by Tony Parsons
David nodded. ‘He came right out of the past. We knew nothing about him.’
‘I should think he’ll be out of circulation for quite some time, David.’
‘You can’t count on that any more, Bruce. The law seems to be getting easier on creeps,’ David said harshly.
‘You and Catriona go off and enjoy your holiday, David. I’ll think of you standing on some hillside watching border collies work their trials and I’ll be wishing I was there with you.’
‘I doubt Catriona will want me to be watching too many trials. She has other things in mind,’ he said with a grin.
‘I’ll be looking forward to hearing if you see any more collies like Meg,’ McClymont said. ‘Maybe you could send me a card after you visit the fellow who sold her to Angus Campbell.’
‘I’ll do that, Bruce,’ David said.
Next morning he and Catriona stood at their front gate to farewell Bruce McClymont. The old chap seemed almost reluctant to leave. He walked up and down beside his utility before finally gripping David’s left hand.
‘Look after yourself, David. Thanks for everything – for the dogs and for your friendship. I can’t put into words what it’s meant to me.’
‘It’s been a pleasure, Bruce. There’s nobody I hold in higher esteem than yourself. For what it’s worth, in my opinion you’ve been one of the men responsible for keeping the kelpie where it is today,’ David said.
‘For you to say that means a lot to me, David,’ McClymont said with a catch in this throat. He turned to Catriona and she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
‘Look after yourself, Bruce. We’ll come down and see you when we get back from overseas,’ she said.
‘Thank you for looking after me, Catriona. If I were younger and fitter I’d like to be going to Scotland with you but from what I heard you want David to yourself this time.
Catriona looked at her husband and smiled. ‘I do, Bruce. David and I have things to do together.’
‘If things go wrong and I don’t see you again I want you to know that I regard David as the best man it has ever been my privilege and pleasure to know,’ he said, before he turned and got in the utility. After going through the ramp the vehicle stopped beside the dog yards and they saw McClymont get out and stand looking at the dogs.
‘What is he doing, darling?’ Catriona asked.
‘Bruce is saying goodbye to the MacLeod kelpies, Cat. He’ll never come here again,’ David said thickly.
After a few moments the white utility pulled away and was lost to sight.
Catriona took her husband’s left hand in hers and together they walked back up the path and into the house. ‘Off with your shirt, buster,’ Catriona said, and began unbuttoning his shirt. ‘The quicker we get that shoulder mobile, the quicker we can get away,’ she added. Between the physiotherapy treatments at the hospital, Catriona was rubbing David with goanna liniment and giving him lamp sessions.
‘Remind me never to get shot again,’ he said as she pointed to the bed.
When she had finished rubbing him and he had his shirt on again, he turned and faced her. ‘Cat, there’s one thing I’d like you to do before we go away,’ he said.
‘What’s that, darling?’ she asked.
‘I’d like you to make it up with Susan,’ he said.
‘Why?’ she asked.
‘You were friends for a long time; for as long as I’ve known you. I think you were too hard on Susan. Sure, she’s made something of a mess of her life but it’s when things go wrong that people most need their friends. I would much prefer to know that you stood by her. A lot of women make errors of judgement where men are concerned. If Susan had got herself a different husband, things might have turned out much better for her,’ he said gently.
‘You mean if she had got you instead of Michael,’ Catriona said harshly.
‘No, I don’t mean that at all,’ he said. ‘I was never interested in Susan and you know it. I’d like to think that my wife is too big a person to allow a quarrel to spoil what was a very long friendship.’
‘You think that I was in the wrong and that I’m a small person?’ Catriona said, with tears forming in her eyes.
‘I don’t know or care who was in the wrong and I don’t consider you a small person. I simply want to think that you are bigger than to let a few words destroy a friendship. I’d like this quarrel between you and Susan settled before we go overseas. If you aren’t disposed to settle it, so be it. Now, I’m going to have a cup of tea,’ he said.
