The Black Opal

The Sundowner

Gertie and I had said goodbye to all our old school friends to the school itself, and the way of life which had come to an end after more than six years. The long end of term holiday was before us only it was more than the end of term for us. I should probably spend some time at the Formans’ property in Yomaloo, and Gertie would come to stay with me for a time at Elsie’s. It was a pattern we had followed over the last years.

In March of next year I should be eighteen years old, and it seemed a long time since Toby had told me I should not be returning to England.

It had all happened so quickly then. Long-term arrangements had been brushed aside and in a few days a new way of life had been established. I had been so bewildered in the beginning that I seemed to have been caught up in a whirlwind, and suddenly deposited in a new home, in a new country. But I never forgot how lucky I was to have two people such as Toby and Elsie caring for me.

When Toby had taken me away from England on that fantastic trip, I had escaped into a wonderland and thought that I had found happiness for ever after. Now, from the wisdom of my maturer years, I could look back on the child I had been then and smile. Happiness is not like that. It cannot be there for ever. It has to be waited for and that is why it is so precious when it comes.

How grateful I should be to Elsie! She was, I supposed, my stepmother.

She was more like an older and so much wiser sister. She told me, in a rare sentimental moment, that she had always wanted a daughter. I had filled that need.

It had been February of that year, just before I was eleven years old, when Toby had sailed off in the Lady of the Seas, leaving me alone with Elsie, whom I had known for about one week.

I shall always remember going on board and saying farewell, and that lost, empty feeling because I was not going to see him for a long time. But Elsie understood my grief and helped me to bear it. Toby had tried to be merry and succeeded to a certain extent. He kept assuring me it would not be so long before he would be back, and then we would make some exciting plans.

Afterwards, we had stood on the dock and watched the ship sail. Toby could not be visible because he had to be on the bridge, and so we watched her glide away, and I was comforted to see that Elsie was crying too. She had put her arm round me and said: “We’ll get along all right, love, and next time we’ll be standing here watching the ship sail in, bringing him with her.”

Then we went back to the house and drank cocoa and talked of him.

Elsie had been wonderful in the weeks that followed. I know now that she turned all her attention to me. She understood absolutely how I was feeling, and determined to assure me that I was safe with her.

Toby may have momentarily disappeared, but she had stepped into his place.

We were constantly together. Elsie had several friends in Sydney and we visited them, and they came to us quite often. Mabel, who did the cooking and ran the household, became a good friend of mine, so did all the others in and around the house. I would go to the kitchen and watch Mabel kneading dough, stirring puddings while she told me about her childhood in a little township west of Sydney on the way to Melbourne. There were seven children in the family, and she was the eldest. She wanted to get out and about a bit, she said, so she came to the city. She took one or two jobs. She was a dab hand at cooking and finally ended up with Elsie.

“One of the best,” and that was good enough for her. She’d been here ever since.

There was Adelaide, who was several years older than Mabel, and Jane, and they did the housework between them. There was no standing on ceremony, no one more important than another really, and they all seemed to be happy.

Then there were Jem and Mary, living over the stables with their son Hal: they did odd jobs about the house when necessary, and the garden as well. And Agio lived there too. He always had a grin for me when he saw me. It was a happy household.

I was constantly reminded of Commonwood House by the very difference of this place. How strange it would be there now! The doctor very ill and the children with Aunt Florence. What of Miss Carson? I expected she had gone to Aunt Florence’s house to be with the children. But perhaps the doctor had recovered and they had all gone back to Commonwood House.

I tried to talk to Elsie about them, but she did not seem to be interested. That surprised me, because she was usually eager to know about everyone. But I did notice that, when I spoke of anything to do with Commonwood House, she took the first opportunity to change the subject.

People called at the house all the time. Some of them gave no warning of their coming and would join us at meals if they were about to be served. Some came from a long way off and stayed for a night or two.

There was one special friend. His name was Joe Lester. He was a big man, rather quiet and serious. He was very friendly to me and told me of the early days when Australia had become a penal settlement, much as Toby had done.

Joe had property some miles out of Sydney. He had a nephew living with him who helped run the property. Elsie and I used to visit them now and then.

About two weeks after Toby had left me with her, Elsie broached the subject of schools.

“Everyone has to go to school,” she said.

