The Antics of Evangeline: Collection 1: Mystery and Mayhem in steampunk Melbourne

by Madeleine D'Este

  The Professor and her uncles quickly turned and glared at her.

  "I heard people talking at the Ball." She shrugged.

  "Not the most impressive purse but not too shabby. The newspaper men are being a trifle reckless in my view. They need to consider public safety. A bunch of amateurs traipsing about can be extremely dangerous. You seem to have a keen interest in the Bunyip, Miss Evangeline?"

  "I saw it myself."

  "Oh really." Wilby leaned forward. "How interesting. Details, old girl."

  "Yes, tell him all about it," Edmund encouraged, grinning at Wilby. Augie crossed his arms.

  "I don't know if..." the Professor said.

  "Fiddlesticks, Monty. Let the girl speak," Wilby said.

  All eyes were on Evangeline.

  "I saw the creature take a man and drag him into the river."

  "How big was it? As big as me?"

  "A little bigger, possibly eight foot long and amphibious. Like nothing I've ever seen before."

  "Impressive but not insurmountable." Wilby leaned back in his chair with a nonchalant grin. "No Antipodean monster scares me."

  Evangeline snuck another jam tart into her mouth. No one would dare tell her off while Wilby was here.

  "So tell me, clever Miss Evangeline. You saw the attack. How would you apprehend it?"

  Evangeline paused for a moment, not wanting to give away any of her ideas.

  "Some type of net. But it would need to be very strong. The Bunyip had sharp claws."

  "Good observations, young lady. You're a lucky fellow, Monty. A good head on her shoulders."

  "Most of the time." The Professor nodded.

  "Right!" Wilby launched to his feet. "I best be getting my gear and my men together. This Bunyip won't capture itself. I told the Governor, I'd have this beastie dead by tea time. Now, Monty. I have an idea."

  The Professor raised an eyebrow, nervously.

  "Hear me out." Wilby smirked. "I have one more spot left in my team. I could do with an extra pair of hands."

  "You know I've always been a terrible shot, Wilby." The Professor winced. "The outdoors have never been my cup of tea."

  "I'm keen," Edmund said, almost exploding from his armchair. "I can be ready in five minutes."

  "Thank you, Eddie, old fellow. But I was thinking of someone else."

  The Professor and Uncle Edmund looked perplexed. Evangeline held her breath. Did Wilby mean…?

  "Now, this might sound a little unorthodox but Evangeline seems a clever and capable young woman. Just what I need on my team."

  For a brief moment, Evangeline soared high. Here was a chance to do something really exciting, hunt with a famed adventurer. She pictured herself with a rifle in hand, catching mother tigers in the Malay.

  "No!" the Professor and her uncles said in unison.

  "But I..." Evangeline blurted.

  "No."

  "I have..." She tried again.

  "No."

  Evangeline deflated.

  "Don't be so old-fashioned, my good fellows. I had a marvellous American lady join my expedition in the Congo. Remarkable woman. Degree in physics and the best aim I've ever seen."

  The Caldicotts shook their heads vigorously.

  "Just a thought." Wilby shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint you, Miss Evangeline. I would be honoured to have a sharp-minded girl like you in my expedition. Another time, perhaps."

  Wilby took her hand and, with a flamboyant kiss, marched out of the parlour. The Professor and Edmund scurried after him.

  Evangeline consoled her disappointment with another jam tart. With a shrug, she reverted back to her original plan of catching the Bunyip herself, but with Wilby on the chase, she'd have stiff competition.

  She leaned across for one last tart, raspberry jam always helped her think, and started to plot.

  Chapter 9

  The house was quiet after Wilby's departure and luckily everyone had forgotten Evangeline's punishment. She was chewing on a mustard and cress sandwich, staring out the Conservatory windows, when the back courtyard door opened.

  "May I be excused? I must get back to my reading."

  Her father nodded, barely looking up from his academic paper and self-combusting pipe.

  Evangeline ran through the kitchen, out the back door and into the courtyard.

  "Doing the deliveries yourself?" Evangeline said.

  Mei dropped a wicker basket filled with sharply folded white sheets by the kitchen door.

  "An excuse to hear about the Ball," Mei said with greedy eyes. "Tell me all about it."

  The best of friends, Mei and Evangeline made a striking pair. Mei in her cream-coloured traditional trousers and jacket, flat slippers and long snaking plait, Evangeline in her slate-grey day dress buttoned to the neck and skirts grazing the toes of her heeled boots, her brown hair coiled at the nape of her neck.

  "It was awfully dull. Except near the end, when I got myself into a bit of trouble. That was rather exciting and absolutely justifiable."

  "Did you knock someone out?" Mei said.

  "Almost. But never mind about the Ball." Evangeline looked around and lowered her voice. "I have much more exciting things to discuss, like catching this Bunyip creature. It was terrifying, Mei. I still can't believe my eyes. The poor policeman, drowned and gobbled up by that horrid beast."

  The girls both shuddered.

  "I brought today's Argus," Mei said.

  "Splendid. They still won't let me read the stories. Even though I've seen the creature in the flesh. An old family friend of Father's, a famous adventurer, invited me to help him catch the creature but they said no. They never let me have any fun."

  Mei unfurled the paper and the girls sat side by side on the stone step in the autumnal sunshine.

  "FAILURE TO CATCH THE BUNYIP," the headline read. "After another day and night of terrorising the people of Melbourne, the Bunyip of Yarra Park is still at large. Four different groups of hunters scoured the Park last night and none were able to apprehend the beast."

  "He's more slippery than you'd expect," said Brigadier Lionel Thackthwaite, (retired) from Richmond. "We had him in our sights but he disappeared at the last moment. We will be back tomorrow. I do not give up easily."

  The bellows of the creature were heard echoing along the Yarra. Was it laughing at the poor attempts by the hunters?

  A local Aboriginal man told The Argus that the Bunyip hugs its victims to death. So the tip of the day for any would-be hunters, is to keep your distance. The reported victims of the Bunyip now totalling five after two missing Aboriginal girls were confirmed dead, dragged from their fishing on the banks of the Yarra."

  Evangeline gasped.

  "How old were the girls?"

  "Only a few years younger than us. Twelve and thirteen."

  "The beast has to be stopped."

  "Let me read the next part...'The Argus has posted a reward of £500 for the capture of the Bunyip of Yarra Park. Dead or alive. Who will be able to rid Melbourne of this fearful monster?' Blimey, £500!"

  "And Albion Middlehall laid a bet for another £100," Evangeline added.

  "Middlehall? The sheep station family? His father is the richest man in Melbourne. You are movin' in fancy circles these days."

  "I guess he must be well-to-do if he's throwing around wagers like that. He has these awfully big thick eyebrows. Like two black puddings."

  The girls giggled.

  "Seriously, Mei. We have to catch this creature. A policemen is one matter but eating girls off jetties is inexcusable."

  "The dead bodies are pilin' up." Mei gulped. "Bunyip huntin' is dangerous business. Five dead already."

  "Are you chickening out?"

  "Of course not," Mei said defiantly. "Unless you are."

  "Never. We found the Alchemist. We can capture a monster."

  "She got away."

  "But we stopped her. She hasn't been heard of since," Evangeline said, but she was not completely convinced they had heard the last f
rom Lady Violetta Breckenridge-Rice. But the Alchemist could wait, there were more pressing threats to thwart. "I have been thinking."

  "Here we go."

  Evangeline unfolded a piece of paper from her pocket, the schematic for her new patent pending invention.

  "I estimated the creature was at least eight foot long. I'll need steel netting. Something strong enough to withstand his sharp claws."

  "I'm more worried about being hugged to death," Mei said.

  "But aren't you excited? Just think, two young ladies proving they are more capable than a group of fusty old Army men."

  "Three hundred quid is a lot of money." Mei stroked her lower lip.

  "Pish posh," Evangeline scoffed. "Think of the girls and the policeman. It's an act of charity."

  Mei arched an eyebrow.

  "Will your new thingamie be ready by tonight?"

  "Hopefully. I need your help too. Do you have any bangers?"

  "Just because I'm Chinese?" Mei crossed her arms. "You want a bamboo hat too?"

  "I didn't mean to offend you with my presumptions," Evangeline said. "But do you?"

  "Yes," Mei replied. "How many do you need?"

  "All of them."

  Mei smirked.

  "I’ll bring them tonight. Did you finish your other invention?"

  "Oh yes, and I am ever so pleased with the result."

  Evangeline darted inside, grabbing her pale pink parasol with the cane handle from the grand blackwood hall stand by the front door.

  By the time Evangeline returned, Mei was upside down, balancing in a handstand against the wall. Her best friend did bore easily.

  "Is that it?" Mei said. "Nice colour, but not quite what I was expectin’."

  "It's innocent at first glance. One click for a parasol."

  Evangeline pressed the button and paraded up and down the courtyard, twirling the handle between her fingers. The parasol was a pale pink whir above her head.

  "Two clicks. And it becomes infinitely more practical."

  Evangeline pressed the button twice. A sharp thin blade with teeth emerged from the metal ferrule at the top.

  "A saw would have come in handy when we were stuck in those cages in the Lady Alchemist's cellar."

  "But you got us out. Have you worked out how you did it?"

  Evangeline chewed on her lip and shrugged her shoulders.

  "Perhaps it was just a fluke?" Mei said.

  "Whatever it was, it's unreliable. Unlike the vicious parasol."

  "Good name." Mei nodded.

  Evangeline grinned.

  "And you haven't seen the best part. Three clicks..."

  The thin saw retracted and a bayonet blade thrust out.

  Mei jumped back.

  "Wow. Where did you get that?"

  "There are all kinds of interesting bits and pieces down in the Professor's laboratory-workshop. With my vicious parasol, I shall be prepared for any eventuality. Rain, hail or strife."

  "Miss Evangeline? Who are you talking to?" Miss Plockton called through the kitchen door.

  "Better go," Mei whispered.

  "I'll see you this evening. We'll try out my newest contraption and catch ourselves a Bunyip."

  "My mama has put locks on my windows. She's worried I'm sneakin' out to meet young men."

  "How tedious. Our work is far more important than silly old courting."

  "Don't worry. I'll find a way out."

  Mei slipped out of the back door and into the laneway.

  It was a simple plan. All Evangeline had to do was distract her father, construct her contraption, sneak out of the house and capture the Bunyip. What could possibly go wrong?

  Chapter 10

  Tick. Tock.

  Tick. Tock.

  The mahogany grandfather clock ticked with a deep bass voice, standing like a sentinel on the first floor landing. Evangeline tiptoed along the hallway, listening intently for any whisper of her family or the stealthy Miss Plockton.

  She swung open the clock's side panel and peered at the inner organs of the magnificent time piece. Evangeline reached in, extracted a single brass bolt and popped it into her skirt pockets.

  "Father," Evangeline said, entering the laboratory-workshop in the cellar.

  He mumbled in reply, bent over his work bench as usual. A bright gas-lamp illuminating his intricate work.

  "Clarence has stopped ticking."

  "What!" the Professor's head jerked up immediately. "Impossible. Clarence is the most reliable time piece in the Southern Hemisphere."

  "I haven't heard him tick. Ordinarily he ticks so loudly."

  "This is unheard-of." The Professor leapt to his feet. Evangeline had never seen her stout father move so quickly before. "How long has he been silent for?"

  "I don't know," she said, as he rushed past her, brandishing his trusty ivory handled screwdriver.

  Evangeline rubbed her hands together, now she was alone in the laboratory-workshop. She pulled her sketch from her pocket and began searching through her father's well-stocked inventory. She started with the tall dressers sitting along the bluestone wall, pulling open the brass-handled drawers one by one.

  "These will do nicely," she said as she came across a collection of magnets. "But will they be strong enough?"

  She took the largest magnet of the bunch and wedged it into the workbench vice. She stood back, holding out another magnet in front of her and waited.

  "Nothing."

  She took one step closer to the vice.

