The following Friday Keziah awoke with a sense of foreboding that she could not shake. The air seemed thick with some sort of turbulence. She found it difficult to breathe.
Nerida stood in the doorway with Murphy clinging to her skirt. The expression in her eyes confirmed Keziah’s own anxiety.
‘Let’s take a walk before school, Nerida. Is there anything wrong?’
Nerida shook her head but avoided looking at Keziah as they started down the track.
After closing the gates of Ironbark Farm behind them, Keziah became uneasy about the unusual silence in the village. None of the few-acres farms showed any sign of life. The population seemed to have disappeared overnight.
On the track leading uphill to the small chapel Keziah saw where everyone had gone. The villagers were silently gathered around the church porch where George Hobson was addressing the crowd with Joseph Bloom by his side. Keziah noticed the towering figure of Bran the Blacksmith was standing apart, his eyes fixed intently on Hobson.
‘Why are they all here?’ Keziah whispered to Nerida. ‘If bushrangers were sighted they’d have rung the school bell.’
Nerida’s only response was to look downcast. Keziah felt her heart racing as she caught Hobson’s words.
‘… news of this massacre at Myall Creek is sending shockwaves throughout the colony. Reports are flying faster by word of mouth than the newspapers can reach us. Some are so wild they seem beyond belief. No doubt it will be weeks before we learn the full truth. But it would seem the basic facts are clear. The atrocity took place on 10 June on the Liverpool Plains, the troopers have only just discovered the evidence.’
Hobson rubbed his hands together in agitation. ‘The bodies of twenty-eight blacks – old men, women and children – were found near the hut of a Mr Kilmaister near Myall Creek.’
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Was their reaction one of horror or something else? Keziah could not be sure as she was standing at the back of the crowd and unable to see their faces.
Hobson continued, stammering as he pointed out that the reason for the massacre was incomprehensible. There had been no uprisings by blacks for many years.
‘If the story is true that Kilmaister befriended this tribe in the past they must have gathered around his hut confident of his protection,’ he said.
Keziah instinctively drew her arm around Nerida’s shoulders. The girl was trembling.
Hobson turned his head in their direction and the crowd followed his gaze, swinging around to stare at them. Their blank faces were unreadable.
Keziah whispered to Nerida, ‘These are our friends. You’re quite safe.’ Her words sounded hollow as she felt Nerida’s fear.
The crowd wanted answers. They peppered Hobson with their questions.
Hobson’s gruff voice betrayed his emotion. ‘The word is that a party of stockholders on Big River rode up armed with swords and pistols and roped the Aborigines in line. Only two shots were fired. The rest were butchered with swords. It’s rumoured a pile of their half-charred bodies was discovered by the station manager.’
Keziah was devastated by the violent images. And she was horrified to hear some of the ‘good people’ in the community mumble sympathy for the murderers.
‘How do we know it was Kilmaister’s doing?’ Griggs demanded.
Joseph Bloom answered quickly. ‘We don’t! The truth won’t be revealed until the trial. But it seems the police have arrested him along with ten or eleven other white men. We’re told they’ll all stand trial for the murders.’ He added with quiet emphasis, ‘Let us hope British justice will be seen to be done.’
Griggs looked back at Nerida before he spoke to the man beside him loudly enough for all to hear. ‘Everyone knows blackfellas ain’t really human. They got smaller brains than us. I bet those poor white stockmen just followed their boss’s orders.’
Keziah wanted to attack him with her bare hands, but she fought to remember she must be seen to act as Saranna Plews and control the full measure of her anger.
‘So, Griggs, if my employer Mr Hobson ordered me to shoot you down like a dog, you’d feel sorry for me for having to obey orders, would you?’
There was a nervous murmur in the crowd. Griggs was taken aback by the quiet venom in her voice but managed to mumble, ‘What would that uppity Pommy schoolma’am know?’
Joseph Bloom consulted his partner before he held up his hands for silence.
