The Pride of the Peacock

6. THE BURNED-OUT INN

There was great excitement on board when we approached the land, and I don’t think there was one passenger who was not on deck looking out with eager, fascinated eyes. And it was a sight worth looking at, for I suppose there is no harbour in the world to compare with Sydney’s.

The Captain had given me a book in which I had read of the arrival of the first fleet there. I wondered what the convicts had felt when they stepped ashore after months of confinement in the noisome hold of a ship to find themselves surrounded by so much that was beautiful. In those days the scene would have been made more colourful by the brilliantly plum aged birds-parakeets, love birds, and those delicately coloured galahs with the exquisite mingling grey and pink of their feathers, all of which I was to see later. ‘It was changed all uuw. uuiiuiuga ucn. sprung up where beautiful wild flowers had grown and the birds had retreated inland. They had named the place after Lord Sydney, the Secretary of State for the Home Department Captain Arthur Philip, the first governor of the new colony who had had a port named after him, had declared that hen was ‘the finest harbour in the world in which a thousand sail of the line might ride in the most perfect security’.

Perhaps because what I had read had given me such a sense of the past or perhaps merely because this was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, I was filled with exhilaration which completely eliminated the mild depression I had begun to feel at the prospect of leaving the ship which had been my home for so long.

I stood leaning on the rail as we went through the Heads-past numerous cove-like indentations and sandy beaches fringed with lush foliage. Then the buildings began to appear and it was obvious that we were coming to a considerable city.

“What a beautiful place !’ I cried.

Joss looked pleased.

“We shan’t be so far away up at Fancy Town,” he said.

“You’ll be able to take the odd trip into Sydney and do your shopping. There are some fine shops there -and hotels too. Of course you’ll have to camp out for a night or two very likely on the way.

Though there are home steads where you might stay,”

“It sounds exciting.”

“It will be. You’ll see. I wonder if anyone’s come to meet us. We’re staying at the Metropole. It will take us a couple of days to get out to Peacocks.”

“How shall we go?”

There’s Cobb’s coach but it doesn’t go our way, so I reckon to ride would be the best. You’ll be glad of those riding lessons I gave you.”

Everyone seemed to know Joss and that made disembarkation easy.

Our baggage would in due course be unloaded and sent to the hotel where it would arrive later in the day.

“We’ll spend a week at the Metropole,” Joss told me.

“I have business to do in Sydney, and I reckon you’d like to see, a bit of it before we go to Fancy Town. Get into the buggy; and it’ll take us to the hotel. We’ll just take a few personal things with us. ”

The hotel was situated in the heart of the town and the reception area was crowded with people who talked loudly to each other, but Joss forced his way through to the desk and emerged with two keys.

I saw the ironical grin on his face as he handed one to me.

“All according to contract,” he said.

I flushed with irritation. He had completely lost that tenderness which I had fancied I glimpsed during the voyage.

Our rooms adjoined and there was a communicating door between them.

Maliciously he watched my anxious glance towards this, and he went to it at once and taking the key from the lock handed it to me as he had on the first night of our marriage.

The room was pleasant with French windows on to a small balcony. I went out on to this and looked down on the streets teeming with people and horse-drawn vehicles. We had indeed come to town.

I washed and when I was ready sat down on my bed to wait. It was not long before there was a knock on my door and Joss came to conduct me to dinner. We went down the wide staircase to the lounge which was full of men talking earnestly.

“Graziers from all over New South Wales,” Joss told me.

“Some from the other side of the Blue Mountains. There are some gold men here too.

There’s something about a gold man. It’s the look in his eyes. It’s as though he’s searching for something. Hope deferred, I suppose. And that makes the heart sick. That’s how so many of them are . sick at heart because their dreams have been grander than reality. Then you pick out those who have struck their bit of gold. They’re not often happy men because they’ve found that there are things gold can’t buy and they’re the things they want most. Then there are those who have made their little pile and are going to spend it. They’re all here.

Now the grazier . he’s a different species . though God knows he has his troubles . droughts, floods, swarms of pests that can destroy his land and animals. I can tell you there are more plagues here than there ever were in the land of Egypt. “

We went into the dining-room and he said: “We’ll have a steak. It’ll be a treat to eat fresh meat.”

