The Cloud Leopard's Daughter

by Deborah Challinor

  ‘Good morning, mes petites,’ Pierre cooed as they wound around his legs, divesting fur over his trousers. ‘Uncle Tahi has the little job for you.’

  Taking a white rose he bent down and threaded it into Delilah’s collar, then did the same with Samson, except her rose was red. She’d always been the more aggressive of the two females, hence she’d received the male name. It wouldn’t have done to have a mating pair aboard – there would have been kittens everywhere.

  ‘Very nice,’ Tahi said. Sort of, but he knew Amber would think it adorable.

  Pierre picked up the cats, one jammed under each arm, both furry faces registering surprise and indignation at the lack of breakfast. ‘You bring the tray.’

  At his cabin door, Tahi balanced the tray on one hand and opened the door, peeking inside.

  ‘You awake?’ he asked.

  Amber nodded. He thought she looked miserable.

  ‘Can I come in?’

  Another nod. Tahi gave Pierre the signal: he put the cats down and they scampered into the cabin wearing their roses, and jumped onto the bed. Amber giggled. Tahi followed, closing the door with his foot, and set the tea tray on the floor.

  ‘Thought you might like an early-morning cup of tea.’ He sat on the bed. ‘I’m sorry, Amber. I’ve been an idiot. And a pig.’ He waited, then, for her to say he hadn’t.

  She sat up, bunching a pillow against the wall behind her. ‘You have, actually. I didn’t ask to be kidnapped, you know, not by any of them. How do you think I feel? It was bad enough being passed from pillar to post by sodding Lo Fang and then Longwei, but Israel! How did we not know he was mad?’

  She still didn’t know how mad, Tahi thought. He hadn’t told anyone except Haunui what Israel had said at the end, and though it had been truly shocking, he would have killed him anyway.

  ‘We weren’t looking for it, were we?’

  ‘He could have killed me with all that opium, he could have done anything.’

  Tahi steadied himself. ‘But he didn’t.’ It wasn’t a question.

  ‘Of course he didn’t. I’ve told you. I woman knows these things. And he was such a gentleman.’ She gave a short yap of a laugh. ‘He stole me, lied horribly to me, nearly poisoned me to death, and showered me with gifts and was a perfect gentleman. Poor Israel. What a mess.’

  ‘Poor Israel be buggered. He deserved what he got.’

  ‘I don’t deserve what I’m getting. It wasn’t my fault, Tahi.’

  Tahi scooted up the bed and took her hand. ‘I know. That’s why I said I’m sorry. For behaving like I have.’

  Tears brimmed in Amber’s eyes. ‘He’s ruined it for us, hasn’t he?’

  ‘No, he hasn’t. But I nearly did.’

  There was an ominous ripping sound as Samson tore off her rose.

  Tahi leant forward and kissed Amber. Her arms came up and wrapped tightly around his neck.

  The tea went cold.

  *

  They arrived in Sydney Harbour on the twenty-sixth of November and planned to stay only a few days at most, Wong Fu’s state of health being uppermost in everyone’s minds – just long enough to see Wing and Ka settled and for Bao to speak with her uncle. Kitty expected she was going to tell him exactly what she thought of him, but who really knew with Bao these days? She really had grown into the most extraordinary young woman.

  The matter of Wing and Ka had been worrying her. She’d imagined they might find lodgings with the Chinese community in Sydney but apparently Mick had other plans. According to him his mother would be more than happy to take them in; Kitty, who knew Biddy well, wasn’t so sure. Mick, she knew, had ulterior motives, and she doubted Biddy would be keen on the idea of keeping Mick’s fancy woman, and her servant, while he was away at sea. She wondered if Wing even liked Mick, and asked her as the Katipo was being towed into a berth.

  ‘He is a fine man,’ Wing said, her gorgeous hair fluttering like a black silk banner in the sea breeze and a beautifully painted parasol open to keep the sun off her face.

  For about the twentieth time Kitty marvelled at how she managed to keep her hair looking so lovely and shiny.

  ‘Do you think so?’ she asked after she’d swallowed a mouthful of the biscuit she was eating. Mick had been called many things, but ‘fine’ was very rarely one of them.