‘Miss Plews, we want to assure Nerida that she and her little boy are safe at Ironbark Farm. You have our word on that.’ He turned to the overseer and added coldly, ‘I hold you personally responsible for their safety, Griggs.’
Badly shaken, Keziah nodded her thanks then hurried back to the cottage gripping little Murphy’s hand as Nerida carried Gabriel on her hip.
Nerida made no comment about the outrage but she moved like a sleepwalker. Refusing Keziah’s invitation to share their supper, she withdrew inside her goondie.
Next morning Keziah awoke to find that Nerida and little Murphy had vanished. She was overwhelmed with sadness. Clearly she had failed to convince Nerida she would protect them. Nerida no longer trusted any gubba’s word, not even hers. Would she ever see her again? It was a delightfully warm October afternoon as Keziah returned home after school, carrying Gabriel on her hip. Spring had brought the promise of nature’s renewal of life after the tragedy of the past winter. But in the months since the massacre Keziah’s dreams had revealed no sign of Nerida’s return. Now as Keziah approached her hut, she saw the welcome figure of Jake Andersen sprawled in the squatter’s chair, asleep under his hat, his feet propped on the veranda railing. He pushed back his hat but didn’t bother to remove it as normal good manners demanded in a lady’s presence.
Because I’m not a woman, I’m just his mate. Keziah felt a passing wave of irritation but reminded herself she had bigger things on her mind.
‘Nice day,’ said Jake. ‘You and Gabe fancy a picnic?’
‘I’d be glad of the company. I’m still worried about Nerida. There’s been no sign of her.’
‘She’ll be back. Neri would never leave you except for some important blackfellas’ business,’ Jake stated firmly.
‘I hope she’s safe, wherever she is. Gabriel misses her too. It’s just as well he loves all the attention he gets at school. He’s as good as gold. Sings along with the children and sleeps in his basket. But to be selfish, I’m finding it hard managing without Nerida.’
‘You all right?’ he asked with concern.
‘It’s not only the horror of the massacre. I keep dreaming Gem is reaching out to me.’
Jake said evenly, ‘Let’s get the picnic ready.’
Keziah carried little Gabriel on her back in the string dillybag Nerida had woven for her. Despite his early birth Gabriel was big for nine months, giving every indication he would grow to be a big strong lad.
Jake loaded Horatio up with Keziah’s picnic baskets and led them along the track towards the swimming hole. Hobson had ordained this was Keziah’s private place to visit with Nerida and the children. No man at Ironbark Farm was allowed within sight of it.
Keziah tried to read Jake’s mood. He was clearly preoccupied.
‘Out with it, Jake. You’ve heard something about Gem? I was in Bolthole Valley yesterday. I overheard two men outside that house where those four sisters live. They were talking about some bushranger who wears a gold earring.’
When Jake gave her a sidelong glance, Keziah felt irritated. Does he think I’m so stupid I don’t know he’s a regular at the House of the Four Sisters?
‘Look, Kez, I brought you here because I found something. Don’t get excited. Might be nothing. You said you Romanies leave signs to show the direction you’ve taken?’
‘You’ve found a patrin?’ Her heart began to race.
‘You tell me.’
They had reached a fork in the track. Keziah gave a cry of recognition at a bunch of twigs in which one stick pointed like an arrow.
‘It’s Gem’s message to me! I knew he was close by!’
Clutching the patrin she ran ahead with Gabriel bouncing in the dillybag. At each fork in the path she found a fresh sign. She saw Jake following closely behind on full alert, his left hand flexed ready to draw the pistol from his belt.
‘You don’t need that,’ she said firmly. ‘Gem is no threat to us.’
‘No, but there’s no accounting for the violent company he keeps.’
They waded across the creek at a shallow ribbon crossing where a shelf of rocks formed a miniature waterfall. On the far side Jake examined a thick screen of branches and pointed out they were so recently axed from a bloodwood tree, the sap was running free like blood. A few yards further on the bush revealed an oval-shaped clearing, like a small cricket field.
Keziah’s disappointment was acute. She set Gabriel down on the grass and allowed him to crawl free.
