I flattened myself lower and lower as he came to the seaward end, and I wished Father was not so close to him. I shivered as I saw again the man’s hard features, no longer concealed by the black veil, but for once I felt no fear. He paused and signalled the girl to stay where she was and she froze like one of the dead trees.
He turned and began to peer amongst the rocks. We had searched that area time and again in the months after the robbery. It had been surrounded by water then. I watched, scarcely breathing, fascinated as the scene unfolded.
Southern looked up at the crest of the island and then back at the tumbled rocks. He’d have approached them from above two years ago. Another glance at the crest then he clambered confidently over the boulders until he was above the nearest stagnant pool. He reached into a crevice just below the waterline and began to pull something up.
A chain … a chain that hung down into the pool, hidden by water for perhaps eighteen months, and recently by mud. He began to haul it in and suddenly a grey shape emerged from the water … a heavy shape covered with oilcloth. Kneeling, he hauled it onto the nearest level rock and frantically began to tear the rotting cloth away.
I jumped as Paddy suddenly stood up with his rifle levelled. ‘Don’t move or I’ll shoot,’ he warned. His voice had a tone I’d never heard before.
Southern stared as if unable to believe what he saw, then Spider rose also, lifting his rifle. Southern put a hand to the side of his skirt, as if to lift it so that he could stand up.
Everything happened so quickly. The girl pointed and screamed, ‘E’s got a pistol!’
Before anyone could register the words, Southern levelled a handgun at Paddy and fired, and in the same movement swung towards Annie and fired again. I leapt to my feet, shouting, ‘No! No, not the child!’
For one brief moment, my eyes met Southern’s, and I saw the wild hatred in them as he turned his pistol towards me. Two shots rang out and I was thrown to the ground. Father had leapt across to protect me with his body.
But I could still see Southern. His pistol had lost its target; now he swung to face Spider. Two firearms went off at once. Spider remained upright, unscathed, but Southern appeared to hesitate, as if puzzled to see his weapon fall from his hand. At the same time as Annie crumpled to the ground, he slid onto the rock ledge with his skirts around him and blood starting to run down his face.
All eyes were riveted on him in case he retrieved the pistol. Spider and Sean crossed cautiously to the rocks, guns levelled at the man lying limply beside the wet bundle. Spider kicked the pistol out of reach while Sean examined the figure.
‘Dead!’ he called. ‘He’s dead.’
Dead! I forced my gaze from the crumpled body as Father rose to his knees and looked at me. ‘Oh, lass,’ he cried. ‘Never do such a dangerous thing again. Never argue with a weapon. I thought I’d lost you.’
I felt devastated at his expression of grief. I had only wanted to take Southern’s attention from Annie. I’d not thought of my life being at risk. I reached for Father’s hand and he gave me an understanding nod as he saw my distress.
Dead! The man who had made me live in fear for over two years — dead. My mind chased over memories best forgotten, and one by one they slid away. It was as if, after all, those fears were simply a dream.
The numbness remained, for I couldn’t move and now nothing seemed important. My limbs seemed detached from my body, but I knew that would be from shock. One thought to hold onto was that I had not been alone!
Father stood and hastened to Paddy, telling me to check on Annie. The racing seconds of memory were over; the trance was broken.
I stumbled over the ground to Annie. Sean loped past me to follow the track where Southern had emerged so short a time ago. Mr Kellaway would have heard the shots and the men wanted to be sure he didn’t escape. I prayed that Ged would remain hidden as I had told him to.
Annie was clutching her side and moaning as blood seeped through her clothes. I dropped to my knees beside her.
Spider was on the island, watching the grey forest, alert for any surprises, his rifle at the ready.
‘Oh Annie. How dreadful! How could he do this to you?’ I gently unbuttoned her jacket and saw where the bullet had skimmed her ribs on the left side, cutting the flesh. Had it been an inch or two to the right, it would have penetrated her heart. My eyes searched for the satchel of bandages that Mr Winchester had left for us but it was hidden in the undergrowth.
