Arthur Upfield - The bushman who came back

“Yes. You go up the long rise to the old homestead where theMurphys once lived. You know, the people from whom I bought Mount Eden. On from there to the bore where young Lawton met you the other day.”

“That day Mrs Bell was shot, Arnold Bray was sent to the old homestead for iron?”

“Yes, that’s so.”

“Does he do much riding?”

“Very little. You’re damned mysterious this afternoon, Inspector.”

“I’ll tell you something. You will recall that I said it was possible for one of you five men to have returned here that morning and murdered Mrs Bell. After you left in your car that day, a man was seen riding hard from the homestead up the rise and heading for the old homestead. I am rather curious to know who he was.”

“Is that so?” drawled Mr Wootton. “Then one of three of us five could have ridden back and shot Mrs Bell?”

“Don’t take me too literally. That rider could have come from thePetries ’ station. He could have had nothing to do with shooting Mrs Bell. He might have come on a legitimate visit, found Mrs Bell dead, and rushed away in a panic. I have made certain plans, and you will learn something of them this evening when we talk to thePetries and arrange tomorrow’s broadcast. Dinner seems to be served.”

Wootton’s excusable curiosity wasunallayed by Bony during dinner and, immediately afterwards, Bony left the house and sought Charlie, who had returned to the carpenter’s shop.

The aborigine had fashioned the mud shoes and fitted to them leather straps, and Bony now tried them on, finding them most awkward.

“Not that way,” Charlie told him. “You slide ’em. Sarah show me; I show you.”

“Good! I’ll have to get the knack. Remember that dog-pad we saw half a mile from the pines? How many more pads like that nearby?”

“One more-at the hut on the boundary. Two more up by the Neales.”

Charlie agreed to keep watch on the pad near the homestead, as from after dark, to inform Bony if any blackfeller went out to warn Yorky. Later, for an hour, he talked with the surrounding neighbours over the transceiver, and, indirectly, gained much useful information about the country, and nothing whatever concerning the centre of Lake Eyre, save that it must be a bog even during the long period of drought. Still later, Wootton became interested in certain preparations. The Savage rifle was checked, ammunition poured into a small calico bag, dry biscuits and tinned meat brought from the store, and an old rucksack Wootton remembered having for several years.

Bony slipped away from the house and sought Charlie, who was faithfully on duty at the appointed dingo pad. The aborigine reported having seen no one on that part of the beach, and Bony sent him home to his bunk, and himself cat-napped the night away until just before dawn.

It was five o’clock when he and Wootton sat before the transceiver, and Bony began his broadcast. He said:

“It is now six weeks since Mrs Bell was shot here at Mount Eden, and her little daughter vanished. You all know of the extensive and the intensive search which followed. You know that it is strongly suspected that the man who killed Mrs Bell and abducted her daughter is a locally known identity named Yorky. From information received, and following the results of my own survey of the country, I have reason to believe that somewhere in the middle of Lake Eyre is an area of dry land forming an island in a sea of mud, and that the man Yorky escaped to that island, taking the child with him.

“Also from information I have gathered, I think it is feasible for a man to cross the mud to that island by following one of the dingo pads, when wearing mud shoes. By this means I intend to test what are as yet only theories. I intend to try to reach the island by one of the dog pads from near this homestead, starting within an hour.

“I have been informed by the aborigines that these dog pads are not numerous. They are certainly not easily discernible. Assuming that there is a dry area of land somewhere towards the centre of the lake, then we may accept as fact that the dingoes use the place to gain food or rear their pups. Picture that dry area of land as the hub of a wheel, and the dog pads as the spokes of the wheel.

“To reach the hub, I must follow one of the spokes, and, should Yorky observe me approaching, he might well leave for the shore by one of the other spokes. Therefore, you will appreciate my difficulty in apprehending him.

“I ask you to co-operate with me by arranging among yourselves to watch Lake Eyre. In view of the length of the shoreline, it will be difficult for the number of men available to watch all points, so we can only do our best. I do not anticipate contact with the wanted man until late today. I am sure you will realize how delicately this operation must be carried out. Our main objective must be the safe recovery of Linda Bell, if alive. I leave the risks to your imagination.

“Finally. There is to be no shooting unless a life is in grave danger. I want you to understand clearly that I am far from satisfied that the man Yorky actually did kill Mrs Bell. I feel that I can rely on your common sense, and know I may rely on your co-operation. Thank you.”

Bony faced about from the transceiver to regard calmly Wootton’s outside staff, his inside staff, and the cattlemen, who turned about with him.

“I have something to say before I leave. You have just heard me broadcast that I am not satisfied Yorky killed Mrs Bell. That he and Linda Bell are somewhere out on the lake, I am hoping to prove within hours. Two matters cause me to doubt that Yorky is our man. One is that tracks found behind the meat-house and thought to have been made by Yorky are now proved to be forgeries. Thus they were made by someone wishing to incriminate Yorky. The other reason is that on the morning that Mrs Bell was killed, after you men had left on your duties for that day, after Mr Wootton left for town in his car, a horseman was seen riding away from this homestead.”

Sarah had provided early morning tea for the hands, and when all were in the kitchen, Bony telephoned Constable Pierce and spoke for five minutes. Ten minutes after that, he started out for Lake Eyre.

The Sink of Australia

THESUNrose above Lake Eyre, and it was like facing car lights ten yards distant. It was no hindrance to Bony, who had to concentrate his attention on the whitefeller Kurdaitcha shoes, fashioned so differently from the soft feathers worn by that fabulous creature. But the sun masked him completely from Wootton, who stood on the white beach, as well as from others standing high among the pines. He found that weight related to the area of the boards attached to his feet was not sufficient to clog the footwear if he proceeded by sliding one foot forward, then the other, and at the beginning of the journey the dingo pad was quite easy to see.

Progress, however, was slow. Muscles unaccustomed to particular stress began to tire, so that, on glancing back, he was dismayed on estimating that his voyage over The-Sea-That-Was was but a mile begun.

A hot wind was strengthening from the north, and it seemed to enshroud him in isolation completely foreign to that experienced on ‘dry land’. One cannot be completely isolated when trees are neighbours, and sand dunes are dwellings, but here was nothing of the comfort of familiar things. Here was menace to spur imagination, to emphasize the hopelessness of help in distress; pictures of himself slowly engulfed by dark and evil mud, or trapped by monstrous things, flashed across his mind.

Grimly he went on when he longed to go back.

The dingo pad was seldom more than twelve inches wide, and often was reduced to four inches. At some places it was quite distinct; at others only a good tracker could follow it. When he was three miles from shore, the pad wound about a great deal, which aroused his interest, because, under normal circumstances, a travelling dog proceeds straighter than does a man. Presently the pad became less twisted, and gave him his first surprise… a narrow strip of hard sun-baked mud.