“And that includes you, love. We don’t have the schools here that you do in England. But there is one I’ve heard of which seems pretty good. It’s some miles off, between Sydney and Melbourne, and I was wondering”

“I was going to school with Estella when she went, I believe, but then she went to Aunt Florence.”

Elsie said quickly: “Well, yes, but you’ll make friends here. People are very friendly. I tell you what we’ll do. We’ll go and see it and if we think it’s all right, you might go. Toby thinks you should go on just the same, as though you were at home. Everything here is done like at home. You’ll be eating a hot Christmas dinner in midsummer.

You wouldn’t have to go to school until September, because that’s when the school year starts at home and so it has to start then here.

There’s no desperate haste about it really. “

I was very excited when a letter came from Gertie. The Formans had found a property in Yomaloo. It was some ten or twelve miles north of Sydney.

I wrote at once. They were astounded to hear that I was still in Sydney. They had not expected to hear from me for some time because they had thought the letter would have to be forwarded on to England.

The outcome was that, when Gertie and her mother came into Sydney, they called to see us.

I explained that circumstances had changed and I was staying in Sydney. Gertie was delighted and her mother said that we must come to stay with them when they were settled in. We laughed a great deal talking about the voyage out. I met Jimmy again he had become James who was still a little shamefaced about the part he had played in the Suez adventure.

It was a very happy reunion.

There was talk of my going to school and, as the Formans wanted Gertie to go too, it was decided that we should go together.

Then came the day when Toby returned to Sydney. I shall never forget waiting on the dock for the ship to come in, and that moment when he came down the gangway and embraced me, holding me as though he would never let me go.

Later he told me that Dr. Marline had died and he was very sad about it. I guessed it upset him to talk of it, so I did not ask all the questions I wanted to.

He did tell me that Adeline and Estella were still with Aunt Florence and would stay with her. He did not know what had happened to Miss Carson.

It would be best for me to stay in Australia, he said, for there he could be sure of seeing me more often than if I were anywhere else; and Elsie and I had become such good friends.

Everything sounded better when Toby spoke of it. What a piece of luck that the Formans were not too far away! Genie and I had been such good friends during the voyage out. Everything was turning out well.

I did go for a short voyage with him to New Guinea from Sydney and then back again. It lasted only three weeks, but there was hope of another; and during those years I only went once more with him, because it had to fit in with my school holidays.

School absorbed me and so the years passed.

And now we were grown up. We felt very mature and excited about that.

Schooldays were over. Gertie and I were adults.

That homecoming was different from all the others. There was a certain amount of ceremony about it. The coach brought us back with several other girls who lived in the Sydney area, and Gertie was dropped at Yomaloo. There were the usual assurances between us that we should be meeting soon. I should be going to stay at the Forman property as I always had done, and she would be coming to Sydney.

Elsie was waiting for my arrival.

“My word!” she cried, looking sentimental.

“You’re quite the young lady now.”

And there, in the porch, were Mabel, Adelaide and Jane, with Agio standing by.

I was taken into the house and Mabel announced that there was schnapper for lunch, which was my special favourite, and she didn’t want it getting cold while a lot of chatter went on. There was time enough for that afterwards.

During the meal, as I had always done, I told them what had been happening during the last term at school, and they recounted how life had gone on there.

Later, when I talked to Elsie alone, she said: “I thought I’d be giving a party … say at Christmas … for you and perhaps Gertie. We’d turn the sitting-room into a sort of ballroom. It would be quite big with the chairs and all the clutter taken out. I’d get some fiddlers in. It would be a sort of coming out party for you and Gertie … rather like that nonsense they do at home though without all that silly business of wearing feathers and curtseying to the Queen. We’d want some young men around. Joe’s not so young, but there’s his nephew and the McGill boys are all right. Then there are the Barnums and the Culvers … and, of course James Forman. I reckon I could pull in quite a number.”

I was silent for a moment, and she went on: “Well, you’re getting on, you know. It’s time you saw a bit of life. You want to “come out” , as they say. That’s what you’d be doing if you were at home. “

My thoughts went fleetingly to Estella and Adeline. Estella would be nineteen now, Adeline much older. Henry would be twenty-one. What were they doing now? It was only occasionally that I thought of them now.

How strange it was that people who had once been so much a part of one’s life could become like shadowy figures in a dream.

