Arthur Upfield - The Barrakee Mystery

Once more the horse hunched its legs to rise. Once more Ralph leapt a full yard to the saddle. In it, he was shot up by the springing horse.

And then again came the eternal succession of whirling spins, high-flung rear-hoofs, back-rearing with fore-hoofs clawing the sky, humped arched back, gathered bunched feet, then up, up, to be suspended between earth and Heaven and down with terrific force on four stiffened legs. Buck, spin, rear; rear, spin, buck. On and on and on, without cease.

Horse and man were covered with bloody foam. Lethargy stole over the weaker. Less and less grew the pressure of knees against heaving flanks. Every bone in Ralph’s body felt as though crushed to dust.

Buck, buck, buck. Spin and spin again. Buck, rear on fore-feet, rear on hind-legs, fore-feet thrashing the dust-thickened air. Rear, spin, buck, and buck again. In and out of the dust-cloud maddened beast and puny human charged in sickening lurches, whirls, and undulating rushes.

Mrs Watts did not see the end. She slumped down against the rails in a faint. Kate clung to the great fence as though all strength had ebbed from her limbs. Nothing of her moved but her eyes. Sonny was stunned.

Horse and man were enveloped in the dust, invisible. It seemed to Kate that something awful had happened. The world ceased to be. Movement stopped. Everything-time, her heart-stood still. Slowly the dust was wafted aside by a zephyr wind. Like the picture on the developing plate there came into her vision the still, mud-caked form of a horse lying stretched out, stiffened in death, its heart broken. And standing, regarding it pitifully, Ralph Thornton, the reins yet in his hands.

She saw him raise his head slowly. She saw his handsome face disfigured by dust, and the dust on his cheeks was furrowed by great, slow-falling tears. From a far distance she heard him say, plaintively:

“Katie, Katie! Oh, Katie, I’ve killed him!”

She saw him close his eyes and fall as if shot across the body of the great horse.

Poor Old Bony

DUGDALE DROVE Kate Flinders and her uncle back to Barrakee the next afternoon. Ralph had been left behind, enthroned in the hearts of the overseer and his wife, and occupying the position of a god to the worshipping Sonny.

He had recovered from the faint of exhaustion to find himself in the horse-breaker’s arms, whilst that alarmed man was carrying him to the house, followed by the two women, Mrs Watts having been revived by Kate. But the next morning, though he was quite uninjured, the young man could hardly walk.

He was wearing a pair of the overseer’s trousers-his own having been frayed to ribbons-but the inner sides of his legs were red raw from the friction of the saddle, and walking was extremely painful. Kate and the squatter agreed that Mrs Thornton must not see him like that, or even know of his strenuous ride, for of late the Little Lady had complained of her heart.

“I think, Kate, we were wise to leave Ralph behind for a day or two,” the squatter remarked, after an unusually long silence. “We must tell your aunt that Watts required additional help. What have you been thinking about?”

“Ralph.”

The squatter waited, but Kate did not continue. He fell to wondering if his niece had discovered that she loved Ralph. Sincerely he hoped so, for her marriage to his and his wife’s adopted son had been their joint dream. The girl had come to them at the death of her mother ten years earlier, her father having died but one month before. She occupied a place in his heart similar to that occupied by Ralph in the heart of his wife. After an interval, she said:

“What did you say to Sonny, Uncle?”

“Quite a lot,” he replied grimly. “But, after all, he was not much to blame. He knew Ralph could ride, and like all of us who know horses, he didn’t dream that the gelding would fight like that, certainly not that the brute would go mad. No, he wasn’t much to blame, and he had the sense to get his rifle ready for use if the horse had thrown the lad and gone for him.” For a moment he hesitated. “By gum, I’d have given a thousand pounds to see that ride.”

“I would never have believed that a horse could have bucked so,” she said with shining eyes. “And never would I have believed that any man could have ridden him. Ralph was just wonderful.”

“He’s got sand all right, Kate. He’s altered a lot during his last school term. He is quieter, and I have the idea that he is thinking a great deal.”

“Worrying about something?” she asked.

“No, not worrying. Just thinking-thinking out some problem. I may be quite wrong. Do you love him, Kate?”

“Of course I do,” she flashed back.

Mr Thornton sighed. He knew that her unhesitating answer indicated one thing only. She went on:

“Why do you ask that, Uncle?”

“I was wondering,” was his answer. “I should like to know in plenty of time, so that I could see about the wedding.”

The car was travelling over the fine last stretch of road at fifty-five miles an hour. But Kate was insensible to the speed. A soft blush suffused her cheeks when she met the direct gaze of her companion.

“I don’t love him that way, Uncle,” she said. “Or at least I don’t think I do.” She added reproachfully: “You really should not have drawn that confession from me.”

He saw her embarrassment, took her nearest hand in his two and pressed it. His voice was only a whisper when he said:

“Perhaps not, Katie. But never keep any secrets from your old uncle. Some day you will love. Some day Ralph will fall in love. Your aunt and I would be happy if you were to fall in love with each-Butno matter, my dear. Whoever is Mr Right-and the man you choose will be Mr Right-be assured, Katie, that you and he have in me a lovers’ friend and confidant. I only want you to be gloriously happy.”

Looking into the beautiful face, he wondered as he always did at the purity written upon it. Just then her eyes were moist and her lips a little parted. She was about to speak, but refrained. Her eyelids fell and the blue liquid pools were hidden. Putting her other hand over his two, she clasped them with a tight, affectionate squeeze.

When they reached the homestead dusk was falling. Their explanation of Ralph’s absence given, they saw a momentary flash of disappointment in the Little Lady’s face.

“Well, well, don’t keep him out there long, John,” she said, putting her arm through his. “You see, he will always ride the most outrageous horses, and sometimes I am afraid.”

“Afraid you needn’t be. Ralph can ride anything,” replied her husband with conviction.

After dinner he left his wife reading in the long drawing room, and Kate playing soft airs on the piano, and proceeded to his office to read the mail arriving that day, and to ring up his riders. For an hour he lounged in the swivel chair behind his desk and was thinking of rejoining the ladies when someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he answered, and reached for a cigarette.

A man entered, closing the door again softly. Striding to the desk, he came into the light from the low-hung bulb, and proved to be a stranger.

“Mr Thornton?” he asked in faintly drawling tones.

“Yes. What can I do for you?”

The squatter saw before him a man, whose age he guessed to be between thirty-five and forty. His features were those of the white man; his complexion was a ruddy black, not the jet-black of the thoroughbred aboriginal. He was dressed as a bushman.

“I have a letter for you, Mr Thornton, which will explain my presence.”

The station-owner noted the accent and the grammar, which spoke of constant association with whites from an early age. He accepted a long blue envelope. It contained a sheet of foolscap, headed, “Police Station, Wilcannia”, and read: