by Dilly Court
It was still dark when they set off on the track that Raven assured them led to Ballarat, with dawn yet to break. They had not eaten since the previous evening, and, after a couple of hours riding on a rutted track, Essie’s stomach was rumbling and she was thirsty. Clouds had gathered soon after first light and a steady drizzle soaked her clothes and hair. They rode in silence until Raven called a halt. The rain had ceased and he set about making a fire. It was obvious from the way he worked that he had learned the art of survival during his five years in the penal camp, and soon the fire was hot enough to heat a billycan of water filled from a leather-covered canteen. He made damper, mixing flour and water and cooking the dough in the ashes of the fire. Even Essie, who was usually willing to try anything, balked at this at first, but eventually hunger got the better of her and she scraped off the burned bits and found it quite palatable. Sadie copied her, as she did with everything, but Lady Alice refused to touch any of the food, including the salt beef that they had for their midday meal and again at supper, with the inevitable chunk of damper.
They camped that night, sleeping beneath the stars, and thankfully the rain held off. Essie was so exhausted that she would have slept on a bed of nails, and the irritating clouds of sand-flies, with their painful bites, failed to keep her awake. Next morning she was stiff and every part of her body ached, but she was determined to make the best of things. Not so Lady Alice, who awakened in a bad mood and refused once again to eat the damper. She huddled round the fire, sipping tea, but when she stood up again she crumpled to the ground in a dead faint.
Essie rushed to her side and Sadie began to cry. Between them Essie and Freddie helped her to her feet. ‘Are you ill, my lady?’ Essie asked anxiously.
‘She will be sick if she doesn’t eat.’ Raven eyed his cousin with an ominous frown. ‘If you continue to act so childishly I’ll leave you behind, Alice.’
‘That’s cruel,’ Essie said fiercely. ‘You’re hardened to this sort of life, but Lady Alice isn’t.’
‘That’s right.’ Freddie helped his cousin to a place where she could sit, leaning against the trunk of a gum tree. ‘Have a little pity, Raven.’
Raven shrugged and walked away to tend to the horses. ‘We leave in half an hour. Make your choice, Alice.’
‘I know something that might help.’ Essie had seen a bag of oatmeal in Raven’s pack and she helped herself to a cupful, adding the last of the boiling water and stirring vigorously. She handed it to Lady Alice. ‘Try this. It’s not like the porridge you’re used to, my lady, but it will give you the strength to go on.’
Lady Alice seemed about to refuse but a glance from Raven made her spoon the sticky mixture into her mouth. She gulped and swallowed, but as she continued to eat the colour gradually returned to her face.
‘I hate you, Raven,’ she muttered, thrusting the empty mug into Essie hands.
‘You’ll change your tune when you get your first glimpse of gold dust,’ he said, chuckling as he led her horse to within easy reach. ‘Come on, Alice. We’re almost there so you’d better make the best of things. You might even come to like the place, in time.’
‘Never.’ She rose somewhat unsteadily to her feet. ‘Help me mount that beast, Freddie. I swear it’s the worst-tempered brute I’ve ever ridden. I’d give anything for a horse from my own stables.’
Freddie tossed her up onto the saddle. ‘All in good time, Alice my love.’ He turned to Sadie, picked her up and set her gently onto the back of her small but sturdy pony. ‘You’re doing very well, considering you’d never ridden before yesterday.’
Sadie’s cheeks flamed with colour and she giggled self-consciously. ‘Ta, sir. You’re very kind.’
‘Forget the niceties, Sadie. You may call me Freddie. In fact I think we should all use Christian names, and that includes you, Alice. Titles seem out of place and even a bit ridiculous in this wild country.’
‘I agree.’ Raven nodded emphatically. ‘It will be much better that way, particularly when we reach camp.’
‘I hate it here,’ Alice said, pouting. ‘But I suppose it makes sense. Essie and Sadie, you may call me Alice, but when we return to London you will revert to the correct mode of address.’
‘Well, I never,’ Sadie murmured, holding on for dear life as her pony decided to move forward.
