Jack & Harry (15 page)

‘Well, we're goin' to Coober Pedy.'

‘Coober Pedy, eh?' He pronounced it
Kupa Piti.
‘Never bin there but I 'ear 'bout 'im from me uncle Warri. Best darn drover yu ever meet, me uncle Warri. 'Ow yu gonna git there?'

‘Not sure, Reynold, but that's where we want to go. You able to show us how to get there?' Harry queried.

‘Well ….' He looked thoughtfully at his feet while scratching his ear. ‘I know 'e long ways out, this Kupa Piti, Harry. Way out, ‘cross 'im border in Sout Stralya.'

The boys began to wonder if they had made a mistake heading northeast to Mt Margaret instead of going directly east from Kalgoorlie. ‘Maybe we shoulda caught the train over, Jack?' Harry wore a worried expression.

‘Tell yu what, boys, me 'n Nigel we off t'morra to Warburton, meet uncle Warri, 'e know 'ow to get to Kupa. Yu can come wit' us, that'd be good, eh?' He smiled broadly at his solution to the problem and slid from the log. ‘Warburton, that where I
really
come from.'

‘How you gettin' to Warburton, Reynold?'

‘On the supply truck. Big truck 'e come thru 'ere 'n go up to Warburton. Yu come too, it'll be OK.'

Jack groaned at the thought of another rough truck journey. ‘Harry and I'll have a talk about it, Reynold, and then see what Father O'Malley thinks. We'll let you know in a minute. Thanks for the invitation though.'

‘Sounds good, Reynold,' Harry added as they walked off. ‘See ya in a bit.'

They left the group at the log and walked off to where Ted was readying the truck for his return journey to Kalgoorlie, having unloaded all the supplies for the mission. Father O'Malley was leaning against the bonnet dressed in black trousers and a short sleeved white shirt, his thin pale arms folded across his chest, smoke curling from the pipe clenched in his teeth.

The boys outlined Reynold's idea of travelling to Warburton on the supply truck with him and Nigel.

‘Well, boys, you've come this far and you are green to the bush.' He blew smoke from the pipe. ‘Inexperienced,' he explained when they looked puzzled when he said they were ‘green'. ‘I couldn't think of a better way to become skilled about survival out here than to travel with Reynold. I've never met his uncle Warri but I've heard about him. Bit of a legend he is, been a drover in the outback since he was a lad about your age. If you want adventure, boys, I think you've found it.' He took the pipe from his mouth and tapped it against the heel of his shoe.

‘The other choice of course is to come back with Ted and me to Kalgoorlie, there'd be no harm in that you know. We could talk about where you go from there and …'

‘No, Father,' Jack said firmly. ‘We're not goin'
back
, we're goin'
on.
aren't we, Harry?'

‘Yes, goin' on.' Harry sounded a little uncertain.

‘Very well, boys, but you have to promise me one thing.' He fixed them with a serious stare.

‘Yes, Father … what is it?

‘Jack, you too, Harry, I want you to keep in touch with your parents, let them know where you are and that you're OK.' The boys shifted uneasily under the priest's hard stare.

‘Not
where
we are, Father, can't do that or the police would find us and we'd end up in jail.' Jack thought for a minute and continued. ‘Father … when you posted those letters home for us did you keep a note of our addresses from the envelopes?'

‘What makes you think I'd do a thing like that, Jack?' The priest hedged.

‘Did you, Father, we need to know?'

‘Yes, Jack, I did.'

‘I want
you
to promise us something now, Father.' Jack sounded more grown up than he felt. ‘If you promise us you won't write to our parents or tell them where we are, we promise that we'll write regular to them but we'll send them to you to forward on for us.'

Jack looked at Harry who nodded and squared his shoulders in support.

‘Hmm …' Father O'Malley put the cold pipe back in his mouth and considered the boys standing before him surprised at the resolve they displayed.
I think they'll make it,
he thought to himself.

‘We don't want to sound ungrateful for everythin' you've done, Father, but if you can't promise us that then we can't make a promise to you.' Harry reinforced Jack's argument.

‘You drive hard bargains, boys.' His voice was warm when he smiled. ‘But, yes, I'll make that promise to you.'

Relieved, Jack and Harry relaxed and smiled back at this tall friendly man knowing that they had made a friend of the priest. A friend they could trust, like Paddy and Reynold.

Ted fired the truck into life and blew the horn, signalling he was about to depart. All the residents of the mission, young, old and in between plus all the dogs appeared and milled around the truck to say goodbye to Father O'Malley. He shook hands and patted children's heads before turning to Jack and Harry standing with Reynold, who held the cabin door open.

‘You boys take care of each other now, won't you?' The priest said farewelling each of them with a smile as he took their hands in a firm warm grip. He folded his tall frame into the cabin. ‘Now, Reynold, you learn to ride a little better all right? No more falling off your horse.' He laughed and slammed the truck door shut.

Reynold hooted with laughter and the entire gathering of people joined him as the truck pulled away, horn tooting and both Ted and Father O'Malley waving wildly from the windows.

‘Thanks, Father, fer lookin' after me … and bringin' me back,' Reynold shouted to the priest as the truck drew away, and Father O'Malley responded by holding his hand up in a victory salute.

The truck, now raising clouds of powdery red dust, disappeared down the corrugated track chased by a gaggle of shouting children and barking dogs.

The crowd dispersed and the children returned from their chase. The dogs settled down in the shade and life reverted back to normal at Mt Margaret Mission, except for two white boys who stood silently for some time watching the dust trail diminish into the distance until all that was left was a settling cloud on the horizon.

The dogs were the first to announce the arrival of the supply truck into the settlement. This truck, a Dodge, was much bigger than the mail truck and was heavily loaded with goods roped down under tarpaulins.

