by Valerie Wood
‘Poison!’ Benne said. ‘Don’t touch it.’
‘I won’t.’ Joe took a step towards the rocky hollow where the snake had been resting. It was lined with dried leaves from the gum tree and where the snake had slithered out there was a line of yellow staining running down the rock. ‘Look!’ he called to the boy. ‘Look here.’
He felt a great well of excitement rising up inside him as he followed with his eye down the rock across the rough earth and rock towards the creek, where Benne was still crouched. A seam! ‘Thy granda was right,’ he beamed and shook his arms in the air. ‘It’s gold!’
Chapter Forty-Two
The old Aborigine stayed away all day after Joe and Benne had gone, but as dusk fell he arrived back and sat on the veranda steps. Meg gave him soup and cold mutton, which he took without thanks, but when Emily came out he grunted, ‘Master get dog, look after sheep, keep dingo away.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Emily said. ‘I’ll see to that.’ The Reverend Fowler had a house dog she remembered, he would probably know where to get one.
The Aborigine stayed all night on the veranda steps. Emily got up before dawn and, looking out, saw his dark figure merging with the shadows and felt safe because of his presence. Anyone coming to the house, not knowing he was there would not have seen him, but as the morning broke he had gone, slipping away to the pasture and the sheep. He did the same thing that night, blending into the darkness and shadows of the veranda like a chiselled wooden sculpture.
‘I wonder why he comes here,’ Meg said as they ate breakfast. ‘Do you think he has any other family but the boy?’
‘Mr Clavell said that the natives are being wiped out,’ Emily pondered. ‘I think that perhaps there’s just him and Benne left of their family and that the old man wants Benne settled with someone before he dies. He looks so very, very old.’
When he returned that evening to his customary place, he said to Emily, ‘Tomorrow they come back. You keep Benne here? He help with sheep till master comes on ship?’
Emily agreed. She didn’t think that Philip would object, the boy wouldn’t cost much to keep and he would be useful to have around the place.
It was late evening when Joe and Benne were seen in the top field. Joe was running and the boy was following after. Emily and Meg stood waiting for them. ‘Something’s happened!’ Emily exclaimed. ‘I can sense the way he’s running, just the way he used to when we were young.’
He was waving his arms in the air and had a huge grin on his face. He met the old Aborigine first and took him by the hand, shaking it vigorously, then on reaching Emily and Meg, who had come down the steps and into the paddock to meet him, he took hold of each of them and swung them round. ‘We found it,’ he said breathlessly. ‘We found gold!’
‘Where is it?’ Meg asked eagerly. ‘Did you bring it back with you?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘At least onny a scraping, just for proof. We’re going to have to do some thinking about this. It’s not on Linton’s land but just above it. We’re going to have to buy it and then stake a claim.’
They gave the old man and Benne some supper and then went inside. ‘We can be rich!’ Joe said. ‘But it needs thinking about. The seam isn’t far from a main track; we saw soldiers up there and if word gets out ’place’ll be swarming wi’ folks.’
‘You’re off your head, Joe,’ Meg said. ‘How can we possibly buy it? We haven’t a penny between ’three of us! And even if Mr Linton buys it when he comes back, it still won’t be ours!’
‘And if we wait for him, somebody else might get to it before us.’ Joe looked at Emily. ‘Who would you trust apart from Linton, Em?’
‘Mr Clavell,’ she said softly. ‘He’s the only one. I could talk to him about it. But we’d have to wait until he comes again and it might not be yet, he’s going to be busy. He told me he’s trying to get the women organized into work groups.’
‘If we could onny get to him,’ Joe said thoughtfully. ‘But I can’t go. I’d be picked up as an absconder. What about you going, Em? What’s ’road like? Could you ride so far?’
‘On my own?’ She was horrified.
‘’Course she can’t!’ Meg was sharp with him. ‘She might get robbed or beaten or owt with all ’villains that are skulking about in this country.’
‘I didn’t mean on her own,’ he argued. ‘Would I suggest that to my own sister? No, I meant wi’ Benne. I’d thought of Clavell when I was trying to work out what we could do and I asked Benne if he knew ’road to Parramatta. He does, but he also knows another one across country, where there’s little traffic. He’d take you if you’d go.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ she said and went early to bed. She tossed and turned all night, thinking of the journey she had made with Philip Linton when he had brought her out of Parramatta. I rode behind him with my arms about his waist, she sighed. If only he was here now. But he’s not and I have to make a decision. I’m not a horsewoman, I’ve only been on the horse’s back half a dozen times. Suppose he throws me or Benne runs off and leaves me on my own? I could get lost and the hills look so wild.
She rose at dawn, heavy eyed and tired, but she had made up her mind. If one of us was ill, perhaps the baby, she had thought, then somebody would have to go for help into Sydney and it would have to be me. Parramatta is no further in distance. I’ll speak to Benne and ask him if he thinks I can manage the journey.
Benne nodded when she asked him. ‘You’ll be all right with me, Missus Emily. I know good way to Parramatta. No soldiers, no crappy convicts. Maybe bushrangers, but they’ll not see us.’
How will they not see us? she thought. I’d better wear dark clothing. But as they set off the next morning she realized that they wouldn’t be seen because Benne had insisted they set off before dawn, when the sky was still dark but lit by a million stars and the trees and shrubs beside the track where he led her horse were dark and forbidding. She was terrified and kept her head and shoulders hunched down as tree branches tore at her hair like demented fingers.
They travelled up steep hills and then descended into scrubland before rising again towards woody paths. She could hear the screech of nocturnal animals and a croaking and chattering in the trees of animals and birds and creatures, which she only glimpsed as they fled or hid within the shadows, and had no idea what they were or if they were dangerous. ‘A bear!’ she hissed as a lumbering creature crossed their path.
He shook his head. ‘Wombat,’ he said and continued on, seemingly tireless as he jogged along beside her. As the night sky started to lighten, they entered a clearing where below them was the main road to Parramatta and beyond that the Parramatta River and Emily realized that they were probably more than half-way there. Benne went first towards the road and checked that there was no-one else travelling along it. It was still too early for most travellers, unless for some reason, like them, they didn’t want to be seen, and they crossed the road undisturbed.
Benne took her to the edge of the town, where trees had been felled and a clearing opened up to make a parkland. Fine houses had been built and through the windows Emily glimpsed muslin curtains and Chinese ornaments set on the windowsills, whilst working outside in the gardens were men with chains around their ankles.
‘I wait here, Missus Emily, and take you back when you are ready.’
She nodded nervously, but putting her shoulders back and lifting her head, she urged the horse on towards the Female Factory beyond the town.
She found Clavell where she had expected him, in the sick ward. ‘Whatever are you doing here, Emily? You never came alone?’ His astonishment was great.
‘I came with an Aborigine,’ she said. ‘Benne, the old man’s grandson; he guided me across country. We couldn’t come on ’main road because I’m a woman, an ex-convict and might have been molested, and he’s a black native and would probably have been arrested on some made-up charge for accompanying a white woman.’
‘Then the reason for your being here mu
st be very important,’ he said slowly, pulling out a chair for her. ‘If you travelled all that way in the dark, for it is still early, and risked God knows what on the road.’
She sank gratefully into the chair. ‘It is,’ she said.
‘Is someone ill, or – have you had news from England?’
‘No-one is ill and I regret I have no news from home.’ She glanced towards the door and then towards the beds. ‘But we need your help, Mr Clavell. Can you come back with me?’
‘If it is urgent I can.’
‘Mr Clavell,’ she said earnestly, ‘are you a rich man?’
He laughed. ‘Rich! Certainly not. In fact I have never been poorer. I’m living on my late wife’s money because I cannot live on what I earn. It will just about last until I die, providing I don’t live to a ripe old age!’
She smiled. ‘Then I think it’s important that you come back with me, sir. You are the only man we can trust and that trust we have in you could earn you a lot of money.’
