by Tony Parsons
With the dogs safely installed in the back of David’s ute they were almost ready to leave, but just then Bruce emerged from his van.
David and the kelpie breeder walked across to the now deserted arena. ‘Will you come back here next year?’ McClymont asked.
David shook his head. ‘I doubt it, Bruce. We’ve got four places to look after now. We bought this last one so we could breed our own replacement merino ewes and perhaps use some of it to top off our Queensland steers. I want to see how that works out. It may be that we try and get hold of some more country just to fatten steers. There’s a lot of work in running four places. No, Bruce, I don’t think I will ever come back here. And, anyway, there’s no need. I’ve done what I wanted to do. I could never top Clancy’s effort. Besides, I shall soon be married, and when a bloke is lucky enough to have a girl like Catriona, he can’t neglect her. Look, if you ever feel like coming up for a visit some day, do spend a few days with us.’
‘That would be terrific, thank you, David. You don’t imagine I’m going to forget you. I’m going to want more dogs in future.’
‘Okay, I’ll see what we can do. Now, we’d better hit the track if we want to be home tonight. Thanks for the great evening last night, and don’t forget to come and see us. Bring Mona next time.’
They made their way back to the vans and Bruce said goodbye to Andrew and Anne. Yet still he lingered and seemed reluctant to leave.
‘Goodbye, David,’ he said at last, and with that he drove away.
David turned and walked back to the picket fence that surrounded the arena. His eyes took in the scene so that it would live in his mind forever. He had once thought that dogs and horses were all that mattered in life. But now he had priorities and responsibilities that counted for more than anything. He was well on the way to becoming a very wealthy man, and it had all been because of his father’s industriousness and unselfishness, Wilf White’s benevolence and Tim Sparkes’s wonderful generosity. And he could not forget his Aunt Kate, who had given them all the financial support she could afford when they needed it most, and who had helped them in so many other ways. It would be irresponsible for him to go on trialling dogs and drafting horses, as enjoyable as those pastimes were, after what these people had done for him. And of course there was Catriona. Before long, he hoped they would have children, and David’s role in life now was to secure their future as his own father had done for him. No, he would never come back to Canberra. There were other dreams on the horizon.
When he turned away from the ground, he found his father standing behind him.
‘I want you to know, mate, that I doubt very much if I could have done what you did, even in my best days. I didn’t know Clancy was that good. I know you did all this for me. Davie, if I drop dead tonight, I want you to know that I never dreamed I would have a son like you. Don’t know what I did to deserve it. Thank you.’
‘Come on, Dad. We’ve got a lot on our plate, and I’ve got a girl to marry.’
Kate and Jean were waiting for them at the gate into the High Peaks house yard. Over the gate they had made up a sign which read ‘Congratulations, David and Clancy’.
David picked up each woman in turn and kissed her.
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Kate said.
‘And I’ll see to the dogs,’ David replied. ‘They’ll be pleased to be back home after being cooped up for a fair bit this last week.’
Kate watched David’s tall figure stride down the track. She loved him dearly and had missed him.
‘Well, I must say I’m pleased to be home,’ Anne said. ‘Canberra was nice for a break, but there’s no place like home.’
‘Especially when there’s a wedding just round the corner,’ Kate reminded her.
‘We’ll get no sense out of you three until that’s out of the way,’ Andrew said.
‘Andrew MacLeod, I’m sure I don’t know how you ever got married. You’ve no romance in you at all,’ Kate flashed.
‘I had enough to get me the best woman in these parts, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it,’ he shot back at his sister-in-law.
‘Hey, you two, no shadow-sparring,’ Anne protested. ‘First few minutes home and you’re already at it.’
‘Ah, it’s just a bit of good-natured arguing. We do agree on most things, you know,’ Kate said.
‘Agree on what, Kate?’ David asked as he came into the kitchen.
‘That you should go out and bring in some wood for the stove,’ she replied.
