Valley of the White Gold

by Tony Parsons

  ‘We’ll have Rod down to dinner tomorrow night,’ Dorothy said quickly. ‘If he’s free.’

  ‘I’ll push off up to New England tomorrow and come back for the sheep show. I might be able to give you a hand,’ Hugh said. Part of the reason he wanted to return was sitting opposite him. He’d been mesmerised by Bella’s beautiful sparkling eyes all evening and wanted to see her again.

  ‘You might at that,’ Dan agreed. He was almost reconciled to the fact that he couldn’t win at the sheep show. The wisest course for him now would probably be to pull out and tell everyone he’d sold his top rams for big money. But not to compete at a show of this magnitude was not really in Dan’s nature and he reckoned he’d battle it out. After all, he did have a couple of good rams.

  ‘Apple pie and cream, Hugh?’ Dorothy asked.

  ‘Please,’ Hugh said. Crikey, Jim’s mother could cook. He’d never tasted a roast dinner as good as hers.

  ‘It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks,’ Bella said.

  ‘You bet,’ Beth agreed.

  Chapter Thirty

  Rod reckoned he had enough ammunition on Wally to force an agreement out of him that would be very favourable for Bella so she wouldn’t have to rely on her family’s financial support. She might even be able to start her own fashion business, if that’s what she wanted to do. Rod also wanted to get Wally to leave the Half Moon. After Jim and Hugh had left, he’d put in a call to Freddie Corbett, a journalist mate in Hobart, and asked him what he knew about the Osborne family. Freddie said he’d get back to him. When he did, he confirmed what Hugh had said about Osborne senior. Yes, he was a strange man and there was some mystery about the way he had died. Or been killed. And yes, Wally had been run out of town because of his predilection for violent sex.

  Rod accepted Dorothy’s invitation to join them for dinner the following night. During the course of the evening, he had a long talk with Dan. At first sceptical about Rod’s proposal for Glen Avon, Dan finally said that he’d come to the party if he could get his bank onside.

  The next morning Rod drove back down to Mattai, where Dan and Jim were waiting for him. Jim was sitting in the back of the Fairlane and Rod slid in beside Dan.

  It was only a short drive to Glen Avon and the three men were lost in their own thoughts until they reached the front gate of the property. ‘Leave the talking to me, if you like, Dan,’ Rod said.

  Dan was quite happy with this arrangement as he didn’t really know how to handle Wally. He had got as far as thinking that he’d tell Wally what a mongrel he was but he reckoned Rod would tell him that anyway. He didn’t realise that what Rod had in mind went far beyond that.

  Glen Avon was looking pretty good. Wally was a competent manager and had recently constructed two new sheds, one of which was half-filled with bales of lucerne hay. There were two grain silos and a grain augur beside the other shed. A blaze-faced chestnut horse looked forlornly across at them from the stables. Just to the right of the drive half a dozen border collies were chained to some hollow logs.

  Rod got out of the Fairlane and walked over to inspect the dogs at close quarters. He had to get down on his haunches because the dogs had all cowered inside their logs at his approach. As he went from log to log, one dog, braver than its mates, came to the end of its chain and tried to lick his hand. There was a shrill whistle from the direction of the homestead and the dog hurtled back inside, then peered out like a startled fox. Rod reckoned he’d seen enough and walked back to where Dan and Jim were waiting for him. ‘Let’s get at it,’ he said abruptly.

  Wally came down the steps to meet the men and stopped dead when he saw Rod. ‘You didn’t say anything about bringing him, Dan,’ were his first words. ‘I wondered who it was looking at my dogs. Don’t tell me the great Rod Cameron is interested in sheepdogs.’ Wally stared contemptuously at Rod.

  ‘I wasn’t looking at them as an enthusiast but out of concern for their welfare. I’ve seen how you treat your dogs,’ Rod said sternly. He wasn’t going to allow Wally to get away with anything, verbal or otherwise.

  Rod’s words grated on Wally. The last time he had clashed with him had been over his treatment of Bonny.

  Rod reckoned that Wally looked in poor shape. He was, as always, smartly dressed, in grey corduroy trousers, a blue shirt with a red Cooper’s notebook in the left-hand pocket and R. M. Williams boots. Wally always presented as a grazier because he dressed carefully to give that impression. But his eyes were red and he appeared to be hungover. He also appeared to have lost weight.

