‘What!’ Larry exploded. ‘Just wait until I get my hands on whoever that low-life is. Did your father say who they think it could be?’
Alice-Miranda shook her head. Sprocket was staring off into the distance as if he was in another world.
Alice-Miranda prompted him again. ‘Mr Sprocket, are you able to stay with us? I’d like to tell Daddy what’s happening.’
Sprocket flinched and broke into a grin. It was fortunate there were no reflective surfaces in the kitchen. ‘Yes, of course, it would be my honour,’ he said. ‘And I insist on cooking you all dinner. It will be a Sprocket special.’
The children looked at one another, wondering what that might be.
‘Got me some roadkill in the back of the ute,’ he winked. ‘Bit of roo.’
Jacinta shuddered. ‘I’m not eating that.’ She jumped up and ran out of the room and down the hallway.
‘I was kidding. I don’t eat roadkill either. Well, not unless I’m really desperate and it’s really fresh,’ he said.
‘Probably best not to make jokes like that at the moment, Sprocket,’ Lucas said, and stood up to find Jacinta. ‘She’s feeling a little sensitive.’
‘Sorry,’ Sprocket replied, and sounded as if he meant it. ‘You got any mince in the freezer? I do a mean spaghetti bolognaise. I’m not actually a bad cook and it’d be nice to make something for a crowd. Don’t tend to cook for one very often and I don’t fancy another tin of baked beans – I hate the darn things.’
Larry nodded and Alice-Miranda gave him a smile. ‘Thank you, Mr Sprocket. That sounds delicious and we’d be very happy to help you.’
Sprocket needed to get out and tell Old Mate what he was up to, but at least he’d bought himself some more time. Besides he couldn’t let Hugh with Two down – he’d promised to stay with the kids and that’s exactly what he would do. And then perhaps he could also work out how he was going to get home in one piece.
Alice-Miranda phoned her father back, then fielded calls from her mother and Evie too. She assured everyone that they were absolutely fine, although it didn’t help that, during her conversation with Cecelia, Sprocket splashed boiling water on himself while draining the pasta and let out a string of swear words that would make a shearer blush.
Sprocket apologised profusely, admitting that there were only two things that brought profanities to his lips – physical pain and ultimate stupidity – and he’d just given himself a double dose.
Dinner smelt delicious. The children helped set the table and Jacinta emerged from where she and Lucas had been watching another movie. The boy had suggested that it might be a welcome distraction for both of them and it seemed to have worked. Jacinta appeared to be in a much more positive frame of mind.
‘Now would you like some too, Junie?’ Sprocket asked the cat, who meowed loudly in reply. He heaped some pasta and bolognaise onto a plate and set it on the floor, only for Junie to stick her nose in the air and walk around it, flicking her tail.
‘Sorry, love, I forgot,’ he said. He picked the plate up and placed it on the table beside Larry. Junie leapt onto the chair and stood up with her paws on the table, waiting until everyone else was seated before she tucked in.
‘That cat has better table manners than most people I know,’ Sprocket said. ‘Dan’s taught her well.’
Millie giggled. ‘Apart from the fact that my mother would be horrified to see an animal eating at the table with us, I tend to agree. It’s almost like she’s human.’
‘You said you had a lead on Taipan Dan?’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Do you know where he is?’
Sprocket shook his head. ‘I don’t know, but pounds to peanuts something untoward has happened to the silly old coot. There’s no way he’d leave that cat of his stranded on the side of the road.’
‘Perhaps we should call Sergeant Ted and tell him your suspicions,’ Alice-Miranda suggested. ‘If something has happened then shouldn’t the police be searching for him?’
‘No,’ Sprocket said emphatically. ‘No police.’
The children wondered why he was so adamant, but were all too exhausted to argue. Their day out mustering was catching up. A contagion of yawns swept the table.
Sprocket was thinking about how he could get Alice-Miranda to hand over the page his captor thought she had. He had a brainwave. It was the cleverest thought he’d had all day.