Elsie was saying: “I reckon you’ll want a rather special dress.

Something in red or blue or that mauve shade you like so much . something bright. We’ll give ourselves plenty of time . choose the material and get old Sally Cadell to make it. She’s always looking for work. I suppose in a week or so you’ll be wanting to go over to the Formans. When you come back we’ll start setting the party in motion.

It’ll take a bit of planning. “

She paused and lowered her eyes; then, after a few seconds, she raised them and smiled at me.

“I kept the best bit of news till now, because I thought that, if you heard it, you wouldn’t give your mind to anything else. To be’s due in December. Christmas Eve, in fact.”

I stared at her and we were in each other’s arms.

“Wouldn’t you call that good news, eh? It’s going to be a special Christmas for us, I can tell you.”

“It’s wonderful!” I cried.

“Quite wonderful.”

We were speechless after that, eyes shining, contemplating what lay in store for us. How good Elsie was to me! Another fleeting memory of Commonwood came. How different it was here where Elsie and Toby did everything to make life good for me. I was overcome with emotion.

I would be free now. If it were possible to take a trip with him, there would be no school to prevent it. This was perfect bliss.

We could talk of little else after that, but the good for tune which would bring Toby to Sydney at such a time.

But any time, of course, would be wonderful. We chattered excitedly.

The following day I went to the stables and made sure my particular mount. Starlight, was well. He showed his appreciation of my return.

Hal said he had missed me, but he knew I had to go away to school and didn’t hold it against me that I’d deserted him all that time.

Starlight confirmed this by nuzzling against me.

“He’s telling you how pleased he is you’re back,” went on Hal.

“I reckon he knows schooldays are over and you’re back for good now. “

Elsie and I sat in our favourite spot in the garden and we talked over trifles, although our minds were perpetually on Toby’s return. I told her how Sarah Minster had only just beaten me at the horse-jumping competition, how I’d come top in English and just barely scraped through in maths. She told me how one of the horses had gone lame when she was eight miles from home, and how she’d spent the night at the Jennings property.

Then she said suddenly: “I reckon you’ll settle here, Carmel. You’ll be one of us. Do you ever think of going home?”

Again there came those flashes of memory. Dr. Marline in the schoolroom, Adeline crying in her mother’s bedroom, Miss Carson coming out of the room and fainting.

I said: “Gertie talks of it often. She has an Aunt Beatrice in London.

She says she’s going home one day. “

“It’s always home to some of them,” said Elsie.

“They can’t seem to forget it. Others don’t want to see the place again.”

“I expect it depends on what happened to you there.”

She looked a little perplexed.

“You’ve been happy here, haven’t you?”

“Wonderfully happy. You’re here … and Toby, sometimes.”

She nodded.

“Perhaps you’ll marry and settle here.”

“Marry? Marry whom?”

“That’s in the lap of the gods, as they say. There are one or two young men round about. Some very nice ones. Joe’s nephew, William.

He’s a bit bashful, but since he’s been out here with Joe, he’s coming out of his shell a bit. Joe says he’s a great help on the property, and he’ll have the money to set up a place of his own when he’s learned a bit more. Well, he’s here on the spot. We shall see a lot of him. He’ll be coming over with Joe. “

“But you don’t marry people just because they are ” on the spot”!”

“I reckon that comes into it. How are you going to meet them if they’re not? And I think James Forman likes you.”

“James Forman! You’re forgetting all that trouble in Suez when he left us there. I don’t think he’s ever got over that.”

“He was only a boy. You’re not going to hold that against him.”

“No. But I think he holds it against himself. He’s always a bit shamefaced with me.”

She smiled.

“Poor lad. He’d like you to see him as a sort of hero … dashing up and getting you to the ship and climbing by that rope-ladder.”

“But that was Dr. Emmerson.”

“He’s a nice boy, James. I like him and what’s more, I think he likes you.”

After that, I began to think more often of James Forman.

We were all stretched out on the grass, our horses tethered nearby. We had come to the stream known as Wanda’s Creek which was on the edge of the Yomaloo property. We had been riding out to the Jensens who were the Formans’ nearest neighbours.

It was an unwritten law that neighbours came to the aid of each other when it was needed; and Jack Jensen had hurt his leg while he was fixing some fencing and, as soon as the news had reached Yomaloo, James had immediately set out to see if any help was needed.

