Barefoot and Lost (60 page)

     ‘Is he really mine?’

     ‘Yes, he’s from us, the saddle is from
Jack
, the bridle is from
Stan------
’

     ‘And the stockman coat is from mum, dad and me.’

     ‘Fantastic, I’m going to call him Haitch, for horse.’

     ‘
Phil
, that is a horrible name, he is beautiful, he deserves better.’

     ‘I agree May, his stable name is
Hero
, call him Haitch as a nickname, not Haitch for horse, but Haitch for Hero.’

     ‘Yes, you’re right, he does deserve better, I will call him Hero.’

     Phil, be careful with him he is a lot more lively than Sp
ike, he’s a good stock horse, and
knows what to do you will learn from him. May, get Spike saddled up the pair of you get out to
Kelly
’s paddock and do some counting.’

     ‘I’ll give you a hand May.’

     ‘Thank you
Stan
.’

     ‘
Phil
, while I’m helping May I suggest you ride
Hero
around the yard to familiarize yourself, like, get to know each other.’

     ‘Six hundred and eighty four, we should have six hundred and eighty three, so it’s right, plus that big one that missed shearing and crutching. I wonder how he managed to do that.’

     ‘He may not be one of ours, maybe one of
Bill
’s? He could have come from the forest.’

     ‘How would he have got through the fence?’

     ‘Maybe there’s a break somewhere, we had better check, it’s a bit longer home through the back paddock, but I don’t mind, it will give me more time to ride Hero. Help me catch that woolly bugger, so we can put him in the yard with the grass growing at the back, then Stan can come out tomorrow and crutch and wig him.’

     ‘What about water for him?’

     ‘He’s a Merino, he’ll be right for a couple of days; Merino’s don’t need a lot of water.’ 

     Leaving the yard gate wide open, with woolly locked in the back pen; we mount up call the dogs and start our boundary check.

     ‘
May
,
do you know where
Owen
and
Stan
were going today?’

     ‘Coleraine I think, why?’

     ‘That’s what I thought, then who is that over there?’

     ‘Where, I can’t see anyone?’

     ‘About half a mile, see the big clump of trees just to the right of them, the sun is shining on a windscreen or something.’

     ‘I can see it now, who do you think it is?’

     ‘I don’t know, but if it’s not
Owen
I don’t know who. There is nobody else with a car or a truck, and he won’t have had time to go to Coleraine and back, especially as it is his Rotary Lunch today, he never misses that.’

     ‘What about
Bill
?’

     ‘He only has a horse and buggy, it doesn’t have windows, I reckon it is someone that shouldn’t be there.’

     ‘Who could they be?’

     ‘Maybe someone stealing sheep,
Owen
was worried about that when
Stan
found the fence knocked down.’

     ‘What are we going to do?’

     ‘If we stay close to the fence, under the trees, they may not see us, and then we can watch what they are doing. If they are stealing, I will frighten them away while you gallop back to the homestead and get help.’

     As we get closer I can see a livestock truck with its rear end smashed through the fence
.
The loading ramp is down, but there is no sign of anybody. Both Taffy and Defor have their heads raised and are sniffing the air. The dogs start to run but stop as soon as I call them, ‘May we had
better get down and tie them, ca
n’
t have
the dogs warning them.’

     Using our stock whips as leashes, we mount again. About half a mile down the paddock I can see three men, with two dogs, driving fifty or sixty sheep. We are now right up to the truck, there doesn’t appear to be anyone with it. ‘Keep watch May, I’m going to see if I can do something to the truck so they can’t drive it.’

     ‘You could let the tyres down.’

     ‘No, I’ll see if I can break the engine then they definitely won’t be able to drive away.’

    The truck is a Dodge, just a bigger version of the Ute. There are no keys in the dash like ours, and, in fact, there is nowhere to put them. ‘Are they still coming, May?’

     ‘Yeah
, but they are still a long way off.’ With difficulty I manage to raise the bonnet, the engine is just a bigger version. I try to pull the cable out of the coil but it won’t budge, I try tugging the other end, it won’t move either.

      ‘
Phil
, hurry, they are getting closer.’ I remember the pliers on my belt; using them as a lever the cable comes away from the coil. Using the same method; I pull the other end out of the
distributor. P
ut
ting
the cable in my pocket,
I
then quietly close the bonnet and jump down from bumper bar.

     “May, what we have to do now is ride at them as fast as we can and make as much noise as we can, cracking our whips. The sheep will scatter, and the men will come back to the truck to escape, but won’t be able to because it won’t start. I’ll try and keep them here, you ride as fast as you can and get
Owen
, or
Gloria
to call the police, okay?’

      ‘Will you be alright?’

     ‘I’ll be fine.’ bending down I untie the dogs,
and
remount Hero, ‘Are you ready?’

     ‘Yes, I think so, I’m a bit scared, are you sure it will be alright?’

     ‘Of course it will; what could they do? We are on horseback; if they chase us we can outrun them.’

     ‘Yes but supposing they have a rifle they could shoot us?’

     ‘I can’t see them carrying any.’ I am level with the cab and can see, on a bracket in the rear window, a rifle. ‘Quick, hold Hero, leaping into the cab I lift the rifle down and throw it, as far as I can, over the fence into a clump of bushes. ‘Okay, come on, let’s do it.’

