Tarrapaldi

by Wayne T Mathews

  “What?” Harrington turned to look back and saw the gun barrel pointing at him. “I left my betrothed back at her aunty’s place, near Richmond. I told her she couldn’t come. But she must have found a couple of trackers and be following me anyway.”

  “Best hope she’s better at taking orders from a woman than she is you. Tarrapaldi’ll spear her if she doesn’t.”

  “Who’s Tarrapaldi?” Harrington asked.

  “She’s the black Amazon who got me involved in all this by putting a spear to my throat while I slept.”

  “Tall woman? About six foot? Really well built?” Harrington held both hands in front of his chest to indicate breast size. “Lives somewhere up northeast of Bathurst with her sister?” Harrington asked.

  “Sounds like you’ve met them.” Nathaniel said.

  “Well, I haven’t been introduced,” Harrington said, “but I have seen them a couple of times. The younger one likes to play chase.”

  “That’d be Muchuka,” Nathaniel said. “But I doubt she’ll want to play anymore. Last time I saw her, she had a fist full of spears and was working at getting close enough to throw them at an Englishman. Any Englishman,”

  “Damn!” Harrington said. “What brought that about? Last time I saw her was only a few weeks ago, and she was having the time of her life.”

  “Things change. Did Macquarie tell you about what I’ve found?”

  “Are you asking about the gold, or the land?”

  “They’re one and the same. If we’re granted the land, we’ll keep the gold bearing areas secret. If we’re not granted the land, then we’ll spread the word. And you know as well as I do, the colony’d be destroyed if that happened.”

  Harrington turned Waratina to face Johnson. “Only if it’s true. So far we’ve only seen one nugget. I’ll admit it’s a big one. But it’s only one. I’ll need to see the rest of what you’re claiming before we can start to negotiate.” Harrington said.

  “All right.” Nathaniel stood, discarded the branches and indicated with his gun that Harrington should go to where Tarrapaldi had tethered the horses.

  Coming into the clearing, Harrington pulled his reins when he saw Bo. “That’s Billy Pike’s stallion. What’s he doing here?”

  “Pike lent him to me so I could come and talk to you,” Nathaniel said.

  “Pike knows about the gold?”

  “Yes. But he understands what it’d do to the colony if word gets out. He’s also in trouble with the law and will need a pardon. Just like me.”

  “I see,” Harrington said. “Where’s Billy now?”

  “He’s up country,” Nathaniel said, “stalking Englishmen with Muchuka.”

  “What Englishmen?”

  “The Lieutenant who started all this and about twenty troopers. They’re in the valley now, looking for us. But Tunggaree left them signs that we’re dead, so hopefully they’ll turn around and go home. If they don’t, and they come too close to Muchuka, I guarantee they’ll take a spear.”

  “That’s not good,” Harrington said. “Can you get in touch with them?”

  “Yes. But I’m only going to do that after you and I have decided what’s going to happen. There’s more nuggets in the sacks on the cart-horse.”

  Harrington nodded, dismounted and walked over to open the sacks. Closing the sacks, he looked at Johnson.

  “There’s more than this?”

  Nathaniel chuckled. “In one deposit Billy and I know about, there’s enough of those nuggets to sink a small ship.”

  “How many deposits are there?”

  Nathaniel shrugged. “Does it matter? We know the area they’re in, and if you’ll grant us the land we want, we’ll make sure nobody else finds out about them.”

  “Granting you the land isn’t as simple as you make it sound, Nathaniel,” Harrington said. “The area you’ve asked for is too big. And even if it wasn’t so big, your conviction for treason will prevent us from granting you land. We’ll have to come up with a reason to give you a full pardon. Luckily, because you seem to have teamed up with Billy, we may have a way of doing that. But you’re going to have to take me out to see him and the land you want.”

  “Why are we stopping?” Claire asked Andrew and Richard when they reined in, and began scanning the surrounding bush.

  “You didn’t tell us the Lieutenant was a Koradji,” Andrew said.

  Claire frowned. “Koradji? A black fellah medicine man? Don’t be silly. Dennis is an officer of the crown, not a witch doctor.”

