by Tony Parsons
‘Is that right? Why isn’t the big bugger here then? If Beth was my girl, I’d be watching her real close,’ Clem said with a grin. And then, ‘Rod Cameron put the cleaner through Dan last year. Is he going to win the big one next weekend?’
‘Rod’s got some cracking good sheep. Dan’s got a couple of good rams, two of the best I’ve ever seen at Mattai, but I doubt that anything could touch Rod’s ewes. He told me he’s got a good young ram, too. A very big fella,’ Charlie said.
‘I’ve never met Cameron,’ Clem said. ‘I thought he’d be here.’
‘Well, he isn’t. I did hear that he was planting trees. He wants to reintroduce koalas or something,’ Charlie said.
‘Is he for real? The bugger must be mad, given some of the other things I’ve heard about him,’ Clem said.
‘He’s not mad. He’s a pretty smart fella. Now, I might go and get a drink o’ tea, Clem. I’m letting sheep out shortly.’
‘Make sure you give me three good ones when I go out in the Open,’ Clem called as Charlie walked away.
Nervously, Beth watched the dogs they would be competing against as they were put through their paces. She and Bonny weren’t appearing until last. She wished Jim was here to support her. This was the first trial he’d missed in years. Even more, she wished Rod was here, but she was beginning to wonder whether he just wasn’t interested in her any more.
The first dog in the maiden final lost its sheep. The page_203 dog didn’t get the pen and scored 78. The third dog scored 88, which, with its first-round score of 90, gave it a combined total of 178. This was the score the final three dogs had to beat to win. The fourth dog came close with 177. The fifth dog appeared to have the trial in his keeping but ran out of time at the pen.
Beth and Bonny needed a score of 90 to win and Beth realised that she’d have to be particularly careful at the obstacles to be able to achieve it. She had a little trouble at the pen when two wethers ran one way and the third stayed where it was. But all in all, Bonny performed admirably.
When the score was announced, much to Beth’s delight, they had tied for first place. So Bonny had won her first trial, or tied for the winner’s trophy anyway. Bonny was back to enjoying her work, rather than being scared stiff of copping a belting, and her performance was a fine testament to Beth’s training skills. Beth wished she had someone here to share in her triumph.
‘Nice going, Beth,’ Clem Grover said as she walked off the ground with Bonny at her heels. He thought she looked sensational in her tight grey jeans, blue checked shirt and wide-brimmed grey Stetson. When he looked at Beth, he wished he was young again. He reckoned she was everything a young woman should be.
‘Thanks, Mr Grover. Bonny didn’t work too bad, did she?’
And a well-mannered young woman too, Clem thought.
On the other side of the oval, Wally Osborne had sat in his vehicle and watched Beth work his collie bitch. He’d been hoping they’d make a mess of their trial. But Beth and Bonny hadn’t messed up, and then they’d tied for first. He’d never won even a maiden trial and yet Beth had been able to win this good maiden with his dog. It was the final twist of the knife for Wally. He thought he would never attend another sheepdog trial as long as he lived. He’d been off the grog for a couple of days and was the most rational he’d been for some time. He was rational enough to recognise that he’d been pretty much a failure, taking everything into consideration. He’d had a good start, but fluffed it all. Women had been his downfall. Well, what did it matter now? In the time he had left to him he was going to try out women wherever he went. Stuff the Half Moon and stuff Rod Cameron.
Wally switched on the ignition and drove away from the Mudgee Showground as anonymously as he had come.
A couple of days earlier, Wally had rung Mattai to ask if Dan would come down and see him as he was just about ready to leave Glen Avon. Dorothy took the call and told Wally that Dan had a broken leg and was getting about on crutches. He couldn’t drive, but if it was essential, she’d drive him down to Glen Avon.
Wally told her that he’d appreciate that, as of course he was prevented by the intervention order from coming to Mattai.
So Dorothy drove Dan down to Glen Avon and she sat in the Fairlane while her husband and Wally had a powwow on the front steps of the homestead.
‘Sorry to see you in plaster and on crutches, Dan,’ Wally said by way of greeting. ‘Couldn’t have come at a worse time, eh, with Jim in hospital and the show coming up.’
