Freedom's Land (16 page)

When they were loaded and ready to leave, he signed for the group’s official goods, paid for his personal purchases, then went to find Susan, annoyed that she was keeping them waiting. She should have been keeping a watch out for when he was ready to leave.

But she wasn’t at the rear of the store and the stranger had driven off now.

‘Has she paid you for the extra orders?’ he asked as he walked towards the front of the store again.

‘Not yet.’

Perhaps she’d gone to relieve herself. Gil waited. Five minutes passed. But there was still no sign of her. Angry now, he strode across to the women’s latrines and called out, ‘Are you all right, Susan?’

There was only silence.

‘Is anyone in there?’ No answer, so he peered round the canvas screen, ready to duck back. But no one was there.

He went back to the store where Andrew was waiting. ‘Have you seen Susan?’

‘No, she hasn’t come this way. I thought she was inside the store.’

They hunted up and down the street and it was a man up on the roof frame who asked, ‘You looking for a young woman with frizzy hair?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘She drove off with the fellow in that car.’

‘Saw them driving off about half an hour ago. She’ll be well on her way to Pemberton by now.’

Gil stood stock still, gaping up at him, then pulled himself together and thanked him before rejoining Andrew. ‘She’s legged it.’

‘What?’

‘That Susan. She’s run off with the fellow driving that car. And unless I’m very much mistaken, she’s taken the money the other women gave her.’

Andrew let out a low whistle. ‘Hell!’

‘I’d better go and pay for what they’ve bought.’

‘Do you have enough money.’

‘Yes. But some of them are going to be hurt by this when they have to pay twice.’

‘I’m glad I didn’t have to depend on a woman like her to buy our things.’

Gil nodded. It was the first bit of luck his companion had had. That was the only good thing about today. The Boyds were all right, at least.

They drove back mainly in silence, walking to ease the load on Daisy. Neither of them was looking forward to getting back.

When they arrived at the camp, they found four families gathered for their midday meal, the adults sitting on chunks of log round the big table, the children standing up to eat. They could have taken their food and cooked it individually, but these were the more sociable folk and the women had voted to share the cooking. They’d not have been able to do that if they weren’t living on fairly close blocks and luckily, the main camp was in the centre of the group’s blocks.

Gil looked at Andrew. ‘I’ll take Bert aside and tell him about his wife. You get yourself something to eat. I’ll tell the rest of them after dinner.’

Bert had been tucking into a plate of stew, but when he saw the two men and no sign of his wife, he got up and came across to them. ‘Where’s Susan?’

‘Let’s walk over to the creek to talk,’ Gil said.

Something about his expression must have warned Bert that it wasn’t good news. He turned pale, but said nothing, falling in beside the foreman and digging his hands into his pockets.

They walked in silence to the creek, then Gil said bluntly, ‘She went off with a fellow in a car. He was going to Perth, we think.’

‘Couldn’t you have stopped her?’

‘She’d been gone half an hour before we found out.’

Bert cursed and closed his eyes for a minute or two, then looked down at the water, rocking forward and backwards, changing his weight from heels to toes, not speaking.

‘Are you going after her? I’ll drive you into Pemberton tomorrow if you want.’

‘No. She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned.’

Another silence then suddenly words poured out of Bert. ‘She was unfaithful to me during the war, but her family persuaded me to give her another chance and she was all lovey-dovey, so I thought we could get over all that. But now it’s happened again, only this time she’s run off, and I won’t even
try
to get over it.’

Gil hesitated, but knew he had to say it. ‘There’s something else.’

‘What else could there be?’

‘She’s taken the money with her that people gave her for their orders. I had to dip into my own pocket to pay the man at the stores.’

Bert closed his eyes, saying in a low voice, ‘I’ll pay everyone back. I’ve got— Oh, no!’ Suddenly he was off running along the track as if all the hounds of hell were after him.

Andrew came up to ask, ‘What’s he doing?’

Gil shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Will you go after him, make sure he’s all right? I’ve got to tell the rest of them what’s happened.’