He walked out to the kitchen and began filling the jug. Catriona came up behind him and took it from him. ‘I’ll get the tea,’ she said. He nodded and withdrew to the front verandah. The Land newspaper beckoned and he sat down and began to read it. Presently, Catriona joined him with tea and biscuits. She took the paper from him and seated herself on the arm of his big chair.
‘You’ve made me feel inadequate and petty, David,’ she said.
‘That wasn’t my intention, Cat,’ he said.
‘Well, you have. Turning my back on Susan when she needed me most was a pretty miserable thing to do,’ she said.
‘Mmm,’ he murmured.
‘Does that mean you agree with me?’ she asked.
‘I agree with you. It was a pretty miserable thing to do, Cat,’ he said.
‘So I’m not perfect. So I’m not up to you in a lot of ways. So I make mistakes,’ she said.
‘Just like Susan,’ he said. ‘None of us is perfect, Cat. I don’t expect you to be perfect just as I’m sure you don’t expect me to be perfect. One thing I feel strongly about is standing by one’s friends when things get tough. So Susan has made some poor decisions, but basically she’s still the same Susan Cartwright who was your friend. I don’t know much about women but from what I’ve read and heard, women commit infidelities because they’re searching for something they’ve never really had. I think Mum got it right when she said that Susan’s problem is that she has never had a man love her well and truly. If she had, things might have turned out much more satisfactorily,’ he said.
‘You amaze me, David,’ she said. ‘For a dog and horse man, you amaze me. I’m the one with the education but you make me seem a first-class drip. If it means so much to you, I’ll try and make it up with Susan.’
‘Thank you,’ he said.
Chapter Twenty-one
Catriona and Susan had a tearful reconciliation at the Cartwright property, which Susan’s brother, Roger, now managed. When she drove away Catriona felt very much better. She had not admitted it to David, but the truth of the matter was that she had felt bad about her part in the quarrel. David had been right to ask her to settle it. She had not told him where she was going – only that she would be away for the morning. He had nodded, looking at her for a few moments, and then walked out of the house to see his mother.
That evening, after they had had dinner and were washing up, Catriona told him where she had been that day. ‘I met with Susan this morning,’ she said abruptly.
‘How did it go?’ he asked.
‘Tearfully,’ she said.
‘What are a few tears between friends,’ he replied, kissing her cheek softly.
‘We both admitted we had behaved stupidly, had morning tea and talked about our trip. Susan said she had been very unhappy when she met Gary Trainor. He was so good-looking and so charismatic on court, she thought he was the answer to her prayers. The fact that he might be married never occurred to her. Susan had no idea he had seduced Karen until Karen told her she was pregnant. You know the rest,’ Catriona said.
‘Feel better?’ he asked her.
‘Much,’ she admitted.
‘Good. Sorry I picked you up on it but I thought it should be settled before we left Australia. We haven’t had many differences of opinion but that quarrel was worrying me. Susan has her faults, but her heart is in the right place, Cat,’ he said.
‘Susan’s heart has been in too many places, darling,’ Catriona said, with an attempt a
t humour.
‘Good one, Cat. I hope you will invite her here,’ he said.
‘I have. Susan wants to come and see us before we go away,’ Catriona said.
It was several months before they could leave, what with the trial of Reggie Masters and David’s shoulder. They had planned to leave in May, but the trip was put back to June and then early July. It was midsummer in Scotland so July was still a good time to go. There were so many arrangements to be made, both domestically and internationally, that they were relieved it would be early July and not May after all. Moira and Angus assured David that he shouldn’t worry as they were perfectly capable of looking after everything.
David worried even more about his mother. ‘I don’t like leaving you, Mum. Catriona wants this trip and she’s got her heart set on writing this damned novel. I feel I owe it to her to make this trip. There are things in her father’s diary she wants to check on that are important to her, too. I feel that if she can get her novel published she’ll feel really fulfilled,’ he said.
