East of Outback (12 page)

Dizzy raised an arm in the air. “Is over!” Then he placed a hand on the small of his back, where everyone knew he kept his gun. He didn’t have to produce it. Then he pointed directly at Flannery. “Nex’ time, you think better’n to bung on a blue with a Tejano, eh? Ain’ nobody better with a gun. We’re the best-shooting, fastest riding, smartest drovers there ever was, ‘cause we got the fastest, smartest cattle in the world. Half-devil, them Texas longhorns. So don’ you go risking your life messing with no Texan, eh? Goes for your mates, too.”

Colin found himself coiled tense as a spring. He stood up to his full height, and forced his fists to unclench. “Thanks, amigo.”

“Was nothing, compadre.” Dizzy turned to Mr. Newport. “You look like a cat with canary breath, eh? You know wha’s going on, no?”

Mr. Newport smirked. “Flannery was by to see me today, asking for a job. Seems the Sloans sacked him. Replaced him with young Colin here. I didn’t know your last name, lad, but it’s all clear now.”

Everything was clearer now to more than just Mr. Newport. Colin eyed Flannery for a moment, wondering about the best approach. The Irishman remained where he’d fallen, dripping blood and looking bewildered.

Colin took a deep breath and a big, big chance. He stepped toward Flannery and extended his hand. “I had no idea when they said they had room for me that they were letting you go, sir. I’m sorry.”

Rolling heavily to his feet, Flannery looked at Colin, and beyond his shoulder to Dizzy, “I don’t believe ye,” and walked away.

Colin turned to Dizzy with a questioning look.

The Tejano shrugged. “You tried, eh?”

“I tried.”

______

After an enjoyable dinner with Dizzy that night, Colin listened to all his stories about the picky diners at the Perseverance and about the way Lily was brightening into an interesting young lady. He did not relate his own conversation with her; it seemed to be a confidence not to be betrayed, not even to Diz.

Returning home very late, Colin tossed on his cot awhile and then dropped off to a fitful sleep. He was rousted out of bed at the usual early hour, to the realization that the work week had begun in earnest.

Uncle Aidan stayed home mare an extra quart of oats and hitched her up, then greased to pore over accounts, while Uncle Liam walked uptown to tend to business. Colin, now a reasonable hand at mining, headed for the Star alone. He gave the gray mare an extra quart of oats and hitched her up, then greased the pulleys, a regular first-of-the-week chore. Putting the bay mare’s feed in the cage, he reached for the knotted rope to let himself down the shaft, and froze in the action.

In the shadow of the tool shed crouched Max the dog. The snapping black eyes seemed to survey Colin’s every move. Was there sadness in them, or was Colin reading too much into the surly dog’s face?

“Max, I despise you and you despise me, but I know your mate’s underground and you miss her. Come on. Promise you won’t chew me apart on the way down, and I’ll take you with me.”

The dog’s head lifted slightly.

“Come on, Max. This is your only chance. If Uncle Liam learns I let you down, he’ll sack me. Do you want to go or not?”

The dog stood up. Colin called to him again, jiggled the cage and let it drop a few inches. The dog moved forward, cringed, moved a few feet further and slunk to the ground.

This was silly, almost comical. Why did Colin bother? The dog would never trust him enough to get into the cage. If he did, he’d probably leap out again the moment it started to descend—maybe take Colin’s arm with him. Dizzy had the dog pegged right; he’d bite at any opportunity.

Colin started to move the cage again. The dog crept over to the decking. Colin stopped the descent. “Last chance, Max. Now or never.”

The dog whined, its tail flat on the ground. Slowly, hesitantly, it crawled out onto the cage at Colin’s feet.

Colin turned on his headlamp and started down, from gloom to blackness. He glanced down at Max. The dog lay bellied out on the cage floor, as flat could be.

It took exactly two minutes and ten seconds to travel from the bright sunlight to nether darkness; Colin had it timed. And for those two minutes, Max moved not a muscle. Not even a whimper escaped him; Colin admired that. When the cage reached within six feet of the bottom Max leaped out. He barked, the first real bark Colin had ever heard from the dog, and the noise of it reverberated down the tunnels.

“Max, you’ll get us both in trouble! Keep quiet!”

Max’s Lady whinnied exuberantly from her side-drift stall in the distance. Was she pleased to see Colin, the oats, or the dog? It was hard to say. She squirreled around joyously as all three arrived. Colin admired the mates’ reunion, dropped the hay and oats in her manger, and walked off down the tunnels to work. Max was on his own now.