Gertie and I accompanied him in case we could help in the house, as there was only one daughter, Mildred, her mother and no servant.

James had fixed the fence and we were on our way back, having had a meal with the Jensens. We had ridden some way but there were still a few miles to go, and we decided to rest and take a little refreshment.

So there we were. James had taken from his saddle-bag a bottle of Mrs. Forman’s homemade wine and was pouring it into beakers and handing them round. He always carried the wine with him, for often during his journeys he felt in need of refreshment and places for finding it were few and far between. It was on occasions like this that one realized the vastness of this sparsely populated land.

It was pleasant to rest in the warm October sunshine which would be very hot in a few weeks’ time. We lay there, talking desultorily.

Gertie was saying she was wondering what she would do, now that she had left school.

“There’s plenty for you to do at home,” James pointed out.

“Ma needs you around.”

“If I can get some money together, I’d like to pay a visit to Aunt Beatrice.”

“Go home!” cried James.

“Just that,” replied Gertie.

“Just for a visit,” I said.

Gertie hesitated.

“She hankers,” said James.

“I’ve always known it. You can tell by the way she talks about it. What about you, Carmel? What do you want to do?”

“It would depend on who was there,” I said.

They knew, of course, that I was referring to Toby. They had learned that he was my father, and not my uncle, which they had been led to believe when we were on the Lady of the Seas. Neither James nor Gertie interested them selves very much in such matters. They were quite different from me. I always wanted to know details.

“James is enamoured of Australia, aren’t you, James?” said Gertie.

“It’s our home now. That’s how I see it. We came out here and started again.”

“And you want to spend all your life here … looking after a property,” I said.

“No,” said James emphatically.

“I do not! I’ve made up my mind what I’m going to do. I’m going to find … opals … We’re in the right spot for it. There have been some discoveries at a place called Lightning Ridge. Opals are there for the finding.”

There was another of those flashes of memory. I was in the drawing-room, we were having tea, and Lucian Crompton was talking about opals.

“Why do all those people who are hunting for them not get them, then?” said Gertie.

“Don’t be an idiot, Gertie. You’ve got to find them. And that’s what I intend to do. I’ve made up my mind.”

“Well, according to your reckoning, if everybody found them, there’d be nothing but millionaires all over Australia

“I’m going to find them,” said James.

“What about you then, Carmel?” asked Gertie.

“I want to go to sea with my father.”

“They don’t have women sailors.”

“There are stewardesses,” I said.

“You wouldn’t want to do that. It would be infra dig, with your father a captain. You’ll just have to go on voyages with him. That would be fun.”

“Well, I shall be off just after Christmas,” said James.

“Father says I’ll have to get it out of my system. There was a man who came to the property once. He talked about it. It was while you were away at school. We stayed up almost all night talking. He told us how they go into the old gullies and work on the creek … how they go fossicking … how careful you have to be, raking round in the dirt … and how some of the finest black opals in the world come from Australia. You all live in shanty towns near where they’re working. Of course, on Saturday night, it’s like one big party. They dance, and sing the old songs they sang at home.

And sometimes they roast a pig and everyone joins in. It’s a grand life, with always the hope . “

He was looking at me as he was speaking, and I said, “That sounds exciting.”

“You’d love it,” said James.

“I know you would, Carmel. It must be the most exciting thing imaginable in the middle of all that potch that’s what they call the rubbish to find one of those gorgeous brilliant stones. There’s a famous one … like a sunset. Fancy finding something like that!”

“Listen to him,” mocked Gertie.

“He’s getting poetical. He does that when he talks about opals. That old sundowner who talked to you about it, was he the one who walked off with Ma’s gold watch?”

“No,” retorted James fiercely.

“He was not.”

“Tell Carmel about the thieving sundowner. He beguiled you all with his tales. Then he took what he could and went off.”

“That only happened once,” said James. He turned to me.

“You know there’s a tradition here. Swagmen walk the bush trails and, when they can, they take shelter, get food and a good night’s rest. If a swagman wants a night’s lodging, he shouldn’t turn up till the sun is almost on the horizon, just before it goes down. Then it would be bad manners not to take him in just as it would be bad manners for him to come before.”

“I didn’t know there was protocol on these matters,” I said.

