South of Capricorn

by Anne Hampson

  ‘I want the front seat!’

  This was sheer awkwardness and Gail, overwhelmingly grateful to the man Dave, could have shaken her till she cried. However, she wasn’t even given the chance to speak as Dave, after the first start of surprise, said firmly and authoritatively,

  ‘Leta, get into the back of the car.’

  ‘I-’

  ‘Because if you don’t, then you won’t go in it at all!’

  The child’s face swelled as air was allowed to fill her cheeks. She turned purple with temper and Gail found herself apologizing. But Dave intervened, with another warning, and after a struggle within herself, Leta capitulated.

  ‘Good gracious!’ exclaimed Gail without thinking. ‘You’ve won!’

  Dave looked oddly at her.

  ‘It’s a damned funny business,’ he said, and it was as if he were having the greatest struggle not to ask questions of her. But he managed to control his curiosity as he proceeded to put the luggage into the boot of the car. The porter came out and offered help; he looked relieved, and it was not difficult for Gail to guess that he had been worried about having a woman and child on his hands until the arrival of the Overlander.

  ‘Well, we’re off!’ Dave said good-bye to the porter and soon the car was leaving the station. ‘I expect you know we’ve a very long way to go?’

  ‘Yes, I do know that.’

  ‘We’ll make camp quite soon. I’ve driven a long distance today already and I don’t feel like driving in the dark.’

  ‘Make camp?’ came the voice from the back seat. ‘Is that camping?’ and when Dave said yes, it was, Leta continued, ‘I’m not camping—’ She stopped, swallowing, as her mouth was full of chocolate. ‘My teacher went camping and she got bitten by scorpions.’

  ‘You’ll not be bitten by scorpions, little girl,’ Dave assured her soothingly. ‘In fact, you’ll enjoy camping. It can be fun. I loved it when I was a kid like you.’

  ‘I’m not a kid!’

  ‘Touchy, isn’t she?’ Dave was driving fast and his attention was on the road. ‘Some relative of yours?’

  ‘My dead cousin’s child.’

  ‘You had to bring her with you?’ It was obvious that already Dave was wondering how anyone in her right mind would bring a child like Leta with her.

  ‘I had to, yes.’

  ‘I’m extraordinarily fond of kids as a rule—’ He stopped, aware of his indiscretion, but in any case Leta was soon in with,

  ‘You like children, but you don’t like me?’

  ‘Little girl-’

  ‘I don’t like you, so there! I don’t like anybody! I might not like my daddy—’

  ‘Leta!’ interrupted Gail, but Leta continued,

  ‘I promised to call him Daddy, and say what Gail told me to say—’

  ‘Be quiet, Leta!’

  ‘—because she’s giving me chocolate and lots of things, but I don’t know if I will like him—’

  ‘I said be quiet!’ Gail was red in the face, wondering what Dave was thinking about all this, and what conclusions he was coming to. ‘That’s enough! Any more and you won’t get the chocolate, or anything else!’

  ‘Not get it? Then I won’t say the things you’ve told me to. I won’t say, “Hello, Daddy,” so there!’

  Dave turned his head and slanted a glance at Gail.

  ‘Funny business,’ he muttered again, and then lapsed into silence. But he seemed deep in thought... and Gail wished that she had the power to read those thoughts. However, there was one thing she was thankful for: Leta had not mentioned who her father was.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘THAT’S the Southern Cross.’ Dave spoke as he took the car off the Bitumen and on to a bumpy road which led to the banks of a creek. ‘It’s a wonderful sight, eh?’

  ‘Beautiful.’ Awed the tone as Gail took it all in, the night sky over this vast land, the stars and the moon, the indistinct outlines of various rises in the land, rises which helped a little to relieve the monotony of these apparently endless plains.

  ‘We’ll make camp here.’ Dave stopped and got out, with Gail following. Leta said she was staying where she was.

  ‘Don’t you want anything to eat?’ asked Dave in surprise.

  ‘I’ve got some chocolate. Shut the door, I’m cold!’

  Gail apologized and said that Leta was tired. Dave, though frowning, agreed and, obeying Leta’s second and more imperious command, he closed the car door.

  ‘The camping gear’s in the back. If you’d collect some dry wood we can make a fire.’

  Gail did as she was told, watching Dave out of the comer of her eye as she went about picking up small dead branches which lay on the ground close to the dry creek bed. Dave was tall and strong, the kind of man she had always admired. He was quiet, working with speed as he made camp. Leta watched from the car; she slowly became a shadow behind a window as Gail moved away into the darkness of an Australian night. But as the fire got under way the glow lit up an area all around and Leta in the car became a figure encased in fiery red—like Satan’s cub, Dawn would have said, for Dawn had the most vivid imagination of anyone whom Gail had ever met. Satan’s cub clothed in fire.

  Gail wanted to speak to her, so she watched Dave as he busied himself, waiting for him to move farther away from the car. She had no wish that what she had to say to Leta should be overheard. At length the opportunity came and Gail went swiftly over and opened the car door.

  ‘I’m cold!’ shouted Leta angrily. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Be quiet!’ Gail turned and looked with slight apprehension towards the place where Dave was working. He had glanced up on hearing the angry voice, but apparently he was not interested, for he bent again to his task. ‘I have something to say to you. Listen, Leta! You mustn’t talk to Dave, do you hear?’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because I don’t want him to know why we’ve come to this place. Don’t say anything about your daddy—’

  ‘I’ve already said something about him!’

  ‘Dave didn’t take much notice—well, I hope he didn’t begin thinking too much about your chatterings,’ she amended, recalling his remarking that it was a funny business. If only Leta weren’t so highly intelligent, thought Gail, then it would be far easier to get her co-operation, to cajole her even. But she was highly intelligent and in consequence she was often able to see through people.

  ‘Why don’t you want him to know why we’ve come to this place?’

  ‘Because it isn’t any of his business. It’s a private matter between you and me and your new daddy.’

  ‘What will you give me if I don’t talk about my daddy?’ The child’s gaze was wickedly avaricious. ‘I want some new clothes for my doll.’

  ‘You’ve already torn two sets up—’

  ‘I didn’t like them! I want some better ones!’

  ‘I can’t get you dolls’ clothes here, Leta,’ said Gail rather desperately. ‘What else will you have?’

  ‘Nothing. I’m going to talk about my daddy. I’m going to say that he left my mummy on her own to look after me. I know he did, because I heard you talking to your mummy and daddy about it, one day when you didn’t know I was listening. It was when I was staying with you, after Mummy went away to heaven.’

  ‘Leta, you mustn’t say things like that in front of Dave! Your daddy won’t like it at all if Dave knows, because, you see, Dave works for him—’

  ‘I want two dresses and a coat, and some underclothes!’

  Gail gave a wrathful sigh.

  ‘I’ve just said I can’t get dolls’ clothes in this place.’

  ‘There’ll be some shops at the town where Daddy lives.’

  ‘He lives on a big farm—oh, Leta, I’ve already told you about his home and the cows and everything!’

  ‘If there’s a shop will you buy me some clothes for my doll?’ Still the wicked gleam in the lovely eyes. And the little rosebud mouth was actually curved in a sneer.

  ‘Yes—yes
, of course I will.’

  ‘All right. I won’t talk to Dave about my daddy.’ Wretched creature! How, Gail asked herself once again, had a girl as sweet-natured as Sandra given birth to a fiendish child like Leta?

  ‘That’s a good girl,’ returned Gail, feeling more like slapping Leta’s legs hard than speaking in this manner to her.

  Leta laughed.

  ‘I’m not a good girl at all! I’m naughty and you don’t like me! Nobody likes me because I scream and kick and shout at people.’

  Another sigh escaped Gail. She had no intention of prolonging this conversation and she merely reminded Leta that, should she as much as mention her daddy or her mummy, then she would not get the clothes for her doll. Not that the clothes would do her any good, decided Gail as she moved away after closing the car door. Leta would very soon have them in shreds—or even take a pair of scissors and cut them up. However, that was unimportant; the important thing was that the offer of a bribe was going to put a brake on the child’s tongue. What was she going to be like when she grew up? Gail shuddered and mentally expressed the hope that she would remain a spinster—for if she didn’t then some poor man’s life was going to be ruined. Gail turned, then stopped, amazed at what she saw. Leta was against the car window, her head resting on her hands ... and she seemed to be sobbing, for her shoulders heaved. Hesitating in indecision, Gail turned again and continued on her way, convinced that, should she turn back, Leta would subject her to a burst of vicious anger.

  But Gail was worried; she felt, for the first time, that the child’s trouble could be psychological. Was it the fact of having no proper home life, of having no father, that had caused the child to be what she was? Gail had always owned that Leta was a lonely child; she was bound to be lonely, when other children were forbidden by their parents to play with her. Highly intelligent as she was, Leta must have gradually become aware of being different from other children in that she had only one parent. This, plus the fact of her loneliness, could have affected the child in such a way as to have changed her character completely. Gail with a backswitch of memory recalled the time when Leta was as adorable a baby, and toddler, as any other child she had known. Something had gone wrong; Sandra might not have given her the attention she should and, as the child became more and more intractable, Sandra did, Gail knew, give up hope. She made no pretence about Leta, not to anyone, admitting that the child was not merely naughty but wicked. Musing in this way, Gail wished she could like the child just a little, but it was impossible; no one could like her, and had she been Gail’s own daughter she would undoubtedly have given up hope, just as Sandra did, of ever bringing about a change in the child’s character,

  After the meal was over Dave cleared away, helped by Gail who washed the dishes while he gathered gum leaves with which to line the hollows he had already dug out of the earth. Mats were brought to cover the gum leaves, and rugs for covering, for, said Dave, the night would be cold. All this could have been fun had she known Dave better, she thought, but he was after all still a stranger and she was still rather shy with him, being quieter than she normally would have been. She wanted to know a lot about Kane Farrell, but had not the courage to ask questions which might be resented by Dave whose loyalty was obvious. The Boss, as he had called Kane Farrell, was someone to be respected, and for that reason Dave might well tell Gail outright that he could not answer questions. Perhaps tomorrow they would have become more used to one another; he might himself vouchsafe information about his employer.

  She was right. He did offer information, as they raced along the Bitumen, having started out at first light after breaking camp. This was to Gail an interesting operation and she watched attentively as Dave stamped out the embers and then covered them with earth. He examined the kit to see that nothing had been left behind and then, having assured himself that nothing had been left undone, slid into the drive seat and turned the car towards the Bitumen.

  ‘A strange man at times, the Boss,’ mused Dave after the subject of the man had already been broached. ‘He lives for his work. Life for him is in the saddle. Of course, it’s not surprising that he keeps away from the homestead as much as is possible, what with his stepmother and her daughter. Mind you, the daughter’s a smasher if ever there was one! And she’d snare him if she could. Maybe she’ll succeed one day, and then Kane and his stepmother might get along a little better.’

  ‘Does his stepmother own part of the ranch—er—the station, I mean?’

  ‘Not an inch of land. But she can stay in the house for as long as she likes. That’s what the trouble is. She tries to run the place and Kane just won’t have it. She’s the mistress, she insists, and of course this is so—until Kane marries, which I’m afraid he never will do.’

  ‘He’s a woman-hater?’ This was said in a curious tone, Gail having merely voiced it in order to gain more information, for she had proof that he was not a woman-hater.

  ‘I wouldn’t go as far as that. It’s just that he doesn’t seem to be interested enough to want anything serious to develop between him and any woman. We have our various entertainments here, such as the shed dances and film shows, and of course the parties, and he meets the ambitious females all the time. But he limits his interest to being polite, and his activities with the opposite sex to dancing.’

  ‘I see ...’ It wasn’t always like that, reflected Gail grimly. ‘He’s changed, apparently—’ She stopped, automatically putting a hand to her mouth as she realized what she had said. Dave slanted her a swift look of inquiry, and no wonder, she thought. He must be becoming extremely curious already, without her saying things which must surely increase that curiosity.

  ‘Changed?’ he repeated. ‘I don’t understand? You mentioned yesterday that you hadn’t met Kane—when we were talking about him, remember?’

  ‘Of course. And it’s quite true that we’ve never met.’

  ‘And yet you say he’s changed.’

  She bit her lip, wondering what to say,

  ‘I had heard that he—er—liked the women.’

  ‘You had?’ Dave’s eyes opened very wide. ‘Now who could have told you a thing like that?’

  ‘I—er—just heard it somewhere,’ she replied lamely. ‘Mr. Farrell came over to England for a visit, a few years ago.’

  ‘Did he? I wouldn’t know; I wasn’t working for him at that time.’ Dave increased his speed and to Gail’s relief seemed totally absorbed in his driving. No more was said about Kane for a long time. But Leta chatted, declaring that the place was strange, without people or buildings. She wanted to know the reason for this and Dave tried to explain.

  ‘I don’t like it when there’s no houses and shops,’ she said with a pout. ‘I want to go home!’

  Gail was guarded, and spoke soothingly to the child, anxiously hoping that she would remember her promise and not say anything which would provide Dave with any real clue as to why they had come to Australia. They were now driving through the vast region of tropical savanna where scrub and eucalyptus prevailed. It was lonely bushland of the interior, wild untamed land, awesome in its silence and its total lack of human habitation. On the skyline appeared a range of mountains, headlands of a shoreline which existed millions of years ago when an inland sea occupied the area in which Dave was driving.

  After a long while he began speaking to Gail again and she learned a little more of the friction existing in the household of the man to whom she was taking Leta, the man she hated even though she had never yet set eyes on him. Mrs. Farrell, Kane’s stepmother, had been offered a new home by Kane, but she had refused to budge from the home to which his father had brought her two years previously, He had died after less than a year of marriage and ever since then there had been almost continuous quarrels between Kane and his stepmother.

  ‘The daughter,’ put in Gail, feeling she should say something, ‘she also lives in the house?’

  ‘She came last year, ostensibly to comfort her mother, but more like it was with the intention o
f landing herself a rich grazier. Kane’s her choice, but as I said, he isn’t at all interested. Although,’ he added after a thoughtful pause, ‘he might at some time decide that marriage to Ertha would solve his problems regarding his stepmother. She might pull in her horns once her own daughter is mistress at Vernay Downs.’

  How, wondered Gail not without malice, were they all going to fare once the little fiend Leta was installed? For installed she certainly was going to be since Gail was determined not to take her back to England. Was Kane Farrell free to marry this Ertha? Gail wished she could have been sure that he had married Sandra, but unfortunately she was still of the same mind about that. It was most unlikely that a marriage had taken place. As she had always maintained, if Sandra were Kane Farrell’s wife then he would surely have answered her appeal for money. In any case, he would never have gone away and left his wife. His girl-friend, yes, but not a new wife.

  And as Gail’s mother had said, if there had never been a marriage, then Kane Farrell could refuse to take his child. Well, refuse he might, but he would never prevent Gail from leaving her behind when she herself left Vernay Downs. Left ... Suddenly aware that she had not given much thought to the return journey, she wondered just how often the Overlanding bus crossed this vast expanse of bushland. Not often, she thought, but then she dismissed the matter from her mind, deciding it was time to worry about it later. She supposed it would be possible to stay somewhere for a day or two if need be.

  Dave was talking, and slanting glances at her as he did so. Having known admiration many times before, Gail was now on the alert, it being clear that Dave was attracted to her. Should she tell him that she would be leaving Vernay Downs almost as soon as she arrived? No, impossible! He would wonder what on earth was going on—and in any case, she would have to pretend that Leta was also leaving.