There was dead silence when he explained what Susan had done. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so went to get the food that had been kept for him. But it tasted like sawdust. Afterwards he took his plate and scraped the leftovers into the big bowl for burying later, then went over to stand near the cooking fire, staring down at the flames, wondering what the hell was going to happen next.

Andrew hurried along the track after Bert, who had a nearby block, one of the best around. He found him inside the humpy, tossing things aside, not caring where they landed as he hunted through his trunk. Guessing what the other was looking for, Andrew stepped back and waited, still keeping an eye on him.

When he’d emptied the trunk, Bert continued to kneel there, staring down into it, hardly moving a muscle, then he groaned and buried his face in his hands.

Andrew cleared his throat and moved forward.

Bert looked up at him. ‘She didn’t leave me even a shilling.
Not even – a lousy – shilling.
’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I rue the day I married her. I’m not going after her and I’m not taking her back this time.’

‘What
are
you going to do?’

‘Soldier on. See what I can make of life here.’ He made a broad gesture with one hand.

‘It’ll be hard on your own.’

‘I’m not staying on the land.’ He began to put things back inside the trunk, but only his things. Anything feminine was tossed into a pile.

‘Looks like we’ll be having another sale,’ he said when he’d finished, his voice harsh with anger. ‘Maybe some of the others have enough money to buy these, or will take them in lieu of the money she stole. Some of these clothes are new, not even worn yet.’

‘Won’t she – want them back?’

‘She might. She won’t be getting them, though. I intend to pay back every single penny she stole.’

Andrew put one hand on the other man’s shoulder and squeezed gently. There was nothing he could say. He helped carry the clothes down to the group then went across to Norah. ‘Anything you fancy among that lot? She didn’t leave him with a penny.’

‘I’m bigger than her, so her clothes won’t be any use to me. But I could unravel that cardigan and knit it up again as a sweater for one of the boys.’

Unfortunately, few of the others had any money to spare, so the sale went badly.

Bert gathered the remaining clothes together in silence then turned to face them all, clutching the crumpled pile of clothes to his chest. His voice was choked, his face white and set. ‘I’ll keep these till I can find a way to sell them. I
will
pay back what she stole, every single penny, however long it takes.’

Gil stepped forward. ‘I’ve paid for the purchases, so it’s me you owe.’

There was a sigh of relief from some people.

Bert gestured to the small pile of coins on the table. ‘There’s the first payment, then. Let me know how much I still owe you.’

‘All right.’

The other stared at him for a moment. ‘Do you trust me? You’re not afraid I’ll run off like she did?’

Gil held one hand out. ‘I trust you. We’ll shake on it.’

As they did so, he could see how close Bert was to breaking down.

The poor man didn’t speak. Shoulders straight, head held high, he walked away in the direction of his block and wasn’t seen again that day.

‘I reckon he will pay you back,’ Andrew said.

‘I do too.’ Gil raised his voice. ‘Well, let’s get some work done here.’

Irene watched Freddie count their meagre store of coins, then count them again. ‘We’ll manage.’

‘We’ve no choice but to manage, have we? I’d never have come if I’d known we’d be reduced to this.’ He gestured round with a look of distaste.

‘I like it here.’

He stared at her as if he didn’t believe her.

‘I do.’

‘But we’re living like savages.’

She laughed. ‘And I’ve not felt this well for years.’

His face cleared slightly. ‘You’re not – pretending?’

‘No, Freddie. I’d never pretend with you. I do feel better. My cough’s gone completely and I’ve far more energy these days, you know I have.’

With an inarticulate murmur, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a quick hug, heedless of what others might say. ‘Then I’ve just got to hold on, however hard it is.’

She’d known it! He tried to hide it from her, but he hated it here, hated it with a passion, was desperately homesick as well.

And she could never think of going back to England.

Would this destroy their love?