“Decidedly so. That’s why they are called sun downers explained Gertie.

“Well, this one arrived. Dad was away for the night.

I wonder if he would have seen through him. “

“No one could have,” said James indignantly.

“He seemed ordinary enough.”

“Except that he’d had such wonderful adventures in the gold fields that he should have become a millionaire. James couldn’t do enough for him.

He had his meal. He was given a bed, and next morning, before the household was awake, he went off with the leg of lamb we were to have for dinner that day when Father returned, plus Ma’s gold watch. “

“I’ve never known it happen before,” said James.

“There’s usually honour among sun downers

Gertie shrugged and turned to me.

She said: “I should like to go home and see Aunt Beatrice.”

Two days later Mr. Forman suggested that James go over and make sure that Jack Jensen was progressing well and find out if he wanted anything done for him.

James asked if I would like to go with him for the ride, and I said I would.

So we set out. Jack Jensen was getting better and said he could manage very well. We were given lunch and in the late afternoon set out for home.

We had a pleasant ride back. I was liking James more and more and he was very attentive to me, showing very clearly how much he enjoyed my visits to his home.

I encouraged him to talk about his ambition, because I knew how much he liked to and, as he extolled the beauty of opals, my thoughts went back again to Commonwood House, and it was Lucian whom I heard speaking, for, on that strange day, Lucian had talked as enthusiastically about them as James was doing now.

I brought myself back to the present with an effort.

James was saying he had several books on opals. I tried to listen, but I could not draw myself completely away from the past. Then I heard James say that it was time we started to move.

As we rode along, he sang the songs which he told me they sang on those Saturday nights when the miners were all together. Most of them were Christmas carols! Ringing the old year out and the new year in was the one I remembered.

James had a good tenor voice, which was very pleasant, and, as he sang the song, I fancied I caught a tone of nostalgia in his voice:

“I saw the old homestead and faces I love, I saw England’s valleys and dells, I listened with joy, as I did when a boy, To the sound of the old village bells.

The log was burning brightly, Twas a night that should banish all sin, For the bells were ringing the old year out, And the new year in.

“One day,” went on James, ‘when I have found the finest opal in Australia, when I have made my fortune, I shall go home. I shall find a beautiful house-an old one-a manor, I thinkin the country.

I should love that. Wouldn’t you, Carmel? “

“I think it sounds very exciting,” I agreed.

I could see myself in such a house, not with James, but with Toby, who would have given up the sea. He would be sitting with me in the twilight, telling me stories of his adventures on board ship.

James jerked me out of my reverie. I heard him say: “I suppose it’s there in most of us, that feeling for home. Genie’s got it badly. She never lost it. Yes, I think that would be right in the end … when one has done all one has set out to do.”

He was certainly solemn, gazing ahead.

We had loitered quite a while and the property came into view just as the sun was about to go down. Mrs. Forman would be pleased. She never liked us to be out after sundown.

We galloped across the stretch of land which led to the house and, as we approached, James pulled up sharply.

Mr. Forman had come down from the porch and was talking to someone in an open shirt and trousers the worse for wear. I noticed the stranger was carrying his billy can without which few swag men were ever seen.

James gave an exclamation and said: “No! It can’t be.”

His father and the man turned to look at us.

“It is!” cried James, and his face was suddenly distorted with anger.

“What do you want here?” he demanded.

The man and Mr. Forman stared at him in amazement.

“This is the one,” cried James.

“This is the thief. Have you brought back the watch you stole?”

“James!” began Mr. Forman.

“I tell you, it is the thief. What insolence! To come back after ..”

James slid down from his horse and approached the man menacingly.

“You may have shaved off your beard, but I’d know you anywhere.”

The swagman continued to look blank.

“Look here,” said James.

“Get going, and look quick about it.”

“James,” said Mr. Forman.

“Are you sure? This is a sundowner … and . “

“I tell you, I know. He’s tried to disguise himself .. but there’s something about him I’d recognize anywhere. He’s come back to scrounge a meal and a bed, and he’ll be off with what he’s managed to steal before daybreak.”

“Look here, young man,” spluttered the swagman.

“Never seen you before in me life. I ain’t got a notion what you’re talking about.”

James moved menacingly towards him and Mr. Forman made an attempt to restrain him.