  “That’s not what the sign says, Miss.” Andrew indicated the black crow feather on top of a pile of fresh horse droppings.

  “What sign? That’s just a feather out of some filthy crow that came down to pick through a pile of fresh horse manure.”

  “You think so?” Andrew said. “Then where’s the crow’s tracks on the ground? There’s none. Not only that, there’s no horse tracks past here. Only a Koradji, and a very powerful one, could make a horse carrying a man, disappear like this.”

  Claire shifted uncomfortably in her saddle. “That’s nonsense, Andrew. Somebody must’ve rubbed out the tracks.”

  “Maybe,” Andrew said. “But if that’s the case, where’s the brush marks, the little stones overturned, the ant tracks that’ve been interrupted? There aren’t any. Miss Claire, this’s the work of a very powerful Koradji. And what it means is; we better not go on trying to follow the Lieutenant. Bad things happen to people who ignore these signs.”

  “We must go on, Andrew.” Claire squared her shoulders and sat straighter in her saddle. “Dennis can’t just disappear. And if someone as clever as you say, is covering his tracks, then he’s in trouble and will need our help.”

  With a slight pressure from her thighs, Claire directed Brutus to move along the faint path Harrington had been following.

  The spear, in flight, was silent. It slammed with a thump, quivering, point first into the ground between Brutus’s front legs.

  The gelding squealed, leapt sideways, and began bucking to protest the restraint Claire was exerting with hauled back reins.

  When she had the horse under a semblance of control, Claire stood in her stirrups and whipped out one of the pistols, cocked the hammer, sat back in the saddle and began scanning the surrounding bush in search of the person who threw the spear.

  Tarrapaldi’s voice seemed to come from the sky in her native tongue. “Tell her, if her eyes touch me, I will spear her.” Tarrapaldi said.

  “Look at the ground, Miss Claire. Please,” Andrew said.

  Claire glared at him. Then went back to scanning the surrounding bush while Brutus continued to dance beneath her.

  “For God’s sake, Woman,” Andrew shouted. “Look at the ground will you. And put the pistol away. We’ll all be speared if you don’t.”

  Reluctantly, Claire looked down, uncocked the pistol, and stood in her stirrups while stuffing the pistol into her belt. Lowering herself into the saddle, she began calming her horse.

  When Tarrapaldi saw this, she turned her head and spoke again in the direction of the rock face behind her, making it very difficult for anyone to tell where her voice was coming from.

  Andrew translated. “The Koradji said we’re all to get off our horses and tie them up. Then we’re to all sit together without any weapons.”

  Claire’s head came up and she glared at Andrew. “Don’t lie. That’s a woman’s voice, not a Koradji’s.”

  “What form a Koradji chooses is his concern, not ours,” Andrew snapped back, while dismounting and tying his horse to a tree.

  “But Koradjies are always men,” she said.

  “Oh really? And what about when they’re crows, or lizards, or the fly that crawls up your nose?” Richard said, while following his brother.

  “Oh, don’t be disgusting,” Claire said. “Koradjies are only men. Th
ey’re not magicians.”

  Andrew lifted his head and looked at Claire. “Woman, you offered to teach us your most valuable skill. In exchange, we said we’d teach you the Dharug language and ways. Well this is your first lesson. And it’s going to save your life. Get off that horse and do what you’ve been told by the Koradji. And do it NOW.”

  “Tarrapaldi, can you hear me?”

  “Yes, Nathaniel. Have you talked to the officer?”

  “Uh huh. He said the woman following him is probably his betrothed,” Nathaniel said. “And the men are probably a couple of trackers she’s hired to follow him, even though he told her she couldn’t come out here.”

  “I can see how that could happen,” Tarrapaldi said. “She’s headstrong and doesn’t like being told what to do. Has he agreed to our demands?”

  “Not entirely. There’s some problems I can understand. But he says he should be able solve them if I’ll take him to look at the land and talk to Billy Pike.”

  “Billy Pike? What’s he got to do with anything? Can we trust this officer?”

