by Anna Jacobs
If it was the money coming between them, could she ask him to marry her? She and her sisters prided themselves on thinking for themselves, but the thought of proposing to Zachary was still very daunting.
But if it was the only way, she’d find the courage to do it. She’d lost one good man, didn’t intend to lose another.
Cassandra sat enjoying the leaping flames of a wood fire while chatting to Reece and Kevin, both of whom kept fussing over her. She was very tired of being so large and would be glad to have the baby and be done with it.
‘I wonder where they are now?’ she asked. No need to explain who ‘they’ were.
‘They have been on the road for five days, so they must be nearing Albany,’ Reece said.
‘I keep worrying about her.’
‘I’m sure we can trust Zachary.’ He looked at her. ‘You’re not going to the Southerhams’ tomorrow, if I have to tie you down.’
She grimaced but nodded agreement. ‘The baby’s dropped quite a bit now. I’m thinking it’ll arrive early.’
He looked at her anxiously. ‘I hope not. Mrs Moore can’t come to help with the birthing for a couple of weeks yet. Are you sure?’
‘I’m not sure about anything, but when I talked to her she told me what to watch out for. And the baby’s definitely dropped. He’s still kicking a lot, though.’
‘What if he’s a girl? What shall we call her?’
‘It’ll be a boy.’
‘Just humour me. Think of a girl’s name.’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘I don’t know.’
‘How about another Greek name? I’m sure your father would like that.’
‘You choose one, then.’
‘Sofia,’ he said at once. ‘I read it in a book years ago and decided if I ever had a daughter, she’d be called Sofia.’
She smiled. ‘It’s going to be a boy, but I do like the name Sofia. We’ll keep it for another child.’
They had to stop at the settlement of Kojonup, which was still three days’ travel from Albany, because the hired horse had cast a shoe. Leo insisted the poor creature needed a whole new set and Bert agreed. It cost four shillings to have the old shoes removed, and seven shillings to have a set of new ones fitted.
Zachary paid for this with money he kept in a small coin purse. He only kept a pound or two in change in it, just enough to pay for their everyday expenses. The rest, a frighteningly large number of shiny golden sovereign and half sovereign coins still, was securely stowed in a canvas money belt he wore round his waist at all times. He’d been carrying the new, lighter weight copper coins when he set off, but once in the Swan River Colony, he’d found people using mostly the heavier, older coins.
He hadn’t been separated from that money belt since he set off from Outham and of course, he’d kept an account of every single penny he’d spent, including the amount needed to rescue Leo, which he’d pay back if Mr Featherworth thought it necessary, whatever Pandora said.
Each night as the two of them slept next to one another he had to keep reminding himself that he shouldn’t get close to her in that or any other way. He managed to control his body – just – but somehow, once they were together in the darkness, he found himself chatting to her, cuddling her closely and generally behaving as any young man in love would. He couldn’t help his feelings. Not only was she beautiful but she smiled happily when she woke next to him in the mornings. They never seemed to run out of things to discuss or say to one another, while the feel of her sleeping head against his chest or shoulder filled him with hopeless longing and protectiveness.
Bert teased him once or twice about his sweetheart, but he ignored that.
He mustn’t take advantage of the situation and her loneliness by telling her how he felt about her. She had so much money that nothing could come of his feelings. This friendship was just temporary, caused by them being together while travelling. Once they got back to Outham, she’d have other things on her mind, other people to look after her, and she’d soon forget about him.
Besides, he knew what people would say if he married her – fortune-hunter, they’d call him – and he had too much pride for that.
Why did he have to meet her now, when she was out of reach? Why hadn’t he met and courted her when she was poor like him?
He kept an eye on Leo, but the lad was as happy caring for the horses as Bert was to leave that chore to him. Leo had such a trusting, happy nature if treated kindly. All the poor fellow seemed to ask of life was to be allowed to care for the animals and live quietly.
Worried about what would happen after he and Pandora left Australia, Zachary tried talking to Leo about it.
Leo listened carefully, then nodded. ‘I’m going back to Westview after you get on the ship – it’s all right, I know my way. I’ll wait for you there.’
‘I shan’t be coming back to Australia, Leo. That’s what I’m telling you. But it won’t matter because you’ll be safe with Reece and the Southerhams. You’ll be able to look after their horses for them. You’ll enjoy that. And they’ll pay you a wage, so you’ll have your own money.’
Leo frowned. ‘You will come back one day to bring Pandora to visit her sisters. I know you will.’
‘I don’t think it’ll be me who brings her. By then she’ll probably be married and come with her husband.’
Leo laughed aloud at that. ‘She’ll be married to you.’
‘I can’t marry her. I’ve no money and she has a lot.’
‘She can share hers with you, then.’
‘I’d not ask her to.’
Leo looked at him very solemnly. ‘You will marry her. I know you will.’
And nothing Zachary said could change his mind about that.
Just before they got to Mount Barker, the last stopping place for the official mail cart, they had to drive to one side of the track to avoid some particularly deep ruts. Others had obviously done the same and the track fanned out to both sides, as it had a few times before. It was so unlike English roads, Zachary thought. Here in Australia there was often unoccupied land between one settlement and the next, so vehicle drivers could leave the road and choose the easiest terrain.
Suddenly an even bigger jolt than usual jerked him out of his musings and had him clinging tightly to the handrail beside him. It felt as if one of their front wheels had hit a rock hidden by the mud.
Bert muttered in annoyance as the horse slowed down for a moment or two. Just as it started to speed up again, they hit another rock, not a big one, but enough to jar the cart badly.
With a cracking sound, the wheel broke off at the axle cap and went spinning to one side. The front corner of the cart on Bert’s right side thumped to the ground. Everything happened so suddenly they were thrown violently sideways.
Bert let out a yell shrill with pain, then moaned as he struggled to keep his place. Only Zachary’s strong grip saved Pandora from being pitched sideways off the now sloping driving bench. She clung to him tightly as the vehicle settled down a little further on the damaged side.
After that first yell, all Bert’s attention was focused on the horse which was still trying to drag the cart forward. He began talking to it, ‘Easy now, easy. Whoa. Back up now. Easy.’ His face a mask of agony, he took both reins into his left hand, not using his right hand at all. He kept talking and pulling gently on the reins to signal to the horse to stop moving forward.
As soon as he saw the wheel come off, Leo urged his mare into a canter, moving quickly to the front of the cart. Once he was ahead of the gelding he vaulted down, leaving his mare slightly to one side.
The sight of Nellie standing there quietly seemed to calm the gelding down and he stopped trying to haul the damaged vehicle forward.
Leo began speaking gently to the horse as he moved round towards the driving seat. ‘Give me the reins, Bert.’
With a sigh of relief he let them go.
When Leo had hold of them, he carefully unhooked the lynch pin and guided the horse forwa
rd and away from the cart, still harnessed to the now unattached shafts. The gelding didn’t seem upset by the need to drag them.
‘Good lad, good lad!’ Bert exclaimed. He groaned and bent forward, clasping his right arm to his body with his left.
‘Are you hurt?’ Zachary asked.
There was no answer for a moment, then Bert said in a strained voice, ‘I think I’ve broke me bloody arm.’
Zachary pulled away from Pandora. ‘Let’s get you off the wagon. I need to see to Bert.’
‘I can clamber down on my own. Just swap places. Bert needs your help far more than I do.’ Once she was on the ground, she hurried to the front of the cart to see if Leo needed her.
The gelding was standing there, still harnessed to the unattached shafts. Leo picked up Nellie’s reins and thrust them into her hands. ‘Hold these. Keep speaking to her. Horses run away sometimes if they’re frightened.’
Without waiting for her answer, he ran round to the rear of the cart and released the third horse, which was standing shivering, its head pulled down by the rope still attaching it to the vehicle.
