The Call of the High Country

by Tony Parsons

  ‘What financial arrangements do you have in mind?’ Andy asked after a break in the conversation.

  ‘Andy, if you can give me the deposit, I’ll carry the finance. That way you won’t have to ask the bank for so much. You pay me something every six months and I’ll be happy.’

  ‘How much deposit do you want?’

  ‘Enough to buy a good house on the coast and enough money to live on until your next payment.’

  ‘How many sheep have you got up there?’ Andy asked.

  ‘I reckon about eighteen hundred, and perhaps a bit over one hundred cows.’

  ‘And how many mares?’

  ‘About forty, and the young stuff. I’ll throw the stock in with the price of the place.’

  ‘Cattle, too?’

  ‘Yes, the lot.’

  Andy breathed a little faster. Wilf’s terms were unbelievable. Nobody in their right mind could turn down his offer. It was his horses the old chap was worrying about. Wilf could not bear to see them sold.

  ‘Wilf, you know that Angus Campbell could give a better deal than you’re offering,’ Andy suggested.

  ‘Appreciate that. Honest of you to say so. I don’t want Angus to have Poitrel. Never cared whether I lived or died, or his father before him. Never came near me when Wesley was killed. Know who came first, Andy? Your mother. Damned fine woman, your mother. None better outside Mrs Mac here. That’s where you get it from, Andy, you and young David. No, Gert and me want you people to have Poitrel. And pretty damned quick in case I keel over.’

  Andy glanced across at Anne. ‘When do you need an answer, Wilf?’

  ‘Can see it’s a bit of a shock to you. You’ll have to see the bank. Say a week. You can have the offer for a week. Is that fair enough?’

  ‘It’s more than fair, Wilf. Your offer is extremely generous.’

  The old chap put his hand in his shirt pocket and pulled out a piece of dog-eared notepaper. ‘I’ve written the whole deal down on paper. Gert and me have signed it. If anything should happen to me during the week, the deal still stands. You can show that to the bank. If your bank won’t handle it, mine will. Seen them already. Tell your bank that.’

  ‘That’s very decent of you, Wilf,’ Andy said.

  ‘Got to look out for my horses, Andy.’

  ‘Will you stay for lunch?’ Anne asked.

  ‘I would love to, but only if I can ring Gert and tell her I’m here and all right. She worries about me when I get out of her sight. She also says I’ve got to lose weight. Got me on this low-fat diet. Great way to finish up, eh, Andy?’

  Andy, who knew how prodigiously Wilf had eaten over the years, reckoned Gertie was about twenty years late in instituting a diet for Wilf.

  Later, after Wilf had left, the three adults and David – who had been told of Wilf’s offer over lunch – sat in a kind of stunned silence. Kate had quickly grasped the significance of the offer, and the glimmer of an idea was growing in her brain. The acquisition of land was a tremendously important matter in the life of a farmer or grazier. More land meant greater productivity and, therefore, a greater financial return. If they could pay it off, Poitrel would give the MacLeod family financial security. It would more or less guarantee David’s future.

  Anne sat at the table and wrote down the figures Andy had given her. Despite the more than generous offer Wilf had made them, the purchase of Poitrel entailed a big parcel of money. The deposit alone would amount to a year’s income off High Peaks and that would have to be loaned by the bank. There would not be a wool clip off Poitrel for nearly twelve months and, what’s more, the sheep had been neglected and did not cut much wool. There would be some cattle to sell, but the money from that would only pay some of the running costs of the property, like shire rates, chemicals, and so on. Andrew reckoned that the only way they could possibly meet Wilf’s terms was by asking the bank for more than the amount of the deposit Wilf required – and by himself going back to the big shearing runs. This would mean he would be away for weeks, even months, at a time. How could he look after two properties and shear as well? And was it fair to leave Anne and David for such long periods?

  Slowly and carefully he explained all of this to Anne and Kate. Anne, who knew how much he wanted Poitrel, appreciated all that Andy was telling them. She was a smart woman and she didn’t have to be told a thing twice. ‘The long and the short of it is that it means going back into debt again,’ Andy said, ‘and I can’t look after over seven thousand acres of country from a shed in Queensland. Also, it would mean we would have very little spending money.’