  ‘Where can we talk, Wally?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Out here. I only invite friends into my house,’ Wally said, sneering at the men.

  Rod wondered how many friends Wally had. Not many, he reckoned. Dan and Jim sat on the steps, Wally sat on a chair on the verandah and Rod stood below them. Rod looked about and tried to imagine what it must have been like here the night Wally had taken his riding crop to Bella. He remembered Bella’s sharp intake of breath as he had picked her up, and saw again the vivid weals on her body. His face hardened as he began to speak.

  ‘Wally, you’re probably wondering why I’m here, so let me tell you straight off that I have no desire to have anything to do with you. I became involved because of what you did to Bella. It seems I was responsible for what you dished out to her. You had it in for her because she came to my place for a barbecue. Not on her own, mind you.’

  ‘I reckon you were shagging her. She didn’t want to do it with me so she must’ve been getting it somewhere else,’ Wally retorted.

  Rod leapt up the steps in two great bounds, reached the verandah in the blink of an eye, and with two hands on the collar of Wally’s shirt, lifted him up off the seat. Wally attempted to swing a punch but it went nowhere near Rod, who threw Wally to the floor and put his boot under his chin.

  ‘I don’t want to hear any more sick comments from you. If you open your mouth again, except to answer my questions, you’ll be sorry you were born. Understand?’ Rod said. Even Dan and Jim were alarmed by his menacing tone.

  Wally looked very unsure about whether he should get up or stay where he was on the floor.

  ‘Jim, help him to his chair,’ Rod said.

  When Wally was seated again Rod stood over him and gave him the works. ‘I never touched Bella, that night or any other time. Now, you listen to me and listen well. Bella is going to divorce you and you’re going to give her half of Glen Avon and whatever else you own. You’ve got two choices about how to settle this matter. You can put Glen Avon up for sale and pay Bella half the proceeds of the sale plus half of what the livestock is worth. Or Dan will buy your half-share and you can go away and buy a place somewhere else.’

  ‘Why should I do either?’ Wally snarled. ‘Bella walked out on me. I’m not going to rush into anything just because you say so. Sounds like you just want to get your hands on my property, as well as my wife.’

  ‘You’re a fool, Wally. We had Bella photographed so there’s a visual record of what you did to her. I’ve got a copy here. Like to have a look at it? Bella also gave a statement to the police when she applied for the intervention order against you.’

  Rod paused and took from his shirt pocket two folded sheets of paper. The photograph was enclosed in one of them.

  ‘Not pretty, is it? But that’s not the full story by any means. Jim and I have been talking with a fellow who used to play cricket with you in Tasmania. We know why you left a top fine-wool property there to grow wool in harder country like this. We’ve heard all the details, and we won’t hesitate to publicise the story far and wide if you’re not willing to cooperate with us.’

  Wally’s face had become a couple of shades whiter. Rod continued. ‘You had the chance to start again in the Half Moon, especially with a lovely young woman like Bella, but that wasn’t enough for you, was it? I’ve since heard stories from some of my shearers that you were paying a woman in town for violent sex. The truth is that you get pleasure from hurting wom
en, but there’s not many women willing to put up with what you dish out. You thought you could get away with that sort of thing with your wife, which shows what a creep you really are.’

  Dan and Jim stared coldly at Wally. He seemed to be squirming in embarrassment, avoiding eye contact with all of the men. But Rod wasn’t finished with him yet.

  ‘If I were to leak what I know to the media, with a copy of this photograph, your name would be mud everywhere in this district and probably in the whole country. You wouldn’t be welcome at the local cricket club just as you were no longer welcome at your Tasmanian club. My advice is to sell up and leave, Wally. You’re finished here.’

  ‘It was a bad day when you came to the Half Moon,’ Wally said, his eyes shooting daggers at Rod.

  ‘You were lucky Bella didn’t do more than hit you on the head with your cricket bat. There are some things real men don’t do; they don’t hit women. You’re a lousy apology for a man and a poor sportsman into the bargain. Now, if I don’t get definite word that you’re willing to sell up, everyone in this district will soon know more about you than you ever thought they would.’

