Chapter 5

The year ended. Richard drove west and north, arriving at Lamorbey on schedule. He was welcomed by Janey with an exuberant night of sex. In the morning he was welcomed back by the foreman and many of the crew. Ferd was in Emerald on a “shopping trip.”

Ferd turned up in mid-afternoon. He’d been purchasing ammunition: .30- .30 and .30-06 cartridges and a box of slugs for the 12-gauge shotgun, which Richard had never seen. The “hunting party” was to be made up of Ferd, Richard, Janey, Al, and three natives – Joshua, Caleb and James. Al would carry the “brand-new” Mossberg pump action shotgun. Richard, Ferd and Janey each had Remingtons, Richard opted for the lever.

Their gear and tucker was on three pack horses, as they expected to be away for up to two weeks.

Once Ferd got us started, Richard understood his father’s plan. They cleared about four feet in from the fence, with Joshua and Caleb doing the hard work. Then James made a hole with and augur and a second a yard in. Richard made a slit trench with a spade and Janey and Al put in two posts, strung wire mesh along the slit and Richard attached the mesh to the posts with galvanized staple nails. The posts were set vertical and barbed wire was strung and nailed. After that, the post holes were eight to ten feet apart. Mr. Miller had been saving wood from clearing pasturage, it seems, and had cuttings from red cedar at the sawmill made into nearly a thousand eight foot posts. They’d been trucked to the fence while Richard was in Gatton, and were distributed along it, as were rolls of mesh and coils of wire.

They worked till dusk, ate, slept, and were up at dawn. Janey bagged the first pig, pushing its snout against the old fence early in the day. As it was outside Lamorbey, she let it lie. But Caleb climbed over and fetched it. “Good eatin’,” he said. “Back in time for lunch.”

“Where’s he going?” Richard asked.

“To his band. We’ll send ‘em all the meat we get,” Ferd told him.

Caleb was back, bringing a young boy with him. “David’ll run and take meat,” he explained.

On the third day, they found a place where the pigs had burrowed under the fencing, pushing the bottom wire up and and digging a sort of trench in the soil. They embedded mesh on the outer fence for a yard in each direction. That day, towards dusk, they came upon a large sow with her litter. Al took her out with a slug to her head and Janey and Ferd shot the six shoats. Caleb picked up the sow and David tied the piglets together.

“They’re as bad as rats,” Al said. “We might get ‘em all. We’ll figger out where they get water.”

“Water?”

“Pigs drink a lot. This side of the fence, they’re cut off from the Native Companion Creek. So they’ll be looking fer water. An’ we’ll set nearby an’ pot ‘em.”

Three days later Janey took off, returning to the main house. While she was away, Richard teamed with Al.

“You were friendly with Janey when you wuz here afore,” Al said.

“Yes. She took me out riding the fence. North along the road.”

“Lot o’ the blokes make jokes about her.”

“Yes. I think most of it’s gas. I know she hit one cobber who tried to squeeze a melon.”

“Hmmm.”

“Why?”

“I like her. She knows how to work. Bit on the hefty side, but nice lookin’. Think she’d talk to me?”

“Why not? You know she’s bin widdered?”

“Yeah. I heard. What’s she, around 30?”

“A year or two under.”

“I’m 35. Bin workin’ since I wuz 16. Here fer nearly 10 years. Mr. Miller sed if’n I get hitched he’d give me thet li’l house near his’n.”

“That would be a good deal.”

“Waddyu think Janey’d say?”

“Don’t have any idea. Have you ever taken her anywhere?”

“Where?”

“Is there a place to eat in Emerald?”

“Couple.”

“An’ a place that sells emeralds?”

“Course.”

“Got some dosh?”

“Nuttin’ to spend it on.”

“OK. Ask her if she’ll go for lunch with you, say on a Saturday. Take her for lunch. Then take her to a jewelry store. Tell her you’d like to buy her a ring. Then you’re on your own.”

“I guess I can use a ute.”

“Take my Jeep.”

“You’re fair dinkum, mate!”

A few days later they were back from nearly two weeks of hot, dirty hard work. Richard emerged from a lengthy bout in the (sun-heated) shower to see Al talking to Janey. At breakfast he handed the Jeep’s key to Al. Al just nodded.

By ten on Saturday morning the Jeep was gone. Richard spent the day weeding the vegetables.

In the morning Al had a grin on his face. “Thanks for borrowin’ me your Jeep,” he said, returning the key. “I put gas in ‘er.”

“The car or Janey?”

Al nearly knocked him over with a fist to the shoulder. “Gotta talk to the Millers.”

“I guess that’s my answer.”

Al walked towards the main house. Janey emerged from the bunkhouse.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. He’s a solid bloke.”

“I knew that. You didn’t say anything, did you?”

“I never said anything to anyone.”

“You’re priceless. And you could have kept on nailing me.”

“For under two months. And then I’d be back to the College.”

“Still ... You’ll be coming back before the end of the year.”

“Yes. But I’d not be marrying you. Al’s really serious. By the time I’m back here at the beginning of next December, you’ll have a newborn.”

Janey had tears in her eyes. “You’re serious.”

“Damn right. When will it be?”

“Depends on Mr. Miller. A few weeks, I guess.”

“Where?”

“I dunno. Barcaldine, I suppose.”

“Why there?”

“Nearest Queensland Registry Office.”

“Got it!”

Al came bounding up. “We can have the house. Mrs. Miller says it needs a thorough cleaning.”

“I’ll go through it and get a couple of lubras to help.”

“I’ll get some of the hands to paint it inside and out. Just let me know. And you two better tell the hands.”

James and Richard were sent to the northwest to ride the fence to the point where it had been pig-reenforced. They took a pack horse and were away for a week. Richard got his first taste of honey ants and acacia sap. They saw no pigs at all, nor any traces of them near a spring. James told Richard some Dreamtime stories as they sat drinking from their billies. Richard especially liked: