Alice-Miranda in the Outback

by Jacqueline Harvey

  By the time Alice-Miranda arrived at the last page, her pulse was racing and tears welled in her eyes.

  ‘T is gone and my heart has been shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. If only we’d have been able to have our own child – perhaps she would have stayed. This country is harsh, and she has been homesick for her own land so very different to here.’

  Tears sprang to Alice-Miranda’s eyes. From what Hayden had said about his grandparents, he had no idea about any of this. Alice-Miranda wondered if Uncle Barnaby knew – perhaps not. The girl had discovered more secrets than she knew what to do with – she only hoped that Molly would be back soon, because she had a feeling that the woman alone would know the right thing to do.

  Alice-Miranda climbed up the ladder and tucked the diary back where she’d found it. Her head was swimming. For now, she wouldn’t tell anyone what she’d learned. Some things were best left unsaid, and this was really none of her business.

  Hayden poked his head around the door.

  ‘Did you find anything?’ he asked.

  Alice-Miranda turned, her face brightening.

  ‘No, I guess the page will remain a mystery for now,’ the girl said, and jumped off the last rung of the ladder onto the ground. ‘What was the emergency?’

  ‘Goanna trying to break into the hen house,’ Hayden said. ‘But we shooed him away with a broom. Molly won’t be happy if she comes back and is down a girl or two. She loves her chickens.’

  ‘Was Jacinta there?’ Alice-Miranda winced.

  Hayden nodded. ‘It’s a wonder the big fella didn’t run away after all the screaming, but we put her on Molly and Ralph’s veranda, out of the way, and she finally calmed down.’

  ‘I’d better come and see if she’s okay,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  The pinging of two-stroke engines alerted the children to the return of Barnaby, Hugh and Lawrence.

  Alice-Miranda was eager for a distraction and, to Hayden’s surprise, grabbed the boy’s hand and ran to the back door.

  ‘Did you fix the bore?’ the child asked.

  ‘Didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it,’ Barnaby said. ‘Except that we have no water pressure, despite the pump being in perfect working order. We’re going to have to head further out and see if there are problems with the others.’ He scrubbed at his face. ‘But we need to get a mob in tomorrow too. Truck’s coming to take them to market day after.’

  ‘We can do the mustering,’ Hayden said. ‘Larry and me, and the other kids and Rusty.’

  Barnaby looked at his son. ‘You’re sure you’re up to it?’

  ‘Yes please!’ Alice-Miranda exclaimed. She couldn’t wait to get on a horse and do something useful.

  ‘Well, you’d just have to bring in a small herd from the western paddock. And I guess you and your sister have helped plenty of times before.’ Barnaby gave the children a grin.

  ‘We won’t let you down, Dad,’ Hayden said. Larry and the other kids had just arrived, Millie carrying a basket of eggs and Jacinta looking shell-shocked, for the umpteenth time this trip.

  ‘What are we doing?’ Larry asked.

  ‘Dad’s leaving us in charge of the mustering tomorrow,’ Hayden said proudly.

  ‘You mean he’s put me in charge,’ the girl said with a grin.

  ‘Okay, Bossychops, whatever,’ Hayden said, shaking his head. There was no point getting into an argument with Larry, and he had to admit he’d always been glad that she loved the farm more than he did – it meant there wasn’t any pressure on him to continue the family legacy. That used to happen in the old days – the eldest boy always inherited the farm. And any other children stayed and worked, or left to set their own course in life. He wondered what had happened to his grandfather’s brother. He’d been older than Grandpa Evan, so by rights the place should have been his. Barnaby hadn’t had an answer when Hayden had asked him in the past, and Larry had told him to stop questioning it. According to her, the thought of growing up in the city was the worst thing ever.

  ‘Come on then, let’s get the kettle on,’ Hugh said.

  Alice-Miranda was staring across the yard towards Molly and Ralph’s place as the others all traipsed up the back steps.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Hayden gave her a nudge.

  Alice-Miranda flinched. ‘Sure. Just thinking about something.’ She turned and followed the rest of them inside.

  Alice-Miranda patted the horse’s neck. ‘Hello boy,’ she cooed to the stringy chocolate gelding, who stood statue-still while she placed the bridle over his head. He opened his mouth and nibbled at the bit, but didn’t object in the slightest. ‘He’s very placid. Not like my Bony – I’d have a chunk of hair missing by now.’

  ‘Comatose, did you say?’ Larry grinned and lifted the saddle onto her own bay steed, who shifted left and right until the girl growled at the beast. ‘Zuki, cut it out, okay.’ For a second the horse did as she was told, but kicked out as soon as Larry tried to do up the girth strap.

  ‘I think Zuki and Bony would have quite a bit in common,’ Alice-Miranda remarked.

  Millie was standing further away with her grey mare, whose temperament seemed somewhere in between the other two. ‘How come this horse is called Saki when yours is Zuki?’ she asked. ‘They’re almost the same – don’t you get them mixed up?’

  ‘They have proper names,’ Larry said. ‘Your girl is Kawasaki and mine is Suzuki.’

  Alice-Miranda chuckled. ‘So you named the horses after brands of motorbikes?’

  ‘Ha, that’s funny,’ Millie said. ‘Harley, Zuki and Saki. Are there any others?’

  ‘We have another pony called Beemer, and we used to have Honda, but she died a couple of years ago. Beemer is Storm’s. She’s a feisty little brute, though she’s an angel for Stormy,’ Larry explained. ‘Last time I tried to ride her she dumped me in the most massive pile of manure. Oh, and Dad has Kingy – he’s the only one that escaped the motorbike moniker.’

  Hayden, Jacinta and Lucas had opted for steel instead of real ponies. Hayden was taking one of the 250cc motorbikes, and Jacinta and Lucas each had their own four-wheeler.

  The group assembled near the driveway, with Rusty wagging his tail beside them and Junie yowling from the veranda of the homestead, annoyed to have been left behind.

  Barnaby, Hugh and Lawrence had left at dawn to check several more of the bores.

  ‘Okay, does everyone have a water bottle?’ Larry asked.

  There were nods all round.

  ‘Food?

  More nodding heads.

  ‘Two-ways?’

  There was a collective ‘yes’.

  ‘Oh, I forgot the sunscreen,’ Millie grimaced. She’d already lathered her face that morning, but had left it on the bathroom sink.

  Alice-Miranda dug into her saddle bag and pulled out a tube. ‘It’s okay. I picked it up for you.’ She passed it across to Millie, who said thanks.

  ‘Right, then,’ Larry said. ‘We need to bring the herd back here to the yards. Dad says there’s only about five hundred of them. The bigger mustering job starts tomorrow when we bring the rest in for drenching and marking.’

  ‘What’s drenching? Is that why you need the water fixed?’ Jacinta asked.

  Hayden grinned. ‘It means treating the cattle for worms and ticks and other parasites, and then we have to make sure that they’re all ear-tagged and branded.’

  ‘Oh.’ Jacinta pursed her lips. She still wasn’t sure what all that meant.

  ‘What’s happening to the ones we’re rounding up now?’ Millie asked.

  ‘Market,’ Hayden said. ‘Truck should be out first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Keep an eye out for the escapees, because when one makes a run for it they usually try to take some friends with them,’ Larry continued. ‘Dad said the herd was close to the groundwater tanks when he and Uncle Hugh were flying around the other day, so let’s hope they still are. It’ll make our job much easier.’

  Alice-Miranda was impressed with Larry
’s business-like approach. It was clear the girl knew exactly what she was doing.

  Hayden gave his sister the thumbs up and dropped the clutch, speeding up the track with Lucas and Jacinta on his tail. Alice-Miranda, Millie and Larry trotted along behind the vehicles, but once they were through the gate, Larry urged Zuki into a canter.

  Alice-Miranda couldn’t believe how much she’d missed riding. Harley might have seemed like he was asleep earlier, but he came to life now, springing after Zuki. She loved the loping feel of the beast beneath her. The gelding had an easy gait despite being at least a hand taller than Bony.

  The girls rode for about half an hour before Millie shouted and pointed at a brown and white cow heading towards them. They could see the dust from the motorbikes further away and, as it cleared, the rest of the mob came into view. Hayden and the others must have located the herd beyond the tanks the riders had just passed.