  Wally’s face was chalk-white. ‘You’re a bastard, Cameron.’

  The men turned to leave. ‘Just let me hear one more bad report before you clear out and I’ll be back to deal with you,’ Rod called over his shoulder without bothering to look back.

  The three men got into the Fairlane and drove away. ‘Phew,’ Jim muttered from the back seat. ‘What do you think he’ll do?’

  ‘If he’s got any sense, he’ll let Dan buy him out. He wouldn’t want his background flashed around the country. He’d be a marked man wherever he went.’

  Although Dan invited him in for smoko, Rod declined with the excuse that he had pressing things to do at home. ‘Got an important project on,’ he told them.

  The three Stafford women were sitting at the kitchen table when Dan and Jim walked into the homestead.

  ‘How did it go?’ Dorothy asked anxiously.

  Dan shook his head. ‘It was pretty rough.’

  ‘Dad means it was rough for Wally,’ Jim explained.

  ‘How was Rod?’ Bella asked.

  ‘Awesome, Bee,’ Jim said. ‘I wouldn’t want to be up against him.’

  ‘What’s going to happen?’ Beth asked.

  Dan told them about the options Rod had spelt out to Wally, and when he had finished Dorothy asked him, ‘So now what do you think of Rod Cameron?’

  ‘He’s an arrogant big cuss and pretty ruthless when he has to be, but I’d definitely prefer him as a friend than an enemy,’ Dan said.

  It didn’t take Wally long to make up his mind. Dan was very relieved, albeit a little surprised, when Wally phoned him to say he’d sell a half-share of the property to him and leave the district. Dan realised that the practical consequences of buying out Wally meant that he was going to be in hock to the bank again and would need years of high wool prices to get himself clear of debt. But this, as Dan told Rod, was not a new state of affairs. He’d been in hock for years and had battled his way out of it. If the wool market came good he’d come out on top because they’d have half as much country again and Bella would have money to invest. Jim could get married to Helen and go and live at Glen Avon, which would save him having to build his son a new home. Dan recognised that in the long term, Rod had managed to effect a very good deal for the whole Stafford family.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Rod was loading the back of his ute with small trees and bags of potting mix when Jenny Hannaford came and told him that Dorothy Stafford wanted him to phone her. ‘Anything wrong, Jenny?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s about Jim, Mr Rod,’ Jenny said, using the name she always called him by. Rod rushed inside and picked up the phone. He had a lot of time for Dorothy and knew she wouldn’t be calling him for nothing.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked when she answered his call.

  ‘Have you seen anything of Jim? He left early this val0001556 to muster the hill country sheep for drenching. He said he’d have them to the usual place by lunchtime or shortly after. Dan’s just come back from there and said there’s no sign of him. The girls are in Mudgee today so I can’t call on them to help,’ said Dorothy, her voice tight with anxiety.

  ‘Jim hasn’t been here, Dorothy. I haven’t been out that way but I’ll get hold of Alec and we’ll ride out there and see if we can see him.’

  ‘Jim’s on a young horse and has one dog with him.’

  Rod glanced at his watch. It was a few minutes after three so they didn’t have many hours before nightfall. Then again, they could be lucky and not have to ride too far into the hills. They’d need to take torches and a blanket. A water flask, too. His mind ticked over as he tried to think of what else they might need. Maybe bandages.

  ‘You’d better tell Dan to take his ute back and to wait for us there. Whether we find Jim or not, we’ll meet Dan up there. Get him to take a thermos or two. I’ll get away now, Dorothy.’

  He ran for the back door and then across to the feed shed where Alec was mixing sheep rations. ‘You’ll have to drop that, Alec,’ he said and told him what they had to do.

  ‘You want me to saddle up your horse?’ Alec asked. Rod had recently acquired a large gelding. The horse had cost him an arm and a leg but he reckoned he was worth every cent.

  ‘As quick as you can. I’ll get a blanket, torches and some rope. Better take a coat, Alec. The nights are getting cool.’

  There was some hill country on Glengarry but not as much as on Mattai. Hector McLeod had run between five and six hundred wethers in the hill country and Rod had carried on with them because the hills weren’t good enough for breeding ewes. He had left the care of these wethers almost entirely to Alec, taking little interest in this steeper country because it occupied a low priority in his plans for the property. He hadn’t ridden over this country himself, relying on Alec’s knowledge of it. Rod remembered from his classing at Mattai that Dan ran over two thousand wethers in his hill country and that some of his best superfine wool was shorn from these home-bred sheep.