And although I felt vaguely resentful of his taking command and telling me what I should eat I nodded agreement.

The steak was certainly good and after we had eaten it we took coffee in the lounge, but it was so noisy that we could scarcely hear ourselves speak.

Joss said it had been a tiring day for me and I should rest, and I didn't know whether to be pleased by his concern for me or to resent his giving orders.

It was true I was tired, so I said good night and went to my room, assured myself that the communicating door was locked and enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

We met at breakfast-a hearty one for Joss consisting of lamb chops and kidneys.

“We’re good trenchermen here,” he said.

“It’s the outdoor life. I’m going to spend the day taking you round and then I shall have business to attend to. I want you to meet some of the people who buy and sell opals and though it will be just sod al here, you’ll pick up quite a lot. Then you’ll probably find it a good idea to shop. First, though, I’ll show you something and you’ll get your bearings."

I said it was an excellent idea and after breakfast we set off.

He drove the buggy himself and first he wanted to show me the harbour.

I had seen it from the ship of course, but this was different. We could drive in and out of the coves and from the heights we could look down on those wonderful bays. The sea was the colour of sapphires.

“It looks beautiful,” he said, ‘but I can tell you that there are sharks lurking beneath that innocent blue. If you ventured in you might easily end up by providing a shark with his dinner. “

“What a horrible thought.”

Things are not always what they seem,” he said with a grin.

“It’s certainly true of the water and it looks so calm and peaceful.”

That’s the time to be wary. If sharks frighten you how are you going to like it out at Fancy Town ?“

That's something I shan’t know till I’ve experienced it. “

“You’ll find it very different from England.” He had brought the buggy to a standstill and was looking intently at me.

“Some people come out here and get so homesick they can’t endure it. They just pack up and go home.”

“Ifs hard to leave your native land.”

“My ancestors came out here seventy years ago.”

“Were they homesick?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered if they were. They had to stay. My mother’s father came out on a convict ship. He was no criminal, but he was a man of certain opinions that didn’t fit in with what was thought right and proper. He offended some people and a charge was trumped up against him and out he came.

Fourteen years was his sentence. Her husband’s mother was a lady’s maid accused of stealing her employer’s valuable brooch. She was innocent, says the family, but all convicts were innocent according to their families. Most people have a yearning to go back to England.”

“And do you?”

Sometimes. It’s a second home to me and I get torn between the two.

When I’m here I want to be in England and when I’m in England I’m longing for Australia. Perverse of me, but then I’m a perverse sort of person. “

I did not disagree which amused him. He made me uncomfortable often because he liked to read my thoughts.

‘like Ben,” he went on, ” I was taken with Oakland. Part of me would like to stay there and become a sort of squire and now I’m married to a Clavering perhaps I qualify. On the other hand, opals are here and opals are my life. You see the dilemma I’m in. “

“An embarrass the richesses, I believe.”

“Yes, but I shall not allow it to embarrass me. I’m the sort who’s determined to get the best out of both worlds.”

“So you will return to Oakland for visits?”

“Yes. Ifs a pity it’s on the other side of the world, but what are a few thousand miles ?”

“Nothing to you,” I replied blithely.

“I am sure,” he said, ‘that you would like to visit the old place now and then. “

“Indeed I would.”

Now we have one matter on which we agree. I think we are progressing.”

“It’s natural for me to want to visit my home, so it hardly seems like progress.”

He just laughed at me.

We rode back through the city where he showed me how the streets wound round in an inconsequential manner because in the beginning when the settlement was founded the tracks round the hills were made by carts and riders and in time became streets.

“Sydney grew rather than was planned,” he said.

“Which is what a city should do,” I replied.

“How much more interesting that something should be in a certain place for a reason other than because someone drew it on a plan.! ”

"I can see you’re romantic. “

“It’s not a bad thing to be.”

"It's better not for me to consider when I’m driving a buggy through the streets of Sydney. “

” I should have thought nothing was beyond your powers. “

“So that’s your opinion of me. I must say I’m happy to have made such a good impression.”