‘Nothing like a few chores to bring a man back to earth,’ David said. ‘Yesterday a legend and today a wood carter.’ But he was smiling broadly as he spoke.
Chapter Thirty-one
A couple of days before the wedding, David decided to take a day off and have a ride into the hills. He packed some lunch, added tea, sugar and condensed milk, and rode off on his favourite mare – the one he and Andy had brought back from Aberfeldy. She was a dream to ride and draft on, although he didn’t ride her often, but she made him think of the lanky Queenslander who had had so much faith in him. He reckoned that if Tim had been looking down on the National, he would have been mighty pleased with the result.
Nap, as usual, was running behind him. Clancy whined to be let off, but David knew that his pads would never again stand up to a day in the hills.
He rode first to Yellow Rock, and let his mare pick her way up the narrow track that led to its peak. He dismounted and rested for several minutes at the spot where Catriona and her grey pony had gone over the ledge. He tried to remember how Cat had looked that day. She had been crying a lot and the tears had made little channels down her dust-streaked face. He had been very frightened about jumping her pony off the rubble heap, but if he had shown any hesitation at all, his father would not have allowed him to make the attempt. Yet the idea of Cat crying her heart out at the thought of losing her pony had been too much for him to bear. He supposed he had felt something for Cat even then.
At the top of Yellow Rock he looked out across the range and breathed in the sharp, clean air. He remembered the time in his life when he first realised that he loved this country, and knew he would never live anywhere else. Some part of him would wither if he did.
He climbed back up on his horse and headed for their boundary gate into Poitrel, making his way along the ridge to Wallaby Rocks. Except for the standing burnt trees, there was little to show that a fire had passed over this country. The big storm and further falls of rain had brought life back to the grass and scrub in no time. The new fences were up, and life was proceeding more or less as it always had.
On Wallaby Rocks he noted where Kate had broken her leg and the rock over which he had sheltered her. Now the shelter was gone, destroyed by the fire. And the Missen boys were gone, too. Here Kate’s rescue party had camped for the night and he first experienced the joy of having Catriona so close by, yet agonisingly not close enough.
He dismounted, hitched his mare to a tree and walked the last few yards to the mouth of the big cave. There was a wallaby sitting on a rock just outside the entrance, and on sighting him it vanished in three or four swift bounds.
It did not take long to start a fire and boil the billy, and he sat down, with Nap beside him, to eat his lunch. Nap lay with his eyes on David’s face, waiting patiently for the pieces of meat sandwich he knew would be forthcoming.
‘I don’t know what I did to be lucky enough to own a dog like you, Nap,’ he said aloud. Nap’s agate-coloured eyes gleamed with a flash of light, just as they usually did when he was being spoken to. ‘I’d give anything to know what you were thinking when I sent you away with Bruce. Did you think I was the biggest mongrel in the country? I’ll never do it again, I promise. I know you know where home is. You really are a clever dog, old mate. Now, I have to go away for a bit, but I’ll be back before too long. Mum will look after you, and Dad, too. And when I get back, Cat will probably spoil you rotten. She’s going to learn how to work one of your pups.’
Davi
d knew that if anyone heard him talking to his dog they would reckon the hills had finally got to him, but if a man couldn’t talk to his dog, especially a dog who could understand everything as Nap did, it was a poor show.
David looked around the cave and thought of the day he had brought Cat here. It was the first time he had experienced intense longing for her, and she had known it. He had seen the response in her eyes.
He lost track of time as he sat in the cave with his dog and thought about the past, and it was late afternoon when he finally rode down the mountain and came in sight of his new house. He had erected an old-fashioned hitching rail under a kurrajong tree at the back of the house, and he tied his mare to it before going up the path to the new building. It wasn’t locked. Country people rarely locked their houses. He walked from room to room sniffing the smell of fresh paint and marvelling at the newness of the interior. The carpets and curtains were in place and there was new furniture in most rooms. He sat down on the edge of the big double bed and tried to imagine what it would be like living there with Cat. It was almost too much to imagine that she would be with him for the rest of their lives.
