Arthur Upfield - Man of Two Tribes

Lucy required little persuasion. She disappeared. Silence enabled them to hear her muffled barking, and when no one followed her, she returned. Bony suggested that they try again to move the boulder.

He assisted. They heaved and hauled and pushed, grunting from the effort.

“Must be an upthrust, all right,” he said. “Anyone doneany mining?”

Jenks claimed to have worked on sinking wells in the New England district of New South Wales.

“We’ll try an explosive charge, Jenks. Could you bore a hole in this rock for the charge? It will take time.”

“With what?”Jenks asked.

“I have eight steel tent pegs and a small hammer used for driving in pegs and repairing dingo traps. I’ll get them.”

They followed him to his pack-bags, from which he produced the hammer and pegs, and Jenks examined the pegs with care.

“They’re not steel, but good iron,” he said. “But wait on, now. Where’s the explosive?”

Bony produced two boxes, each containing fifty high power rifle cartridges.

“We extract the bullets. Cordite might do the trick,” he pointed out.

“Yair, but what about detonators to set her off with?” persisted Jenks, and Bony explained that each cartridge had a percussion cap or detonator, and for fuse they would have to fashion a train ofkerosened rags, light it, and run like hell.

“It mightn’t work,” he warned them. “We can but try.”

“You’re justtellin ’ us,” agreed Riddell. “Let’s give it a go, Ted.”

“First, remove the stove,” Bony advised. “Do itnow, and Myra can get on with her baking. And grab that dog. She’ll have to be tied up.”

The indignant Lucy was attached to the riding saddle, and Bony sat beside her. He could hear the low thuds of the ‘miners’ at work, and watch Myra, who was absorbed with her cooking, obviously an avenue of escapism.

Havant came to sit beside Bony. The shaft of sunlight fell between them and the entrance of the mainpassage, and across the opening above passed woolly white clouds which Bony could only guess were southward bound.

“You are wise to elect to wait for relief, Doctor,” he said, when it became apparent that Havant waited for him to speak. “I wish the others possessed as much wisdom. If we do manage to get out and away, you will not jeopardise our chances by making a rash move?”

“Of course not. That would react on me, Inspector. What are your difficulties? What can I do? You will find me anxious to co-operate.”

“My main worry is those wild aborigines. As I said, they will not rove the Plain at night, being too fearful of Ganba. This place is but three miles from the northern desert country where they live and feel safe.

“If and when we can use the passage taken by the dog, we must on no account attempt to leave during daylight. It would be essential to be at least ten miles out on the Plain before the night passes, and we must trust to luck that our tracks won’t be found and followed. Alone, I wouldn’t have the slightest worry. With the others, and one a woman-you know their physical condition.

“Assuming we can prevent undue haste, even panic, those who wait must on no account use that passage. In fact, I shall ask you to block it. You could resist the temptation to use it, even at night, but do you think you could control Maddoch?”

“Yes. The woman, no. I shall be glad if she leaves with you.”

“You are not an admirer?”

“I am not an admirer, Inspector. To me she is repellent. She has likened herself to a hen in a yard of roosters, a Daniel in the den of lions. Actually she isn’t a hen, or a female Daniel. She is sexless without knowing it, but her husband knew it, and the knowledge was the basis of the animosity which led to his death.

“She has what is termed, in layman’s language, a split mind, and I don’t mean a split personality. One part of the mind worships Myra Thomas, and the other constantly defends a Myra Thomas who is fearful of men, of sex, and of the penetration by women of the vanity behind the facade. So take her with you and lose her, Inspector.”

“She goes with us, Doctor. Now tell me, what is your opinion of Mark Brennan?”

“Brennan was, I think, the least affected by legal imprisonment, and subsequently by these caverns. He realises most clearly his dependence on you to get them through. A likeable fellow in many ways, but… the psychiatrist can cure the mind which once was healthy; he can do nothing for a mind deformed at birth. I was able to do a great deal for Mitski. I have been able to help Maddoch. Nothing can be done for Brennan. But you will find him an excellent first mate. Riddell is merely a body ruled by low intelligence. Jenks is slightly higher and, I have discovered, the hardest to understand. There is a lot of good in Jenks. As for Doctor Havant, well, you know about him. You found him sucked dry of the will to live. You will find… Did you see that shadow?”

“Yes. There is someone up there.”

The Smell of Freedom

“STROLLnormally to the kitchen and tell them to stop work on the rock. Ask Brennan to come to me-without haste.”

Havant rose and crossed to the annexe. The girl went on with her cooking. Bony yawned deliberately, lit a cigarette and avoided glancing up at the opening in the roof.

“Sit down, Mark, I want to talk to you,” he said when Brennan appeared. “I shall rely on you to assist me in maintaining some kind of discipline from now on. I have been telling the doctor that our greatest hurdle is the aborigines. If you look up casually you may see one, or his shadow. The shadow of a man will move faster than that of a cloud.”

“Abo, all right, Inspector. One’s looking down at us now.”

“Be natural. Make a cigarette.” On looking upward, there was then nothing to be seen other than the fading blue of the early evening sky. “Are you convinced, Mark?”

“Yes, of course. Why?”

Bony reiterated what he had told Dr. Havant.

“And so we break out of here precisely as though we were in Goulburn jail. Those aborigines are the warders, Mark. But we haven’t a night watch to contend with, and therefore all our work must be done at night. I’m glad that fellow’s appearance convinced you; you could help me to convince the others.”

“Sure thing, I’ll do that. I understand, too, that we could make a muck of things, and toss away a hell of a good chance. Theothers’ll have to be drilled and bashed if they won’t fall in. You’ll find me on your side all the way. As I said, I’m going to get there, and I’m not standing for any back chat.”

“Good! How’s the boring going?”

“In about two inches. Think thoseabos heard the tapping?”

“They could have done, but if we don’t persist they’ll be baffled. Tell the others to come out here and relax, pretend they are bored, fed up, and all that. I may persuade Myra to brew a billy of tea.”

As Brennan was leaving, Myra left her stove and stood before Bony. He stood also, inviting her to be seated with him on the pack-saddle.

“What’s the conference about?” she asked, coolly.

“Aborigines. They’re up top.”

“Howd’you know that?”

“I saw their shadows. Mark saw one fellow looking down at us.”

“Oh! I thought you were plotting to leave me behind.”

“I ought to have been doing just that, but I wasn’t. You have a pair of walking shoes?”

“Don’t be silly. All I had on was a gown over pyjamas and a pair of slippers, when I found a man waiting outside the lavatory on the train. He hit me instead of inviting me to dress. A lady doesn’t expect that kind of treatment, you know.”

“Two hundred miles is a long walk in bare feet.”