‘We’ll try to remember that, Alice.’ Essie mounted without any help and urged her horse to catch up with Sadie’s pony. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes,’ Sadie said, grinning. ‘Did you hear that, Essie? He said I was to call him Freddie and I’m to call her ladyship Alice. Who’d have thought that Sadie Dixon from Shoreditch would be calling one of the gentry by his first name?’
‘Who indeed?’ Essie sighed. Where would it all end? That was the question.
Chapter Ten
They arrived in Ballarat early that evening. The twilight was punctuated by dozens of campfires and the scent of eucalyptus and wood smoke mingled with the aroma of cooking.
‘Pot luck stew,’ Raven said, reining in his horse beside Essie’s tired mount. ‘They call it poverty stew when times are particularly challenging.’
Essie peered into the gathering gloom. The tented city spread across the land, looking ghostly in the half-light, and she could just make out a line of trees with hills rising steeply in the distance.
‘This is where you’ve been living?’ She turned her head to look him in the eye. ‘It must be a very hard life.’
He nodded. ‘It’s not easy, even for men, and it’s much tougher on the women.’
‘So why did you insist on bringing your cousin here? You know she’s used to better things.’
‘You’re right. I should have insisted on putting all three of you ashore in Gibraltar. The wind and weather made it too difficult to put you ashore in Cape Town, but I do regret that.’
‘Are we to stay here for the next two years?’ Essie asked anxiously. ‘I’d like to know, and I’m sure that Lady Alice will insist on learning her fate.’
A wry smile twisted his lips. ‘You make it sound dire, but I have business here, Essie. I’m what’s called a fossicker. I haven’t got a mining licence and what I do is considered unimportant in the grand scheme of things. As it happens I’ve been lucky. I was here almost at the start and I found a rich vein of ore as well as a large quantity of small nuggets. I’ll keep going because I have to remain here, but there’s trouble brewing amongst the miners.’
‘Why is that?’
‘It’s political, Essie. They resent paying the British Government for their licences to operate their mines, and I can’t say I blame them.’
Essie would have liked to know more, but she was prevented from enquiring further by the arrival of the others.
‘Is this it?’ Alice demanded as she drew her horse to a halt beside Raven’s tired animal. ‘You’ve dragged us to the other side of the world to live in a tent?’
‘Not quite. I’ve built myself a nice little hut from wattle and daub. It’s the height of luxury – well, comparatively speaking.’
‘I’m tired, Raven.’ Alice stifled a yawn. ‘I don’t care where we sleep tonight just as long as it’s under cover and free from vermin.’
He reached across to pat her on the shoulder. ‘I know you are, and so are the girls. You’ll be much more comfortable in my shack. Freddie and I will sleep on the stoop.’
The hut stood on a small hillock overlooking the creek. It was, as Raven said proudly, constructed entirely of wood cut from the acacia trees that were abundant in the area, their slender branches woven into wattle, which was covered with a daub of mud mixed with animal dung and whitewashed for additional strength and waterproofing. The sloping roof extended over a veranda that ran the full width of the building and inside there was one reasonably large room. There was a rope bed in one corner of the room and a table made out of a packing case and two stools.
There was no question as to the person who would occupy the bed. Alice laid her bedroll over t
he rope mesh, leaving Essie and Sadie to set theirs out on the floor. It was not the most comfortable way to sleep, but at least they were warm and dry, and it had started to rain. Essie could hear Raven and Freddie making themselves as comfortable as possible on the narrow veranda, aided by a bottle of rum that Raven had produced from a cubbyhole beneath the floorboards. They had all had a tot before turning in, and the unaccustomed alcohol had sent Sadie off to sleep without a murmur. Even Alice seemed more mellow under its influence, and Essie closed her eyes, feeling pleasantly relaxed for the first time since they had come ashore in Geelong.
Next morning Essie awakened early. The raw spirit had left her with a headache and a parched throat and she sat up. Everything looked strange in the dawn light, but the sound of Sadie’s even breathing and the creak of the ropes when Alice turned in her sleep reminded her that they were the fortunate ones. She rose from her makeshift bed and dressed quickly. Her first thought was to wash away some of the dirt and dust that clung to her face and hair after two days on the road. She picked up a wooden bucket and stepped outside, taking care not to tread on either of the two bedrolls placed toe to toe along the length of the stoop. She could just make out a tuft of dark hair where Raven slept and she took care not to wake him.