He laughed again. ‘What jest is this, Emily? Come along, tell all.’
‘No jest, Mr Clavell.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I’m talking about land and I’m talking about gold!’
He borrowed a horse, telling the governor that he had to attend someone who was very sick, and travelled back with her and Benne, again across country. This time they travelled in daylight and Mr Clavell carried a pistol and, he said, he knew how to use it. It was dusk by the time they arrived back at the farmstead and Emily was almost dropping with exhaustion, but Benne jogged along as easily as he had done during the morning.
Clavell talked with Joe right through the night, whilst Emily dozed by the fire and Meg went to her bed. By the morning it was settled. Clavell refused the offer to visit the seam to see for himself. ‘If you trust me enough to tell me,’ he said, ‘then I trust your word that the gold is there. Gold has been found from time to time over the last decade, somewhere by the Blue Mountains and also by the Fish River, but there was no real prospecting done. However, if there is a seam, we must keep it quiet; if the word gets out the whole place will be over-run by diggers.’
He stretched himself. ‘I’ll go down to Sydney straight away and apply for a grazing licence. I’ll buy two flocks of sheep –.’
‘Make it three, sir,’ Joe interrupted. ‘If we fill the area, nobody’ll come on it.’
‘Right. Then I’ll apply to buy the land if it’s for sale.’
‘That’s it, sir. Then I’ll take down Mr Linton’s fence in ’far field and we’ll let ’em all graze together.’
Clavell looked at him. ‘What do you have to lose in this venture, Johnson?’
‘Nowt, sir. I’ve been at ’bottom. I can’t go no further down.’
‘As I thought.’ Clavell stood pondering. ‘I have everything to lose. If this fails I shall be left with nothing. Yet I have a hunch that it will work.’ He turned to Emily. ‘Come along then, Miss Hawkins. Put on your bonnet.’
‘Am I to come with you, sir?’ She was so tired that all she wanted was to go to bed.
‘Of course. We need two signatures for this partnership and as your brother can’t sign due to his present situation, then you must. You, to all intents and purposes are free!’
She gazed sleepily at Joe, who noddingly agreed, so she went to swill her face and brush her hair and as she came back into the kitchen she heard Clavell say, ‘So, the name as agreed. You’re quite sure?’
‘Quite sure, sir. I’ll be glad to have it back.’
‘Very well.’ They shook hands on the agreement. ‘Clavell and Hawkins it is.’
Chapter Forty-Three
Philip rode up to Hugo Purnell’s house and saw men carrying furniture, mirrors and beds from the house and placing them in a wagon outside the open front door. He dismounted and approached one of the men.
‘I’m looking for Mr Purnell,’ he said. ‘Is he at home?’
‘Everybody’s been looking for him, governor,’ the man answered grimly. ‘And now they’ve found him. If you want him he’s in gaol – debtors’ prison in Kingston Street. Don’t expect any money, wilt tha, sir?’ he called after Philip, as he turned away. ‘There’s a line of folks before thee as long as ’road between here and Hull.’
‘In that case, I’ll pay him a visit.’ Philip couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction that Purnell was in the same gaol where Emily had been confined.
‘Linton! Thank God!’ Hugo Purnell clung to the bars of his cell. ‘Get me out of here, there’s a good fellow. I promise I’ll pay you back every penny.’ There was a look of anguish on his face, his shirt neck was undone without a cravat and he was huddled into his greatcoat. ‘I don’t even know where my mother is, she’d get me out if she knew I was here.’
Philip gave a grim smile. ‘I’ve heard around town that your mother has gone abroad. The house is shut up with only a skeleton staff.’
Hugo groaned and put his head in his hands. ‘Where are all my friends when I need them? They were willing to drink my wine and eat at my table before this happened. Now the beggars have gone – don’t want to know me.’
‘Could it be that you owe them money?’ Philip said cynically. ‘And what about your wife? Do you know what happened to her after she ran away? Has it crossed your mind that she might be in trouble?’