‘When you found my ute out there on the road, you didn’t happen to see a map, did you?’ he asked, then sucked a long strand of spaghetti through his shiny teeth, making a horrible schlurping sound in the process.
‘What sort of map?’ Millie asked.
‘Well, kind of like an old . . . um . . . a scrap of paper, about this big.’ He held his hands about thirty centimetres apart, then brought them in a bit, then out again. Truthfully, he had no idea what he was looking for. The idiot who’d sent him to get it hadn’t given him much to work with.
Alice-Miranda wriggled in her seat to pull something out of her back pocket. She’d had it with her the whole time. ‘Do you mean this? I found it on the road so I wasn’t sure where it had come from, but it makes perfect sense now. It must have blown out of your car.’ She flattened it out on the table. ‘It has the words “Hope Springs” in the bottom corner so I thought it must have had something to do with the station – that’s why I took it with me. I am sorry.’
‘You little ripper!’ Sprocket could barely contain his glee.
‘What is it?’ Hayden asked.
‘Um, ah, um.’ The man had no answer for that – he didn’t have a clue himself.
‘We thought it might be part of a treasure map,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘But half seems to be missing, so it wouldn’t be much use. We thought the other half might be in the study.’
Sprocket tucked into his dinner and tried to ignore the girl’s chatter, but she was a persistent character.
‘That would be exciting – if it was a treasure map,’ she said, to the agreement of the other kids.
‘But if there was treasure here, wouldn’t it belong to us,’ Larry said.
Sprocket looked up and wiped a smear of tomato sauce from his lip with the paper napkin.
‘It’s not here,’ he shook his head then realised that’s exactly what it was – a treasure map. That’s why the big fella had sent him to get it. ‘See that,’ he pointed at the words and managed to slop a big blob of red on the middle of it. ‘Oops, I’m a klutz, aren’t I. No wonder my mother left me under a bush to be raised by dingoes.’
Jacinta glared at the man. ‘That’s not true.’ She paused. ‘Is it?’
Lucas patted her arm. ‘He’s joking.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that, young man. I can show you the marks where my dog-mother used to drag me around with her pups.’ He pointed at his neck, which was peppered with strange scars.
‘Ew!’ Jacinta shuddered.
‘Mr Sprocket is kidding, Jacinta. Please don’t be upset. I know that he grew up in a very respectable family in Melbourne and went to boarding school just like us,’ Alice-Miranda explained.
Sprocket looked at her, his blue bug eyes wide. ‘How would you know that?’
‘Daddy told me. He said that you went bush as a young man and loved it so much you gave up the city life. He said that there are lots of people in Coober Pedy with interesting stories like yours. Some people choose the bush and for others the bush chooses them.’
‘That Hugh with Two always was a smart fella,’ Sprocket said.
‘Well, I don’t choose the bush – ever,’ Jacinta said.
‘So is it a treasure map?’ Larry asked again.
‘I’m not really sure,’ Sprocket lied. ‘It’s just something I’ve had for a long time – like a talisman that I keep close. I think it’s going to bring me good luck,’ he said.
He couldn’t stop thinking about what Alice-Miranda had said about there being another half. If he could find that, then surely he could negotiate his release and the hairy brute would leave him alone.
They could forget any of this happened, couldn’t they?
Sprocket stood up from the table and stretched his arms above his head.
‘Goodnight, kids,’ he said.
Millie looked at the kitchen clock. ‘Um, it’s half past seven.’
‘Is it that late? Goodness me. Way past my bedtime,’ he said. ‘I’ll just be stretching out in the swag in the garden. See you in the morning.’
‘Sprocket, Lawrence was bitten by a brown snake this afternoon. Do you really want to sleep in a swag outside on the ground?’ Jacinta asked.
The man frowned. ‘The movie star was deadset unlucky. I can tell you now that while this country is home to some of the deadliest snakes on earth, bite rates are low and no more than two people a year die. I agree that’s two too many, but statistically you’re in much greater danger of kicking the bucket from falling out of bed, which I won’t do if I’m lying on the ground. Anyway, snakes don’t like us much either and only really attack if we’ve got in their way – it’s quite likely Lawrence stepped on the poor blighter, or something like that.’