‘Don’t worry, David. I shall be all right. Linda is here and if I have the slightest problem with my health, she will look after me. You are to go away and not worry. You deserve this trip and I agree with everything you have said where Catriona is concerned. She had a good education and apart from managing your bookwork, she hasn’t utilised it. Give her as much time as she needs, David. Thorough research is crucial if one wants to come across well in a novel. Let Catriona absorb the atmosphere of MacLeod country and don’t rush her away to take in a sheepdog trial,’ Anne said with a smile. She was perhaps the only living person who could speak to him in such terms.
‘I understand all that, Mum,’ he said.
He sought out Linda Barden and told her that he would ring frequently to check that his mother was all right. He also told her that if she had the slightest concern about Anne’s health, she was to put her in hospital no matter how much she protested. His mother, he said, always cracked hardy.
‘Don’t worry, David. I’ll watch her like a cat,’ Linda assured him.
‘Well, she is an old lady and very precious to me,’ he said. ‘The last time I went on a honeymoon’ – Catriona was referring to the trip as their second honeymoon – ‘I lost my father. I don’t want to lose my mother while I’m away on this one. I realise she has to go some time but I don’t want it to be while I’m away. I was with Kate when she went and I want to be with Mum, too.’
‘I understand, David. I really do. Your mother wants you to have this trip and she doesn’t want it to be spoilt by you worrying about her,’ Linda said firmly.
‘It’s a hell of a thing when you have to choose between your wife and your mother, if you know what I mean, Linda,’ he said.
‘I know what you mean, David,’ Linda said, and patted his arm. She had idolised this man almost from the very beginning – he was her guardian angel. No man could have done more for her and her family.
‘You must see that she eats well, too. Mum is inclined to pick at her food now,’ he said.
‘Don’t be an old hen, David. I had five children and a couple of them were fussy eaters. I’ll look after your mother very well,’ Linda said.
‘I’ve got to say that it’s a great relief to have you here, Linda. You’re one of my favourite ladies,’ he said a mite sheepishly.
‘Be off with you! Go and enjoy yourselves.’
So they left, he with misgivings and Catriona with joy in her heart that she at last had David to herself. She and David would do everything together and they had so much to look forward to.
They flew to London and spent a few days there while Catriona delved into matters genealogical and David looked at campervans. From London they drove in leisurely fashion to Edinburgh, where Catriona spent more time with a genealogical society while David explored the city by foot and purchased tartan cloth for his ‘ladies’. Moira and Sue-Ellen had both requested lengths of the yellow, black and red MacLeod tartan.
After two colourful days in Edinburgh they left to drive to Inverness via Perth, Braemar and Grantown. Catriona wanted extensive photographs of Culloden Moor, site of the Jacobite rebellion, which they had seen briefly and from a distance on their previous trip with Angus and Jane Campbell. This time Catriona was determined to walk the moor. Though not timid, she declined to actually camp on the moor because of the men who had died there. Instead, they camped at a burn not far distant.
‘Can you imagine what it must have been like here?’ she asked, as they sat at their dinner table in the long twilight of a lovely summer’s day. She gazed across at the moor and described to him the order of battle as Bonnie Prince Charlie’s clans, very much outnumbered, faced up to the English redcoats and dragoons. This time the English were determined there would be no more Jacobite rebellions. No mercy was given to the wounded and they were dispatched by ball and bayonet where they lay. The ringleaders were hanged or sent into slavery overseas. The prince and a handful of his supporters fled through the mountains, he with a huge price on his head, until with the help of Flora MacDonald, he escaped to France. The dwelling places of Highland supporters were burned to the ground and their stock killed or run off. Leaders of the rebellion who were not captured were proscribed and survived precariously until the Act of Indemnity was proclaimed.
‘No, Cat – I can’t imagine what it would have been like fighting in such a bloody battle. It gives me a queer feeling to know that it happened here. I can imagine some of it, like men fleeing through the hills with the horse soldiers tailing them. I have trouble coming to grips with the fact that wounded men were killed where they lay but if you say that is what happened, I believe you,’ he said.
‘It happened,’ she said. ‘The clans were smashed. It was forbidden to wear the tartan and some of the Highlanders who survived Culloden went to France and served in the French army.’