  “I think we can, Tarrapaldi. His name’s Harrington. I used to work for him a while back. And he was always straight with me and the other men. Not like most of the bastards. But then this guy isn’t really English. He was born and raised here in Australia,” Nathaniel said.

  “Australia? Is that the name you’re calling our land?” Tarrapaldi asked.

  “It’s not my name. It’s the name Governor Macquarie is trying to give it, rather than New Holland. But about the woman. Harrington’s worried if she’s all right?”

  “Tell him she’s fine. And so is the baby.”

  “What baby?”

  “The baby she’s carrying. She’s pregnant,” Tarrapaldi said.

  “She’s pregnant and she’s followed him into this country with trackers? Damn!” Nathaniel said. “That is headstrong. Look, give me a few minutes to ask him what he wants to do about this, and I’ll get back to you.”

  Nathaniel looked at Harrington. “Dennis, do you believe in telepathy? That some people can communicate in their minds, without sound?”

  Harrington smiled. Very few people, below the officer class, addressed him by his first name. It was a custom reserved for friends who considered themselves equal, and he was pleased to see Nathaniel was shedding the convict mentality. It would make negotiating, and dealing, with him easier.

  “I’ve heard some of the blacks can do it. But I’ve never seen it proved conclusively.”

  “Uh huh.” Nathaniel took a deep breath. “Well I have. And I’ll prove it to you later. For the moment, I’m going to ask you to believe I have just been ‘talking’ to Tarrapaldi.

  “She’s with your betrothed and her trackers right now,” Nathaniel said. “She’s holding them a ways back so you and I can talk in private. She said to tell you your betrothed and the baby are fine, so you don’t have to worry. But Tarrapaldi says your lady is very headstrong and is insisting she’s going to keep following you. We need to know what you want to do.”

  “Claire? A baby? You’ve got your signals mixed, my friend,” Harrington said. “Claire doesn’t have a baby.”

  “Well not yet she hasn’t. But Tarrapaldi said she’s pregnant.”

  “Pregnant? No. She can’t be. We’re not married.”

  “Hey.” Nathaniel held both hands up. “Don’t blame me. I’m only passing on the message. And I shouldn’t have to tell you this. But being married is not a requirement for a woman getting pregnant.”

  “Pregnant? – Oh, no.” Harrington paced around in a full circle, wringing his hands, before stopping in front of Nathaniel. “Oh, my God. Look, I know this gold and land is important, but I have to talk to her. Can we go back to where they are? I’ll talk to her. Find out what’s going on. Then we can decide what to do next.”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Nathaniel said. “You’re not going to be much use to us as agitated as you are now.”

  Richard stopped Andrew from leaping to his feet and challenging Nathaniel when he rode up on their brother’s horse.

  Nobody stopped Claire from leaping to her feet and racing to embrace Harrington when he swung down from Waratina.

  “Thank God you’re all right,” she said. “I was starting to get really worried, what with your tracks having disappeared and all.”

  “Never mind about me, Claire,” Harrington said, disengaging her arms from his neck and holding her off to look her up and down. “I’ve just been told you’re pregnant.”

  Claire stepped back as though she’d been slapped.

  “Pregnant? Who told you I’m pregnant?”

  “He did.” Harrington indicated Nathaniel by inclining his head.

  Claire glanced at Nathaniel before turning back to Harrington. “How would he know? I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

  “He said Tarrapaldi told him.”

  “Who the hell’s Tarrapaldi?”

  “She’s the black who’s been keeping you here while Nathaniel and I had our little chat.” Harrington said.

  “I still don’t know who the hell she is though. That’s her spear in the ground over there. And I’ve heard her voice. But I haven’t seen her. Those two,” she indicated Andrew and Richard, “have been trying to tell me she’s a he.”

  “Tarrapaldi a he? I don’t think so.” Nathaniel held out his hand when Claire turned to face him. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Nathaniel Johnson. And this,” he pointed to where Tarrapaldi was stepping out of the bush, “is Tarrapaldi.”

  “Oh, my God,” Claire said. “She’s completely naked. Give her your coat, Dennis.”