“Ben used to say that people are taken at their own valuation.”

“And that’s what you are doing in my case?”

“I have yet to discover what other people’s opinions of you are."

Joss was at least an informative companion. He talked quite lyrically of Captain Cook who had arrived in 1770 and taken possession of New South Wales for the British Crown, and how it had been named New South Wales because those who first saw it thought it bore a resemblance to that coast at home; and then seventeen years later when it had been decided to use this beautiful land as a convict settlement the first shipload had come out in 1787.

They were little better than slaves,” said Joss, ‘and flogged for the slightest offence. Those were cruel times, and although some of those who came out were hardened criminals, many were political prisoners and men of intellect.”

“Like your grandfather."

” Exactly. Then later others came out to make a new life for themselves. Land could be bought for the sum of ten pounds a block and a block was five miles square, so it wasn’t necessary to have a great deal of capital to start with. Convict labour was available and all that was needed was hard work. And how they worked! You’ve seen the graziers in the Metropole. Rugged men most of them-hard-headed, shrewd men who knew the meaning of disaster. You’ve heard about the plagues, the floods and the droughts. There’s another evil, the forest fire. It can do terrible things in our Bush. You see, there’s plenty to contend with out here. You have to forget the easy, cosy life. “

You’re warning me again. “

“If you feel in need of warning, take it.”

“I believe you have a poor opinion of me. I’m surprised because I have quite a fair opinion of myself and if Ben was right…”

He laughed and for a time I felt he was no longer laughing at me but with me.

As we drove back to the hotel he said: “Everyone who comes out here is in a sense a gambler. The miners, of course, are all lavishly endowed with the gambling mentality. Every day they start out to work they say to themselves: ” This will be the day. ” At sundown they know it is not, but there’s always hope. Those who go after gold are the same … and after opal. They always think they’ll find another Green Flash at Sunset.”

“You’ve seen the real thing, of course.”

“Yes, as I told you, I saw it once as the sun was setting.”

“You would succeed where others failed.”

I enjoyed those days in Sydney. In the evenings I met some of Joss’s business associates, and with one of them was his wife so she and I did some shopping excursions together.

In bustling George Street I bought material to be made into practical garments for my new life, and we roamed through Pitt and Elizabeth Streets marvelling at the merchandise. I acquired two large straw hats which my companion advised me to buy, for I should need them against the fierce Australian sun which was far more brilliant than that which was experienced in England. I was pleased with them because they were quite becoming and served two purposes-use and decoration. In King Street I bought ribbons and hairpins.

In due course the time came for us to leave. Joss spent a long time choosing the horses we should hire. Most of our baggage would come by coach to Fancy Town where we should pick it up. We took one pack horse with a few belongings and provisions. Our journey from England had taken a little over se weeks and we were at the end of November, which was the equivalent of our May. The wild flowers were so colourful that I kept exclaiming at then-beauty, which I saw was very gratifying to Joss; but most impressive of all. were the tall eucalypts -aloof, indifferent, towering over the tree ferns and native beech and ash as they reached for the sky. Joss was as knowledgeable about the countryside as he had been about Sydney and I found a new excitement in having such a good mentor beside me.

“Look at those eucalypts,” he said.

“We call them stringy-barks.

That’s because of then-tough fibrous barks. The term is bush slang for bad whisky too. You’ll find the language colourful and you’ll have to learn some of it’ “I shall be interested to,” I told him.

Glad to hear it. It’ll help you along a bit. Look over there. That’s what we call a spotted gum. See the markings on the bark? “

Pounds the country was flat, and the dryness of the land was particularly noticeable after -the green fields at home. Having no other as contrast, I had never before realized how green they were. The roads were rough and full of holes, and our horses raised a cloud of dust.

We climbed small hills and crossed more flat country; we went over dried-up creeks and at length came to a homestead -a one-storeyed building surrounded by grazing land. Joss said he thought we should stay the night here, for the pull from where we were to Fancy Town would be too long to do in one day. The next night he planned to stay at Trant’s Homestead and reach the Fancy the day after that.

He rode into the yard and dismounted, by which time a woman in a voluminous black dress over which she wore a white apron had come out.

Joss talked to her and then he came back to me.

They’ve only one room,” he said. This is not a London hotel, you know.

What about it? Shall we take it or spend the night out of doors? The woman had come forward.

“You’re welcome, my dear,” she said.

“It’s a nice room. Are you man and wife?”

“Yes, we are,” answered Joss.

Then I’ll bustle to and get the bed made up. It’s a very good bed . lovely soft feathers brought out from England. Jack here will see to the horses. Jack. Set to, lad. And Mary. Where’s Mary? “

Joss helped me to alight. I could see that he was enjoying the situation.

“Cheer up,” he whispered. The unnatural embargo is bound to put us into some awkward situations, but I’m very resourceful.

The room was pleasant-very clean-and dominated by the big double bed.

Joss regarded it ruefully. That’s a comfortable chair,” he said.

“It would serve me well or I might lie at the foot of the bed like a knight of old.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked at me earnestly. There is one thing you must never forget,” he said.

“I have never yet forced my attentions on a woman who didn’t want me, and I feel no temptation to do so now. I’m proud, you know …”

“I do know it. I believe the Peacock is a nickname of yours.”

“I believe it is, but no one dare call me by it to my face. Remember what I said. It might save you considerable uneasiness. ” I We washed the grime of the road from ourselves in tepid water and went downstairs. Steaks were cooking on a gridiron on a fire out of doors and close by was a long table with benches. We were told to sit down and were given kangaroo soup in thick earthenware mugs while the steaks sizzled over the grid. Our hostess made dampers-pieces of unleavened bread-which were ready at the same time as the steaks.

Afterwards cheese was served with Johnny cakes-dampers the size of scones-and there was a beverage which tasted like ale to accompany the food.

It was not dark when we had finished and we strolled round and watched the sheep being rounded up by kelpie dogs who answered the farmer’s whistle and got the bewildered animals into their pens, keeping them dose together by running nimbly right over their backs.

For all Joss’s protestations, I was disturbed at the thought of sharing a room with him. He said he would take the chair, which seemed to offer greater comfort than the floor, and I removed only my skirt and bodice. I slept fitfully, which perhaps was to be expected in the circumstances; and I supposed the same applied to joss.

We set off on our journey in the pure morning air and it was about eleven o’clock when we came to a river which Joss thought would be a good place to stop. The horses were in need of a rest and they could drink. He told me to gather some sticks of bracken, which I did, and with an expert touch, which I could not but admire, he quickly made a fire and brewed what he called quart pot tea. We found a tree under which we could sit comfortably. Our landlady of the previous night had supplied us with sandwiches and we had some cheese. Strangely enough, I felt I had never drunk tea or tasted sandwiches so good.

The sun grew hotter and both of us were feeling drowsy, for neither of us had had a good night’s sleep. I quickly dozed and dreamed that I was on the ship. There was a storm and I was walking on deck being buffeted from one side to the other. I was caught suddenly in a vicclike grip and there was Joss.

“Are you trying to commit suicide?” he asked and I was stung into saying: “It would be a good way out for you, wouldn’t it? Everything would be yours then. You wouldn’t have the encumberance of a wife who doesn’t want you any more than you want her. Everything would be yours … the houses, the shares, the Green Flash at Sunset…” As I mentioned the opal his expression changed and his grip on me tightened. That’s a good idea,” he said, and there were murderous lights in his eyes.

“I’d be better off without you. Suicide … well, it could look like that, couldn’t it?” I cried out: “No … No!

You’re not going to murder me. “

I awoke with a start and my heart leaped in terror, for there he was, his face close to mine, watching me intently. For a moment I thought the dream was real.

“What was that about?” he asked.

I was dreaming. “

“It seemed like a nightmare.” , “It must have been.”

“A nightmare in broad daylight! You must have something on your mind… something that frightens you.”

“I think I’m able to take care of myself so I’m not afraid"

"What was the dream ? “

“Oh, nothing. It was all confused as dreams are.”

“It’s a big undertaking to leave your native land and come out to a strange one. Are you disturbed about that?”

“I sometimes wonder how I shall fit in.”

“And marriage … with a stranger … a meaningless sort of marriage. Let’s hope that in due course we shall come to some compromise about that.”

I wondered what he meant by compromise.

There are lawless elements out here,” he went on.

There are in all countries. “

“Have you ever heard of bush rangers ?”

“Of course. ” But you do not know what they are really like. Desperate men . perhaps they’ve failed in the gold-fields or the opal and sapphire mines. They’re desperadoes who live by robbery. This is the ideal background for them. They can hide in the Bush and ply their trade with comparative ease. They’re deter mined not to be caught, which would mean hanging from a tree as a warning to their kind. They don’t hesitate to kill if the occasion arises. “

“I believe you’d like me to go straight home.”

He laughed.

“I’d like to see if you’re the sort of person who would go straight home because of a few discomforts.”

"I'll tell you one thing. I’m the sort of person who would put up with a great deal to prove you wrong. “

That made him laugh and I stared straight ahead because I did not care to meet his eyes, which I thought over bold.

Looking for bush rangers he asked.

“Don’t fret You’ve got a protector You?”

“And this.” He took out a small pistol from a belt at his hip.

“A beauty,” he said.

“I never travel without her. Neat, insignificant in appearance and deadly in action. They wouldn’t stand much chance, I can tell you, with us around.”

We rode side by side through the Bush.

The Trant Homestead is about fifteen miles on,” he said. The horses will be in need of a rest when we get there and so will we.”

I looked about me at the scenery which was wild and interesting.

“What are those pale-looking trees over there?” I asked.

“Ghost gums. Some people believe that when people die violently in the Bush they take up their habitation inside the trees and that where there is a ghost gum there will in time be others to join it. You should see them in moonlight; then you would believe the legend. There are some who won’t pass a dump of ghost gums after dusk. They think the branches will turn into arms and that in the morning there will be another ghost gum to stand beside those who were there the day before.”

“Every country has its legends.”

“And we’re a down-to-earth people here.”

There was a sudden cackle of laughter above us which startled me so violently that I moved sideways in the saddle. Joss noticed and laughed.

“It’s only a kookaburra,” he said, ‘the laughing jackass or a kingfisher. Ah, there’s his mate. They are often in pairs. They seem to find life very amusing. You’ll hear them often round Peacock House.”

We rode over dried-up creeks and gullies.

The wild flowers would have been a picture,” said Joss, ‘if it hadn’t been for the drought.”

It must have been about seven in the evening when Joss pulled up on a slight hillock and looked about him at the Bush spread out around us.

“We should be able to see Trant’s from here,” he said.

“It’s built in a hollow. ” It’ll be dark soon. “

“Yes, I want to get there before sundown. The Bush can be treacherous.

I know it well, of course, but even old stagers have been known to be lost. You have to be careful, and not wander out alone. You see how the same kind of landscape goes on and on. I’ve known people to be lost in the Bush; they walk miles and often end up literally going round in circles.

They can’t make a landmark because the scenery repeats itself again and again. So take care. I think I can see Trant’s. Look. Over there in that hollow. “

We rode on. The sun had sunk below the horizon. The first stars had started to appear and there was a thin crescent of moon.

He galloped on and I followed. Suddenly he pulled up short and I came up beside him.

“Good God!” he cried.

“Just look at that!”

It was an eerie sight in the pale light of the moon and stars-a shell of a house. Joss rode on and I followed him, picking my way carefully over the sparse, scorched grass. Fire had ravaged one side of the two-storey building; the rest had been severely licked by the flames.

“We’ll look round,” said Joss, ‘and see what there is. “

We dismounted and he tethered the horses to a piece of iron fence.

“Careful how you go,” he called over his shoulder. Then he turned and took my hand and together we stepped over the blackened threshold.

They must have lost everything,” he said.

“I wonder where they went.”

“I hope their lives were saved.”

“Who can say?”

“How far are we from Fancy Town?”

Thirty miles or so. Trant’s! People used to stay here. It was like an oasis in the desert . there’s nothing else for miles round. ” He turned and looked at me.

