Katie’s tiny son arrived safely just before dawn — a mite of about five pounds. Bess was so calm and confident throughout those anxious hours which I’m sure helped Katie to face the ordeal.
Thomas was always nearby, fetching logs for the fire and carrying water from the tank, while I was kept busy with cooking a late supper and later on with cups of tea and damping cloths to wipe Katie’s forehead, and warming all the cloths and the child’s gown and shawl. Thomas was also making a crib from an old box minus one side so that the infant would be kept at an even temperature in front of the fire. When it was finished, I saw Bess touch his arm in gratitude, and Thomas reply with a wide smile as he held her hand on his sleeve for a few moments.
The birth was uncomplicated but Katie was exhausted by the time the first thin cry told her that the baby was alive. All the strain faded from her face as Bess placed the infant in her arms, cleaned with warmed oil and wrapped in soft shawls.
We knew that the child must be kept warm, and the next two days saw constant vigilance and little sleep. We took turns to watch the child, checking and rechecking that the temperature of Thomas’s box crib remained constant. I had found a thermometer at Agnes’s cottage and the shape and markings on it are still imprinted on my mind.
Katie slept most of the first day except to give the baby his feeds. Fortunately she remembered the routine she had learnt when Pennyweight had been an infant, and we kept to that.
The rain eased the next morning and by afternoon the river could be forded, and Thomas left to fetch Mother. She arrived almost within minutes of Beanpole, with Mrs Davies: two midwives, with the delivery already made. Oh, the flutters of excitement and horror to know that the baby had come early.
We had done most things correctly and were justly proud of little Kenneth James who clung tenaciously to life despite his inexperienced nurses. Both Bess and I felt exhausted and I wished I could sleep for a week. There was now no need for us to stay at Longridge so we left next morning with Sean and Ged, relieved to know that Katie and the baby were in very capable hands.
‘I’ve altered my opinion of Thomas,’ Bess whispered as we rode down the track in front of the boys. ‘But no matchmaking, mind you.’ Her eyes laughed at me.
‘Not even a little nudge?’ I teased, pleased to see the colour back in her tired face.
‘If you do, I’ll tell Paddy you fancy him instead of Nik.’
Our laughter brought the others level and I told them in half truth, ‘Bess was just teasing me about Nik.’
I was sad that I had been unable to wait for Nik’s return, but once the rivers had dropped, Kerry had brought news of delay: the ship had to stand off Bruce Bay for two days, waiting for calm seas so that the stores could be unloaded into the longboat and barge and brought in through the surf.
A year ago I would have argued to stay on at Longridge, but I seemed to have gained a sense of responsibility and I knew that we were needed at the beach. I hid my disappointment and prayed that Nik would be the one to escort Mother home.
My prayer was answered. Nik brought Mother home with exciting news of our wedding.
‘Father McManus will be riding to Haast in the first week of May and will spend three days with us.’ Nik smiled. ‘Long enough for you to repeat your marriage vows several times … especially the love, honour and obey!’
‘Which you will also have to promise or I shan’t marry you!’ I retorted. We laughed as he kissed the tip of my nose in reply.
Mother and I began making long lists of food needed, and guests to be invited, and our excitement infected everyone in the bay. Nik and I knew we couldn’t have a large wedding like Simon’s, but guests would be coming from Gillespies.
My gown with its bustle and fitting waist was hung inside a calico bag, and Mother altered her beautiful veil of Belgian lace to make a more modern arrangement. Even Mrs Winchester made a posy of hand-sewn rosebuds, there being few flowers in May.
I settled grudgingly into class lessons again, with my thoughts mostly at Longridge. The children found me wonderfully distracted.
LAKE ELLESMERE
The door of the farmhouse near Lake Ellesmere opened, and Kell offered his arm for a well-built woman in the black clothes of mourning to step down from the verandah. The child holding the bridle of a sturdy mare watched with a tight expression as the pair walked towards her across the sun-baked yard.
‘Thank you, my dear,’ said the woman quietly and stepped onto the mounting block. Once in the side-saddle, she adjusted her skirts and took the reins. ‘Thank you for your many kindnesses.’ She bowed her head politely and rode across the yard and out into the paddock where the horse broke into an easy amble.
‘E’s nearly ready to go, ain’t ’e?’ whispered Annie.
‘She! She!’ roared Kell for Southern’s benefit, but winking at Annie who now understood his need to please the man. ‘Ow many times do we bleedin’ well tell you that?’
Mrs Davies had been holding her breath, fearing that Southern would hit Annie. She dreaded what might happen to her when they set off on their journey, though Kell would do his best to protect her. There was no escaping Southern, as they all knew that he kept a loaded pistol and would use it, and any help was far away.
The rider circled and returned to the yard and play-acting continued. Annie took the reins and Kell assisted the woman to dismount.
‘Such a long day’s travel, Kell, dear. When our room is ready, I must lie down. Just a light meal. I can’t take the chatter of a dining room. My nerves are all to pieces with worry.’
Neither of them watching could catch even a glimpse of her features through the black veil tucked into the neckline of her jacket. With small steps and lifting her skirts above the dirt, she crossed to the verandah.
‘Best run yet,’ Kell praised her. ‘You’d fool yer own mother.’
The woman turned and said in the cold voice of John Southern, ‘Any faults to watch for?’
Kell shook his head. ‘So we’re ready to leave?’
‘I’m ready, but the girl isn’t. I’ll give her three days. If we didn’t bloody well need her to make this act convincing, I’d drop her now, but I’ll work on her.’ Southern watched Annie leading the horse away, her slight figure tense with fear, then he went into the stifling house, tugging off the bonnet and veil.
Kell shrugged and wondered if they’d ever reach that hidden gold and those precious documents. So many delays. It was as if the man was obsessed with his disguise … either that, or prison life had taken away his power to make decisions.
Three days later, Kell took up the reins and looked down at Mrs Davies standing in the yard. Annie, seated between the two men in the trap, scarcely breathed, so great was her fear. The trap would get them to the Akaroa-to-Christchurch coach, and Kell’s son would use it to reach the farm later in the day.
‘I’ll see that Annie comes back to you,’ Kell told the woman. ‘Like you, she knows how to keep her mouth shut, so she’ll come to no harm. We’ll be in coaches as far as Hari Hari where we hire the saddle horses and a packhorse. After that, we’re off the map.
‘Don’t go blabbin’ to strangers,’ he warned her. ‘You know the story and you keep to it. You don’t know when I’ll be back but you’re expecting a letter.’
Southern’s steely gaze swept over her and she froze.
Annie’s eyes met her mother’s as both fought back tears. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she whispered.
Kell flapped the reins and the gig lurched over the rough yard and out onto the track towards the road. Annie looked back only once, her eyes blinded with tears.
The first stage of the journey to South Westland had begun.
Chapter
– Fifteen –
I lifted my skirts, and Wag and I sped across the dunes and slid into the shelter of the tussocks. Sounds of any pursuit from my pupils were muted by an autumn wind that ruffled the white heads of the breakers before sighing across the sandhills. I lay back with a hand on Wag�
��s collar, warning her to be still. This was my bolt-hole whenever I was out of favour.
I bit my lower lip as I relived the afternoon. Nik must think me a vixen, and I scarce knew why I’d said such things. Perhaps he’d wonder why he was marrying me — a sharp-tongued, hot-headed hussy. I smiled at the word ‘hussy’ but knew it was true.
For weeks I had found it hard to hear constantly about Agnes’s good points: superb housekeeper, fantastic cook, so capable …! I punched the sandhill beside me. She was even advising Nik about the finishing touches to our cottage. That was the final aggravation. And now Mother had sided with Nik and in front of him told me to stop criticising.
‘When you marry and live at Longridge,’ she had said, ‘you’ll be without your husband’s company most days from dawn to dusk. Agnes and Katie will be in the same situation, and you must learn to hide your frustrations and keep a civil tongue. You must look for the good points in other people. A marriage can founder if one of you is not fitting in with the community.’