Just how would he get his horse out of this hole? He thought about the terrible scuffs and scrapes she suffered coming down, abrasions not yet healed. Uncle Aidan assured him it would work out fine, yet he’d also assured him they would purchase a horse promptly, and he would be paid his salary. So far, neither had happened. Ah, well. Give it another week.

The week passed, bathed in honest sweat. A lot of sweat.

On Saturday morning, Colin hauled four and a half wagon loads of ore to the mill—five trips. “I do say someone’s working hard. Twice your usual run,” commented the mill clerk.

By eleven a.m. Colin was unharnessing the gray mare after her morning toil. The rest of the day would be his own. And he’d be paid today. He might wander up to the Perseverance and help Dizzy fry sausages. Perhaps he could travel down to Kambalda and Lake Lefroy. He’d heard about the ghost town and the vast salt pan beside it. Now was his chance to see it.

He forked hay into the gray mare’s manger and reached for the curry brush. It wasn’t there. Now, where—

Colin laughed. “Diz, if you get any sneakier, you’ll be giving tiptoe lessons to mice. How long have you been here?”

“Jus’ a minute.” Dizzy grinned. With the purloined brush he began rubbing the gray mare down, quickly, expertly. The Texan was a natural horseman. His face turned serious. “Col, how much you making here?”

“Two quid and change. Why?”

“Flannery was pulling seven; didya know that?”

“No.” The ramifications of the fact flooded Colin’s thoughts. “Of course I’m not an experienced miner like Flannery. You sure about that?”

“Sí, am sure. How much ’sperience it take to break your back and sweat?”

“I agree what I’m doing isn’t very challenging. But still-” Colin licked his lips. “They’re family, Diz.”

“They taking advantage of you, blood or no blood. Tha’s all I see, and it makes me mad. Got your horse back yet?”

“This next week.”

“Mr. Newport, he don’ think they can get her back up outta there. ‘Specially, he says, ‘cause their shaft’s too small. He says there’s union regulations, and the Sloan mine ain’ meeting ‘em, but nobody sends inspectors around to the little places no more.”

“It’s not a very profitable operation. Not like I expected it to be.”

“Tha’s for sure.” Dizzy ran the metal comb through the mare’s tail. He grinned suddenly. “Col, maybe if I’m lucky I be a mine owner one day.”

“I thought you were going home to Texas.”

Dizzy stopped and leaned thoughtfully against the horse’s rump. “Been thinking ‘bout that, Col. Texas is a good place. Best place in the world, eh? But this place ain’ so bad. I got steady work here, and a chance to get ahead if I can just buy into that claim. Make a good life for myself. Is what I come to Australia for, a fair go, no?” Off-handedly, he added, “And Lily’s here.”

Colin stared in disbelief. “Diz, you’re in love!”

“Maybe.” The weather-worn Tejano grinned like a bashful schoolboy. “Been thinking ‘bout that, too. Can’t do no better’n her. Gonna let it go awhile. If we still think is good idea, maybe I marry her, and—well, just been thinking about it, is all.”

“That’s great! God bless you both.” Colin blurted, then froze. Why did he say that? He seriously doubted God existed, let alone blessed men in their everyday business.

If Dizzy noticed anything he didn’t mention it. He lurched erect and hung up the brush and curry. “I was hoping you were makng what Flannery made; maybe put the bite on you for a loan.”

“To buy a gold mine?”

“A small claim. Feller’s wife is sick. He’s moving to Perth. First one puts the money in his hand gets the dig, so I gotta do it fast. I saved eighteen pounds ten so far.”

“In two weeks? That’s a lot of money!”

“Ain’ hard, you stay outta the pubs. But it’s ’bout as much as I can save, week to week. Will take me three months at this rate. That might be too late, eh?”

“Let’s walk down to my place. See if I can rustle some change from under a pillow or something.” Colin’s heart sang. It soared. He still had over a hundred and thirty of his two hundred pounds from Captain Foulard. He didn’t need the moneyjust now. He could lend Dizzy a hundred, knowing he’d get it back ln time. He could help his mate build a new and promising life, at no real cost to himself. He would not have thought the simple act of helping a friend could generate such joy.

Dizzy eyed him suspiciously as he fell in beside. “Col, you got a look about you. How much change you. ’specting under your pillow?”