“We’ll have to stay here for the night. The horses can’t go on. There’s a river close by. Let’s hope it’s not dried up. The horses could drink and there might be some grass that’s not been scorched by the fire. Wait here. I’ll go and look.”

As I stood in that burned-out shell I felt a sudden horror of the place. There was an atmosphere of doom about it. Tragedy had happened here, and death and disaster seemed to have dung to the air. I shivered and a sudden coldness came over me. I felt that I was alone with the dead. I touched the blackened walls. This had once been a parlour, I imagined, where people had sat and talked and laughed together; within these four walls they had lived their lives. I imagined their coming from England, settlers who had sought a new life and had hit on the idea of making an inn where travellers through the Bush could stay for a night or so. They would farm the land as well, for not enough people would pass this way to give them a living as innkeepers; they would go for walks without seeing anyone . nothing but wild bush. I wondered if they had lived in fear of bush rangers Those blackened walls filled me with foreboding and I don’t think I fully realized the loneliness of the Bush until that moment.

I noticed that there were some remains of habitation-a half-burned table, pieces of metal which could have been part of some fitting, two battered candlesticks which had once been shining brass, and there was a tin box such as the one Maddy had at home. She always referred to it as ‘my box and it carried her possessions in it. It had come to Oakland Hall when she had and it would be with her all her life.

A figure loomed up beside me and I gasped in horror.

Sorry I scared you,” said Joss.

“Why. what’s the matter?”

“It’s this place. There’s something haunted about it.”

Why, there’s little left but the walls. I found the stream and mercifully there’s grass there. We’ll take the horses down. “

“Are we going to stay here?” asked.

“It’s shelter and we’re not equipped for camping.”

“Couldn’t we go on?"

" For thirty miles? The horses need rest. We’ll stay here till dawn and then we’ll get going. Let’s see if there’s anything we can use. We’ll explore. But be careful.”

I said: There’s a tin box over there. There might be something in that. As we moved across the floor my foot struck something. I stooped and picked up a half-burned candle. Joss took it from me and said:

“Someone’s been here recently and must have had the same idea as we have of using it for the night.” He examined the stump and then took matches from his pocket and lighted it. He held the candle high and the place looked more forbidding than ever in the dim light. His face looked different too. His eyes were darker and the bronze of his skin less obvious. There was something half amused and enigmatic in his expression as he regarded me; I noticed his ears were large and faintly pointed at the tips which gave him the appearance of a satyr.

I caught a glint in his eyes which suggested to me that he was not altogether displeased with our situation. This gave me more than a twinge of uneasiness. “

“It was lucky to find the candle,” I said.

“I wonder who left it. Some bushranger, perhaps?"

" Why shouldn’t it be travellers like ourselves?"

x65 ii uugui uc, of course. ” He patted his belt.

“Now you see why it’s well to be prepared. Don’t be alarmed. You’re not alone, you know.”

He kept his eyes on my face, and I had an idea that he was trying to frighten me.

There could be something in the tin box,” I said.

He went over to it and touched it with his foot.

“It seems to have stood up to the fire pretty well.” He stooped down and opened it and holding the candle high, peered in.

“Why, look. A blanket. It must have escaped the fire. The .tin box has protected it. What a find! We can spread it on the floor.” He took it out and sniffed at it.

“You can smell the smoke.”

I came over to him and took the blanket.

“Do you think whoever used the candle used it too?”

“Who knows? We can’t afford to be fastidious. We’ll have need of it.”

As I lifted it out I saw a book. It was a kind of ledger. I picked it up and opened it. Inside was written Trant Home stead, 1875. This book is the property of James and Ethel Trant who left England in the year 1873 and settled here in this house which they called Trant’s Homestead. “

I pictured James and Ethel leaving home full of hope and settling in this isolated spot; as I turned over the pages of the book I saw that it had been used as a kind of register. There was one column for the date, a centre one for names and another for comments. There were remarks like "Thanks, James and Ethel. It was good,” and another ” Just like Home’; another said “My third visit. Speaks for itself.”

The discovery of the book had made real people of Ethel and James, and I deeply hoped they had survived the destruction of their property.

Joss was looking over my shoulder.