  ‘Yes. He is handsome, kind, thoughtful and he has excellent manners.’

  ‘Mmm.’ She hadn’t seen him drunk, of course.

  ‘And he is very wealthy, but you would know that.’

  ‘Is he?’

  Wing turned to her, the morning sun lighting her perfect, pale skin. She tilted the parasol to block it. Her eyes were the loveliest brown colour, like the inside of a pine cone.

  ‘Yes, the business he has with his mother. All of the properties?’

  ‘Oh. Of course.’

  ‘Does she have a lovely house?’

  Kitty thought about Biddy’s two-storey tenement in Carahers Lane, which, although very clean and beautifully kept, was undeniably modest. It was all she’d ever aspired to, despite the wealth she’d accumulated in her later years, and, by all accounts, far better than what she’d come from.

  ‘It’s comfortable. Folk have a different way of living in Australia. You might find it takes a bit of getting used to. And you came from the house of a very wealthy man, remember.’

  ‘But not a kind man. Not like Mick. He is looking for a wife, you know.’

  Kitty nearly choked on her biscuit. Mick, married? What was she talking about? Mick was the original sailor with a woman in every port, and proud of it. He’d never settle down. He was too selfish.

  ‘Has he said that?’

  Wing’s parasol blew inside out. Scowling, she dropped it overboard. ‘He has said that so far he has not found the right lady. During our conversations over the past weeks he has strongly hinted that I am she.’

  Kitty said, ‘Yes, well. It’s been very nice talking to you, Wing, but if you’ll excuse me I’ve got so much to do before we go ashore.’

  ‘And I cannot stay in the sun without my parasol.’

  Kitty watched her as she went below, then hurried along to the bow where Mick was preparing the ropes for berthing. It was a warm morning and he’d taken off his shirt, but she was immune to the sight of his muscled chest and arms. He was still very fit, and undeniably handsome if you liked dark-haired Irishmen with twinkly eyes. She preferred blond Irishmen, one in particular.

  ‘Mick?’

  ‘Mmm?’

  ‘I’ve just been talking to Wing and she tells me you want to get married.’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘To her?’

  ‘Who wouldn’t? Look at her. She’s like a perfect little doll, so she is.’

  ‘But you’re awful to women.’

  ‘Ah, Kitty, that’s cruel.’

  ‘You are. Why the sudden change of heart?’

  ‘I’m in love.’

  ‘Oh, grow up.’

  Mick set the coiled rope tidily on the deck. ‘That’s the thing. I finally have and me heart tells me she’s the one I want.’

  ‘Do you know what she’s really like?’

  ‘We’ve had lots of nice chats.’

  ‘You haven’t bedded her yet?’

  Mick gave her a look of mock disapproval. ‘Kitty Farrell, is that all you ever think about?’

  ‘Me? That’s good, coming from you!’

  ‘I’m saving meself for the wedding night.’

  ‘She was a concubine, you know.’

  ‘Well, we all have our secrets.’

  Kitty was starting to lose her temper. ‘Mick, she’s after your money, which you don’t actually have because you’ve lied to her.’

  ‘Not really. Mam’ll leave some of it to me when she dies, so she will.’ Mick stared at the deck for a moment. ‘’Cept she probably won’t die for another hundred years, the tough old boot.’

  ‘And she isn’t going to put up with Wing living in her house. Or at all, probably.
She’ll see straight through her.’

  ‘There’s nothing to see. She’s a lovely girl.’

  ‘You’re a fool, Mick Doyle,’ Kitty said, and stomped off.

  *

  Bao went straight from the Katipo to the Chinese quarter, not far from the wharves.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Sun,’ she said in Cantonese as she entered the furniture shop.

  ‘Miss Wong, good morning,’ he replied, smiling broadly then bowing. ‘Do you wish to speak with your uncle?’

  He didn’t appear surprised to see her, Bao thought, so perhaps he wasn’t aware that she was supposed to be in Hong Kong.

  ‘Thank you, I do.’

  ‘One moment, please.’

  The gong sounded and a minute later So-Yee appeared through the curtain at the rear of the shop. His eyebrows lifted and he smiled, revealing half a dozen gold teeth, a very rare display of emotion for him.

  ‘Miss Bao, you have returned.’ To Sun Lee Sing he said, ‘You may go outside briefly.’

  Sun Lee Sing went, digging in his trouser pocket for his pipe tobacco.

  ‘I am delighted,’ So-Yee added. ‘You are well?’

  ‘Yes, thank you, and yes, I have come back,’ Bao replied, ‘which I sincerely hope gives my uncle the fright of his life.’

  ‘I am sure it will. Were the arrangements in Hong Kong not to your satisfaction?’

  ‘No they were not, and you know that. They would not have been even if Yip Chun Kit had been the kindest, most handsome man in all of China. Which he was not.’

  ‘Did he tire of you or did you escape?’

  ‘I escaped.’

  ‘Well done.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘And your transport here?’

  ‘Rian Farrell.’

  ‘Ah. A reliable fellow, Captain Farrell.’

  ‘Very. Have you news of my father?’ Bao asked.

  ‘Our last correspondence, received on Tuesday, advised that he was failing but still with us.’

  Bao nodded. That would have been sent over two weeks ago. Her father could well be dead by now.

  ‘Will you take me up to Kai?’

  ‘Be warned, Miss Bao. He will not be pleased.’

  ‘I am not pleased, So-Yee.’

  Another small smile as he gestured to her to follow him.

  Wong Kai stood at the window of his office looking down at the street below, and turned as Bao knocked and entered. For a moment expressions of confusion, dismay then rage chased across his face, then he composed himself.

  ‘Bao, I did not expect to see you. You should be the wife of Yip Chun Kit by now.’

  ‘No, Uncle, I should not, and you should not have schemed to give away money that belongs to our family. You should not have schemed to give away my life.’

  She hadn’t spoken to him during the few days she’d been in Sydney on her way to Hong Kong – he hadn’t allowed it – and this was her first chance to tell him how she felt about what he’d done.

  Kai spread his hands. ‘It was for the good of the family that I did scheme. When we are given power, such as I have and such as you will soon receive, we must make sacrifices.’

  ‘What sacrifice were you going to make? You were going to help yourself to the office of Cloud Leopard while I was to be stuck with a man who looks like a frog and smells like ten cloves of raw garlic.’

  ‘These are tumultuous and changing times, both abroad and at home in China. Especially at home. Our tong needs a strong leader, a figurehead who can lead by example, in both word and deed. You are not that figurehead.’

  ‘I am, by birth and by training. And you trained me, if you care to recall.’

  ‘Only at the behest of your father. I had hoped he would see sense by now.’

  ‘There is nothing to see sense about, Uncle. My father has always known exactly what he is doing.’

  Clearly growing frustrated, Kai said, ‘Bao, you are a woman!’

  ‘What difference does that make? The Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci’an are women, and they are co-regents of all of China.’

  ‘That is different.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘They are merely babysitting.’

  Bao looked at her uncle in disgust. He’d never change. He’d been this way for as long as she could remember, and he’d continue along the same arrogant, bullying path until he died.

  He sat down on his ridiculously ornate chair and set his hands flat on the desk in front of him as though about to inspect his fingernails. ‘There are those on the tong committee who say they will not tolerate a woman tong master,’ he remarked. ‘There will be insubordination. There will be subterfuge.’

  Bao sat down herself. ‘There will be? Do you think I do not know what has been happening? Do you think my father has not told me? He has struggled to preside over it for years.’

  Kai shrugged. ‘I am simply telling you that you must expect more.’

  ‘It has been the death of him. He is not an old man.’

  ‘I agree.’

  Bao fixed her gaze on a large jade bowl on her uncle’s desk, then said quietly, ‘And I have decided that I do not want it to be the death of me.’

  Kai looked at her sharply. ‘What are you saying?’

  To calm herself Bao took a deep, slow breath. ‘I am saying that I consent to passing the office of Cloud Leopard to you.’

  Kai stared at her in astonishment. ‘But you have just vigorously argued about why it should be yours.’

  ‘I have argued about the principle of why it should be mine.’

  Recovering quickly, Kai asked, ‘And what do you want in return?’