‘We must stop this bleeding, so I’ll tear a bit of petticoat to make a pad. I’ll try not to hurt you, Annie.’
I could see Father coping with Paddy’s wound, so I knew he had the satchel.
Annie hardly flinched, and when the pad was in place, she whispered, ‘The man with the horses hasn’t got a gun.’
‘Isn’t he your father?’ I asked.
A slow smile broke the tension in her eyes.
‘Not him! My mother works for him. I wish she’d never set eyes on his “Job for Housekeeper” notice.’ She paused, then added, ‘Ma will be so worried about me.’ She closed her eyes and a tear crept down her cheek.
‘We must get an urgent message to her, and reassure her that it’s all over. One of the men will be riding for the police. We’ll send a letter with him.’
Annie sighed and her gaze crossed to the figure lying limply on the boulder. ‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’
‘Yes. This time he’s dead.’
We looked at each other with perfect understanding.
Chapter
– Eighteen –
The rest of that day remains in my memory as a series of disconnected happenings all focused around Southern, so that I felt the evil shadow of the man over all that we did.
The first problem was to tend the wounded and it was a relief to know that there were only flesh wounds, though for a time Father thought that the bullet may have lodged in Paddy’s arm. Both the injured had lost a lot of blood. A stretcher was fetched and Paddy was taken first to the settlement.
And then, to my joy, Bess arrived and stayed with us until the men returned, while Father kept watch on the track in case Mr Kellaway avoided capture.
My eyes kept straying to the body by the island, now decently covered, and Annie voiced my thoughts.
‘Sort’ve expect ’im to hop up an’ kill us, eh?’ Her pale face was screwed up with a bout of pain but her eyes said it all.
Even the creak of a rotten branch in the sea breeze made us jump, and the barrier of grey trees seemed full of eyes. The tension eased when Sean appeared on the track with Kellaway, fretful and tethered by a line between him and Spider.
‘Is Ged all right?’ I called, rising to my feet.
Sean actually smiled as he replied, ‘Ged’s on the way round by the river with the horses. He’d hidden them when this one set off to find out why there’d been shots fired, then turned back to keep out of the fray — only to find that the horses had vanished. Hadn’t they?’ He jerked the rope attached to Kellaway’s wrists.
‘I’ve done nothin’ illegal. You haven’t any right to do this to me. Where’s Annie? I’ve got to find her … promised her mother. Watched her every inch of the journey, then that Southern …’ His voice broke in anger and desperation. ‘If you knew him, you’d never argue with him, neither.’
His eyes searched the area and finally lit on her lying beside me in the scrub. Then he saw the bloodstained clothing.
He swung round to look at the body on the island. ‘You bastard!’ he shouted. ‘To shoot a child! Death’s too good for you!’
‘Don’t worry, Mr Kellaway,’ cried Annie. ‘You did what you could, but he was fair ready to explode, he was. He didn’t harm me till I warned the people about his pistol. I had to, else he’d have killed them.’
‘But to shoot a child.’ Kell turned to Spider. ‘Can I speak with the lass?’
Sean took the rope attached to Kellaway and led him over to Annie who reassured him regarding the wound.
‘G
uess I’ll be in the clapper for a while, but I’m sure these people will get you back to your ma.’ Kell shook his head. ‘To think I welcomed the man. Thought he’d move on in a day or two, not stay for months. You weren’t the only one scared, girl.’
They shared something like a smile then he turned to go with Sean and Spider, and I learned at the end of the day that he was in the Winchesters’ storeroom and that a meal had been delivered to him.
By the time we reached home, Buzz had left on horseback to summon the police, while Mr Winchester collected the heavy package on the chain. Last of all, the men returned to the settlement with the body, which was laid out in the O’Neills’ storeroom.
That evening, everyone gathered in our kitchen to gaze at the exciting package on our kitchen table. Beneath the remnants of canvas was an iron camp-oven. Originally its lid had been sealed with candle wax but most had disintegrated. Sean prised it open and the expressions on all faces were unforgettable as Mr Winchester lifted out various packages wrapped in damp paper or cloth. Heavy ingots of gold, sovereigns, items of jewellery, including Mother’s turquoise necklace. There was even an oiled pouch containing three beautiful opal pebbles.