‘I always keep a civil tongue with Agnes,’ I cried.
‘Yes, but you’d mumble to Katie as you do to Nik and me, and the men would sense your annoyance.’ She turned from watching the children playing in the yard. ‘Agnes is a kindly soul and probably hides her loneliness with her hard work and her love of organising.’
I hadn’t thought of that. Isolation can be cruel for women, and of course Agnes couldn’t visit Katie all the time — not with both having babies and all the extra work that entailed.
Nikolas had left me rather abruptly during the discussion but was still at the Winchesters’ afterwards so I waited for him at their gate and apologised.
Mother, hanging washing nearby, smiled. ‘Why not ask Agnes if you could stay for a few days to see the baby? Ged could take you up there if Father can spare him in the weekend.’
I had to swallow yet another hasty reply but managed to say, ‘What about the children, though?’
‘Bess will help.’
Nik’s features relaxed to a grin. ‘Come this Friday because we Kozans will be mustering and drafting cattle over the Big Jack River and will be keeping late hours for a few days.’
Now I leant against Wag and fought the waves of frustration, wondering why I seemed to be so irritable these last weeks. I should be the happiest person in South Westland with my wedding only weeks away. I seemed to be torn between joyous thoughts of life with Nikolas, and sadness at leaving the family and a way of life that I loved.
‘It’s not as if I’ll be living in another country,’ I said aloud. ‘And in a few years everyone will be living at Longridge. I need a good shake and I guarantee Mother thinks the same.’ I laughed and rolled Wag over and she barked at the chance to play.
‘Hush! They’ll find us.’ I held her still and listened, smiling as I heard Little One’s ‘Wait for me!’ only a dozen yards away.
Three figures came hurtling through the tussocks and the resulting battle helped to clear my ugly mood.
Thomas Winchester had come out for fresh stores and offered to be my escort. A hopeful Ged begged Father to allow him two days off work to be extra support.
Father hid a smile and agreed that was an important task.
I was to stay with Agnes and Simon, and I resolved to keep a cheerful face, no matter what the strain. To my surprise, Agnes blossomed as we shared the afternoon together. I had been given little Freddie to hold, and later we visited Katie and her mother to hear glowing details of the baby’s increasing weight. Watching Agnes laughing, I realized I had misjudged her. Even the frustration of seeing my cottage from a distance all afternoon I managed to neatly conceal.
I was determined to wait for Nik to show me our house. The men were late home but at last Nik and I were able to walk across to our section in the twilight, holding hands and feeling everyone’s eyes following us. It was as inhibiting as Father’s constant presence at home.
I wandered through both rooms, with Nik smiling at my excitement. Together we tested the wire base of the bed, at first shyly, then with mirth, imagining what Father would have said. We opened cupboards, admired a shelf for my books, and lifted the lid of the settee under the front window.
I was radiantly happy as we returned to the lamplight of the other cottage and the savoury scent of mutton stew. The days were already gathering speed towards our wedding.
After helping to clean breakfast pots and pans, Ged wandered up to Katie’s, frustrated that the men would not take him with them because the cattle were wild and he lacked experience to draw on. Even Beanpole and Thomas had left before dawn to work on a felled totara.
I left Agnes baking and crossed to our cottage to check what had been placed in cupboards by kind neighbours. The minutes flew past as I explored and daydreamed. Nik had even dug and manured a small patch for vegetables inside the picket fence, and Agnes had planted a climbing rose beside the steps to the porch … Agnes whom I had so criticised. I was indeed humbled.
I gazed around the valley as I went out and closed the door. Wag, like Ged, bored with no action, rose to her feet and stretched as I started down the path. I turned the corner and noticed three horses tethered to Simon’s fence, munching the grass within reach.
Visitors! Probably government officials checking the work done on the track by Buzz and his companion. I quickened my pace with Wag at heel, hoping they would be people I knew. I tied her to the fence on the far side of the gate from the horses. She looked at me and whined.
