Arthur Upfield - The Barrakee Mystery

Several times it had been seen in the act by stockmen, and the tallied descriptions left no doubt as to the identity of the dead animal with the “Killer”. Ralph produced his pocket-knife and skinned the beast from nose to tail, taking a thin strip of hide down its back. Rolling the scalp into a ball, he tied it to his saddle.

“We are not more than a mile from the tank, Katie,” he said. “I vote we go straight there and boil our quarts. The horses want a spell.”

“Very well. If they want a spell as badly as I want a pannikin of tea, they must want it bad. And, by the look of the poor things, they do.”

By the time the riders reached the tank the horses had cooled off, and, loosening the girths, they allowed the animals to drink before hitching the reins to the tank fence. A washing of hands followed, and then came the boiling of the two quart pots and making of tea. In the shade of the engine-house they ate their lunch.

The boy and girl were strangely silent during the meal. Kate was looking forward to the expression of joy on the weather-beaten, kindly face of her uncle when he saw the scalp and heard the story of the chase. But Ralph was thinking of the Little Lady’s talk with him about the girl at his side.

He had given much thought to Kate from that quite new angle. That he loved Kate he had not the slightest doubt. He had always loved her. He always would. But he had loved her, and did love her, as a sister only. He was not sure what the sexual love of man and woman, which should be the basic urge to marriage, really was. Never having been in love, it was not unnatural that he should confuse brotherly love withloverly love.

The result of deep cogitation was that he felt positive he would be happy married to Kate, if she could find happiness in being married to him. Any doubts as to the quality of his love for her were eventually banished from his mind in a laudable decision to please his foster-mother in all things.

A young man not yet twenty, his power to love was great. The almost worshipping love the Little Lady bore for him was every whit reciprocated. The tie between them, being without passion, was indeed a wonderful and beautiful thing, and in a similar way but lesser degree he loved Kate Flinders.

“I say, Katie,” he said suddenly, “do you love me?”

“Of course,” she replied, as if the fact were nothing out of the way. And then, looking at him, she saw that his dark face was deeply flushed.

“Yes, I know you love me that way, Katie,” he said slowly. “But-”

He stopped suddenly on observing the blood mantling in her face. In that moment it came to him that never before had he realized how beautiful Kate Flinders really was, and for the first time he felt a leaping desire to possess her.

“But, dear, I want to know if you love me-if you could love me sufficiently well to marry me,” he said. “You see, we have always got on splendidly, haven’t we? And it occurred to me that it would be a really terrible thing if another fellow came along and collared you away out of my life, as it were. I love you, Katie dear, and I am certain we should be happy. Besides, it would so please those at home.”

He had taken one of her hands whilst speaking, and her eyes had fallen from his frank gaze. His last sentence took her mind back to that time she rode with her uncle, and the stumblingly-worded ambition of the big-hearted man who had been so good to her came back to her, as indeed it had done since repeatedly. John Thornton had planted the seed in her mind, as his wife had planted a similar seed in the mind of Ralph; and, both beingheartwhole, the seeds of suggestion had taken root.

“What have you to say, Kate?” Ralph asked softly.

Suddenly she looked at him. He was very handsome, very gentle, brave, and clever; fine in every way. She admired him intensely.

“If you wish it, Ralph, I’ll marry you,” she said.

“Goodo, Katie darling!” he said, suddenly smiling. “This, I think, is where I kiss you.”

“Yes, I think it is, Ralph dear,” she agreed.

Three Letters-and a Fourth

RALPH THORNTON kept his two items of news until dinner was over and the family were sitting in the long main room of the house, part dining and part drawing room. Kate was playing softly on the piano anold Italian love song sent her by a girl friend in Sydney. Although she was quite happy about having consented to marry Ralph, she was perplexed. She felt that she was notso happy as she ought to be; that though her happiness was comforting it was not the tumultuous emotion so rapturously described by the novelists.

John Thornton was readingThe Pastoral Gazette; his wife was sewing; Ralph, laying down a history of Alexander the Great, began to speak.

“Dad, Kate and I had two adventures this afternoon,” he said. The girl, hearing him, played still more softly.

“Oh! And what were they?”

“We found a wild dog eating a sheep it had killed in the North Paddock.” And the young man graphically described the chase, ending by: “I think, when you see thescalp, that you’ll be pleased to divide between Kate and me your cheque for thirty pounds. It was the ‘Killer’.”

“The ‘Killer’!” echoed the squatter.

“Yes. Fawn red coat, with almost black feet. Prick-eared and full curling red tail.”

“That’s the beast,” John Thornton agreed. “Well! I’m mighty glad you got him, Ralph. Certainly, tomorrow I’ll write you cheques for fifteen pounds apiece, and be very glad to do it. How will you spend yours?”

“With your permission, I should like to buy an engagement ring.”

“An engagement ring!” the squatter echoed the second time.

Mrs Thornton ceased sewing and Kate stopped playing. Leaving the piano, the girl came into the circle and seated herself between the old and the young man. The latter was regarded by the Little Lady with startled eyes; by her husband with the suspicion of a frown.

“Have you become engaged, dear?” Mrs Thornton asked.

“Not yet, Mother. We agreed to wait until we received your permission,” the young man replied quietly.

“Who, Ralph, is the girl?”

“Why, Mother, Katie, of course!”

The strained expression of the woman’s face relaxed and gave place to a dawning smile, accompanied by a low chuckle from her husband. It was Kate who broke the silence by saying:

“I hope you are both pleased.”

“Pleased! Oh, Kate! I have dreamed of your marriage to Ralph for years.”

“Then, Mother, your dream shall come true.” Ralph rose and stood behind Kate’s chair, allowing his hands gently to caress her hair. He said: “Katie and I have decided that we love each other, that our marriage will cement the family more closely. We felt sure that you and Dad would be pleased.”

“We are, my boy,” said John Thornton. “Indeed, we are. You and Katie have made your mother and me proud and happy. But don’t hurry things; you are both of you very young yet. Suppose we say five years, at least, for the betrothal?”

“Don’t be so hard, John,” entreated his wife. “Two years will be plenty.”

“As you will, my dear. Do you want to be formally engaged?”

“We want to please Auntie and you, Uncle,” Kate said softly. The squatter was on the verge of saying something when Mrs Thornton spoke decisively:

“Of course they do, John. They say they are in love with each other, and want some day soon to marry. What I should like would be to give a betrothal party. Let it be the evening of Saturday week, the day the Land Board sits at Wilcannia. Mr and Mrs Watts will be here that day, as well as Mr and MrsHemmings and theStirlings. Let us call it a ‘Surprise Party’ on the invitations, and then towards the end you, John, can announce the engagement; and you, Ralph, can place the ring on Kate’s finger. You must wire to Sydney tomorrow. Now, don’t you think that’s a good plan?”