‘We’ll manage. We’ve got a mate of Jim’s staying with us and he’s pitching in pretty well. He can show the rams and the girls can show the ewes,’ Dan said.
‘I suppose Beth’s got Bonny entered for the Championships,’ Wally said.
‘That she has,’ Dan said shortly.
‘Bonny’s my dog, Dan,’ Wally said.
‘Was your dog, Wally. If you didn’t give her up, you’d have been charged with cruelty. You could have fought it in court but you didn’t. Beth’s put in a power of work on her.’
‘Ah well, it doesn’t matter now. It seems I won’t be around for much longer. That whack on the head Bella gave me did a lot of harm inside. There was something wrong there before that, and what she did made it worse,’ Wally said.
‘Are you telling me you’ve got something wrong up top?’ Dan asked.
‘That’s what I’m telling you. It’s been there for years, apparently. Given me awful headaches,’ Wally said.
‘Can’t they do anything for you?’
‘Seems not. I was told to get my affairs in order,’ Wally said.
Dan was taken aback. ‘That’s a bad show. I’m sorry things haven’t worked out better, Wally. I reckoned you were okay and I gave my blessing to you marrying Bella but what you did to her was a real mongrel act. Beats me why you had to knock her around.’
‘She went behind my back, Dan. She went to Glengarry and didn’t say a word about it. I reckon it wasn’t the first time, either. I think Bella and Rod Cameron had something going,’ Wally said.
‘I doubt that very much. You wouldn’t find anyone more loyal than Bella. And she told me that Rod never touched her,’ Dan said heatedly.
‘Rod Cameron, the great white knight. He couldn’t do anything wrong, could he?’ Wally said bitterly.
‘He risked his life to save my homestead and my sheds, Wally, and he saved my son’s life too. Not many men could have pulled that off. I was wrong about Rod. He’s a square shooter,’ Dan said.
‘Cameron will walk all over you, Dan. He’ll win the big shows like he did last year and he’ll take a lot of your ram clients away,’ Wally said.
‘Maybe he will and maybe he won’t, and maybe Jim and I will have to try harder. Just for the record, Rod’s offered me free semen from one of his high-priced rams. I lost a couple of hundred young rams in the fire, and with having to go in hock again to buy you out, I’m going to be short of money for a while. Those two hundred straws will come in very handy,’ Dan said.
‘Cameron can afford two hundred straws. That book of his is piling up money. He’ll knock you off next weekend.
Bill Stratton’s seen his sheep and yours, and he says Cameron’s are the best. You won’t be the kingpin breeder any longer. How long has your family been here? A hundred and fifty years? A hundred and fifty years and Cameron knocks you over the first time he shows against you. Hardly seems right, does it? Cameron didn’t get his money from running sheep on these hard old hills. I remember when you were pretty upset about that book,’ Wally said.
‘You’re right, I was, but as Jim says, that’s the free market for you. If there’s nothing more, I’ll be getting back. I hope things work out okay for you, Wally,’ Dan said.
‘I’m pushing off in a couple of days. You’ll have to look after the sheep from now on. I’d like to leave you my dogs, but if you don’t want them, I’ll shoot them. It’s up to you. There’s a mare here that Bella quite liked and I’ll let you have her, too,’ Wally said.
&
nbsp; ‘This is all a bit sudden,’ Dan said.
‘I can’t stand the sun on my head. It makes my headaches worse,’ Wally said.
‘We’ll look after your dogs, Wally,’ Dan said. He reckoned the dogs would probably be all right once they were separated from Wally. Taking over Glen Avon now was another matter, with both he and Jim out of action, but he supposed they’d manage it somehow. Charlie Dillon might be able to keep an eye on things here for a while. And once Wally had departed, Beth and Bella – well, Beth anyway – could help out. He wasn’t sure whether Bella was ready to come back to Glen Avon.
‘Thanks for everything, Dan. For what it’s worth, I reckon you’re the best fellow I’ve met up here. I don’t expect to see you again so best wishes for the big show and for the future. Say goodbye to Jim for me. I enjoyed playing cricket with him. He’s a pretty good cricketer,’ Wally said in his best private-school voice. For a moment he came across as he had when he’d first made an appearance in the Half Moon.
