Chapter 15

Gordy

Sunday morning saw us back up on the horses. We rode along the river, now a red-mud stream about two meters across. I could see frogs hatching out of the mud. It was easy to understand the stories from the dreamtime.

Maddy led us inland and in a few minutes I could hear cattle. Only a bit later, I could smell them, too.

"Here's your heifers," Maddy said. "Around 500, you said?"

"Yup. Exactly 500. There was 573, an' that feller from Undelaroo or someplace bought 50. And 23 of 'em ain't cows."

"Undoolya," I said.

"Right." Charlie shrugged. "So 573 less 50 is 523."

"Very good, Charlie. Very good." Maddy gave him a grin. "Now, what's the best way to see if they're OK?"

"Waal. First thing to do is count the legs."

"Hunh?"

"Yep. Count the legs an' divide by four. Then you know how many you got." He laughed. "Damn! That's the way we useta trick kids. If they come up with an odd number, we'd tell 'em they needed to learn the difference between legs and tails."

"OK. OK. But what do you want to do?"

"We'll just ride through 'em slow an' look 'em over. If there's one lyin' down, she's a goner. If one of 'em looks unhappy, we'll look closer. I ain't gonna count 'em now."

So we rode among the cattle, not in a bunch. Maddy went right, Weena went left, and Charlie and I sort of right and left of the middle. When we got together on the far side, maybe a kilometer or so from where we started, Charlie shook his head.

"This ain't gonna work, Maddy," he said. They've browsed most of the grass an' the field's deep in shit. Is there a bigger field we can put 'em in? A lot bigger?"

"Yep. Yours. This is my holdin' paddock."

"Right. What time is it?"

"Bit past ten."

"Yup. Let's head up to that boundary fence. I need to know how far it is. Is my place divvyed up, or one big enclosure?"

"I dunno. I guess it's at least two or three enclosures. Even the folks years ago wouldn't want everything jus' wandrin' around near 10,000 hectares."

"What?"

"Your lease is just under 10,000 hectares. I dunno what that is in acres. It's between 35 and 40 square miles."

"That's a good-sized bit."

"Yep. Mine's about 33 square miles. The two together's nearly 19,000 hectares — 70 square miles."

I looked at Weena and she looked at me. It was clear that Charlie hadn't realized just how big stations were in the outback or the red center.

He grinned. "Waal, I guess we got a lot to look at."

A few minutes later we were at the east-west fence.

Charlie

I wanted to talk to Maddy. Oh, yeah, we slept together two nights. But I wanted to know more. I just didn't have no idea how to ask.

"You from around here?" was the best I came up with.

"Nope. I was born on a sheep station near Bourke. That's in New South Wales. Over a thousand kilometers east o' here. Met Morris there. He was foreman on another station. I was just 19. He smelled of different. Of adventure. He'd saved up some money and heard about this lease. So he talked to my folks an' they gave us $5000 as a wedding present. An' we bought the leasehold an' moved. It's bin OK. But it ain't bin easy."

"No kids?"

"Nope. I'd a like one or two. But nope. I went to the doc in the Alice about ten years ago, an' he couldn't find nothin' wrong. Morris wouldn't go. Now I guess I'm too old." I thought I saw a tear.

"Would you get married agin'?"

"That a question or are you askin'?"

"Too soon to be askin'."

We rode on in silence. I'd been eying the fence. "Hol' on!" I said. Them kids caught up. "Lookee!" I pointed. There was a pair of gates in the fence. Both sides were sagging — most likely the top hinges weren't holding. They were held together by a heavy chain. Probably padlocked on the other side — my side.

"Maddy, you got a gun with you?"