The driver jumped down from the cabin and walked to the front of the bonnet to retrieve a canvas waterbag that was tied to the bumper bar. He took a long swig, replaced the cap and strapped the bag back securely in place, wiping his stubbled chin with the back of a weather beaten hand. ‘G'day, gotta pick up a couple of young blokes to go to Warburton … they here?'

‘Yeah, that me.' Reynold stepped forward. ‘I'm called Rennol 'n me brother, Nigel, 'e be 'ere dreckly.'

‘Not too long I hope, have to get goin'. It's a long trip and the road is as rough as guts out there.' The driver walked around the truck checking that the ropes were still tightly in place.

‘Mista?'

‘Yeah, Reynold.' He didn't look up from the ropes.

‘Yu got room fer two of me mates, they wanna come to Warburton wit' me?'

‘What? No way, this isn't a bloody bus, mate! I'm helpin' out by takin' you two.'

‘We'd really appreciate a lift, Mister.' Jack walked up to the man. ‘I'm Jack and this is me friend, Harry.'

The man was taken by surprise to see two young white boys dressed in bush clobber standing before him. ‘What the hell
you
doin' out here?' He stood, pushing his hat back off his head with his right hand and scratching his hair. ‘How did ya get here?'

They explained how they had come with the priest on the mail truck but didn't go into any other detail.

‘Where ya headed then?'

‘Just to Warburton?' Harry replied.

‘That so? What's at Warburton that'd interest you blokes?'

Jack glanced at Reynold. ‘We got family out there at Warburton, need to go and see 'em.' Reynold nodded enthusiastically with a grin at Jack's explanation.

‘Ya don't say?' The man was unconvinced.

‘Sir?' Jack decided to try once more as he couldn't imagine what they'd do if they were left alone at the mission. ‘Father O'Malley only brought us here because he thought there wouldn't be a problem with getting a lift on your truck. He wouldn't have brought us all the way here if he didn't believe we needed to get to Warburton.'

‘There's no problem about gettin' a lift, young fella, but I've already got two passengers. I can't fit four into the cabin.'

‘We'll ride in the back sir, on the tray, we won't be any trouble.' Jack was desperate now to get on this truck and leave with Reynold and his brother.

‘You'll choke from the dust and it's a bumpy ride even in the cab.'

Jack felt he was making ground so pressed the advantage. ‘We'll pay you, sir, we got a little money, not much but we could give you somethin'.'

Reynold, who had been standing back listening to the exchange, said, ‘These boys they good fellas, they don' cause no trouble 'n won' grizzle 'bout no dust. Any'ow, we take 'im in turns, eh? On the back, me 'n Nigel.'

‘Well, it's against me better judgement but if you promise not to whinge then it's up to you. There's no need to give me anythin' for the trip though as I'm goin' there anyway and I couldn't take money from a coupla kids sittin' on the back in the dust.' He shook his head in resignation. ‘Grab yer stuff then, let's go.'

Jack insisted that he and Harry ride on the back first, as Reynold and his brother were the legitimate passengers. Reynold didn't put up too much of an argument as he was looking forward to impressing his relatives by riding in the cab of the big truck, so he jumped onto the running board and hauled himself into the cabin, having pushed Nigel in first to sit in the middle.

Reynold smiled and waved importantly from the window as the truck moved out of the mission on to the Warburton road followed by the inevitable bunch of children and mangy barking dogs running behind obscured by the dust. Jack and Harry were amazed at how, once again, the entire population of Mt Margaret turned out to farewell them.

It was more of a track than a road and, although the ride was uncomfortable with the truck shuddering from the corrugations and jolting frequently as it encountered wash outs and dry creek crossings, it was relatively dust-free for Jack and Harry. Nestled behind the cabin on their swags the dust trailed behind and it was only when the driver slowed and changed down gears to negotiate one of the many crossings strewn with loose gravel and rocks did the dust catch up with them and envelop the vehicle.

They were fascinated by the varying landscape as it slipped past them hour after hour. Stunted mulga trees, low scrub and saltbush gave way to vast areas of claypan then changed to gibber stone flats and sandy ridges bare of vegetation. The redness also captivated them. The sand was red, the rocks were red, even the bush near the road had a reddish tinge from a coating of dust.

The driver eventually slowed and parked the heavily laden vehicle beside a small clump of tall spindly gum trees with smooth white trunks. The trees offered only enough shade for the cabin so when the truck was at a standstill with no breeze created by its momentum, the heat was stifling.

They climbed down off the freight onto the ground as the driver came around, again checking the ropes. ‘You blokes OK?' he asked.

‘Yeah, no problems.'

‘You wouldn't say even if there was would ya?' He glanced at them, a grin on his stubbled face. ‘Thought we'd pull in for a bite of lunch … boil the billy. You want to collect some wood.' It wasn't a question.

‘We already got 'nuff.' Reynold and Nigel threw down a bundle of sticks and started arranging them in a pile over handfuls of dry grass between some large stones that had obviously been placed there for the purpose of providing a makeshift fireplace by a previous traveller.

‘My name's George Fuller anyway, boys. Sorry I was a bit gruff back there but ya sorta took me by surprise.'

‘G'day, Mr Fuller,' Harry replied.

‘Call me George.' He heaved on a rope and, satisfied it was still taut, moved off toward where Reynold and Nigel now had a small fire blazing. The timber was so tinder dry that very little smoke rose from it although the scent from the burning wood was pleasant as it drifted in the still midday air.

Both Harry and Jack were surprised at being invited to call the driver by his Christian name. It was something they weren't used to, having been taught that adults should always be addressed as
Mr
or
Mrs
and it would take them some time to become accustomed to this familiar habit existing in the bush.

‘You boys bring anythin' to eat?' George asked, aware that they probably hadn't done so.