None of that made Jacinta feel much better at all. She was just glad they weren’t going camping on this trip.
‘Sprocket, you can sleep in one of the staff dongas if you like,’ Hayden offered. They’re not locked. Just choose one.’
‘Oh, that’s very kind of you, young man. I’ll have a think about that. Anyway, night all,’ Sprocket said then walked to the door. He turned. ‘I shouldn’t leave you with the washing up though, should I?’
Alice-Miranda had already stood up to clear the plates. ‘It’s all right. You did the cooking. We can clean up.’
And with that, the man scampered down the hallway and out the back door.
Dan had no idea how long he’d been out. His mouth felt like the Simpson Desert and he could barely conjure enough saliva to lick his crusty lips. He pulled himself up slowly and tried to stand.
‘Argh!’ his pained scream echoed around the shaft as his leg gave way beneath him. He felt the bone and immediately knew that things weren’t where they were meant to be. Looking about, he realised he still had his day pack with him. At least there was a full canteen of water and some food. He pulled himself across the dirt floor to his bag and opened it, knowing that if he was going to have any chance of survival he had to ration his supplies – at least until he was strong enough to haul himself back up the ladder to the car.
This wasn’t part of the plan. To die in a hole in the ground in the middle of Hope Springs. Although there was a certain irony to it, given he’d heard his own father had dropped dead of a heart attack in the western paddock. This wasn’t how it was going to end. The time was finally here to find that mythical reef and put things right.
‘What a day,’ Millie sighed as she climbed into bed. ‘I can’t believe that Lawrence was bitten by a snake. I hope the press doesn’t find out, or Coober Pedy hospital won’t know what hit them.’
‘Stop talking,’ Jacinta ordered. She pulled the covers over her head.
‘It’s a long way for the paparazzi to come,’ Alice-Miranda said as she rummaged around in her suitcase looking for the book she’d brought to read. ‘Millie, you didn’t happen to grab anything from my bag today, did you?’
‘Not me. Why?’ the girl asked.
‘It looks like everything’s been moved,’ Alice-Miranda replied.
‘Is anything missing?’ Larry asked. She’d crawled into her bottom bunk and was propped up on one elbow watching Alice-Miranda. Junie had already made herself at home on the end of the bed, with Rusty lying in the doorway.
The child located the book, which she was sure had been tucked down the right-hand side, but was now at the bottom. She frowned at the way her clothes were folded too – Shilly had long ago taught Alice-Miranda how to pack a bag neatly, but this looked as if it had been done by someone with extensive training in the art of garment origami.
‘That does seem strange but I think everything’s there,’ Alice-Miranda said, as she climbed up onto the top bunk and switched on the reading lamp above her head.
‘Speaking of strange – that Sprocket’s a bit of a weird one,’ Larry mused. ‘Doesn’t seem to remember if he’s Arthur or Martha. Does he have a car or doesn’t he, and where is it and how did it get here? He’s all over the shop.’
‘Total nutter,’ Millie agreed. ‘But at least he’s entertaining, and that spag bol wasn’t bad.’
‘Sprocket!’ Alice-Miranda gasped and sat bolt upright. ‘Do you think he could have been looking in my bag?’
‘Why would he do that?’ Millie asked.
‘He was pretty keen to get that piece of paper back,’ Larry said.
‘That’s creepy,’ Millie said. ‘How would he know that you had it? Unless he was watching us when we stopped to look at the car?’
Alice-Miranda agreed. ‘Even though he really didn’t seem to know what it was or where he’d got it from in the first place.’
‘And remember when he asked to use the bathroom?’ Larry mused. ‘First of all he said he knew where it was, then he backtracked. I think he’d already been in the house for sure. I wonder what else he’s been into. I don’t think we’ll tell Mum too much – she gets a bit paranoid about blow-ins. We’ve had a few odd visitors over the years, but the worst was last spring. Dad and Ralph chased a couple of blokes off, and they made Hayden and me and Mum and Molly and Rosie and the kids hide in the cellar until they were gone. Ralph said he didn’t like the look of them – he caught them poking around in the sheds and they were asking far too many questions that didn’t seem to have anything to do with their alleged trip through the outback. They had a couple of bad-tempered hunting dogs in cages on their ute as well – Dad didn’t want Rusty getting into trouble with them.’