“Will a hundred pounds do it?”

“Ai,
Chihuahua!
”

“What does eye chee-wah-wah mean?”

“It mean I never think you got that much.”

“Courtesy of Captain Foulard. I’ve been wanting to put it safely in a bank, but I’ve been down in that mine every minute of banking hours. It’s still in my room.”

“You sure you wanna do this? Tha’s a lotta money. Besides, you keep saying that dun is mine, but I keep thinking I ought to pay you for it, eh?”

“A gift is a gift, Diz.”

“But not the money. Tha’s a loan, or I don’ do it.”

“It’s a loan.”

All the way to the bungalow, Dizzy waxed enthusiastic about the mining claim. He described every inch of it and Colin began to realize how miserly and poor was the Sloan mine. Dizzy spoke of electric lights in the passages, and a generator and donkey engine. He told how many tram tracks ran below. Were the Sloans to move ore with a tram on tracks instead of that cheap stone boat, they wouldn’t need a horse below. A man can push a tram car about with one hand. Maybe Colin could get a better job working for Dizzy.

Colin led the way through the small, rusty iron gate and into the house. He stepped from the cheerful winter sun to cool gloom. “Uncle Aidan? Uncle Liam?”

No response.

“Rats!” Colin headed for his little room. “I was hoping they’d be home so they could pay me.” He paused. “What am I supposed to say when I invite you in?”

“
Mi casa es su casa
. But it ain’ your casa, so don’ worry ‘bout it, eh?” Dizzy followed him through his door, laughing.

“Looks like I better do laundry today, instead of traveling around to the ghost towns.” Colin dropped to his knees in the corner. “It’s right here, under my spare shirt in this box.”

In fact, until he got to an actual bank, Colin did all his banking in the bottom of this box. He brushed the shillings and pence aside. Here was the one-pound note all wadded up, leftover from that strange night at the Exchange last week. The envelope with the—

The envelope with all his money, his minor fortune from his life as a pearler. . . .

The envelope was gone.

C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN

E
SCAPE

Colin sat still in a hard wooden chair, trying to conceal his nervousness. Across the desk from him, constable Nigel Bowden filled out yet another form.

The constable raised his eyes to glare at Colin. “You are certain the money is missing? You searched the room thoroughly?”

“It’s not that big a place, sir. Yes, sir. The small change was still there. The envelope with the larger amount of money was missing.”

“Have you any notion who took it?”

“No sir. We don’t lock the house, but nobody comes by there.”

“No suspects? How about that little Filipino with the revolver?”

“Dizzy. He’s not Filipino, and he’s not capable of that. No.”

“What proof can you give that the sum exists?”

“What?”

“How do I know you didn’t fabricate this claim, perhaps to accuse your uncles and milk more money out of them? I happen to know you receive less pay than your predecessor.”

“I wouldn’t do that, sir! No, sir. It’s exactly the way you have it on that complaint.”

“But you can’t prove the money existed, was actually in your possession?”

“I—” Colin sighed. Not even Dizzy had known about it. “No. I have no witnesses.”

Constable Bowden leaned back in his chair. “When a complaint is made I am required by law to file it. I shall do so. But in this case, until and unless you can provide a more substantial claim, I am forced to conclude that the complaint may well be spurious. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“It means you’re not going to do anything about it.”

He slipped the form into a folder. “I suggest you look first to that dark little foreigner you associate with.”

“Thanks for the help.” Colin rose from his chair and turned to walk out into the cold, hard afternoon. What now?

Dizzy, casually conformed to a porch post, launched himself to vertical and fell in beside his friend. “You don’ look like the law was kind to you, amigo.”

“You’re the person they tell me I should suspect first. You’re dark and foreign.”

“Guess I’m glad I ain’ Chinese, then. I’d be in jail, eh?” He started off down the street a step ahead of Colin.

Colin followed blindly. He didn’t care where he was going. “Who do you think, Diz—?”

“You don’ wanna know who I think.”

“Diz, they wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t rob their own nephew.”

“And why you think not?”

“They’re Sloans. Like Papa. He’s as trustworthy as a man can be, and they’re—well, they’re Sloans. That’s all.”

“Who else gonna muck around the house all day while you work underground? Who would go through your stuff in that back room? If some stranger come by, he look for the silver and gold in all the places riches be kept. Not where some two-quid miner sleeps. And wouldn’ he take
all
the valuables, not just yours?”