At the very bottom of the pan was an oiled canvas package. Mr Winchester carefully unwrapped it and found several documents stuck together with dampness.
‘These will have to be examined by the authorities,’ said Father. ‘Whether they can salvage them, I’m doubtful.’
‘And the rest?’ asked Sean.
Father sighed. ‘We must ask the police when they arrive, but this ingot here and those three are ours, with my mark on them, and that’s O’Neill’s. Gareth, those are yours, aren’t they?’
We gazed at the fortune in front of us and gently touched the fiery opals, wondering whose they were. Only Ged took an interest in the pistol which lay beside the gold ingots.
Later that evening, when Annie had fallen asleep on Brendan’s vacant bed, I smiled as Bess handed me a candle and whispered firmly, ‘Go to bed.’
We paused outside my room. ‘I think I’m beyond sleeping,’ I admitted. ‘My mind is continually sifting and sorting thoughts. I feel I must solve all the links with the nightmare.’
Our eyes met and I could see that she understood.
‘And what have you solved so far?’ she asked gently. ‘Hasn’t Southern’s death eliminated everything you saw that night?’
‘Yes, and no.’ I closed my eyes and slowly chose the words for my answers. ‘The threat of his taking me with him was broken when I mounted that horse to go for help. You see, I never gave him the chance of taking me hostage. Once he recovered the gold, he wouldn’t want me.’
I looked at Bess beyond the candle’s flames ‘Of all my terrors, that’s what haunted me the most.’
‘That haunted me, too,’ sighed Bess. ‘What about the other incidents in the nightmare?’
‘The woman’s voice? I’m sure it wasn’t Southern’s.’
Bess looked thoughtful. ‘Could it have been Annie’s mother?’
Suddenly I was wide awake. ‘Of course! And the frightened cry of a child must have been Annie’s. Oh, dear God, if only I could have helped her!’
‘But you have. Her chance for a new life begins now. No more terror or ill-treatment. Close your mind to any further thoughts of the nightmare … every puzzling aspect of it.’
Bess opened the door gently, so as to not wake the two girls. ‘Sleep in peace, dear Mary.’ I’ll be watching over Annie through the night.’
‘Bess, our guardian angel,’ I whispered, and we chuckled as the door closed between us.
Three days later, the police arrived from Hokitika. They questioned Kellaway for several hours, after uncovering the body from a shallow grave and identifying it as that of Tom Sutton alias John Southern.
Annie was then asked questions and she added information about Southern’s escape from prison and his crossing to Lake Ellesmere. The men were entertained by her description of the rehearsals for the disguise.
The documents were of special interest, but it would need skill to part them. When the body had been reburied in a corner of our cemetery, with Father reading a few prayers and none of us mourning, the police rode away with the valuables plus letters for Mrs Davies, and with Kellaway shackled to his saddle.
The community watched the ferryboat crossing in silence and when they vanished into the bush on the first stage to Hokitika, everyone drew a sigh of relief. To my delight, Annie was to stay with us until her mother arrived, since she was not yet fit enough to travel.
Everyone loved Annie with her quick wit and her courage, and when her mother arrived, the Winchesters insisted that she rested before the journey home. She fitted so well into the community that, finding she had no job and so no home, they suggested she might like to try running the guesthouse and so release Bess for full-time teaching. It was the perfect sequel to those months of fear.
Thomas, Kerry and an anxious Nikolas had ridden out to Swag & Tucker early the day after the shootings and remained with us until the police team left. By then, Paddy was able to sit on the Winchesters’ verandah, soaking up the late summer sunshine and the constant attentions of Rowan and Bess. He resembled a cat with cream on his whiskers, and I’m sure he was purring.
Thomas had eyes only for Bess, which amused me highly because Bess had a sparkle in hers, too, as she worked busily.