10

B
ert got up before the sun had risen on the Sunday morning, the embers of his anger at his wife still glowing hotly within him. How could she have done this to him? He pushed that thought aside when he realised his anger was preventing him from thinking clearly. He shouldn’t waste his time on thoughts of her – only how could you help it when someone had knocked the ground from under your feet, treated you so badly.

He’d spoken to one of the men building the new houses in Northcliffe and been told he could earn some money today if he could get into the town and labour for them. It was only a few miles, so he didn’t need to ask a favour of anyone, but could simply walk there.

He set off, hunger growling in his belly, wondering what he was going to do about feeding himself. He didn’t have time to bake loaves, even if he’d known how to do it. Maybe he could pay one of the women to do it for him? But he could only do that if he had some money and he hadn’t, not a single coin. In the meantime, he ate at midday and the evening with the group and that had to do.

Gradually, as he walked, the sun rose and birds began to sing and flutter around the forest. It was pretty here when there were no people around to disturb things. He stopped once to stare at a particularly big tree. If you cut that down, six people could stand on the stump, he reckoned. He’d never seen anything like it. A small creature scuttled among the leaf litter on the ground. Good luck to it, he thought, and realised it’d brought a smile to his face.

In town, two men had already started work, needing to get the roof on before the rains came, even if it was the Sabbath. He went up to the fellow in charge and reminded him of his offer of work, was soon labouring alongside them.

In the middle of the morning they took a smoko, breaking for a cup of tea and a cigarette. One man had some bacon sandwiches and Bert couldn’t stop his stomach rumbling. The man shot him a quick glance. ‘Had anything to eat yet today, mate?’

‘No.’

‘Wife not treating you well?’

Usually Bert kept things to himself, but the sandwich smelled so good, words burst out of him. ‘She ran off. Took all my money.’

‘Oh. Heard about that. Didn’t realise it was you. Sorry, mate. Here.’ He thrust one of his sandwiches into Bert’s hand.

That simple act of kindness brought tears to his eyes and he was too hungry to refuse. ‘Thanks.’ He bit into the sandwich, closing his eyes in pleasure at how good it was.

At midday they each gave him another sandwich, this time with cheese in them, and he had to thank them with a nod, because he didn’t trust himself to speak without breaking down.

By the end of the day he was exhausted, but he’d earned five shillings and that was what counted.

‘Come again next Sunday,’ the one in charge said. ‘They’re not worrying about us observing the Sabbath – well, there’s no one here
to
worry – and anyway, they need the houses built as quickly as they can.’

‘Thanks. I will. What if it’s raining? They tell me it’s going to rain heavily soon.’ It was certainly much cooler than it had been.

‘We’ll still be working inside the house.’

As he walked back, something hard inside Bert’s chest softened just a little, and the coins clinked cheerfully in his pocket.

When he arrived at the main camp, he went over to Gil and handed him three shillings. ‘I did some work in Northcliffe today.’

‘Thanks. Look, me and Pete are just about to have our meal. Why don’t you sit with us?’

Bert had never been at the receiving end of so many acts of kindness before in his whole life. Again, he could only nod as he sat down.

‘How are you managing?’

‘All right. I had a bit of a problem this morning as I had to set off before breakfast to walk into Northcliffe.’

‘You should have come and seen me about it. We’d have found you some food to take with you. We’ll have to work out something for your washing, too.’

‘It’s the money I’m most concerned about. I’ve never owed anyone before. Not even a halfpenny.’

‘Well, you’re paying it off, aren’t you? That’s what matters. I can wait, don’t worry. I’m not short of a bob or two. Now, come and have a bowl of kangaroo stew while it’s hot.’

As he walked home, Bert felt better than he had for a very long time. These people were so kind. He’d never met anyone like them. It made him doubly determined to pay back the money Susan had stolen – and to make good in Australia.

Three days later the other families assigned to their group arrived, bumping along in the same Red Reo trucks as the first eight families. It was an overcast day, which felt strange after so much sunshine, and clouds were racing across the sky, dimming the sun intermittently and threatening showers or worse.