Nap was lying beside the mare when he came out of the house. ‘Time to feed you fellows,’ he said, and with Nap at his heels he walked up to the dog yards, grinning from ear to ear. It had been the kind of day he wanted – needed – before going away to be married.
The wedding turned out to be everything Catriona had dreamed of. It was held in late June, and, true to her Scottish lineage and Presbyterian background, Catriona chose St James’s in Sydney as the venue. She was piped out of the church by a piper wearing the tartan of Clan Campbell.
When David had turned to watch Catriona come down the aisle on her father’s arm, he saw tears on his mother’s face, and then he saw Catriona and his heart began to pound. She looked breathtakingly beautiful. Her gown was made of brocaded satin encrusted with the palest opalescent design. It was made in a traditional style – tight at the waist, with a full, voluminous skirt, long pointed sleeves and a long train. She carried a bouquet of lily-of-the-valley and wore her mother’s milk opal brooch. Her headpiece was made of the same brocaded satin as her dress and featured a fingertip veil. Her four bridesmaids wore gowns of pale-aqua brocaded satin cut in much the same style as Catriona’s Deb gown, and they carried bouquets of baby pink roses.
All the words of the service prior to David’s ‘I do’ passed in a blur. He just could not concentrate while watching Catriona. He had liked, then loved her for years, but he had never imagined it would come to this. They had overcome so many obstacles, but it seemed that fate had been on their side. Now he knew that he really loved her, nothing would stand in their way.
Catriona gave a little sigh as she spoke the words ‘I do’. For her, the long wait was over. She had always wanted David MacLeod. Always. Her mind flashed back to the day he had saved both her and her pony, and damaged his shoulder in the process. She remembered with fearful clarity how he had belted that awful Masters boy, and later, years later, had rescued her the night of her debut. Thinking back, she realised David had never looked at another girl, and she was sure he never would. He was hers now and they would be together as long as they lived.
When it was time for David and Catriona to leave there were still tears in Anne’s eyes, and although Kate was trying to be brave, eventually she cried, too.
David threw up his hands in despair and then wrapped them both in bear hugs.
‘I promise to look after him,’ Catriona whispered in Anne’s ear as the gathering farewelled them.
‘I know you will, Catriona, and I couldn’t be happier,’ Anne said.
‘Thank you. You have always been my ally and confidante,’ Catriona said, kissing her fondly.
Catriona was radiant as she and David left the reception. She settled in her seat and then turned and looked behind her.
‘What are you doing?’ David asked.
‘I’m just checking to make sure you haven’t sneaked Nap or Clancy into the back.’
‘I can assure you that I haven’t given my dogs a thought all day, nor will I for the next three weeks. There are other things in the world, you know.’
Catriona felt her heart race. These were going to be the best three weeks of her life.
It turned out to be an idyllic honeymoon, and even several inches of rain did not dampen their spirits and happiness. It was the first real holiday that David had ever had, and Catriona was determined that he would enjoy it. They stayed for two weeks at the Yeppoon house, eating enormous candlelit dinners and sleeping in much later than they had ever done. From Yeppoon they drove up to Aberfeldy for a few days, where they spent most of their time riding over the property. As wonderful as it all was, Catriona sensed that three weeks away was long enough for David. He felt the pull of the hills and wanted to go home.
When they returned, Anne could tell by the stars in Catriona’s eyes that they were extremely happy and that the honeymoon had been everything they had hoped for, and more.
Anne watched them as they walked hand in hand from the car to embrace her, and the pain in her heart was unbearable. How could she spoil their happiness? But David had to know. The news could not be delayed.
David sensed immediately that his mother was holding something back.
‘What is it, Mum? Is something wrong?’
‘It’s Andy, dear,’ she said. ‘He’s gone.’