Making soothing noises, he led it with him to the front and gave its reins to Pandora as well, then began to unhitch the gelding from the shafts. ‘The horses are all right,’ he called to those still sitting on the cart. ‘They’re settling down now.’
‘Bert thinks he’s broken his arm.’ Zachary was now supporting their driver, whose face was chalk white and who looked ready to faint any minute.
That drew Leo’s attention briefly away from his beloved horses and he stared at Bert, then finished unhitching the gelding and gave its reins to Pandora. ‘Lead them to the side of the road and stay with them. They’re settling down again now. I have to look at Bert’s arm.’
She felt nervous at being left in charge of three large animals, but stood her ground, trying not to show it. She talked to them softly, as Leo had, without caring what she said, but couldn’t help wondering what she’d do if they tried to run off and dragged her along. But although the gelding tossed its head once or twice, none of them moved their feet. It was as if they were comforted by being next to one another.
Leo went to the side of the cart and looked up at Bert.
‘Can you help me lift him down?’ Zachary asked. ‘He’s hurt.’
‘I can manage on my own.’
Zachary helped ease Bert to the edge of the cart seat, after which Leo took the smaller man’s whole weight and laid him gently down by the side of the road.
Bert was obviously in great pain, alternately groaning and cursing, once apologising to Pandora for his language.
Leo knelt beside him. ‘We have to get his coat and shirt off, Zachary. I have to see his arm before I set it.’
‘He’s not touching my arm!’ Bert yelled, yelping as he moved involuntarily and hurt himself again.
Zachary laid a calming hand on Bert’s shoulder. ‘I’ve seen Leo set a broken bone before.’ He didn’t remind their guide that it had been a cow’s leg, because he knew that wouldn’t reassure the injured man. But what choice did they have, here in the middle of nowhere? ‘He has a feel for that sort of thing. I’d let him help me, I swear to you.’ He waited a minute, then added. ‘Besides, there’s no one else and we can’t leave it like that or it’ll not heal properly.’
After more muttered curses, Bert let his head drop back. ‘All right then. But if this goes wrong . . .’
‘It won’t,’ Zachary assured him, though he wasn’t at all certain of that. But everyone knew broken limbs were best dealt with before the flesh around the break swelled up. ‘Let’s do it quickly. If I cut your coat and shirt off, it’ll hurt less than undressing you and—’
‘You’re not ruining them. It’d be a waste of good clothes because it’ll hurt either way.’ After another unwary movement, Bert roared, ‘Just get it over with, damn you!’
Leo had been checking Bert’s clothing and undoing his coat and shirt. He pulled back both collars, ready to slip both garments off at once. After a look at Zachary, who nodded and lifted Bert’s body, Leo very quickly removed the garments.
Bert let out a smothered scream and fainted.
Leo began to feel the arm. ‘It’s not a bad break. I can push the bone together. We have to tie it to a flat piece of wood to keep it straight till it heals.’
‘Are you sure of this?’ Zachary asked, worried they were doing the right thing.
‘The farrier at the big house taught me. He says I have a gift for healing. He doesn’t call me stupid.’
And with that they had to be content, because they were miles from any habitations and there were few doctors in Western Australia anyway, certainly none in most country districts.
‘There are some broken side rails on the cart,’ Pandora offered. ‘Would one of them do for a splint?’
Leo got up and without a word wrenched some strips of wood off the damaged side. He looked round, still frowning. ‘I need some cloth to tie his arm to this.’
‘I can find you something if you take the horses,’ Pandora said.
Leo moved to tie them loosely to a tree while she opened her portmanteau and pulled out a pinafore. ‘I need some scissors. I can’t tear this into strips.’
‘There’s a knife in the cooking box,’ Zachary called, from where he was still kneeling beside Bert.
She fumbled through it, her hands shaking as she heard Bert regain consciousness and start groaning again. She cut the strings off her apron and then sawed the hemmed edge off jaggedly with the knife, and made a couple more strips from the material above it. ‘Is this enough?’