  ‘Two matters. Firstly, I want you to say nothing about this conversation to anyone until my father has died. Agreed?’

  ‘Yes, but why?’

  ‘As I am sure you know, it is Tam Chong Ho who administrates during the succession of one Cloud Leopard to the next, and I will need to declare officially in writing that I do not wish to take up the office after my father dies. Chong has my father’s ear but, I fear, is not his friend. I do not want Chong to know until he has to.’

  It was possible that news of her decision might reach Lawrence before she did and the truth was she didn’t trust Tam Chong Ho not to tell her father out of pure spite, and she didn’t know how her father might feel about her decision. She couldn’t bear the idea of him going to his grave disappointed with her.

  ‘And the second matter?’

  Bao pushed a piece of paper across the desk. ‘I want you to send this amount of your personal money, not tong money, to China, to this address, as soon as possible, and I want the bank and postal receipts to prove it.’

  Kai looked at the note. ‘This is a lot of money.’

  ‘Do not tell me you cannot afford it.’

  ‘Oh, I can afford it. What is it in aid of?’

  Bao hesitated, then decided there would be no harm in telling him. ‘To cut what is quite a long story short, Rian and Kitty Farrell’s daughter, Amber, was abducted by a man named Lee Longwei, a pirate.’

  Kai looked confused. ‘But—’

  ‘Yes,’ Bao interrupted, ‘that was after Lo Fang took her. I said it is a long story.’ She pointed to the note. ‘I negotiated her release from Longwei for that sum. With your money.’

  ‘That was very generous of you.’

  ‘I knew you would pay it if I offered to relinquish my claim to the office of Cloud Leopard. And I am right. You will.’

  ‘Captain Farrell must be grateful indeed to have a friend with ready access to such an amount.’

  ‘He does not know.’

  ‘More secrets?’ Kai looked amused.

  ‘I do not have half as many as you.’

  ‘What if I do not pay this money?’

  ‘Then I will not stand down.’

  ‘And you will be left owing this . . . pirate all this money.’

  ‘Yes, I will. But I will also have access to the tong’s coffers.’

  Outraged now, Kai sai
d, ‘You cannot use tong money for personal debt!’

  ‘Why not? The committee help themselves whenever they feel like it. And you spend family money that does not even reach the coffers.’

  Kai didn’t have to think for long. He tugged his snow-white cuffs from beneath the sleeves of his jacket so that they were perfectly even and adjusted one of his onyx and gold cufflinks. ‘I will make arrangements to have the money sent this afternoon. Come back in the morning for the receipts.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Bao stood.

  ‘One minute! How do I know you will keep your part of the bargain?’

  Bao had suspected he was going to say that: there were very few people Kai trusted, and she clearly was no longer one of them. ‘Give me paper and a pen.’

  Kai opened a drawer and produced a pristine, pale yellow sheet, passed it across the desk and indicated a pen and ink. Bao wrote a short sentence, signed and dated it and handed it back.

  ‘Will that suffice?’

  Kai read it and gave one of his unpleasant smiles. ‘Yes.’

  *

  Mick knocked once and opened the bright blue door to his mother’s house. Kitty glanced nervously at Rian, both anticipating with alarm what was about to happen but compelled to watch it all the same.

  ‘Mam, I’m home!’

  A voice from inside replied, ‘Mick, is that you?’ A moment later Biddy Doyle appeared, wiping her hands on a tea towel. ‘My boy!’

  She gave Mick a great big hug, followed by equally generous embraces for Kitty and Rian. When she came to Wing and Ka she stopped, her hands planted on her wide hips.

  ‘And who’s this?’

  Wing had outdone herself, wearing the best silk embroidered robe and skirt she had, plastering on face powder and rouge and drawing on her eyebrows, dressing her hair with fancy combs and artificial flowers, and tottering on high platform shoes. In contrast Ka wore her usual tunic and trousers, flat shoes, and a simple bun. Side by side they looked like a starling out walking with a peacock.

  ‘Mam, meet Wing. She’s from China. She’s come to stay with us.’

  ‘Has she now?’

  Though Wing looked a little confused she bowed low. ‘I am very happy to meet you, Mrs Doyle.’