“Oh, I see, a hotel register. Look and see when the last guest was here. That should give us some idea of the date of the fire.” I looked. A Tom Best and Harry Wakers had stayed three months before.

“As recent as that,” commented Joss.

“I wonder what happened to James and Ethel Trant.”

“Who can say? Now we’ve got to rest. Don’t forget we must be up at the crack of dawn.”

“Somehow I don’t like the idea of staying here.”

He laughed aloud.

“It’s a shelter. Not much but a bit. There’s water close by for the horses and a bit of grass too.

We’re in luck. Oh, I know you were thinking of a coimonauic bed, but things don’t always work out that way in the Bush. Here, hold the candle. “

I did so while he spread the blanket on the rough charred floor. He took the candle from me and, tilting it, let some of its grease drip on to the floor and in this he stuck the candle so that it was held upright.

How long do you think that will last? “I asked.

“A few hours, with luck. It’s amazing good fortune to have found it.

You appreciate your luck out here. “

“I should think one should anywhere.”

I sat down on the spread-out blanket, still holding the register in my hand. I turned the pages glancing idly at the names and comments. Then one name leaped out at me.

“Desmond Dereham, June 1879’ and his comment: ” I shall surely come again. “

“What’s the matter?” asked Joss.

My father stayed here. His name’s in the book. I think people ought to know the truth, that he did not succeed in stealing the Green Flash and that Ben had it all the time. It’ll have to be known that we have it. “

“We’ll see. It’s not a thing I want to decide quickly about. There’s so much depending on it.”

Perhaps he was right, I thought, and it was better that no one should know that we had the famous stone.

I glanced down at the book and saw David Croissant’s name.

There’s someone else we know,” I said.

Joss looked.

“I dare say I could find many people I know in that book.

This place was used by everyone. We might try and make a fire and boil some tea. I thought you and I would be sitting at mine host’s table and perhaps sharing a room as we did last night. Rooms are scarce in these homesteads, you know. They don’t cater for people with fastidious notions. That chair was damned uncomfortable. I was Idling myself I didn’t fancy repeating the experience and here am I doomed to spend the night on a smoke-ridden blanket in a burned-out homestead.”

He had stretched himself out full length and was staring upwards at what was left of the roof, which in candlelight looked like some prehistoric insect. I could see stars through the gaps in the rafters.

He said: This is a good introduction to your life here. At least after this you’ll be prepared for anything. Are you sleepy? You wasn't asleep last night ^^^, was it? A pity … and they said it was such a comfortable feather bed.”

He put out a hand and pulled me down beside him.

“Such a small blanket,” he said quietly.

I shrank to the edge of it.

“You disappoint me, Jessica,” he said.

“I didn’t think you’d be so easily frightened. Why don’t you be bold? Why don’t you prepare yourself for new experiences?”

“What experiences?”

"I didn’t want to marry you any more than you wanted to marry me. We were two sensible people with eyes open to the main chance. This marriage suited us both. We stood to lose a lot if we didn’t go along with Ben. Well, now it’s done, why don’t we try to make something of it ? “

“I intend to learn all I can about the Company. I want to play a part in that.”

That’s not what I meant. You’re frightened. What a dilemma! Here you are alone in the burned-out inn with your husband. Don’t be such a child, Jessica. You’re a woman now. “

"You promised,” I cried. "You said you were too proud … ‘you are the most maddening woman I ever knew.”

“Because I’m not panting for you ?”

“Yes,” he cried.

“I wish to God…”

That you had refused Ben. You wouldn’t have done that, though, would you? You wanted Oakland, Peacocks and the Green Flash. It was unfortunate that you had to take me too, but that was part of the bargain. If you could be rid of me you’d be contented. You’ve shown me that. I’m not such a child that I can’t see it. I expect there’s someone else you’d like to many. That would be just like you . to take the main chance. Do you think I don’t understand you? I’m doing that more and more every day, and I don’t like what I discover. I wish. I seemed to see Ben’s face rising before me, admonishing me, ‘now tell the troth, Jessie. Did you want to stay behind in the Dower House for the rest of your days ? “

Joss had risen. Tm going to see that the horses are safe,” he said, and he strode out leaving me alone.