‘Yes.’ Leo knelt by Bert. ‘It’ll hurt,’ he warned. ‘Zachary, you and Pandora hold him down. He mustn’t pull the arm away when I’m straightening it.’
‘Can you do that, Pandora?’ Zachary asked.
She swallowed hard and nodded. A sick, greasy feeling settled in her stomach, but this was no time to give in to faintness, so she forced herself to do as Leo directed.
He didn’t tell Bert he was about to straighten the bone, just nodded to her and Zachary. As they tightened their grasp, Leo moved the arm, holding it tightly enough to feel the break move together. The injured man screamed and convulsed.
When Leo stopped moving the limb Bert sagged back, eyes closed, sweat trickling down his brow. Pandora used what was left of her pinafore to wipe his forehead.
Leo now had the arm supported by two pieces of wood and was binding it carefully in place against Bert’s body, with Zachary’s help. When he’d finished he turned to Zachary for directions, as did Pandora.
Zachary looked round. ‘How on earth are we to get help?’
‘I wish we had some laudanum,’ Pandora said.
‘I’ve got some rum on the cart,’ Bert suggested. ‘It’d help the pain if I got drunk. Should’ve had a good slug before you did it.’ He shuddered at the memory.
‘I don’t think getting drunk would be good for you.’ Zachary frowned, thinking aloud. ‘There’s nothing we can do to mend the cart, so we’ll have to get help. A few minutes before the accident you said we weren’t far from Mount Barker, Bert. There must be someone there who can come out with a cart and take us and our things to an inn – you did say there’s a small inn there?’
‘There is,’ Bert said faintly. ‘And Mount Barker’s about an hour away.’
‘Will you be all right if I go for help, Pandora?’ Zachary asked.
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Leo, which horse should I ride?’
‘Nellie.’
‘Look after Pandora and Bert. I’ll come back as soon as I can.’
Leo nodded, then looked up at the sky. ‘It’s going to rain.’
Zachary stared at the dark clouds massing above them. ‘I can’t leave you like this.’
‘Just go for help,’ Pandora urged. ‘We’ll be all right.’
He set off, not daring to urge the horse to gallop, because he wasn’t confident enough of his skills as a rider to s
tay on a galloping animal, but he managed to urge it into a trot over the smoother ground.
After a few minutes rain began to fall and he hunched his shoulders against a heavy downpour, hoping the tarpaulins were keeping the others dry.
It seemed a long time before he saw a huddle of buildings ahead and breathed a sigh of relief. When he got closer, he saw that one of them had a sign saying ‘The Bush Inn’ and muttered, ‘Thank goodness!’
A man standing in the doorway brightened up at the sight of a rider. ‘Good afternoon, sir. You’ll be needing a bed for the night in weather like this.’
‘Yes. Four beds, actually. But first we need help getting the other people here. We’ve had an accident and our cart’s been damaged. The axle cap broke on rough ground and we lost a wheel. Our poor driver has broken his arm. Is there someone who can help us?’
‘There isn’t a doctor hereabouts. Nearest is in Albany.’
‘One of our party was able to set the arm. He says it’s a simple break, so he straightened it and fastened it to a splint.’
‘You were lucky to have him.’
‘Yes. But they’re sitting out in the open a few miles back and they’ll be soaked. Can someone help me fetch them here?’
‘I’ve a cart. I’ll have to charge you for its use, though.’
‘I can pay. One of the party is a lady.’ He saw the landlord raise an eyebrow and added hastily, ‘She and I are betrothed. We have to get to Albany before the end of April to catch the mail steamer to England.’
‘You’re cutting it close. It’s the thirtieth tomorrow.’
‘I know.’
The landlord grinned. ‘Well, I reckon we can help.’ He yelled for someone called Martin to come quickly and within minutes a man had gone hurrying off to harness a horse to the inn’s cart while a lad gave Nellie a feed and drink.
The landlord produced a big tin mug of strong black tea for Zachary while this was happening, and he cradled it gratefully in his cold hands between sips.