One of the aborigines who lived on the property came up, and James said: “Do you know this man?”

“Lost hair,” was the reply.

“Same man without hair, eh?” said James.

The aborigine nodded.

“Man thief,” he said.

“Take Missus watch.”

“Here, you dirty little Abo,” shouted the man.

“Get out,” hissed James, ‘before I get rough. You might like to return the watch you stole first. “

The man’s face was ugly.

“Turn me out, would you? All right. I’ll spread it. Go back to where you belong. And a curse on your land.”

With that he started to walk away.

James would have gone after him, but his father held him back.

“It’s best,” he said.

“No point in getting into a fight.”

“He had the watch.”

“You wouldn’t get it back. I don’t suppose there could have been a mistake?”

“No, there was not. He had a way with him. Besides, the aborigine recognized him. There’s only one way to treat his sort. Never give him a chance to cheat again. He’ll know better than to pay a return visit to this property.”

“I just don’t like turning a sundowner away,” said Mr. Forman.

“It’s the unwritten law here. Sundowners are supposed to be sure of food and a night’s lodging.”

“Not thieves,” said James.

“How could you let a man like that into the place when he’s already shown what he is?”

“You’re right, son, but I can’t help wishing it hadn’t happened.”

“Forget him,” said James.

Mr. Forman turned to me.

“Well, what did you think of that, Carmel?”

“I thought James was going to knock him down.”

“Came pretty near to it,” said James.

“Come on, let’s get the horses in. I’m starving, if you’re not.”

There was a certain gloom over the house that evening. The encounter with the dishonest man had created an unpleasantness. Mr. Forman could not forget it was the custom of the country to treat such travellers as guests.

I was very tired when I went to bed, as I usually was after hours spent in the fresh air. It must have been about three o’clock in the morning when I was awakened by the sound of voices. There was a red glow in the room.

I leaped out of bed and went to the window. I saw that some of the outbuildings were ablaze. They were fortunately a little distance from the house. People were running across the grass and shouting to each other. I could not distinguish who they were, but I thought James and his father were among them.

I hastily put on some clothes and dashed to the stairs. The entire household was awake. I saw Gertie . white and frightened.

“What’s wrong?” I demanded.

“Some of the buildings are on fire,” she shouted.

And we dashed out.

For a few seconds, I stared in horror. The outbuildings were a mass of flames. Fortunately, the fire had not yet reached the stables.

“Come on,” said Gertie, and we ran towards the blaze.

It was dawn before the fire was under control. We sat in the kitchen and Mrs. Forman made cups of tea. The men were talking about the damage that had been done. Mr. and Mrs. Forman looked stricken; and I had never seen such deep and frustrated anger as I saw in James. I knew that the work of years had been destroyed in one short night.

They were too stunned to talk very much. That would come later. Mrs. Forman seemed glad to busy herself with the tea and Mr. Forman sat silent, with a perplexed frown on his brow.

As soon as it was daylight, Mr. Forman and James went out to assess the damage, but we already knew how devastating it would be, and were not surprised by the verdict.

When Mr. Forman came back into the house with James, he said: “Ruined.

I don’t know what we shall do. “

“We’ll get by, you’ll see,” said James.

“We’ll be held back a bit, but we’ll manage.”

I felt inadequate, and that, not being one of the family, I must be in the way. Perhaps I ought to leave, for there was nothing I could do to help.

“You’re not in the way,” said Gertie.

“But it’s not going to be much fun here. Why don’t you go back to Sydney and come back when we’ve sorted things out a bit?”

It was agreed that that was what I should do, and James rode back with me.

As we went back, he seemed more ready to talk about the disaster than he had when he was with his family.

“You know who did it, of course,” he said.

“You think the sundowner …”

“If I could get my hands on him …”

“Don’t, James,” I said.

“It will be for the law to punish him. But you can’t be absolutely sure that he was the one.”

“Who else? He knew where to start it so that it could get well under way before we were aware of it. We know the fire was started deliberately. He had a grudge. He was there, wasn’t he? He’s a villain, that one. I think my father wished that we’d let him stay.

He’s asking himself what is the loss of a gold watch compared with all that damage. “

“You couldn’t have let him stay.”

“I don’t know. Imagine how I feel! It’s my fault, in a way.”

“No, James,” I said.