From beneath the duvet there was a muffled sound. ‘Thtop sthpeaking!’
‘Sorry, Jacinta,’ Larry said. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. Just so you know, those guys left and we’ve never seen them again, and that’s the only time we’ve ever really had any total weirdos on the property – apart from Sprocket, but I don’t think he’s dangerous. Just barking mad.’
Jacinta huffed and settled down again.
‘I wish we could find the other half of that page – then we’d know for certain what it was,’ Millie said.
Alice-Miranda threw the covers back. ‘Anyone want to have another look in the study with me?’
‘Sure,’ Millie said, and Larry agreed, but Jacinta was either asleep or not interested as she didn’t reply. The girls tiptoed out of the room and down the hallway.
Junie and Rusty stayed put.
Alice-Miranda flicked on the study light and looked around. ‘We’ve already checked those ledgers up there.’ She thought about the diary she’d returned to its hiding spot and felt a twinge in her stomach. She wasn’t sure if it was guilt that she’d learned things she wished she hadn’t, but it didn’t sit well. Like an undigested French fry.
‘What about this?’ Larry pulled a brown leather-bound book from the shelves in the middle of the room. It was a large volume, landscape in shape and at least forty centimetres wide.
‘Looks interesting,’ Millie said as Larry laid the tome across the desk and opened the first page. There was a lot of swirly script, which Millie began to read aloud.
‘Survey of Hope Springs Station, 1897,’ she said. ‘Maybe we’re onto something here.’
The book contained a lot about the size of the place and the terrain, including prominent landmarks and the division of paddocks. There was some information about where the house was situated and the number of dwellings – of which there were quite a few more than currently existed.
Alice-Miranda looked on eagerly as the girls turned the page to find a hand-drawn map of the area immediately surrounding the homestead. The next page showed the yards and the sheds.
A board creaked on the veranda outside and Alice-Miranda’s attention was diverted to the window. She could have sworn
she saw a shadow, but maybe it was her imagination.
Millie glanced up too. ‘What was that?’
‘Just the house. This place makes so many noises,’ Larry said. ‘Some days, the tin roof expands and contracts to the point you’d swear there was a troop of tap-dancing goannas up there.’
Alice-Miranda and Millie grinned at each other, imagining the toe-tapping lizards.
Larry turned the pages slowly, carefully checking each one. The book was full of more maps and descriptions of paddocks and fencing. They were almost to the end when Millie let out a yelp and jumped into the air.
‘What’s the matter?’ Alice-Miranda turned to the girl.
‘Junie,’ Millie panted, and pointed at the cat, who had padded silently into the room and curled her tail around Millie’s bare leg, startling her.
Alice-Miranda reached down and picked the ginger puss up, cradling her in her arms like a baby. Junie purred loudly and rewarded the girl with a lick to the side of her face.
‘I hope she doesn’t have worms,’ Millie grimaced. ‘Mum always tells me off when the cats on the farm at home lick me.’
Alice-Miranda hoped so too. She’d wash her face before they went back to bed just to be sure. The girls reached the end of the book without any success.
‘So much for that then,’ Larry said. Millie returned it to the shelf and noticed another similar volume.
‘Looks like there’s a second one,’ the girl said, and carried it over.
Larry turned the pages carefully again, wishing they would find something. She’d almost reached the end when their patience was rewarded.
‘This is it!’ Alice-Miranda stared at the torn sheet. ‘I’m sure that it must be the other half.’ The page had been ripped down the middle, leaving a thin, ragged edge. ‘If only we still had the page I gave back to Mr Sprocket, we could check. What does it say there?’ She pointed at the writing on the facing page.
Alice-Miranda in the Outback Page 14