  "Rubbish," she said, looking down at her magnet. She did not feel one iota of pulling power. "Do these work?"

  Evangeline took three steps closer.

  She squealed. Her arms were tugged from their sockets as the magnetic force propelled her forward. She dug her heels into the floor but the power was too strong and she slammed into the wooden workbench at full tilt. The magnets connected with a metallic clank and she crumpled into a heap on the ground.

  "The answer is yes," she said, dusting herself off and inspecting a scrape on her forearm.

  She continued to search the laboratory-workshop for supplies, building a stockpile of cogwheels, gaskets, pistons, valves and a crankshaft.

  "Perfect," she said to herself as she found a yard long steel rod and ticked another piece off her list.

  "Last one. Steel netting."

  Evangeline rifled through her father's trunks, searching every nook and cranny, finding spoon warmers, a biscuit pricker and a fluting machine but nothing resembling steel netting.

  There was one last possible place. She looked up towards the forbidden end of the laboratory-workshop, where the Professor kept his top-secret project. So secret, no one else knew what lay beneath the sheet, not even the uncanny sleuth Miss Plockton. The lumpy carriage-sized object was covered with a beige tarpaulin, fastened down with locks even Evangeline could not pick. Yet another mystery at 56 Collins Street.

  Whatever lay underneath the cloth, it was very important indeed. The top-secret project was the raison d'etre for bringing the Professor to Melbourne. The Professor reported personally to Governor Normanby himself, visiting Government House monthly to update on his progress.

  Evangeline burned with curiosity and swore she must uncover the secret. But this mission would start tomorrow, after she'd caught the Bunyip, of course.

  Footsteps pounded down the stairs and Evangeline flinched, she was not allowed to be in the laboratory-workshop unaccompanied. The Professor would be hopping mad if he found his daughter poking about in his inventory.

  Evangeline dashed behind a dresser and pressed herself against the cold bluestone wall, suppressing a gasp as a sticky cobweb pressed against her cheek.

  "Where? Um...yes. Over there...hmmm," her father muttered to himself, banging open drawers, dropping tools with a clang and swearing rather colourfully as he stubbed his toe on something.

  "There you are, you old bastard." He laughed, before stomping back up the stairs and locking the door behind him.

&n
bsp; "Knickers."

  Evangeline's shoulders slumped. She was locked inside the windowless workshop. There was no way she could escape without facing the wrath of her father.

  After a brief moment of despair, she pulled herself together. This was a wonderful opportunity to make a good start on her invention, every possible tool she needed was within arm's reach.

  Evangeline sat cross-legged on the floor and got to work, dismantling valves, unwinding nuts and inspecting each piece for decay and damage. She weighed the crankshaft in her hand, chewing on her lower lip. Her designs were rough and raw, she was an engineering novice, yet when she held each piece of brass and steel in her hand, she instinctively knew where each piece should go. The metal spoke to her and told her where it needed to be. Was she mad or was inventing in her blood?

  She began to have second thoughts about her design. At full scale, the device would be rather difficult to sneak down the drainpipe. The Bunyip catcher must be portable.

  Evangeline paused. A shuffling sound came from somewhere behind her but she did not turn around. After years of living in less than salubrious accommodations, Evangeline was familiar with vermin and she was in no hurry to see another mousy face. Instead, she waited and hoped her visitor would leave soon.

  The noise went away and Evangeline completed her disassembly. With her faithful screwdriver in her hand, she squatted like one of Mei's uncles and began connecting the brass and steel components, creating the skeleton of her new improved device. But she was still missing a net. Perhaps a fishing net would suffice? Her father collected everything. There must be a fishing net here somewhere.

  Evangeline froze again. More rustling came out of the darkness from the secret corner of the workshop. An object too large to be a rat, more like person-sized.

  This time, she turned with a palpitating heart. She was sitting in a pool of gaslight, beyond was inky darkness.

  "Is there somebody there?" she said with a stutter.

  Logically, no one could be there. There was only one door and only one way in and it was locked. What could be rustling in the darkness?

  Chapter 11