As for Annie, it was through our growing friendship while I nursed her that I learnt so much about Southern and those who had helped him return to Swag & Tucker. She had listened to his reminiscences and plans with Kellaway for nigh on five months, while he rehearsed his new role to perfection and waited for the right time to leave.
He had boasted about his escape from Ripapa Island and had given a lurid picture of the harshness of prison life, so that I was able to visualise those seventeen months since he was sentenced, and I wrote everything down in my diary.
Perhaps the telling of those memories removed some of the poison from her months of fear, because Annie gained weight, and colour came to her cheeks. Before long, she was enjoying lessons with the other four children, and proved a very intelligent pupil.
On a crisp morning in May, with mist weaving between the trees on the ridge behind Swag & Tucker, I stood at the window of our bedroom and hugged my arms around me with excitement. For the first time in my life, all attention would focus on me today, as I made my marriage vows to Nikolas. In a few hours I would be Mrs Kozan … Mary Kozan. How long would it take to adjust to no longer being a Kendrick? I wondered.
On the other bed behind me Bridie stretched and yawned. Annie slipped over to my side, elf-like in her white shift.
‘Your big day, ain’t it?’ she said excitedly.
‘Oh Annie, you and your “ain’ts”. I’m going to miss the laughs we have.’
‘Me too, but Bess … Miss Tandale,’ she hastily corrected herself, ‘she likes a laugh, too.’
Little One looked at me solemnly from her portion of the bed. ‘Were you thinking of Nikolas when you were looking out of the window? You looked so happy.’
‘No. I was thinking how wonderful it will be not to share this bedroom with all you wriggling children.’ And the four of us laughed.
I grew increasingly nervous as the hours slipped by towards the late morning Nuptial Mass to be held in O’Neill’s cottage.
‘You’re like a grasshopper on hot stones,’ laughed Mother, but there was moisture in her eyes as she stood back to admire me in my finery.
‘My grown-up daughter. Indeed ’tis a fine lady I have before me. My harum-scarum Mary is no more.’
I smiled and hugged her. ‘Don’t fret, Mother. You have three more girls to marry off yet.’
She dabbed her eyes as if it were laughter that had brought the tears.
Father, in his Sunday suit with a handmade rosebud in his buttonhole, offered me his arm as the womenfolk and girls stepped down the track to O’Neill’s cottage.
‘I
shall be missing you, lass,’ smiled Father gruffly. ‘Time will drag until we move home to Longridge. Don’t alter, Mary. Keep that sense of laughter and mischief. Life would be dull without them.’
When we reached O’Neill’s gate there was a large number of men lounging against the verandah posts, there being no room inside the building. I could hear Buzz’s fiddle playing ‘Ave Maria’. People were even sitting on stools in the doorway, so great was the crowd from far and near. The men moved to either side and wished me well as I passed.
At the end of the narrow aisle that had been left open, where Father McManus smiled a welcome as we approached, was Nikolas: Nikolas in black britches, a dazzling white shirt, and neatly trimmed beard; Nikolas with a red sash around his waist, that his father had worn at his own wedding in a Greek Orthodox church in Sydney so long before. Beside him were Andreas and Sean, and across the aisle Bess, my bridesmaid, and three little flower girls. Everyone was smiling, and the happiness was touchable.
All the fears of the past three years vanished as I met Nik’s radiant gaze and heard the entrance hymn commence.
Author’s Note
The Carroll, Sullivan, Condon and Williams families did exist in South Westland in the 1880s as did the ferrymen of the major rivers, but all other characters in this story are fictitious and bear no resemblance to people in that area either in the last century or today. Swag & Tucker Beach exists only in my imagination but would have been between the Ohinetamatea and Karangarua Rivers.
Two small children were lost in the bush but their surname was Mulvaney. The first cattle drives from this area were not until the 1890s, but several incidents in this story happened to people who pioneered the settlements of South Westland.
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to Barbara Larson, director of Longacre Press for publishing this novel; and to Penelope Todd, my editor who has helped me to bring the story to life.
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