Black Mountain (20 page)

Mitchell nodded. ‘Yes. I can see that.'

They sat silent for a few minutes, until Mitchell stood up and held his hand out to her.

‘And now it's probably time for you to go to bed. You've had a hard day, and tomorrow will be a long one. Come on, I'll see you home.'

Taking his hand Elly rose from her chair and they walked together the few paces to her tent.

Here he turned and pushed a tendril of hair back from her face before touching her cheek gently. ‘Good night, Elly. Sweet dreams.'

He lifted the tent flap back for her.

‘Good night, Mitchell.' His touch stayed with her as she went to bed.

Chapter 32

As he watched Mitchell Beaumont leave Elly and walk across to his own tent, Jackson dropped his binoculars. He remained watching until he saw the lights of the hurricane lanterns go out in both tents, then turned and quietly picked his way back to his car, not turning on his flashlight until he was sure he couldn't be seen from the camp site.

So Elly's words that Beaumont was merely a colleague were not strictly true. They were certainly friends. Good friends. But at least they were not sleeping together. Yet.

Jealousy, and the need to know exactly what his chances were with Elly, had driven him to observe them together these last two days after they returned to their camp.

As he drove back to Cooktown, Jackson reviewed his life so far. And what he came up with wasn't much to be proud of. As an actor he was never going to amount to much, at least while he lived in New Zealand. Bit parts and a few leads with small provincial companies were the best he'd achieved so far. That was why he'd turned his acting skills to persuading unsuspecting innocents to part with their money. It was better than abandoning his dreams and taking a nine-to-five job.

He had to admit his future in New Zealand didn't look all that promising. Not enough to offer a girl like Elly.

But his imagination had caused him to write the scenario for a play, and he believed if he could try his luck overseas he'd find success, either as an actor or a playwright. When he'd asked Elly to come away with him he'd been genuine, and if she'd said yes, he would have been over the moon, and would have moved Heaven and Earth to make it happen.

But Jackson was nothing if not a pragmatist.

The money he'd received from Greg wouldn't sustain two people for very long in London, and if she had agreed, he would've had to be prepared to take a job. And for her he would do it. But she hadn't agreed. And after seeing her together with Beaumont he doubted she would.

***

Elly was wakened the next morning by a strong wind gust that shook her tent, and when she looked outside it was to see thick, black masses of clouds towering overhead. She dressed quickly and went to join Mitchell, who was scanning the sky with a frown.

‘We might not have much time left,' he greeted her. ‘From the look of those clouds and the feel of the wind, I think we're in for a storm.'

‘Then best we eat and get going,' she replied, placing the breakfast bowls on the table as she spoke.

As soon as they'd eaten and rinsed their dishes, she hurriedly put together their lunch, and they were underway half an hour earlier than usual.

This time Mitchell parked off the highway at a spot that was closer to the mountain than where they'd searched before.

‘I thought we'd concentrate on starting to edge our way around the base of the mountain today,' he told Elly. ‘If you go in closest to the rocks and I skirt around further out, we'll cover a fairly big arc each day.'

‘And hope the weather doesn't break just yet,' Elly added.

‘Exactly.'

Much as she disliked being close to the big black rocks, she knew they couldn't avoid them for any longer. It was slower going here than in the main body of the forest, for the ground was much more uneven and littered with rocks just waiting to trip the unwary walker.

The day passed slowly, one uneventful hour after another, until Elly felt there was no life outside this forest, outside of searching for the plant. As she stopped yet again to wipe the perspiration from her face and take another swig of water a little voice whispered to her,
you don't have to do this, you can go home and leave Mitchell to carry on without you
. The thought was tempting, but then she looked across to where she could see him stoically pushing his way through the jungle of plants and she smothered the thought.

When they had covered most of the first side of the main mountain area and were coming up to a sharp outcrop, Mitchell shouted to her that it was time to quit.

‘You stay there, I'll come over,' he called out, changing direction to cut through the trees and join her.