As I looked about that burned-out inn a feeling of foreboding came to me. He didn’t want me. He resented me. It must have occurred to him how much more convenient it would be if I were not here. He wanted to be free and lose nothing by his freedom.

I could hear his voice echoing through my mind: “This is a country where life is cheap.” Bushrangers roamed the land. How easy it would be for him to kill me. He could find a hundred excuses for it.

“I went down to the horses …” I could hear his explanations.

“When I came back she was lying there dead … strangled … or shot.

There were bush rangers in the neighbourhood . Some jewels she was wearing were missing . so was some money she had . ” Or: ” She was not accustomed to riding in rough country. I’d given her lessons in England but this was different. She took a toss. I saw that her neck was broken . so I buried her close to the burned-out inn. “

Had he wanted to make love to me? Perhaps. Ben had implied that he was something of a rake. To make love and then to kill. There were people like that.

O God, help me, I whispered and I thought: again I am asking Him when I’m in trouble. It’s the only time I pray, so what help can I expect ?

There was something about this place. Was it the dark, the pungent smell, was it the eeriness? My father had stayed here. Where was he now? Perhaps he was dead and his spirit haunted the place and he was warning me now. After all, I was his daughter.

Had Joss really gone to see the horses or would he come creeping up behind me. Nonsense, I told myself, this man is your husband.

My husband who was forced to marry me because he would gain a good deal if he did and lose it if he didn’t. He stood to keep everything and my share too if he disposed of me. I started. Footsteps, slow, stealthy, creeping up to the inn-and not from the direction of the river.

I was on my feet. I was at the door, crouching there. What was left of the door creaked as it was pushed open.

A man stepped into the inn. I heard his quick intake of breath, then he said: “Good God.”

I cried out and he spun round. I thought I was dreaming for it was David Croissant.

Mr. Croissant. ” I stammered. He stared at me.

“What… in God’s name…” I said: The inn was burned out. Joss and I had planned to stay here. “

Why, it’s Mrs. Madden. It gets stranger than ever. So you’re here.

Where’s Joss? We heard Joss coming then and David Croissant called out to him.

There were explanations. He had caught a ship in Cape Town about a week after he had seen us. He was on his way to the Fancy and had planned to stay at Trant’s.

“I was hoping for a plate of Ethel’s stew,” he said.

“My horses have had just about enough for today.”

“Strange you should turn up,” said Joss.

“We saw your name in an old register we found here.”

“Not surprising. I often stayed here. The most comfortable homestead for miles round. I wonder what became of poor James and Ethel.”

“I’ll show you where I’ve put our horses,” said Joss.

“Ifs a good spot. What have you got in your saddlebags?”

“We’ll see,” said David Croissant, and he went down to the water with Joss leading the way.

My feeling was one of immense relief because I was no longer alone with my husband.

It was not long before the two men were back from the horses and Joss made a fire and boiled a billy-can of tea. David produced cold chicken and Johnny cakes and we all ate, ravenously.

David talked as we ate about the many times he had stayed at the Trant Homestead.

“Used to make a regular thing of it. I stayed here once with Desmond Dereham. I wonder what happened to him and where he went with the Green Flash. His name will never be forgotten.”

“Not while people remember that Fancy Town was really named for him.”

“Ah, Desmond’s Fancy. That was what it was called, Mrs. Madden, before they got to work on it. That was before he’d stolen the Plash and disgraced himself. I’d like to know what happened to him and the stone. An opal like that shouldn’t be allowed to fall into oblivion in my opinion. I wonder if we shall ever see it again.”

“I wonder,” said Joss, and it was all I could do to keep quiet and not cry out that my father had not stolen the stone. It was only the fact that, according to Ben, he had intended to, which kept me quiet.

David Croissant had several blankets with him, so we were able to sleep more comfortably in the shelter of the burned-out inn.

We set out at dawn and I rode between the two men into the sunrise; and later that day we arrived at the town which was so named because of my father’s certainty that he had found a prosperous opal field. And that day, for the first time, I saw my new home:

Peacocks.