  ‘Well, I don’t have a problem with any of that – except you going back to shearing,’ Anne said.

  ‘But you know I can make a fair bit of money from it,’ Andy said.

  ‘And half kill yourself in the process,’ Anne protested.

  ‘I know a way out of your predicament,’ Kate said.

  ‘Please tell me,’ Andy said with a weak smile.

  ‘First off, I could let you have several thousand dollars –’

  ‘Kate, we couldn’t borrow from you,’ Anne protested.

  ‘Wait a sec and listen to what I have to say. It seems that now is the right time to let you know what’s been on my mind for a very long time now. The fact is that my job and Sydney in general have been getting me down. Oh, the job is all right, but I’m not getting anywhere. Sydney’s such a rat-race, and I miss you all so much that I’ve been wondering whether I could get a position at the Merriwa Hospital. Now it’s occurred to me that if you purchase Poitrel, I could live there myself. I would have to live somewhere, so why not next door? I could be a kind of caretaker into the bargain. And I could help in other ways. If I had a rent-free home I wouldn’t need any cash so I could loan you some money towards the deposit. If you had to go away, Andy, I’m sure that the three of us could handle things. If I do say so myself, I think I have become quite handy lately,’ Kate said. She was so excited about the argument she had just put forward that she could hardly wait for the others to respond.

  ‘Kate, it would be terrific if you could move up here,’ Anne said excitedly. ‘It really would. I didn’t realise you were so serious about the idea. Apart from my own feelings, I am sure David would love to have you here. What do Mum and Dad think of it?’

  ‘Oh, they manage quite all right when I am overseas. And it’s not far back to Sydney if they need me.’

  ‘Then I’m all for it, Kate. It would be perfectly splendid to have you here under any circumstances, but with Andy going off to his old sheds for weeks and months at a time, it will be even more fantastic. My only reservation is you living alone at Poitrel,’ Anne said.

  ‘That is a minor issue that shouldn’t concern us right now,’ Kate said. ‘There are more important considerations. You’ve been presented with a wonderful opportunity to expand, and to secure your future. You should grab it with both hands.’

  ‘I appreciate all that,’ Anne put in quickly, ‘and so does Andy. But he’s talking about going back to shearing more or less full time. It isn’t much of a life for him, breaking his back over sheep in terribly hot sheds, and if I know Andy, he’ll push himself to the limit. I thought he’d finished with that kind of slaving. Besides, I would miss the big lug. The prospect of having to go through all that again doesn’t fill me with great joy,’ Anne said vehemently.

  ‘This time David is older and I would be close by. I could even stay here, if that would help,’ Kate said.

  ‘You can’t live at two places, Kate. And you would probably be on shift work at the hospital, and that’s all hoping that you do get a position there. On top of that, David will be travelling long distances to high school. There’s a lot to think about.’

  ‘If the price of wool goes up, we could probably pay back the money much quicker,’ Andy suggested.

  ‘If, if, if. We can’t rely on that happening, Andy. If wool goes up, then all well and good. I know it’s a great opportunity but there is a trade-off, isn’t there? The heavi
est burden falls on you, and we’ll have to do your work between us, mainly on weekends when David is home to help.’

  Kate glanced at her nephew, who was sitting through all of this conversation without uttering a word. He was stunned. Wilfred’s offer filled him with such joy that he could barely contain himself, but he had enough commonsense to realise his parents and Kate were talking serious stuff.

  ‘David would love that,’ Kate said.

  ‘Perhaps, but it would mean a lot of work for a young boy. It would be like Andy all over again – a boy grown up too soon,’ Anne said with a sigh.

  ‘Well, I don’t see why the three of us can’t handle it,’ Kate said. ‘There are good yards here and I am sure there are yards at Poitrel. You have the dogs and the horses to do the job. A bit of jetting is nothing. And we can always employ someone for a day or two if we need an extra hand.’

  ‘There’s a bit more to it than jetting, Katie. There is drenching and crutching and lamb- and calf-marking. Who is going to crutch them? Do you expect a twelve-year-old boy to crutch over 5000 sheep?’

  ‘I’ll learn to crutch and we can both do them,’ Kate said with enthusiasm.

  Anne threw her hands in the air. ‘Katie, you’re as bad as David. If only it were all so easy.’

  ‘Look, sister dear, I want to make this place and this district my life from now on. If I can do anything to help David, and you two, I will. So it’s going to be a bit tough for a few years. So what? You can’t expect three thousand three hundred acres to come tumbling into your laps without a few sacrifices.’

  ‘Kate’s right, Anne,’ Andy said. ‘I appreciate your argument. I know it isn’t going to be easy for any of us. At least David is older now and very useful. If Kate is going to be close by, that should make a difference. If we don’t take on Poitrel, I reckon Angus Campbell would buy it. We’d be landlocked by him and we’d have to look further afield for extra country. I think we should sleep on it. In the morning we’ll go over to Poitrel and let Kate see it at close quarters.’

  ‘That’s a good idea,’ Kate agreed enthusiastically. Her eyes were shining at the prospect before her. It was just what she had been waiting for.

  Her enthusiasm was more than matched by David’s. ‘Are we really going to buy Poitrel, Dad?’ he asked when he got his father on his own.

  ‘There’s a good chance we will, Davie. But Wilf s let the place run down a fair bit. That would mean a lot more work for you and Mum, and Kate, if she comes into the deal.’

  ‘Don’t worry about the work, Dad. We can do it.’

  ‘Good on you, son. Your support means a lot to us. We’ll have to agree to keep Mr White’s horses and look after them until they die. If we buy Poitrel, we keep the horses, and if anything happens to me, you would have to honour that agreement. A man is not worth a spit if he doesn’t keep his word. And Mr White is trusting us to do the right thing with his horses.’

  David nodded. ‘Whatever you say, Dad.’

  ‘Good man. We’ll go over in the morning and inspect the place. If we do end up buying it – and I’m not saying that we definitely will – it would be very handy to have Kate over there. It might also be better for management purposes to cut our boundary fence and put in gates so we can move stock around a bit easier. We could bring all the sheep from the Poitrel high country through our place and shear them here. There’s a fair bit of work in looking after more than seven thousand acres, but we’ve got good dogs and good horses and we know the country. It mightn’t be so bad.’

  David nodded. His father had gone to great lengths to explain things. ‘We can do it, Dad. I know we can.’

  ‘I reckon you’d try your heart out, son.’

  ‘How many years would you be away for, Dad?’ David asked with real concern in his voice. His father was his best mate and the major source of all the knowledge he had acquired.

  ‘I really don’t know, mate. It depends on a lot of things. Like how soon we can get Poitrel producing more wool and vealers, and how the wool market goes.’

  ‘In three years’ time I could leave school and work here full time,’ David said in a voice of great maturity for his age.

  ‘Your mother might have something to say to that. I think she has plans for you to go through to fifth year. I know that Mr Carruthers has been at her to make you do a course so you could have a trade to fall back on.’

  David was horrified by this suggestion. Six years at high school and a course as well? He couldn’t believe it.

  ‘Dad, I don’t need to stay at school that long, or do a course either. If we got Poitrel paid off, wouldn’t we be in a good position to buy more country?’

  ‘Whoa, David. We haven’t even bought Poitrel yet, let alone paid for it. Let’s not jump any more fences. We’ll see what happens about school in three years’ time. Tomorrow morning you get the horses in and saddle and bridle them. We’ll have early breakfast and leave straight after.’

  ‘Righto, Dad. Are we taking dogs?’

  ‘Not this trip. I know what Wilf’s sheep are like.’

  David’s head was in a daze. The prospect of acquiring more land and stock to add to High Peaks induced a kind of euphoria far more intense than anything he had ever experienced. What made it even more wonderful was the possibility of him doing a lot more of the stock work himself.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Next morning Kate was out of bed as soon as she heard David leave his room. She was just as excited as he was. They had the horses saddled and their legs padded, ready to board the old truck straight after breakfast. It was not long after seven when the utility and truck left High Peaks. There was a drive of about three miles down to the crossroads close by Inverlochy homestead. One road snaked its way towards the Merriwa–Cassilis road while the spur road that led on to Poitrel and four other properties turned left. It was about four miles from the crossroads to the Poitrel gate, a total drive of about seven miles from High Peaks. This took ten or twelve minutes in the ute (depending on who was driving); the gravel road twisted and turned, making fast driving fairly risky. A few town hoons had come to grief on the Poitrel road.

  The truck took twenty minutes, so Anne and Kate – who’d arrived first – were sitting on the verandah of Poitrel homestead talking with Wilf and his sister Gertie when the others arrived.

  ‘By gum, you’re all prepared, Andy. No doubt about you,’ Wilf roared in his booming voice. ‘G’day, young fellow, what’s this I hear about you having a top Sparkes mare?’

  ‘Yeah, she’s okay, Mr White,’ David answered.

  ‘More than just okay, from what I hear. Second in your first draft with her. Get her off, lad. I want to see what she can do.’

  ‘Hello, Gertie. Long time no see,’ Andy said to the big woman who followed Wilf down the steps.

  ‘Long time, all right, Andy. This is never David?’

  ‘It is, Gertie,’ Anne answered.

  David could just remember the big red-haired woman who used to give him piggyback rides on the lawn at High Peaks.

  ‘Lordy, he’s going to be as big as his father, Anne. And nice-looking, too. The girls will be after him good and early.’

  ‘I hope not,’ Anne laughed.

  David suffered Gertie to kiss him and then he and his father let down the truck’s ramp and led the horses off. They tethered them to a tie rail beneath a big yellow jack tree.

  ‘Now, look, young fellow. I want to see what this mare can do. Can’t hide your light under a bushel, not with old Wilf. I’ll be going away soon and I want to remember you. You get on that mare for me.’

  David looked across to his father, who nodded. ‘All right, Mr White,’ he said.

  He looked about the big grassy area outside the tall netted fence which enclosed the homestead and its lawns. There was a truly amazing array of poultry spread out in all directions. Parading through scores of game and guineafowl and Indian runner ducks were several magnificent peacocks which were fanning their gorgeous tail feathers and makin
g an unholy racket. ‘One of them will do,’ David muttered to himself. He vaulted into the saddle and turned Gift towards the nearest peacock. The cock took immediate umbrage to the mare’s proximity and began to retreat towards the nearest of his hens. But Gift was in between them in a matter of seconds. When he turned to run the other way, she was there, too. For five minutes the big old man and his sister stood with the High Peaks trio and watched Gift work the peacock away from all the other birds until David at last delivered it almost to Wilf’s feet.

  There was a faraway look on Wilf’s face as he watched the bay mare spin and slide to keep the peacock coming towards him in a straight line. It occurred to Anne that he was witnessing something he had never expected to see, nor would ever see again.

  ‘Is that enough, Mr White?’ David asked.

  ‘By gum, that was terrific, young fellow. What footwork she’s got. Just like a cat on her feet.’

  ‘She’s not too bad,’ David said modestly as he dismounted. Gift rubbed her head up and down David’s back and it was obvious the pair were mates.

  Wilf patted the boy’s shoulder and winked at Anne. ‘I don’t know that I’ve got a mare as good on her feet as you have, but I do have one with a lot of speed. She won three races in Sydney. I reckon she’s the best-looking mare I’ve ever had. Come along and I’ll show her to you – to all of you, I mean.’

  So they all followed Wilf out to the next paddock, which was what he called his ‘young horse handling paddock’. There was a set of yards for breaking in, and a couple of rows of stables with a paved courtyard between them. The stables were a much grander concern than would be seen on most properties, and it was obvious where Wilf had spent his money. By comparison, the adjacent shearing shed looked very second-rate.

  There were several yearlings running about in the paddock. David thought they looked a treat. Wilf walked on to the yards where there stood a solitary bright-chestnut mare with a broad splash of white on her face and three white stockings. Andy recognised her immediately as one he had broken in three or four years earlier.