It was still only half-light but there was already a buzz of activity in the camp. Spirals of smoke floated upwards, dissipating into the blue-grey dawn, and the clump of heavy boots and the clank of pails being filled from the creek were accompanied by the gruff grunts and subdued chatter of the miners as they made their way to their diggings. Essie went to the creek where another woman was also fetching water. She looked up, giving Essie a hard stare.
‘You’re new here, ain’t you?’
Essie nodded. ‘We arrived last night.’
‘Where are you from?’
‘You ask a lot of questions.’
‘It’s just my way. We don’t get too many women here, at least, not your sort anyway.’
‘My sort?’
A grim smile curved the woman’s lined cheeks, exposing a missing front tooth. ‘You know what I mean, luv. They’re either loose women or convicts, often they’re both. I can see that you ain’t neither.’
‘No, that’s true.’ Essie put her bucket down and held out her hand. ‘I’m Esther Chapman from Limehouse, but everyone calls me Essie.’
The woman wiped her hand on her dirty apron. ‘Leah Halfpenny from Bow, but that was some time ago. We come to Australia looking for a better life, and ended up here.’ She shook Essie’s hand vigorously. ‘Welcome to Ballarat, girl.’ She bent down to pick up the heavy pails and started off up the hill.
Essie filled her bucket and followed the older woman, quickening her pace until she caught up with her. ‘Maybe you could give me a few tips,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I’ve never done this sort of thing before.’
‘I can see that. You’ll find it hard. New ones always do.’
‘Would you show me how to build a fire?’ Essie asked shyly. ‘I need to wash.’
Leah came to a halt, her pale blue eyes scanning Essie’s face in disbelief. ‘The creek is back there.’
‘I’d like some warm water.’
‘You got soap?’
‘Yes, we brought some with us. Why?’
Leah’s eyes brightened, giving her a bird-like look. ‘How much for a cake of real soap?’
‘Surely you have something to wash with and do the laundry?’
‘Old Tandy runs the store but he’s a robber. He charges an arm and a leg for a lump of lye soap. I make me own, but I’d give anything for a bar of good soap.’
Essie thought quickly. The tablets of soap she had purchased in Gibraltar were disappearing fast, but one of them might prove to be worth even more than gold. ‘If I give you a bar of scented soap will you teach me how to make a proper campfire and how to make damper?’
‘I will,’ Leah said solemnly. ‘I’ll help you settle in and tell you anything you want to know. Just come to my hut – it’s the one with the rocking chair on the porch. Let me put the water on for a brew and then I’ll come to yours and give you the benefit of me knowledge.’ She picked up her buckets and continued on her way.
Essie washed her hands and face in ice-cold water while she waited for Leah to return, and was just beginning to think that the promise of a bar of soap had not been enough to tempt the old woman when she saw the small figure in the faded cotton print dress and homemade sunbonnet striding across the rough ground.
Leah came to a halt, standing arms akimbo. ‘What are you on about, girl?’ she said, pointing to what looked like a pile of bricks. ‘That’s an oven, silly. It hasn’t been used since him what lives here went away, but I see he’s back home now.’ Leah jerked her head in the direction of the sleeping figures on the veranda. ‘Ain’t got much to say for hisself, that one, but he’s always polite when he passes by. Struck it rich, so I heard, but you mustn’t believe everything you hear. Gossip runs rife and there’s always meetings and grumblings about this and that. I got enough trouble feeding my old man and three hefty sons to worry about such things.’ She rolled up her sleeves. ‘You’ll need to fetch brushwood and plenty of it to get the fire going. I’ll show you where it is, but I got a pot of porridge cooking so I can’t leave it for long or it’ll burn. Follow me, girl, and watch out for snakes and spiders – they’ll give you a nasty bite and some of them will kill you, so be careful.’