  ‘Breakaways!’ Larry called. ‘Yah!’ Zuki was off after them.

  Alice-Miranda and Harley gave chase too, which was just as well given another of the steers spun around and began to run in the opposite direction. Alice-Miranda gripped the saddle with her thighs, leaning left and right as they caught up to the errant beast.

  ‘Yah!’ she shouted, and chased the cow at full speed back to the main mob.

  Millie had spotted another couple of escapees further away and was off after them. Mustering was a lot like barrel racing, but in some ways safer as the western saddles out here had more to hang onto. She wondered if she’d have been able to manage quite the same manoeuvres on her regular dressage tack.

  Larry slowed Zuki down to a walk and lifted her Akubra, wiping the sweat from her brow. For the moment, the herd was behaving. She glanced over to Millie and Alice-Miranda, who were to her right, and gave the girls a nod. Millie pulled her water bottle from the saddle bag and took a swig.

  The team herded the cattle back towards the homestead, the three girls bringing up the rear, with the cows flanked on each side by Hayden and Jacinta. Lucas made himself available to give chase where he was needed.

  The children were having the time of their lives, and Alice-Miranda had all but forgotten about what she’d read the day before.

  ‘Come on,’ Larry threw her right hand forward. ‘Let’s bring them home.’

  ‘How do you know there’s nobody about?’ Sprocket looked at the man beside him as they drove along the track to the west of the Hope Springs homestead.

  ‘I told you. I watched them leave – I can see an ant on top of a fence post with those binoculars.’

  ‘But what if they come back while we’re inside?’ Sprocket picked at his face. He wasn’t keen to be caught trespassing on this villain’s business.

  ‘While you’re inside. The three blokes set off at the crack of dawn, which tells me they’ve got a big day ahead of them, and when the kids left they took horses and bikes. Given it’s mustering season, I’d say they’re going to be away for quite some time too,’ the man replied. ‘Molly and Ralph and their crew are away on Sorry Business. Saw them come through last month – the kids confirmed it when they stopped at the roadhouse on their way here.’

  Sprocket looked at him. ‘How do you know who lives here?’

  The man turned and glared. ‘That’s none of your concern.’

  ‘Well, what am I supposed to do if I get caught?’ Sprocket asked. He wasn’t willing to let this go.

  ‘Sit down and have a cup of tea and piece of cake,’ the fellow said.

  ‘Oh, good. That sounds nice. I could do with a cuppa, and country hospitality is always impressive,’ Sprocket replied. The man clipped him over the top of the head.

  ‘What?’ Sprocket grimaced.

  ‘You really are a grade A moron. You’re not going to get caught, that’s what you’re going to do. I know where you live, McGinty, and those mine shafts are pretty unforgiving. If you tell a soul about our little arrangement here, then you had better say goodbye to anyone you’ve ever cared about,’ the man threatened.

  Sprocket swallowed hard. The man pulled the white ute around to the back of the smaller house, away from the homestead.

  Sprocket opened the door and hopped out.

  ‘Now find that piece of paper. The girl had it. The one with the curly brown hair,’ the man replied.

  Sprocket knew he meant Alice-Miranda, but where he’d find a half a page of paper in a homestead the size of the Lewis place was anyone’s guess.

  He looked left and right and over his shoulder before he scurried, on the balls of his feet, around the corner of the house to the main homestead. Pausing, he picked up a pebble and threw it on the roof, just in case someone had stayed behind. After waiting a few moments he was convinced there was no one home, and darted inside to find the place deserted . . .

  . . . except for a fat ginger cat called Junie that he was extremely surprised to see.

  Barnaby Lewis looked at the bore. He couldn’t work out what was wrong for the life of him. The pump was in perfect order and the pipes were good. There was just no water.

  ‘Has the well run dry?’ Lawrence asked.

  ‘I hope not,’ Barnaby said. ‘The Great Artesian Basin supplies a huge amount of the outback groundwater for Australia. If that’s shot then we’ve all had it. We’ve had problems with flow before – too many bores reducing the water pressure – but this doesn’t add up. We’ve never had no water. It’s going to cost a fortune if we have to sink another bore, and it’ll take me at least a week to get things organised.’