‘Hah, good riddance to her! Do you know, her father wrote to me saying he was stopping the marriage allowance and that we were not man and wife in the true sense. Hah, how would he know?’ His face creased into laughter. ‘Do you know! Deborah spun them such a tale about us being together on the ship, that when I asked to marry her they couldn’t agree fast enough. ’Course, her father was most disagreeable, claimed I’d taken advantage and all that.’
‘And had you?’ Philip asked, stony-faced.
‘What! She’s loony, old boy. Would I risk that? No, as far as I’m concerned she’s as pure as driven snow and who wants a woman like that? Besides,’ he shivered and huddled into his coat, ‘I prefer a woman with a little more flesh.’
‘Someone like Emily, perhaps?’ Philip felt his anger rising and he clenched his fists.
‘Emily? Oh you know Emily, do you?’ He gave a grin. ‘Now there is a woman!’ He leaned towards Philip. ‘Come on, old fellow, you’ve always been a good sport. Get me out of here. I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.’
‘I’m not interested in the money.’ Philip stared at him through the bars. ‘I just wanted to see you in here, where you belong.’
‘What?’ Hugo blustered. ‘A man like me, of my standing?’
‘You’re a liar, a braggart, a libertine, a seducer of innocence.’ Philip spat at him. ‘I could think of a dozen other names, but I don’t want to waste my energy. But I wonder if you have ever given thought of the effect you have had on that young woman’s life? Have you ever thought what it must be like to be chained up on board a convict ship?’
Hugo turned away. ‘I’ve changed my mind about you, Linton. You are the most boring fellow I’ve ever met and if you’re not going to get me out of here, you might as well leave.’
Philip grabbed hold of him through the bars and pulled him towards him. ‘Go to hell! I hope you rot! But I’ll tell you this before I leave; the only way I would try to have you released is if you retract your statement about Emily having damaged your painting and to say that, against her wishes, you fathered her stillborn child.’
‘What’s she to you?’ Hugo glared at him. ‘Fancy her yourself, do you? You’ll have to travel a long way to find her!’
‘I hate injustice, Purnell, and if you don’t retract I shall go to the magistrates and state that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice. The case should never have been brought and I consider that the court was given false information. If there is an appeal, you may well find yourself following in Emily’s footsteps.’
As he released his hold on him, he added as if in afterthought, ‘Oh and by the way, I understand that your wife’s father is about to sue yo
u for the return of her dowry and her jewellery. There is a witness who is prepared to swear that you sold the jewels to pay your debts. That will add to the case against you.’
Purnell said nothing, but slunk to the back of his cell, where he curled up into a corner on his bench. Philip turned away and walked to the end of the corridor, where the warder was waiting. Then he turned and retraced his footsteps. He stopped at the cell gate. ‘If you should change your mind about retracting, Purnell, I shall be at my lodgings until tomorrow evening. Then I have orders to sail. I won’t be back in this country for at least six months.’
By midday the next day a message was brought that Purnell wanted to see him urgently. Philip waited until the following morning, just to give Purnell a fright, and then took his lawyer with him to the gaol.
‘All right! I’ll retract the charge,’ Purnell said. He looked even more haggard than the day before. His eyes were heavy and he had a dark growth of beard. ‘Say anything you want, but get me out of here.’
The lawyer took a statement and Purnell signed it, with Philip and the governor of the prison as witnesses.
‘So, can I go?’ Purnell asked the governor. ‘Will you call me a cab?’
‘I’m afraid not!’ The governor observed him coolly. ‘That isn’t the procedure at all. There are other considerations which will keep you here a little longer apart from Mr Linton’s dues.’
‘What? But Linton – you said –.’
‘I said that I would try to have you released. I will return the IOU to you as settled as soon as Miss Hawkins receives her full pardon. You have my word on that. But I have nothing at all to do with the other charges made against you.’
‘You’ve tricked me, Linton!’ They heard his furious shouts as they walked away down the corridor and even as the gate clanged shut behind them.