Essie bundled up her skirts and followed Leah into the stand of trees, keeping an eye out for anything that looked remotely like a snake. The streets of Limehouse would seem quite tame compared to the wilds of Victoria. Leah showed her what would burn well and between them they gathered two armfuls of brushwood. Having started the fire going Leah returned to her home to finish preparing breakfast for her men.
Essie boiled water and made a pot of tea, feeling very proud of herself, and had just thrown a couple of handfuls of oats into a pan of water when Raven appeared. She handed him a mug of tea. ‘There’s no milk or sugar,’ she said, sighing. ‘But it’s warm and wet, as Pa would say.’
‘We can buy milk from Old Tandy. He’s got a couple of cows and a few hens, so if you’ve got the cash you can live reasonably well here. Anyway, the tea is good and you’ve mastered the fire. Well done.’
Essie tried not to look too pleased, but it was the first time that Raven had said anything verging on a compliment. ‘I had some help,’ she admitted reluctantly. ‘I met a woman down at the creek. Leah Halfpenny, she said her name was. Do you know her?’
‘Yes, I’ve spoken to her on a couple of occasions. Poor woman, she always looks exhausted, and no wonder: she seems to work all the hours God sends looking after her menfolk, and not much thanks for it either as far as I can see.’
‘Her husband should take better care of her.’
‘It’s hard on women here, but don’t worry, I have plans to get you and Alice back to England as soon as possible.’
Essie eyed him curiously. She was constantly seeing different sides to Raven’s character, not all of them good, but today he seemed to be in a conciliatory mood. ‘What have you in mind?’
‘I didn’t want to raise Alice’s hopes in case there was a hitch, but I did a deal with Falco.’ Raven lowered his voice. ‘Keep this to yourself, Essie, because it might not happen, but when Falco returns from Melbourne I’ve persuaded him to take you three back to England. I have to remain here until I’ve served my time, unless my appeal is successful.’
Essie shook her head. ‘Why didn’t you tell us this before? Do you get some pleasure from tormenting Alice?’
‘Certainly not, and don’t you breathe a word of this, Essie. If Falco, for any reason, can’t oblige then I’ll have to find another ship, but the only vessels returning home will be convict ships or those that bring immigrants to this part of the world. I wouldn’t like to trust you three to their tender mercies. The Santa Gabriella is pure luxury compared to those hulks.’
‘You are
a strange man, Raven. I don’t know what to make of you.’
‘At least I always know where I stand with you, Esther Chapman. You aren’t afraid to speak your mind.’
‘No, and perhaps it’s just as well.’
‘You won’t say anything, promise me?’
‘I’ll keep quiet about this until Falco returns. But how will you know what he’s doing? It’s fifty miles to Geelong, you said so yourself.’
‘He’ll come here when he is ready to undertake the return journey to England. That’s all I can tell you. For now, you and the others will have to make the best of it. Who knows? Maybe you’ll strike gold and you can go home a rich woman.’
‘Raven.’ Alice’s voice from the veranda made them both turn with a start.
‘Here we go,’ Raven said, groaning. ‘What’s the matter now, Alice?’
She came towards them with her long golden hair loose around her shoulders and her gown crumpled, giving her the look of a bedraggled Aphrodite rising from the waves, although Raven’s expression was one of impatience rather than admiration. She eyed him warily. ‘I know I won’t get any sympathy from you, but look at me. I’m in such a state that I don’t know what to do with myself.’
Essie filled a mug with tea and handed it to her. ‘You’ll feel better when you’ve had something to eat. I’m making porridge for us all.’
‘I’m starving.’ Sadie came bounding down from the hut like an eager puppy. ‘You’ve made a fire, too.’
Alice drank some tea, pulling a face. ‘I’d give anything for a good night’s sleep in my own bed and a cup of chocolate first thing in the morning. This tea is putrid.’
‘Can I have some?’ Sadie asked eagerly. ‘When will the porridge be ready?’
‘Not for a while,’ Essie said, filling her own mug with tea and passing it to Sadie. ‘And we need more mugs. I think a visit to Tandy’s store is called for.’