  ‘Barnaby,’ Hugh said, separating a section of the pipe at the elbow join. ‘What’s this?’

  The man peered at the contraption. He knew the workings of these things inside and out, and he’d never seen anything like it before. He pulled out the piece of metal and examined it closely.

  ‘Is it a part that’s come loose, perhaps?’ Hugh asked. Lawrence was keeping quiet, as his knowledge of bores and pumps was non-existent. He was just happy to help with the carrying and lifting.

  ‘No, it’s just not meant to be there,’ Barnaby said.

  ‘My guess is that’s created a blockage, then,’ Hugh said, taking the device from his friend and placing it back where he’d found it. ‘It fits inside here and creates a barrier.’ Unlike Lawrence, Hugh had gained quite a deal of knowledge about bores and pumps from his time spent on the station. He’d even put it to use over the ensuing years, on various Kennington’s farming projects.

  ‘It makes no sense. I’m almost inclined to think it’s been tampered with, but sabotage out here is unthinkable,’ Barnaby said.

  ‘Good heavens!’ Lawrence exclaimed. ‘Who’d want to do that?’

  Barnaby shook his head. ‘I have some ideas.’ He was thinking about that run-in Cam had had with the new manager of Saxby Downs. The man had accused Cam of thieving water – maybe he’d just been trying to throw everyone off the scent of his own misdeeds.

  ‘Let’s put it back together without the additional part and see what happens,’ Hugh suggested.

  The men quickly set about doing just that, and half an hour later water was flowing freely again.

  ‘So do you think it’s a one-off?’ Lawrence asked.

  Barnaby shrugged. ‘Impossible to say until we check the rest of them. We might as well keep going. If that extra part makes another appearance then I’ll be calling Ted at the police station in Coober Pedy.’

  Hugh nodded. ‘How far to the next one?’

  ‘About an hour’s ride,’ Barnaby said as he walked back to his bike and hopped on. He’d just kick-started the engine when there was a shriek from Lawrence.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Hugh called over the pinging of the bike. ‘Shut it off!’ he shouted to Barnaby, waving his arms about.

  Lawrence’s face was ashen as Hugh ran to him. Barnaby turned and caught sight of the brown snake slithering away towards the holding tank.

  ‘Oh geez, mate,’ Barnaby opened the metal toolbox that was strapped to the back of h
is bike and pulled out a crepe bandage. He wasn’t taking any chances.

  ‘I thought it was a stick caught up under the bike. I bent down and the little blighter got me. Is it bad?’ Lawrence said.

  He held out his arm, showing two puncture marks just above his left wrist.

  Barnaby could only wish that the snake had been a ‘little blighter’. He would have reckoned the thing was at least seven feet long, and healthy too.

  ‘Okay, I need you to get off the bike and lie down. Stay as still as you can. You’ll be fine, but it’s really important that you keep calm and don’t move,’ Barnaby said as he wrapped the bandage firmly from the top of Lawrence’s arm all the way down to his wrist to stop the spread of the venom.

  Lawrence was already beginning to feel lightheaded. Whether that was from the poison or the shock, he didn’t know. But one thing was for sure, he wasn’t planning to die of a snake bite in the middle of the Australian outback. Charlotte wouldn’t be the least bit impressed – he’d promised her this wouldn’t happen. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have even mentioned the snakes. She hadn’t liked the idea of them at all.

  Barnaby grabbed the two-way radio and called the Royal Flying Doctor Service, but he didn’t get the answer he hoped for. The closest plane had just left for the scene of a rollover hundreds of kilometres away.

  ‘Okay, we’ve got some antivenene in the freezer back at the house,’ he said.

  ‘I thought the kids said you used it on the cat,’ Hugh reminded the man. ‘Unless you’ve got more.’ He mentally crossed his fingers.

  Barnaby nursed his forehead in his hand. ‘Oh heck, you’re right. I ordered another phial, but I haven’t been to town to pick it up. Right, I’m going for the chopper,’ Barnaby said. Flying Lawrence straight to the hospital at Coober Pedy was his best chance. It was impossible to know if he’d been envenomated but they couldn’t take any risks.