Arthur Upfield - The Mountains have a Secret

Shannon groaned. “Only two,” he replied. “I was a bit careless with the second hombre. Having been mooching around most of last night, I decided I’d camp and I chose a place between two stone slabs. That was early this morning, and I slept good and sound until a crow somewhere handy woke me with his cawing. Instead of waking up properly, I mumbled a curse or two and drifted off again. Then I heard a guy say: ‘Hi, you!’ and I sits up and sees two characters on horses, and one of ’emlooking down at me over his rifle sights. They weren’t nice characters, not like you, Bony. They had a mean look about ’em, and when they tell me to stand up and reach for the sky, I slips a knife into my hand as I’m scrambling to my feet.

“I’m not at all pleased with that crow whomusta give me away to these characters, and the one aiming the rifle tells the other one to dismount and come up behind to search me for weapons, as the guy is getting off his horse, and the other guy is saying how pleased he is to meet up with me after I had refused to stay and drink with him that night I left the hotel, I recalls what Pa advised to do in a situation like this. So Isorta stared at a bush behind him and nodded slightly, and that caused him to relax a trifle and so-take the knife.

“The other guy dives behind a rock with his rifle, and as I’m in the open, I can’t pause to talk to him. He shoots twice as I’m on my way, but I’m not travelling in the same directionmore’n one second at a time, and the only shooting he’s ever done has been on a rifle-range. To be real tough, a guy has to be fast, and me, I was fast, having been brought up that way. The second guy wasted time getting on his horse again. I got a good lead, but he soon reduced it and slid off his horse and did his stuff. I quite enjoyed the noise he made, and he wasn’t doing me any harm until I wassorta careless. He nipped me above the ear with a bullet, according to you, and while I was drifting into slumber I finished the war as far as he was concerned. You know how ’tis. A guy can be easily bumped off when he’s unconscious.”

Shannon having finished speaking, Bony made no comment as he was summing up the action and trying to assess its likely results.

“You can’t blame me, Bony, old pal,” Shannon went on. “I didn’t start the war, honour bright. There was me, lying comfortably asleep. I wasn’t sleeping on no private property, like Baden Park.”

“Where did you leave your pack?” Bony cut in.

“Where? Nowlemme think. Where did I leave that pack?”

“Take it easy,” Bony ordered. “I’ll go after those horses. We must get away from here. I have work for you to accomplish tonight.”

Shannon rested his head upon his folded arms and thus did not see Bony’s departure in the gloom to stalk the dead men and relieve the bodies of identification documents and, with the assurance he did not feel, collect the horses and bring them to the monolith. Shannon was ordered to mount, and in single file Bony led the way eastward and then down off the range to stop only at a shallow but swift-running creek. He watered the horses whilst the American stepped into the water, knelt in the stream, and laved his aching head.

“Can you remember now where you left your pack?” he asked when Shannon joined him and said that the icy water had given relief.

“No, I can’t-not yet. It’s mighty peculiar, not remembering. But I will.”

“Had you seen either of those two men before today?”

“Yes, both of ’emat the saloon several times. One of them arrived in the car that night I left, as I told you. They’re Baden Park sheep-herders.”

“And do you remember that one of them pointed a rifle at you and told you to get up and raise your arms?”

“A guy can forget where he left his wallet or his watch, or even his pack, but he don’t forget looking into a rifle-barrel,” replied the American seriously.

“What have you been doing since that morning Simpson burned the body?”

“Mooching around some. I saw a truck deliver beer and stores at the hotel and take on stores and petrol to Baden Park. It didn’t come back. The driver was one of Benson’s herders. I saw Simpson leave the hotel with his mother and Ferris and return in three hours. That’s about all.”

“H’m! D’you know where we are?”

Shannon gazed at the mountain crest supporting the sky in which still remained a little light.

“Guess we’re not so far from the Dunkeld road,” he replied.

“We are about a mile from it. Do you think you could locate your bike?”

“Sure. It’ll be safe enough.”

“You are going to set off for Dunkeld right away,” Bony stated. “You are going to take a message from me to the policeman stationed there. After you have delivered the message you may return and carry on with your war, because you cannot be more deeply sunk than you are for having killed two Australian stockmen.”

“Say-” Shannon began, and was cut off.

“It ought not to take more than an hour to reach Dunkeld on your machine,” Bony continued firmly. “Another hour to return makes it only two hours away from the battlefield. You can easily spare me that little period of time, and I know you will most gladly do so. Have you ever considered the possibility that your sweetheart may be alive?”

“No!” The word was flung at Bony, and to his forearm was clamped a vice of flesh and bone. “Whatd’you know, Bony, old pal? Come on, tell a guy-quick.”

“I know nothing, and because her body has not been found, I refuse to believe that she is dead. Therefore, I proceed on the assumption that she’s alive. It is a possibility which we must accept, and so have to use our brains with greater facility than we use our pistols and our knives. You were in the Army, and you must appreciate the relationship of an army to its general. I have elected myself the general because it is the general’s task to think. I want two hours of your time. Do I get it?”

Shannon said: “You do,” and added nothing.

They mounted and rode forward in the dark, and Shannon gave proof of his bushmanship by sighting the ranges against the sky so that when they reached the road it was within half a mile of his hidden motor-cycle. As the American was removing the waterproof sheeting from it, Bony asked:

“What is your opinion of those two riders? D’you think they were sent out to locate you?”

“No. I reckon they happened to be passing and the crow roused their suspicions.”

“I think you’re right,” Bony said. “They must have come from the east, otherwise I would have crossed their tracks when I went up the slope to investigate. They could have been returning from Dunkeld, taking a short cut to the entrance gate instead of following the road round past the hotel.”

He assisted the American to push the machine to the road, confident that the noise of its engine would be beaten off from the hotel by the wind blowing lazily from the north. Shannon bestrode the machine, started and warmed the engine, and then cut it dead at Bony’s command.

“I must write a little note,” Bony said. “We will sit at the side of the road and you shall strike matches to give me light.”

The note was written in three minutes, sealed in an envelope, and handed to the American.

“You have to contact Constable Groves without any delay. If he is out of town on duty, you must still contact him and give this report. He will at once proceed to Glenthompson because the telephone system in this district may be, shall we say, defective. From Glenthompson he will contact Inspector Mulligan at Ballarat. He will inform Mulligan that I request the arrest of both Simpson and Benson for the murder of Edward O’Brien and that I require a large party to raid Baden Park. He will also inform Mulligan that you will be waiting at the entrance gate to Baden Park Station to give him further information. Is that clear?”