‘Gone? What do you mean “gone”?’ he asked urgently.
‘Andy died last night, David. He just said he was tired and wanted to go to bed early. He died peacefully in his sleep.’
‘Oh, Lord,’ he cried in a stricken voice. ‘Mum,’ he sobbed and fell on her.
All the joy of the past few weeks and his homecoming dissolved in an instant. High Peaks could never be the same without his father.
‘Shhh, David. He didn’t have any pain and he was so very happy for you and Catriona,’ Anne said. She had dreaded this moment because she knew how much her son loved and respected his father. They had been almost inseparable from the moment David could crawl.
‘I wasn’t here, Mum. I should have been with him. Should have been with you.’
‘Don’t be silly, darling. You couldn’t be in two places at once. Try not to take it so hard. We need to find strength in each other right now. Andy was so very proud of you. We talked about you all the while you were away. He said that the day you won the National was the proudest day of his life. It was the fulfilment of everything he could have hoped for with his dogs. To have a son cast virtually in his own image and to do what you did made his life perfect.’
‘And having a loving wife as wonderful as you.’
‘It’s all up to us now, though it has been for some time, hasn’t it?’
‘Dad should have lived years longer. He wasn’t old, Mum. Just fifty-six,’ David said.
‘I know, but he almost died when he had that first stroke.’
Anne’s eyes met Catriona’s and she found sympathy there. But what could she or anyone else say that would soften this blow to their lives? Andy had been such an inspiration for his son.
‘Where’s Kate?’ David asked.
‘She’s making the necessary arrangements. I wanted to be here when you arrived.’
He nodded and then sat down on the top step with his head in his hands.
‘He’s being buried on the hill, isn’t he?’ David asked at last.
‘Yes, of course. That is what he asked for, to be buried where we both shall be.’
‘Then he will never really die. Not while we have this place and his dogs, and by God I shall have both while there is breath in my body.’
‘That’s what he wanted, David,’ Anne said.
‘And what do you want, Mum?’ he asked.
‘To see my days out on this place that holds the happiest memories of my life. To see my grandchildren grow up here.’
‘At least we’ve got each other,’ David replied, and then as
ked, ‘When is it?’
Anne knew just what he was referring to. ‘The day after tomorrow,’ she said.
‘There are people who need to be told,’ David said. ‘Bruce McClymont and Wilf White, to name just a few. And unless you have other ideas, I’d like to give the eulogy at the church.’
‘Whatever you want, David,’ Anne said.
Later, much later, David realised how selfish he had been in not recognising his mother’s suffering. She had done her crying and then marshalled all her remarkable strength and spirit in readiness for his return. Having to give him the news of his father’s passing must have been about the toughest task Anne had ever had to do. He had thought only of his sadness at losing his father, without really comprehending that his mother had lost her companion of half a lifetime.
Two days later David stood up before the congregation to deliver the following words:
‘Those of you who are here today and who knew my father would remember him as a gun shearer, horsebreaker and campdrafter, sheepdog breeder and triallist, and a successful grazier. My father was all of those things and much more. Some people have said that Dad was a hard man, but he was also the fairest man I have ever known. If he thought you were worth helping, he would do whatever he possibly could. When he took over the management of High Peaks it was heavily in debt. Dad cleared this debt by sheer hard work, and then some.
‘My father was a gifted man in many ways. He was a wonderful whipmaker and could craft anything in leather. But what made Dad really stand out was his natural ability in handling dogs and horses. In the hundred or so years since the kelpie came into being, we have had a handful of people with the ability to both breed and handle the working kelpie. These men really understood what the breed was all about. My father belonged to this small group. His knowledge of sheepdogs and his ability to handle them transcended ordinary standards.
‘I could not have done what I did on my own. It was my father who taught me everything I know. Everything I am, so far as sheepdogs are concerned, I owe to him. History and legend may largely remember me and my dog Clancy, but I know better.