‘Men of those two armies probably passed over this very spot,’ he observed.
‘Very likely,’ she agreed. ‘It’s incredibly cold here in winter – I wouldn’t like to be here then.’
‘I wouldn’t like to be in any of these cold northern places in winter,’ he agreed. ‘Beats me how they live here in that cold. Or how they lived here before there was any decent heating. They must have been tough people.’
David and Catriona found plenty of hospitality wherever they went. They were invited to visit one Scottish farm carrying several thousand sheep and there, for the first time since he was shot, David shore a sheep. He sailed through the job with little effort considering the twinges he still occasionally experienced. They drove west and spent two weeks on Skye, Lewis and Raasay, all of which was MacLeod country. Dunvegan Castle on the west coast of Skye was the hereditary seat of the clan.
During these two weeks David learnt more about his ancestors, descended originally from ‘son of Leod’, than he had thought possible. He learnt that there had been two branches of the MacLeod clan, though both descended from Leod. There were the MacLeods of Lewis (or of Torguil) and the MacLeods of Harris. There had been earlier, much earlier, David MacLeods. It was from the MacLeods of Harris that David descended. William MacLeod had left Scotland and its troubles and migrated to Canada. He then moved to the United States where, because of his knowledge of cattle, he was offered a position. Later, he took up land of his own and the MacLeods still own this ranch today. One of William’s grandsons, Angus MacLeod, migrated to Australia about the time of the big gold strikes. Angus struck it lucky and subsequently purchased land along the Lachlan River. Periodic floods drove him off this selection and he moved to country between Glen Innes and Armidale. There were many Scottish families in this area of country that became known as New England.
Angus MacLeod fathered six sons and three daughters. One son, Tormid (an ancient name), went as an officer to the Boer War. After returning from South Africa, Tormid purchased a large property in the Hunter River district of New South Wales. Tormid married an actress of some repute and their only son, Ja
mes, was Andrew’s father and David’s grandfather. When the few huge original properties around Quirindi, Willow Tree and Merriwa were subdivided into smaller properties, Tormid MacLeod purchased a hill property very cheaply. Tormid established James on this property but he left it to join the Second AIF in 1939.
Anne had a complete history of the MacLeods in Australia and Catriona was bolstering this record by research into William MacLeod’s background. It was all very interesting except that bookwork of any kind, setting aside bush poetry particularly, and some other poetry to a lesser degree, was not David MacLeod’s cup of tea. What he preferred to do was talk with Scottish farmers and hear their problems. And because he had never had time to fish, he wanted to try his hand at fishing. Catriona had no time for fishing. She was seasick twice off Skye and thereafter would only tolerate David fishing if it was in protected waters.
And so by slow degrees they moved down the west coast of Scotland. Once back on land Catriona’s appetite was restored to normal. Sometimes they stayed in inns and sometimes in the van. It depended on the weather, which could change very quickly from sunshine to rain. It was when they started out on Angus Campbell’s route that David noticed a new intensity about Catriona. She referred to her father’s diary constantly, sometimes reading out extracts for her husband to absorb. It was in the western Highlands, the country of his Campbell ancestors and of the Camerons and the MacDonalds, that Angus had spent his last days on earth. In effect, he had come back to the land of his fathers to die.
What Catriona deduced as she read through the last pages of her father’s diary was that although he was experiencing pains in his chest and knew that his heart was playing up, it didn’t seem to concern him very much, if at all. He hadn’t taken the option of having a heart operation and didn’t seem to care whether he lived or died. What seemed to be clear was that Angus Campbell had been quite happy to die in Campbell country.
Catriona knew that she would never forget the bliss she experienced as she and her husband drove down the west coast of Scotland towards the places that were the raison d’être for their trip. There were so many things that made this pilgrimage an almost magical experience. There was the changing nature of the landscape with the high country to the east and the island-dotted sea to the west. There were tiny hamlets and larger villages and there were people everywhere who wanted to talk about Australia. Sometimes they would eat at an inn, or stay at an inn, but in good weather they stayed close to the campervan.