‘Take it steady,’ Dan said.
‘You too.’
Dan got to his feet, put the crutches under his arms and hobbled back to the Fairlane. He reckoned that there was no point in letting on that Wally’s health problem had been aggravated by the whack on the head Bella had given him. He didn’t want Bella to feel guilty about that. She’d been through enough already. She was only now getting back to something like her old self.
‘Anything important?’ Dorothy asked as they drove back home.
‘Wally wants us to take over things here. Seems he’s got something seriously wrong with him and doesn’t have long to go,’ Dan said.
‘Really? You mean cancer?’ Dorothy asked.
‘I suppose so,’ Dan said vaguely.
‘So what’s he going to do?’
‘He didn’t say and I didn’t ask him,’ Dan said. He didn’t care what Wally did in the future, only that he was gone from the Half Moon.
‘How are we going to manage, Dan?’ Dorothy asked. ‘You and Jim will be out of action for weeks, perhaps months, and it’s not fair to ask Hugh to stay on.’
‘Charlie might be able to keep an eye on things for a while, if I pay him. Beth can help, too. Bee can look after Mattai,’ Dan said.
Dorothy was once again struck by her husband’s quick assessment of the situation. Dan wasn’t clever but he was a very good manager. Give him a problem and he’d find some way of solving it.
‘I don’t wish harm to Wally, but I must say I’ll be very relieved when I know that he’s gone,’ Dorothy said.
‘I reckon he would be one of the most mixed-up fellows in the country. When he said goodbye he was a real gentleman, just like when we first met him,’ Dan said.
‘Wally is no gentleman. He has a veneer of polish and it gets people in, including you and me. The polish hides what lies underneath. Drink unleashes the real Wally. I’ll never forgive him for what he did to Bella. I want to forget I ever heard the name Wally Osborne. I haven’t the slightest interest in what he does or where he goes. I just hope it’s a long way from here,’ Dorothy said firmly.
‘At least Jim and Helen can get married now that they’ll have a place to live,’ Dan said. He’d been trying to decide whether he’d incorporate the Glen Avon clip with Mattai and sell it all under the latter brand or let it stand on its own. But he had some months to decide on that.
‘Well, I’m pleased that’s settled,’ Dorothy said. ‘I wish I knew why Rod was marking time with Beth. I thought he was pretty keen on her. That’s the way it looked when he classed here.’
‘He’s had a lot on his plate since taking over Glengarry. I reckon if he’s still keen on Beth, he’ll make his move after the sheep show,’ Dan said.
‘You definitely know that, do you, Dan?’ Dorothy asked light-heartedly.
‘No, I definitely don’t know it. What I do know is that Rod Cameron is a fellow who finishes one job before he starts on another. If he’s keen on Beth, you’ll soon know about it, Dottie,’ Dan said. ‘Did you know that he’s put in a swimming pool?’
‘Who told you that?’
‘Alec Hannaford. But get this – when Alec asked Rod why he wanted a pool, he told him that he wanted to be able to teach his kids to swim from early on. Don’t you worry. I think Rod will make his move pretty soon,’ Dan said.
‘You sly dog. You might have told me!’ Dorothy said.
‘I’ve had a few things on my mind lately,’ Dan said tartly.
‘Well, I hope he does move soon, for Beth’s sake. And I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t say no to swimming in Rod’s pool,’ Dorothy said.
Dan, who never swam anywhere, wasn’t sure what to think about Dottie swimming in Rod’s pool. But he knew that a hell of a lot besides the pool had been happening at Glengarry since Rod acquired the property, and win or lose at the weekend, he wanted to have a look at it.
When Beth learned from her mother that Rod had put in a pool, she immediately thought of the white swimming costume she’d bought on her last trip to Sydney. If that didn’t get Rod’s eyes focused in her direction, nothing would.
Chapter Thirty-three
The wool section of the Sesqui-Centenary Show was judged two days before the sheep section, and Dan got the shock of his life when Bill Stratton rang and told him that he’d won Grand Champion Fleece. Dan knew when he selected it that it was a good fleece, but whether it was good enough to win had been another matter entirely.
‘Did Rod Cameron win anything, Bill?’ Dan asked, his head reeling.