     Galloping our horses, cracking our whips and yelling at the tops of our voices, we bear down on the men and their dogs. The sheep scatter and the men run towards the truck.     

     ‘Go May, as fast as you can.’ Taffy and Defor try to round up the sheep but I shout at them and drive the sheep further away. I can see two men are raising the ramp, while the third man is trying to start the truck. One of the robber’s dogs is attacking Taffy, Defor comes to his assistance, and the dog runs off yelping. The men have succeeded in raising the ramp, now all three of them are looking under the bonnet. A very tall fat man throws his arms in the air, gets in the cab, goes to the back window to find the rifle missing. He leaps out of the cab and starts to run towards me shouting, almost screaming. As he gets closer I can hear him shouting, ‘You fucking bastard I’ll kill you.’ 

     Keeping an eye on him and the others, I give
Hero
a little nudge with my heels and move further away. The other two shout to their mate climb over the fence and start to run through the forest. Fat man picks up a stone, drawing his arm back, like a baseball pitcher, he throws the stone, I can see it coming straight at me. I attempt to turn Hero, but I’m too late, it misses me by a whisker and hits
Hero
on his neck. The shock causes
Hero
to rear onto his hind legs and twist. Not expecting it
,
I fly out of the
saddle
and
crash to the ground,
the wind
is knocked
out of me and Hero gallops off. 

     Trying to regain my breath, struggling to get up, Fat man grabs me by the front of my shirt, drags me to my feet, and lifts me up, with my feet barely touching the ground. His face is a couple of inches from mine, with his saliva spraying all over me he screams,  

     ‘What have you done to my fucking truck you bastard tell me or you’re fucking dead.’

    Trying to kick him, he backs away from my boot and stumbles over a log; we both fall to the ground, with me landing on top of him. He is still gripping my shirt and screaming swearing. This big man is throwing me around like a rag doll, I’m sure my head is going to fall off. His abuse suddenly changes to a high pitched scream, which seems to be competing with the growls of Defor, Fat man lets go of me. I scramble to my feet to see Defor, has his jaw locked on Fat man’s fleshy calf, desperately he is trying to kick Defor off, but Defor is not having any of it and is now shaking Fat man’s leg, his screams get louder and his words have become incoherent.

     ‘Defor leave it!!’ But he is still shaking and growling, ‘Defor, come here!!’ Defor hears me and releases his grip. Fat man takes his opportunity and leaps to his feet, he takes a hefty kick at Defor, but Defor is too quick for him and is only caught with a glancing blow. With Defor going crazy, barking, and growling, Fat man decides to follow his mates, with Defor in pursuit, only giving up the chase when Fat man scrambles through the fence into the forest. I’m tempted to go to the truck and find the rifle, just in case he comes back, but think better of it, and decide to hide behind a fallen log, where I can wait and watch until
Constable
Connelly
arrives.      

     There is no sign of Hero; it is starting to get dark a couple of times I have been convinced that someone is creeping up on me but it is only the light playing tricks. At last, I can see car headlights in the forest. Looking behind me I can also see
Owen
’s Ute, bouncing across the paddock, alongside is someone on horseback. As they get closer I can see it is May on Hero. When they come up to me, I can
see
Stan
in the Ute with Owen
. May dismounts and says, ‘Look what I have found, really
Phil
you know you should take better care of your horse?’

     ‘Yeah, right May
I’ll try harder, promise.’    

     ‘May, this is no time for joking, what happened, where did they go
Phil
?’

     ‘Into the forest, there were three of them;’ I suddenly feel like jelly and start to tremble.

     ‘Are you alright
Phil
, how come you got off of Hero?’

     ‘I didn’t, I was thrown off, the fat man grabbed hold of me,
he was shaking and shouting at me,
h
e said he was going to kill me,
but De
for attacked him. I called him
off, when he let go, the man ran away. Defor was great; I reckon he saved me from getting really hurt.’

     Defor leans against me as though he knows I am talking about him. I reach down to pat him and he licks my hand, I go to wipe Defor’s saliva off my hand and notice there is blood in it. ‘I’m okay
Owen
but I think the robber may be hurt, Defor has blood in his mouth.’

     ‘Serve the bastard right.’

     A shout comes from the direction of the truck but I can’t hear what is being said.
Owen
moves the Ute forward to
Constable
Connelly
, who is doing the shouting. May and I follow, I’m leading
Hero
. May takes hold of my hand, I turn and look at her wi
th a questioning expression,
she blushes and says, ‘I’m just making sure, you Pommy bastard, that you don’t get into any more trouble.’ I squeeze her hand but don’t let go, I’m rather enjoying it.

     ‘Yeah
right.’ I can feel my neck getting red.    

     ‘How many of them were there?’
Owen
answers,

     ‘
Phil
says there were three of the buggers.’

     ‘Well, two down one to go.’

     ‘You’ve caught two already?’

     ‘Wasn’t difficult, they were walking along the highway, couldn’t explain what they were doing there,
Pat
is holding them.’

     ‘How come they didn’t do a runner in the truck?’