‘I can’t believe Gem tricked me,’ she said in despair.
‘Maybe he didn’t. Just keep your distance,’ Jake said quietly. ‘You’re Gem’s woman. Mateship will only stretch so far.’
He walked a few yards ahead of her then flicked a finger to draw her attention to a quivering ti-tree. ‘Stay perfectly still. He didn’t trick you.’
A beautiful brumby colt emerged from the bush. Jet black and spirited, his blaze was shaped like a question mark. The rope that tethered him gave him ample freedom to graze and drink creek water. He looked wary of human contact. Keziah’s throat tightened at the sight of his wild beauty, she was close to tears.
‘I could break him in for you but there ain’t enough time today,’ said Jake.
Keziah shook her head. ‘This is Gem’s special gift to me. He’s expecting me to do it.’
‘Righto.’ Jake stretched out in an open spot where Gabriel could crawl in safety.
‘Don’t let him play with snakes!’ warned Keziah.
‘I’m a bloody expert,’ he claimed. ‘Grew up looking after seven little brothers.’
Keziah smiled as she watched him feed Gabriel blackberries. She noted with pride the generous heart of her little son, who poked berries into Jake’s mouth, sharing them with him.
The time had come. Quietly she moved away from them both, crossed over to the creek and sat cross-legged, no farther from the brumby than the length of his rope. She remained silent and completely still as she waited for the colt to lose his fear and come to her.
I’ll wait for you, my brumby – in the same way I’ll wait for you, Gem. Just as long as it takes.
• • •
All afternoon Jake sat watching Keziah and the brumby, impressed by her patience and Romani horse-breaking skills. He had previously seen her calm horses but a wild brumby was a different matter. She placed a lump of sugar in the sweat of her armpit then fed the sugar to the colt to bond him. Like magic, the brumby grew so obedient Keziah nuzzled him and whispered secret things in his ear.
Jake was embarrassed to discover he had a lump in his throat. It was like watching two people falling in love. He knew the brumby stood in place of Gem.
Gabriel had fallen asleep in the crook of Jake’s arm, with a ring of blackberry juice staining his little mouth. Jake took off his hat to shade the boy’s face from the sun, but he couldn’t take his eyes from Keziah, her endless patience, her magical sense of timing, as if in truth she was reading the colt’s thoughts.
Jake recognised when the perfect moment had come. Keziah hoisted her long skirt and slipped effortlessly astride the colt’s bare back. As she rode him around the clearing, Jake saw the pride in her eyes and in the tilt of her head.
‘No doubt about you, Kez. You’ve got a bloody clever way with horses.’
‘My father taught me.’
After the brumby circled for the third time, content to have her on his back, Keziah rewarded him with wild bush apples. Then she dismounted, gently tethered the colt and raced off to wash her hands in the creek.
‘You must be ravenous. I lost all sense of time,’ she apologised.
Jake allowed her to press delicious food on him. She wiped Gabriel’s face and hands with her handkerchief then cut up fruit for Gabriel, taking care of them both before feeding herself like a hungry child. When they were down to the last slice of cake she broke it in two and placed one half in Jake’s mouth.
‘Try this. It’s like a kiss – good for nothing until it’s shared between two.’
Jake’s eyes widened. Jesus! No wonder she gets into trouble.
Keziah seemed quite oblivious. ‘That’s an old Romani proverb.’
Jake gulped and nodded. ‘If it isn’t some dark Romani secret, what did Gem’s message say? Looked to me like any old bunch of twigs. But it sure got you excited!’
‘A horse is the most precious gift a Rom can give. This brumby is Gem’s special message. It tells me he is free, his spirit unbroken. He knows where I am and he will come to me – whenever he’s free to reveal himself.’
She impulsively flung her arms around Jake’s neck and hugged him. ‘Thank you, Jake. I would never have found the brumby but for you!’
Jake felt a touch nervous. ‘Watch your step, Kez. I don’t fancy getting a bullet in my heart from a jealous husband. Seeing as I haven’t had the pleasure of earning it!’