As she stopped to wait for him under the fringe of the foliage, she looked ahead to the outcrop. The mountain towered above them at this spot and the outcrop had what seemed to be a large, barren area beyond it.

‘I'm just going to see what's on the other side of those rocks,' she called back, stepping out from under the trees and heading towards it.

When she rounded the point she pulled up short, and a cry was forced from her as she stared. There, nestled in a cleft with the mountain sloping up behind and a flat, rocky area in front, was a clump of plants. And they looked very much like the
striplings
.

The blood rushed to her head as she dropped her pack and the world seemed to spin as Elly gaped at the plants clustering tightly in the fissure in the mountain, unable to move.

‘What is it?' Mitchell asked, rounding the point. ‘I thought I heard you call out—'

‘Look,' Elly interrupted him in a strangled voice. ‘Is that … are they what I think they are?'

Suddenly the strength returned to her limbs and she sprinted forward to cover the remaining distance, with Mitchell close behind her. As she reached the thicket she gazed at it for a few seconds before first touching the tall, strappy leaf of the closest plant, then reaching up and snapping off a shoot from its central stem and waving it in the air.

‘It is. It is. It's the
stripling
!' She laughed aloud as she grabbed Mitchell by the arm, pulling him with her as she commenced to dance a jig. ‘We've done it! We've found it! We've found Dad's
stripling
!'

Mitchell grabbed her by both hands and whirled her around in a circle, laughing with her.

‘Wheeee,' she shouted as she spun around. ‘We found the
stripling
, we found the
stripling
,' she chanted, until, dizzy, she stopped and collapsed into his arms.

He held her as she gasped to catch her breath, his smile wide and his eyes sparkling.

‘It's over, Elly, your search is over. And I'm so happy for you.' He bent his head and kissed her, not for long, but with an intensity that sent a wave of happiness through her. Then he lifted his head and released his hold on her, his face serious.

‘And now we have to work out what to do.' He gestured towards their discovery. ‘This is just the first part, you know. The most important part, of course, but now you have to decide what to do. Here we have a small grove of plants that are previously unknown to the rest of the world. It's a significant botanical find.'

Elly sobered as she realised what he was saying. Of course, the plant was unknown outside of the Aboriginal world. And she wanted to use it for a commercial purpose. Having discovered it, what were her legal rights?

‘I suppose this is why Dad never talked about where to find it,' she said slowly. ‘He wanted to experiment with it first, see if the results were as good as he hoped before he delved into the legal side of it.'

Mitchell nodded. ‘I'm sure you're right. And I think you should treat your find very cautiously too, don't tell anyone except your mother until we find out exactly what your position is.'

Elly realised the sense of this. ‘Yes. And we mustn't forget that whoever has Dad's journal wants to find it too. So we must be very careful.'

She walked slowly along the perimeter of the clustered plants, examining them carefully, and stopped when she saw that, in among the large mature plants, grew a few smaller ones.

‘Mitchell, look at this.' She pointed to one of the smaller clumps, its central stem covered in seeds, about a metre in height. ‘I wonder, if we take that with us, if it would grow back home? Just one plant, no-one else need know, until we decide what to do about the rest.'

‘We can do that. I'll dig this one up and we'll take it back to camp, and tomorrow we'll take it back with us.'

He went to his pack and removed a trowel. Working carefully he began to dig around the plant. It was slow work with the small tool, but eventually he lifted it from the ground and placed it carefully into the bag Elly was holding open for it.

‘There you are, your very first
stripling
.' He smiled. ‘Let's hope it's the first of a forest of them on
Wanagura
. And now let's take it back to camp.' He looked up as a peal of thunder sounded nearby. ‘We may have found it just in time. The wind's picking up and I think the weather might be about to break.'

Chapter 33

As they emerged from the forest and headed across the open ground towards the car, a strong gust of wind picked up fallen leaves and waltzed them through the air, and Elly scrunched up her face as she turned away from the debris swirling around. Mitchell grabbed her arm to hurry her across the road.

Reaching the car Mitchell placed the plant in the back and held the door against the wind for Elly to climb inside. At that moment his phone beeped. Slamming the door behind her he pulled it from his pocket and read the message on the screen.

‘Bloody hell!' he exclaimed. Racing around to the other side, he yanked open the door and sprang into his seat. ‘It's a cyclone warning,' he told her. ‘And not the first for the day, obviously, because they're warning all residents to take shelter immediately. We'd better pack up and head for Cooktown as fast as we can. The message says the Events Centre is being used as a cyclone shelter.'

A chill of alarm ran through Elly. ‘Do you think we could head back down south and outrun it?' she asked him.

He shook his head as he inserted his keys and the vehicle sprang to life. ‘Too risky,' he told her as he spun the car around and headed in the direction of the camp. ‘We must've missed the earlier warnings because there's no reception in there.' He jerked his head towards the forest they had just left. ‘They're predicting winds of a hundred and twenty-five kilometres per hour or more.'

As soon as they reached the camp they hurriedly dismantled the tents and packed their gear. It didn't take them long, but by the time they finished the wind had picked up pace, and Elly heaved a sigh of relief as Mitchell fastened the last strap in place.

‘Hop in, Elly, let's get out of here,' he told her after a last look around to make sure nothing was left behind.

It was as they headed out onto the highway that she had a sudden thought.

‘What about the
stripling
?' she asked, looking at it still sitting where they had put it in the back. ‘What are we going to do with that? We'll have to take shelter in the cyclone shelter with everyone else and we can't take it in there, it would arouse too much interest.'

‘You're right,' Mitchell agreed, frowning. ‘Someone would be bound to ask why it's so valuable that it needs protection, and it's quite possible someone could be there who would realise it's not your ordinary plant. And, strictly speaking, we shouldn't have taken it.'

Elly's mind raced, trying to think ahead. ‘Besides, we don't know who'll be in there and we don't want anyone asking questions at this stage.'

‘No. And for the same reason we don't want to leave it in the car, in full view.'

Suddenly Mitchell pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped. ‘I know where to leave it,' he said. ‘It'll be safe here, I know a perfect hiding place.'

Elly couldn't understand what he meant, as they were right alongside the boulders of Black Mountain. But he jumped out and, retrieving the plant, carried it across the road to the boulders. He jumped up on to the closest one and picked his way over them, then turning to give Elly a wave, he stepped down and disappeared from view.

Elly's stomach tensed as she waited, her eyes never leaving the spot where he had disappeared, but a few moments later he reappeared and sprang back across the boulders, his hands empty.

‘Done,' he told her, smiling broadly as he swung himself back into his seat. ‘Safe and protected from the storm. No-one will ever find it there.'

‘Where have you left it?'

‘In a cave that I know about.'

‘You've been inside Black Mountain before?' Elly asked him, astounded.

‘Once or twice. Not too far in, but I know that part. And when we come back I'll go in and retrieve it, and no-one will be the wiser.' He started the car and pulled back out onto the road. ‘And now let's get ourselves to safety.'

He put his foot down and the car sped off along the highway again.

It was as they were crossing the Annan River Bridge that the first large raindrops began to spatter the windscreen, and within minutes the lumbering clouds released their deluge and visibility was reduced to the end of the bonnet in front of them. Feeling the car shifting about on the road as the wind gusts increased in violence, Elly leant forward, her heart thumping as she strained to see ahead, glad that Mitchell was an experienced driver.

When they finally entered the Events Centre in Cooktown, carrying the folding chairs from the camp, their packs and sleeping bags, and shaking the water from their clothes, they found it was already filled with people, bustling and noisy.

Elly looked around at the assembled crowd. Family groups were gathered together, the children having been sent home from school, together with their pets, rug and pillows, and sundry toys to keep the young ones amused. At one end were wheelchairs and wheeled hospital beds for the sick and infirm, the patients being watched over and administered to by doctors and nurses, while small groups of elderly, and those who found themselves alone in this time of danger and stress, huddled near each other for comfort.