  Rod and Alec set off at a fast clip for the Mattai hill paddocks. They managed a fast canter until the country grew too rough for anything more than a walk.

  ‘That’s the gate the Staffords use. I’ve helped them muster this country once or twice,’ Alec said. ‘There are some very steep hills and you have to follow the sheep pads across them rather than ride straight down them. You need sure-footed horses in this country.’

  As soon as they passed through the gate, Rod understood the wisdom of Alec’s words. The Mattai back country was even steeper than his own and he had momentary qualms about tackling it. He was a competent rider but he certainly wasn’t in the class of the Stafford trio, and he had no idea how his big bay gelding would handle such steep country.

  Alec sensed his boss’s reserve but was too cluey to say so outright. ‘What say I ride along this ridge and see if I can spot anything before we head further in, Rod? The Staffords follow the sheep pads but they’re a bit dicey for a horse that hasn’t a feel for the steep stuff. If I see anything, I’ll crack the whip.’ And then, as an afterthought, he added, ‘You can have a look back the other way to your boundary.’

  The ‘other way’ Alec referred to was a much easier ridge to negotiate but it was still hairy enough to cause Rod plenty of concern. He hadn’t quite reached the corner where the Glengarry and Mattai fences met when he heard the first whip crack.

  Rod turned the bay and rode back the way he had come. He now had to negotiate the ridge Alec had taken and this shook him up a little. When he was about halfway along it, he spotted Alec, who had dismounted and was pointing with the butt of his whip to something at the bottom of the slope. It was a horse lying on its side, completely motionless.

  ‘Jim’s at the edge of that big clump of blackberries,’ Alec said when Rod reached him. ‘His dog’s there with him. I reckon the horse slipped sideways off that sheep pad and they both b
ounced and went down the slope. The black-berries might have saved Jim but his horse must have just missed them or broken through them. The neddy looks a goner from here.’ Alec had sharp eyes, but he couldn’t tell what state Jim was in.

  ‘I’ll go down to Jim,’ Rod said as he dismounted. ‘You mind the horses. We won’t get Jim back to the homestead if we lose them.’

  ‘You’ll need to be damned careful or you could end up down there with Jim’s horse,’ Alec cautioned. ‘You’ll want to ease your way down in line with that blackberry clump so if you lose your step you’ll at least only bounce that far. How are you going to get him back up?’

  ‘I’ll carry him,’ Rod said. ‘We don’t have time to do anything else. It’ll be dark before we can get ambos and police here with the proper equipment and this isn’t good country to be in at night. Dan’s waiting back there and he can take Jim from us in the car.’

  ‘I hope he’s alive,’ Alec said tightly.

  ‘We won’t know until I get down there,’ Rod said with grim determination. He handed Alec the reins of his horse and began to edge sideways down the slope.

  ‘Take short steps,’ Alec cautioned.

  ‘You can say that again,’ Rod said, grimacing. ‘You’d better throw me that water flask before I go any farther.’

  Alec took the flask from Rod’s saddlebag and threw it down. Rod caught it easily and tucked it under the belt of his trousers. And then, as he continued his cautious descent, to Alec’s amazement, Rod began to sing. ‘On the road to Mandalay, where the flying fishes play…’ Alec had witnessed some amazing things in his army days but the sound of his boss singing as he climbed down that perilous slope matched most of them.

  Jim drifted in and out of consciousness as he lay in the black-berries. He was in a lot of pain and had managed to crawl several feet through the thorny clump and was now lying half in and half out of it. Every inch of his crawl had been agonising and brought him more scratches, but he knew it was important that whoever came looking for him should be able to find him. He had tried shouting but his chest hurt too much. He knew that he’d be found but how long it would take was what worried him. The nights were page_391 cooler and they might not get to him before morning. Jim reckoned there was something wrong with his ribs and his right shoulder and right leg, and there was also a big bump on the side of his head where he’d hit the ground hard. Meg lay beside him and licked his arm now and then, but there wasn’t much else his dog could do.