‘Good girl. Stay!’ I unlatched the gate as she sniffed the air and whined again, ending with a bark.
‘Quiet! Stay!’
I turned and walked briskly to the porch and opened the door.
‘Oh, Mary, I’m so pleased you’ve joined us.’ Agnes smiled and nodded towards her three guests seated near the table. ‘Mr and Mrs Kellaway and Annie, their daughter. They’re just leaving as they hope to reach the Scott homestead by nightfall.’
Mr Kellaway stood up and nodded to me. ‘Aye, we’ve a way to go yet. The tracks in these parts are not made for speed. We’re to visit relatives down south … me wife’s youngest sister died a short while back and we’re hopin’ to housekeep for her husband and his two kids until he decides what to do with ’em.’
Mr Kellaway looked a hard man. His wife was in mourning — a big woman with a veil shielding her face, as useful for the sandflies as to hide her grief, I thought.
‘I’m so sorry for you,’ I murmured as she rose to her feet.
‘How kind of you,’ she said in a soft, genteel voice. ‘It is a sad loss indeed. She was my favourite sister.’ She held out her hand to Annie who looked a nervous child of about ten, and then thanked Agnes for her hospitality.
I stood aside as they crossed the threshold and Agnes walked with them to the gate. Mr Kellaway was already untying the horses, one of which was laden with bundles and packs.
Mrs Kellaway was listening to Agnes describe how many now lived at Longridge and I was about to turn inside when Wag snarled. She had never done such a thing to strangers before.
‘Down, Wag!’ I shouted. ‘Quiet!’
I hurried to the fence and held her collar with an apology to Mrs Kellaway who was being helped with haste into the saddle by her husband. Wag was frantic and I was not surprised that the lady was agitated. I untied Wag’s lead and dragged her along the fenceline, with her snarling over her shoulder. I tied her by a kennel as they rode away, completely at a loss to understand her behaviour.
The child turned her head and looked back at me. I waved and then felt stricken as I saw the fear on her pale face. Something was wrong and Wag knew what it was.
‘Oh, Agnes, I’m sorry about Wag’s behaviour. She’s never been like that before — never!’ And then I caught my breath. But she had behaved like that, two years ago when a puppy. That had been when John Southern and Red Lucas passed her kennel as they left the camp at Longridge. I was sure that one of them had kicked her while the camp was deserted.
But Red Lucas was in Lyttelton Gaol or we would have been told, and John Southern was presumed drowned … but his body had never been found.
I stared after the trio with a sickening fear.
Chapter
– Sixteen –
When the horses reached the bush, I saw Mrs Kellaway rein in and gaze back across the valley while the others passed her and entered the track. After a pause she went after them. Did she expect to be followed? I listened to Wag’s barking and decided that she did.
I closed my eyes and tried to visualise Southern, and then compared what I remembered with Mrs Kellaway. The height was the same, the build a bit thicker, possibly due to the woman’s clothes. Features — hidden by a veil. Voice? I frowned in concentration. Voice soft, as was Southern’s, but hers was quite different, or was it? After all, he was a master of disguise. It had to be Southern.
I turned to Agnes who was busy with the baby’s napkin, and asked bluntly, ‘Could Mrs Kellaway be a man?’
Agnes gave me a startled look. ‘Why do you ask that?’
‘Don’t think me foolish, will you, but I’m sure she’s a man … the man who stole our gold … the one whose body was never found. He’s the only person Wag has ever snarled at.’ I met her astonished gaze.
‘But she couldn’t be … surely? She … she was so pleasant, and then, there’s her daughter …’
‘Who looked terrified as she left,’ I finished.
‘But why, why would he come back here?’
‘To get the gold: the gold that they stole from us.’
I tried to block my mind to memories of the nightmare. What if he intended coming back for me once he’d found the gold? He’d taken a huge risk coming here at all. Surely more than the gold had drawn him back. Meanwhile, there was no one near the cache to stop him. We must get our men to the island area to watch what he and his party did. But how?
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