Her voice was soft as she gestured to the bush. ‘Gem isn’t here. Believe me, I’d know. Every human being has their own aura and smell. When you love someone you can always tell when they are near.’
The intensity of Keziah’s love for Gem was naked and unashamedly passionate. Jake had never seen such a look on a woman’s face before. No woman ever looked at me like that.
The sun was sinking fast. He jumped up and pulled Keziah to her feet.
‘I reckon Gem’ll come to you soon, when that bastard Gil Evans isn’t snooping around. I’m dead happy you’ve found each other, Kez.’ He wasn’t sure if he meant the brumby or Gem. Maybe it was the same thing.
He led the way home on Horatio. He tried to regain his lightness of heart as he sang the rollicking verses of Botany Bay – the same song he had sung to little Pearl when she rode perched in front of him, her piping voice joining him in the final words of the chorus, ‘Singing too-ral, li-ooral, li-addity … we’re bound for Botany Bay.’
Jake closed his mind to that painful image. He looked down at little Gabriel riding like a prince within the protection of his arms. The boy was so responsive to each bird and bush animal that Jake needed to hold him tight to prevent Gabriel joyously catapulting into space.
Keziah rode the brumby bareback, apparently unconcerned that Jake could see her legs. I reckon she doesn’t think of me as a man, I’m just her mate. So why should I remind her of her Romani modesty? She’s got the best god-damned ankles I ever saw on a woman.
But when Keziah invited him to stay for supper Jake forced himself to decline. What he had seen that day with the business of the brumby was so private he suspected she would prefer to be alone with her thoughts.
‘Thanks, but I reckon I’ll just hop over to Bolthole Valley to see a mate. I’ve been a bit neglectful lately.’ He mounted Horatio and turned in the saddle. ‘Be a good girl, eh?’
• • •
Galloping towards Bolthole Valley Jake tried to dismiss all thoughts of Keziah, Gem and the brumby. He’d recently given her a Shetland pony for little Gabriel to learn to ride, but he knew nothing could ever surpass Gem’s gift of the brumby.
He switched his thoughts to Lily Pompadour and his regular overnight booking with her as his ‘wife’. Their arrangement was ironclad. If Jake didn’t turn up on a Wednesday, Lily took no other clients that night and Jake paid her double on his next visit. He managed to dismiss the idea of the clients she entertained the rest of the week but he was very territorial about his Wednesday nights.
Tonight as he urged Horatio towards Madam Fleur’s, Jake was anxious to see Lily. Although blatantly female she was as earthy as a man and always made him laugh before, during and after they pleasured each other.
That night Lily seemed determined to make every round a winner. No complaints from Jake. Afterwards he lay back pleased with himself and drank deeply of the special red wine Lily always chose for him. He became aware that Lily had been hidden behind her oriental screen for some time.
‘What are you up to now, Lil?’
She appeared wearing Jake’s jackeroo hat on top of her wild auburn locks, his red neckerchief around her throat and stood astride in his heeled riding boots, otherwise stark naked. Fists on her hips, Lily aped a masculine pose and barked in a gruff voice.
‘I’ve paid good money for you! So you’d better be worth it. Live up to the reputation of the house or I’ll burn the place down! And have you run out of town!’
Jake spluttered on his wine and collapsed on the bed helpless with laughter. Lily marched over. ‘I’m serious! Get your clothes off at once, you tramp!’ she ordered.
As they rolled around the bed Lily was tough-mouthed and on the offensive.
Jake surrendered. ‘I’ll do anything you want! Just leave the hat on! I’m seeing you in a whole new light, Lil!’ He began chortling again, delighted by her rage.
Lily’s performance was amazing, attuned to him on almost every level. Jake didn’t bother to question this change in her. He would pay her well. She was such an absorbing diversion she managed to keep at bay all his thoughts of patrins, brumbies, Gem and above all that look on Keziah’s face when she’d placed the cake in his mouth and said, ‘It’s like a kiss – good for nothing until it’s shared between two.’