‘Not that I can see,’ Bill said.
The next morning, Dorothy drove Dan into Mudgee so he could inspect the wool. Seeing the illustrious Grand Champion sash on his fleece made Dan feel extremely proud. It was a great start to the show. But as he hobbled from fleece to fleece to check out who had won the various classes he was mystified by the absence of any Glengarry fleeces. There was not a single one.
The mystery deepened when judging began in the sheep section. Not only were there no Glengarry sheep in the shed, but Rod wasn’t in evidence either. When Dan asked Charlie Dillon if he knew why Rod’s sheep weren’t at the show, the old man told him that they hadn’t been entered.
‘Not entered?’ exclaimed Dan in utter astonishment. ‘Do you have any idea why?’
‘Not exactly. But you can bet Rod knows what he’s doing,’ Charlie replied enigmatically.
Dan shook his head as he walked away. It was beyond him why a fellow with top sheep would choose to leave them at home. There wouldn’t be another show as big as this one for a long, long time. Nobody exhibiting today would be alive to see it.
Despite the competition from twenty other studs, Dan Stafford won Grand Champion Ram of the Show and then the Supreme. He got pipped in the Breeders’ Group as his ewes let him down a little. Dan and Dorothy sat in the stand and watched as Hugh, Beth and Bella paraded the Mattai sheep. The exhibitors had been provided with white coats for the occasion and they all looked very smart and professional. Dan was extremely proud of his girls. Bella had lost her harried look and was just about back to her old self. Hugh Johnstone knew that he would never again be in the fortunate and delightful position of showing sheep with two such lovely young women.
Beth’s outlook was far different. Despite her father winning the awards, she was not having a good day. She had been looking forward to the sheep judging because it would put her in close contact with Rod for the best part of a day, and she had been devastated to find that neither he nor his sheep were in the pavilion. It was unbelievable that Rod was absent. It was bad enough that he wasn’t in attendance, but the fact that he hadn’t told her why made the situation even more difficult to bear. Beth was positively seething, and Bella, who knew her sister backwards, soon picked up that she was ready to explode.
‘What is it, Beth?’ Bella whispered.
‘Why isn’t Rod here, Bella? Why didn’t he enter his sheep? And why couldn’t he have told me he wasn’t coming? I’ve been looking forward to this
day for weeks.’ Beth struggled to hold back her tears of frustration.
‘I’m sure he has a very good reason,’ Bella said. She was as mystified as Beth but not as angry.
‘I’ll kill him. If he hasn’t got a gold-plated reason for not being here, I’ll kill him. I think he owes me, owes all of us, an explanation. If there’s something amiss with his sheep, he could at least have put in an appearance,’ Beth said angrily.
‘He mightn’t have wanted to explain,’ Bella suggested.
‘Well, I’ve had enough of his peculiar behaviour. I’m going to lay it on the line to him and I’m going to do it tomorrow morning,’ Beth snapped. ‘I’m sick of waiting for him.’
Beth was in a stew for the rest of the day and night. Even in bed she couldn’t get to sleep for some time. She kept thinking of the night she and Rod had gone to the Opera House in Gulgong, and of the prospect of a wonderful future it had opened up. Then everything had fallen in a heap because of her father. But Rod had helped Bella and he had risked his life to help them in the bushfire. Why had he backed off?
The following morning Beth, still upset, drove up to Glengarry. Rod wasn’t at the homestead, but on her way to the show shed she bumped into Alec.
‘G’day, Beth. I heard that Dan won the Supreme yesterday,’ Alec said.
‘That’s right, Alec. Where’s Rod?’ Beth asked, too tired and angry to make polite conversation.
‘You go through the gate the other side of the sheds and follow the poly pipe,’ he instructed.
‘Thanks a lot,’ Beth said. She didn’t immediately follow his directions but instead went into the show shed and walked up and down alongside the pens. There, looking magnificent, were Rod’s show ewes, and through the partition in the ram section was the biggest young fine-wool ram Beth had ever seen. He was enormous. Just to satisfy herself that the wool on Rod’s sheep hadn’t become creamy through some fault in the feeding, Beth got in the pen with the ram and opened his wool. It was snow-white.