example and removed her own blouse.
‘We’ll have to get him up to the house, Lew. There’s sheets there we can rip up,’ Catriona said with a catch in her voice. ‘Hang in there, darling.’
‘How’s the shooter?’ David asked.
‘Lew is looking at him now. Is it hurting?’
‘You could say that, sweetheart. I think that fellow is related to Stanley Masters.’
A cold wave of revulsion approaching nausea swept through Catriona. ‘Oh, God. Not after all these years,’ she muttered.
‘I think so. Just before he shot me he said that it was for Stanley. I thought he resembled someone I had known in the past,’ David said.
‘The ambulance and police are on their way,’ Lew said. ‘The shooter needs help. There was a towel in the truck. I’ve used that but he’s losing a lot of blood.’
‘I had to shoot him, Lew. If I hadn’t he would have shot Dad again,’ Moira said.
‘Of course you did. If you hadn’t, I would have thought I might not have been in time,’ Lew told her. ‘If he lives he’ll be facing an attempted murder charge.’
‘We’re taking David up to the house, Lew. If you follow us up I’ll find some sheets and bandages for that fellow,’ Catriona said.
‘Lew had better stay here with Angus, Mum. I’ll get the sheets and bring them back,’ Moira said.
Catriona looked down at herself and then at her daughter. ‘Just as well we’re wearing bras or we’d be a sight,’ she said with a nervous giggle. Shock was getting to her now with the realisation that David had come close to being killed. Moira had probably saved his life. Even so, he had lost a lot of blood and his shoulder was a mess. What damage had been done to it would not be known until the doctors had attended to him.
They got David up to the Poitrel homestead and made up a pad from a sheet and pinned it into place. Catriona silently thanked Jean for the first-aid chest she had kept constantly stocked. ‘I wish you were here, Jean,’ she breathed.
‘When you’re better, we are going for a long holiday, David,’ Catriona said.
‘Are we?’ he said.
‘Yes, we are. Just you and I. That shoulder won’t be right for ages,’ she said.
‘Right now I’m more worried about Moira than my shoulder or going for any holiday. They could charge her,’ David said.
‘Surely not. If she hadn’t shot that fellow, you could be dead, darling,’ Catriona said with undeniable logic.
‘I’m well aware of that but the courts frown on people taking the law into their own hands. Lew will be a help, but we’ll have to see what transpires before there’s any thought of a holiday. If that fellow dies, it could be worse for Moira,’ he said.
‘Are we never to have any peace from that frightful Masters family? Imagine one of them surfacing after all these years,’ Catriona said.
‘We don’t know that he is a Masters. He certainly resembles Stanley but he could be a fellow Stanley knew inside or outside of prison. Maybe he was a friend Stanley told about us. We’ll have to wait and see,’ he said.
Reggie Masters – for he was Stanley’s younger brother, born after his father left the district – was in a bad way when the ambulance arrived just ahead of the police car. For two days it was touch and go whether he lived or died. He did however pull through, and was charged with attempted murder. With four witnesses who testified that they heard him say he was shooting for his brother, Reggie Masters didn’t have a leg to stand on and was put away for a tidy sentence. His accomplice was jailed for stock stealing and received a much shorter sentence.
The ambulance had taken David into Merriwa Hospital and from there Manny Thompson, contacted by Catriona and accompanied by an ambulance officer, had flown David to Newcastle Hospital. Catriona had driven down to be close by her husband and stayed there until he was taken back to Merriwa. Once installed there, he was visited by a veritable host of people. Some of these came at odd hours and unknown to Catriona.
Catriona usually brought Anne with her because David’s mother had to be assured that he was recovering satisfactorily. Linda Barden was one of his first non-family visitors. Linda didn’t have to sneak in at night like Susan Cartwright, who was still averse to meeting up with Catriona. Susan came hard on Catriona’s departure one evening and David reckoned she must have been waiting for her to leave.
‘Susan,’ he said as she bent and kissed him. ‘Long time no see.’
‘You can blame Catriona for that,’ she said. ‘Why did you have to get yourself shot?’
‘I didn’t have any say in the matter,’ he said. ‘The fellow pulled a shotgun out of the front of the truck and let fly. His second shot went wide because Moira got him just in time.’
‘You could have been killed, David. How is the shoulder?’ she asked.