  Harrington chuckled. “Why? I doubt very much she’d want it.”

  “But she’s naked. Has she no shame?”

  “No. Not even the tiniest skerick. In fact, she thinks we’re disgusting for wearing these stinking clothes. But she’s too polite to give any indication of repulsion,” Nathaniel said.

  Tarrapaldi stopped ten feet upwind of the whites and smiled. “How do you say, ‘Hello, my name is Tarrapaldi’?”

  She then imitated Nathaniel while he spoke the words, her words riding over the top of his, only a heart beat after he said them.

  “Good grief,” Claire said, her face going red. “She speaks English beautifully.”

  “No, she doesn’t,” Nathaniel said. “She has a knack for mimicking people. She asked me to say those words so she could introduce herself.”

  “I didn’t hear her say anything to you.”

  “She said it in our minds. We communicate telepathically. That’s how she told me you’re expecting.”

  “But how did she know? I haven’t told anyone. Did she read my mind?”

  “I don’t know. Give me a minute and I’ll ask her.”

  “So you are pregnant,” Harrington said when Nathaniel turned to Tarrapaldi, “and you didn’t tell me.”

  “This isn’t something we should discuss in front of others, Dennis.” Claire said, taking his hand and leading him off.

  “Don’t take the Lieutenant too far, Miss.” The tone of his voice caused everybody but Richard, to look in Andrew’s direction. Both the boys were standing in front of their horses. Both of them had the guns in their hands pointed at Nathaniel.

  “We’ve a few questions we’d like you to answer, Mister,” Andrew said. “And we’ll start off with; where’d you get the horse you rode in on?”

  “He’s not mine,” Nathaniel said. “He was lent to me by a man named Billy Pike, so I could get here in time for this meeting with Lieutenant Harrington.”

  “Where’s Billy now?” Richard asked.

  “He’s up the way. On the rim of the valley with Tarrapaldi’s father and sister, Tunggaree and Muchuka.”

  Both boys looked shocked, but it was Richard who spoke first, and in the Dharug tongue. “Is it tru
e you’re the daughter of Tunggaree?”

  “It is true,” Tarrapaldi replied in the same language. “And who are you?”

  “We’re the brothers of Billy Pike, the man who owns that horse.”

  “I know Billy Pike. He is with my father and sister even while we speak.”

  “Is he all right? Will you take us to him?”

  “He’s helping my father keep Muchuka out of trouble. When we have finished our business with the officer, we will be going back to them,” Tarrapaldi said. “You’re welcome to travel with us if you choose.”

  “What’s going on, Tarrapaldi? What are they saying?” Nathaniel asked.

  “They’re asking to come with us to see their brother, Billy Pike.”

  Nathaniel looked at Harrington, who was talking to Claire quietly, but firmly. “Harrington won’t agree to that. He’ll want them to take Miss Claire back to town.”

  Tarrapaldi turned in time to see Claire stamp her foot and wag her finger in Harrington’s face. “Maybe the officer will want her to go back. But that doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen.”

  “Damn it, Nathaniel,” Harrington called. “Will you come over here and tell this woman about the country we’re going into. She seems to think it’s going to be like taking a ride in the park.”

  “Don’t go getting me mixed up in your little cat fight,” Nathaniel said. “The track up to the valley is about the same as it’s been this side of the river. But once we get there, it is like taking a ride in a park. And there’s any amount of food, once you know what to look for.”

  “Thank you, very much.” Harrington said sarcastically, then turned to the two brothers. “I’m Lieutenant Harrington. I’m on a special mission for Governor Macquarie, and I’ve some important things to discuss with Mr. Johnson and his father-in-law. I’d like to thank you for looking after Miss Wordsworth. But I’d like you to take her back to the Munro’s farm, if you wouldn’t mind,” Harrington said. “I’ll see you’re well paid for your efforts of course.”

  “It’s not a matter of being paid, Guv.” Andrew checked with his brother before turning back to face Harrington. “Me ‘n’ Richard left home a few months ago to find our brother Billy and team up with him. Tarrapaldi just told us he’s up country with her dad and sister. So that’s where we’re going.”