“You know that’s nonsense. You worry too much. I believe you go on blaming yourself for what happened in Suez that time.”

“That was a pretty awful thing to have done, too. Heaven knows what might have happened to you two girls.”

“Well, we came through it, and you’ll come through this.”

“We’ll manage somehow, yes. But it has made a difference. We shall have to sort things out. We’ve lost such a lot. I reckon it will take us a year, maybe two, to get back to where we were before the fire.”

“Oh, it was so wicked!”

“If I had him here …”

“I’m glad you haven’t, James. It’s bad luck. You’ll get over it. You and your sister and family. You aren’t the sort to let it defeat you.”

“I hope so. You know, I had set my heart on going to Lightning Ridge.

I can’t go now. You see that. “

I nodded.

“I was going to leave in the New Year.”

“Oh, James, I’m so sorry. I know it meant a lot to you.”

“I don’t want to farm, Carmel. I don’t think I ever did. I suppose I don’t see myself getting old in a place like this. I thought I could settle at first and, leaving England and going off … well, it all seems so exciting when you are young. Then, when I heard what could be done here … gold … opals. It was gold that I thought of first, and then I got set on these opals. You see, it became a dream. I knew it could be. And now … now …”

“It’s only a temporary setback, James. In a year or so, you’ll be back to normal, and then you will be able to go and try your luck.”

“You’re a comfort, Carmel.”

“I’m glad to be that.”

We rode on in silence for a while; and when we came in sight of the harbour, he said: “Carmel, you’ll come again soon?”

“Yes. As soon as this has settled down. Don’t forget, Christmas is coming. You must not disappoint Elsie. She has set her heart on this party she’s giving for Gertie and me.”

And so we parted.

Elsie wanted to hear all the details about the tragedy at the Formans’.

“James was right,” she said.

“Certainly they should not let that man into the place. What a terrible thing to happen! I hope that fellow gets what’s coming to him. He certainly deserves something pretty bad.”

“Mr. Forman was very worried, because he knows the unwritten law about sun downers Gertie thought it might be unlucky to turn one away, however wicked they are.”

Elsie laughed derisively.

“That’s a lot of nonsense. Unwritten laws here don’t apply to scoundrels, I can tell you. Why, people here would be ready to lynch that man for what he did. There’s certainly no need for the Formans to worry about turning him off the property. It’s what he did to them that would be the trouble. I am sorry for the Formans.

To have worked so hard and then to have that done to them overnight!

We’ll have to see if there’s anything we can do. We’ll ask Gertie over, if they can spare her. She’s not going to be much use putting up new buildings and suchlike. She might be glad to come here for a while. “

Elsie could see how shocked I had been, and she felt I needed something to stop me from brooding too much on that terrible night. No doubt she thought the best thing was to concentrate on the party. Everyone was going to be cheered up with that. It was going to be such a party as they had never seen in these parts before.

There was a great deal to do, she said. She wanted to have everything just right. The food . the dance floor . all the young people she could muster.

And Toby would be home. The party would not be until then.

“We’ll cheer them up a bit. Poor James. I’m sorry for him.” I had told her about his plans to mine for opals.

“He’s a good lad,” she continued.

“I like James.”

“He has such a conscience,” I said.

“You know, he still thinks about Suez. Now he is going to worry about this. He says it would have been better if that man had stayed, even if he had robbed them, rather than do all this damage.”

Elsie snorted.

“He did the right thing in turning him away.”

“But because of it he can’t go to Lightning Ridge and make his fortune.”

“The chances are that there will be no fortune. For every one who comes out of those places with one, there’s a thousand who are disappointed. So perhaps it’s all to the good in the long run. Life has a way of laughing at people, and bad can often turn out to be good and be what they call a blessing in disguise, and good luck can be disaster.”

“You couldn’t very well expect the Formans to believe that now.”

“No, I don’t. The realization of that sort of thing always comes later. If there’s anything we can do to help them, we must do it.

Nothing must stand in the way of that. Let’s think of the good things.

This party is going to take a lot of planning, with Toby descending on us at the same time. I thought we’d have it the day after Boxing Day.

I’d have said before Christmas, but we’re going to wait for To be. How does that strike you? “

I was not thinking so much of the party as the fact that Toby would be with us. Whatever happened, I could not be unhappy when I considered that.