‘Still stiff, but healing okay. I’ll need physio for a while. How are you, Susan?’ David asked. He hated talking about himself and especially about matters of a personal nature.
‘I’m all right, David. I’m still playing good tennis,’ she said.
David looked at her and tried to remember when it was he had first seen her. He thought it must have been when she first came to the school near Inverlochy. She would have been five or six and a pretty, dark-haired charmer. Catriona was blonde and her best friend. They had gone away to school together and both had wanted him.
‘That’s good,’ he said.
‘Well, it’s not as good as it could be but it would be worse if I didn’t have tennis,’ she said. She knew him well enough to know that he would never criticise her for making a mess of her life. David wasn’t like that. He was always doing positive things.
‘If I had married you, my life would have been very different,’ she said.
‘You think so?’
‘Yes, I know so,’ she said.
‘It would never have worked, Susan. I wouldn’t have wanted a wife who was away playing tennis all the time,’ he said.
‘I wouldn’t have wanted to play tennis all the time if I had been married to you,’ she said.
‘That’s easy to say now, Susan. I never at any time thought we’d hit it off. I had my doubts about Catriona too, but she scored a lot of points standing up to her parents about me. She was prepared to leave home to marry me,’ he said.
‘I would have left the country to marry you,’ she said.
‘You weren’t keen enough on the bush and animals, Susan. It wouldn’t have worked.’
‘I’d have tried real hard, David,’ she said.
‘Like you tried with Michael?’ he said.
‘That was a mistake, David. I married him when Catriona finally got you. Michael isn’t worth your little finger. He’s just not enough man.’
‘These things happen, Susan. How is Karen?’
‘I suppose you had to ask that out of politeness. It wouldn’t have been to remind me of my foolish behaviour,’ she said.
‘No, it wouldn’t, Susan. You know me better than that,’ he said.
‘I think I do. Karen is well. She has a daughter, in case you didn’t know,’ she said.
‘I didn’t. I hope it works out okay for you, Susan.’
She sighed and got up. ‘I shall never forget the day you fought Stanley Masters. What a very formidable little boy you were. And what are you now? A millionaire grazier. You made Angus Campbell eat his words,’ she said.
‘Angus was all right, Susan. He was snobby but his heart was in the right place. He helped me a lot,’ he said.
She bent and kissed him again. ‘Look after yoursel
f, David.’
‘You should try and make it up with Catriona,’ he said. ‘You were friends a long time and life is too short to be uptight about a few words.’
‘Catriona owes me an apology for what she said to me,’ Susan said firmly.
‘Was it untrue?’ he asked.
‘No, it wasn’t untrue, but what one looks for from one’s best friend is support, not criticism. We aren’t all as fortunate in our choice of husbands as Catriona. There are other girls who were with us at school who are divorced. Anyway, what’s done is done, David. You won’t tell Catriona I was here, will you?’ she asked.
‘Not if you don’t want me to,’ he said.
She raised her dark eyebrows and smiled at him. ‘You really are too much, David,’ she said and walked out of the room.
A couple of nights later David had another nocturnal visitor. Emily Matheson had relayed the news of the shooting to Sarah and via Emily’s phone calls to Anne and Catriona, Sarah was aware when David was brought back to Merriwa.
Sarah Matheson stood at the doorway of his room and looked intently at the man on the bed before almost running towards him. She kissed him much more passionately than Susan had done and held her face against his briefly before standing up and looking down at him. ‘You silly man. You could have been killed,’ she said by way of greeting.
‘Hello, Sarah, nice to see you. Look, I didn’t have any option. I didn’t know the mongrel had a shotgun in the truck.’ He was getting tired of repeating this story. ‘You look young and wonderful,’ he said in an attempt to change the subject.
‘I would hardly come to see you looking frumpy,’ she said.
‘You could never look frumpy, not even with mud and blood and manure over your clobber,’ he said.
‘If you keep saying things like that, you’ll make me cry, Mr Mac,’ she said.
David looked into Sarah’s shining eyes. They told him that what she felt for him was still much more than mere friendship. But it was no good Sarah fretting over him. She was the kind of young woman the bush needed to raise children who would be prepared to tackle its problems. Sarah would smile or laugh her way through any difficulty. And now David would have to be cruel to be kind. He would have to tell her that she should stop thinking about him and make her own life.