Ruby of Kettle Farm (3 page)

‘A
NOTHER
of our chooks has disappeared,' Uncle James said at breakfast on Friday. ‘I'd say that's at least half a dozen gone now.' He frowned at Ruby. ‘Have you been keeping an eye on that dog of yours?'

‘Yes, Uncle James.' Oh no, Ruby thought. Not this again! Why does Uncle James always think it's poor Baxter who's killing our chooks?

‘It must be a fox, Dad,' Walter said, pouring milk on his porridge. ‘If it was Baxter, there'd be some sort of evidence. You know – blood on his face, dirt on his paws. And how would he get in? We fixed the last hole in the fence.'

‘You've got no idea, have you, boy?' said Uncle James. His face began to twitch. ‘What were fox terriers bred for? Hunting. It's their instinct to kill. Why should that dog be any different?'

‘Because he has a nice nature,' Ruby said. ‘And because I do keep an eye on him. And because he's chained up at night.'

‘Well, last night he wasn't,' Uncle James said grimly. ‘This morning I saw that he'd slipped his collar. And it's not the first time.'

‘I always put it on really tightly,' Ruby protested. ‘If I put it on any tighter, he'll choke to death.'

‘As I said,' Uncle James went on. ‘The dog was free, possibly all night. When we find out how he's getting in, we have our culprit. And then –' He made a gun with his fingers.
‘Pow!'

Ruby looked at him in horror. ‘No!'

‘Prove to me otherwise, then. I'm sick and tired of that blasted animal. It's nothing but trouble. Has been since day one.'

‘That's not quite fair, James,' said Aunt Vera. ‘He's a very good little dog really, and he's settled down nicely with Shep and Sparkie.'

‘Excuse me, Uncle James, but you just
want
it to be Baxter because you don't like him,' Ruby said. ‘It was you who said he had to be chained up outside at night, remember? If I was allowed to keep him inside, I'd know where he was the whole time, wouldn't I?'

Uncle James stared at her, his face twitching even more. ‘In this house,' he said, ‘children do not answer back. I will not tolerate rudeness. Please leave the table.'

‘Dad, I'm sure Ruby didn't mean to be rude,' May said.

‘Baxter's not a thief, Dad,' Bee said, her eyes filling with tears. ‘He just
plays
with the chooks.'

‘Enough,' said Uncle James. ‘Be quiet, both of you.'

Ruby stood up, pushed her chair back, and went out into the hallway, fuming. Uncle James was so unfair!

‘Ruby's quite right,' she heard Aunt Vera say. ‘You've been against Baxter from the moment you saw him, and you just want an excuse to be rid of him.'

‘Nonsense,' replied Uncle James. ‘A dog that doesn't work is a useless dog, and I've given this one several chances. He's run out of luck.'

‘Winifred might have something to say about that,' Aunt Vera said. ‘Like Ruby, she's very attached to Baxter. He's a link with Harry. With happier times.'

‘Winifred?' said Uncle James. ‘It may have escaped your attention, Vera, but your sister has very little to say about anything these days. And why isn't she here? Why isn't she having breakfast with us? She mopes around like some kind of ghost. She never speaks, she never eats –'

‘Hush, James,' Aunt Vera said. ‘Not in front of the children, please.'

‘Why not in front of the children? We all know what's going on with Winifred. The wretched business with Harry is affecting all of us, one way or another. Things are falling apart.'

‘If things are falling apart, we must do our best to put them back together again.' Aunt Flora was speaking now. ‘We cannot magically remove the cause of Winifred's sadness. But either Baxter is killing our fowls, or he is not.'

Ruby tiptoed away down the hallway. Everything is so awful I can't bear it, she thought. There must be something I can do – but what?

‘This is the craziest plan I ever heard of,' May said. ‘Who's to say the fox that's taking the chooks will turn up tonight?'

‘It might,' Ruby said. ‘And if it does, I want to see where it gets in. We have to prove to Uncle James that Baxter isn't the thief.'

It was past midnight, and she and May were in the chook yard, sitting together in the roosting shelter. They'd piled up straw to make a sort of bed and wrapped themselves in a smelly old blanket. The chooks had stopped their anxious squawking and had settled down to sleep on their perches.

May leaned back into the straw and yawned. ‘Are you quite sure you want to do this?'

‘I'm sure. But you don't have to stay out here with me. I'll be all right.'

‘As if I'd leave a townie like you out here on your own! Anything could happen.'

The straw was surprisingly comfortable. Ruby yawned, too, and snuggled down . . .

The sound of the rooster crowing was so loud that she jumped. Oh my hat, she thought, dazed. It's so close, it sounds as if it's standing on our bedroom windowsill. Then she remembered where she was. All around her hens were making their early morning noises, scratching in the earth, fluffing their feathers in the chilly morning sunlight.

May was snoring faintly, her mouth open, her curly hair full of straw. Ruby elbowed her in the ribs.

‘Wake up, May. It's morning already.'

‘What? Who? Oh no – did the fox come?'

‘If it did,' Ruby said, ‘we missed it.'

‘Drat,' said May. ‘That means we'll have to do this all over again tonight, doesn't it?'

But that night Ruby tiptoed out of the house alone.

It had been a busy day. In the morning Ruby had gone into town with Uncle James and Walter to pick up her photographic prints. At last! She'd left the film to be developed weeks ago. She had just enough money to pay for the prints, with threepence left over. Once again there was nothing in the mail from Dad, but to her surprise there was a letter for Walter. He didn't say anything about it, just stuffed it into his pocket.

For the rest of the day she and May had worked hard, helping Aunt Vera to clean out the pantry, and after supper May had gone to bed early. She'd fallen asleep straightaway, and Ruby hadn't had the heart to wake her.

After checking that Baxter was still safely in his kennel, she went to the chook yard. She sat down in the shelter, pulled the blanket around her shoulders, and waited.

It was lonely without May, and much spookier. The pine trees at the end of the yard looked black and witchy. An owl hooted. Another answered.

Maybe Dad is sleeping outside tonight, too, Ruby thought. He could be on the road. Perhaps he's out in the country somewhere, and he's trying to sleep and he can't because he's cold and hungry. Perhaps he's thinking of me and Mother. Oh, Dad.

A lump came into her throat. Trying to ignore it, she stared into the darkness.

What seemed like hours later, she felt rather than heard the fox. It moved silently outside the chook-yard fence, a shadow in the moonlight.

Ruby held her breath.

There it was, no more than two yards away from her. The chook thief.

The fox raised its nose and sniffed the air. Now she could see its neat triangular face and its big pointed ears. It looked just like the fox head on Mother's fur stole. Its eyes shone bright gold in the darkness.

I'll sit very still, Ruby thought, and as soon as it gets into the yard, I'll chase it away. She gulped. Would the fox attack her? It wasn't very big, but it was a wild animal, after all.

To her disappointment and relief, the fox didn't come any closer. It moved away noiselessly, its brush dragging on the ground.

Perhaps it smelled me, Ruby thought, and that frightened it away. But I still have to find out how it gets through the fence. I'd better stay, in case it comes back. This time I
won't
go to sleep.

But she did.

She was awoken by a creaking sound, and instantly her heart began to thump. Somebody was opening the gate to the yard. Quiet footsteps approached. Some of the hens began to cluck nervously.

It was almost dawn now, and the light was greyish, but Ruby could see quite well. She stood up and moved to the front of the shelter.

The man – now she could see it was a man – came closer. It wasn't Uncle James and it wasn't Walter. He was carrying a sack, and he was creeping up towards the rooster, which was drinking from a water bowl. By now Ruby's heart was beating so fast that she was trembling. Oh my hat, she thought. Who is it? What can I do? What if he gets angry, and hurts me?

And then – 

‘Mr West!' said May's voice.

The man jumped and looked up, and now Ruby could see his face beneath his pulled-down hat. ‘Blimey, you scared me,' he said.

May pushed her way through the flock of squawking hens. ‘You were stealing our rooster, weren't you?' she said sternly.

‘Me? Not on your life,' Mr West protested. ‘But there's no need to tell your old man I was here. We'll just forget this ever happened, shall we?' He watched Ruby with narrowed eyes as she came out of the shelter, then suddenly moved forward and grabbed her by the arm. ‘And if you say anything, girlie, I'll pass the word around the district about your dad.'

Ruby yanked her arm free. ‘I have to tell Uncle James it was you, or he'll go on thinking it's my dog who's been killing the chooks,' she said.

‘Your dog's worth more than my family, is it?' said Mr West. ‘If you dob me in, I'll be back in the clink in half a tick. Is that what you want? Think of the kids – think of little Josie.' He looked at Ruby. ‘You know what it's like to be without your dad.'

Ruby tried not to think of little Josie. ‘That's not fair.'

‘Look,' May interrupted, ‘this has nothing to do with Ruby's father. You can ruin Ruby's life, but it won't stop you going to prison. You're supposed to be helping
my
father in exchange for living in our cottage, and so far you've paid us back by stealing our chooks. So here's what we'll do. You show up to work on Monday, and we'll forget we saw you. I'll tell Dad there was a swaggie in the chook yard this morning.'

‘Work?' Mr West's face fell. ‘What about my crook back?'

‘Your bad back hasn't stopped you walking all the way over here to take our chooks, has it?' May told him. ‘I'm sure you can manage a little light farm work.'

Mr West sighed heavily. ‘It's a deal,' he said. ‘But youse girls drive a hard bargain.'

He walked off into the grey morning, and May turned to Ruby. ‘Are you all right? Why didn't you wake me last night? When I saw you weren't in your bed I was so worried about you.'

‘Of course I'm all right,' Ruby said, ‘mostly thanks to you.' She looked at May and began to laugh. ‘You were utterly smashing.'

‘I was, wasn't I?' said May, laughing too. ‘I was dead scared, though. And now we've got another scary thing to do. We have to tell Dad a huge fib.'