The days were full of new experiences. I seemed to learn such a lot in a short time. Jacco was a mine of information. He had the advantage of having been in the outback much longer and he had eagerly absorbed everything with a fervent admiration.

He accompanied us round the property—Gregory was with us of course. We met the men who were working there. The place was apparently so large that it took several days to ride round it so of course we could only see a fraction of it. We were, as they said, “in sheep and cattle” and some of these grazed some miles away. There was one man, a jackeroo, who spent his time riding round the property, just to make sure animals were getting the attention they needed and that fences were kept in good repair.

The men lived in the rather roughly constructed shacks dotted about the place. Some had wives and children, all of whom worked in some capacity on the property. Their attitude amused me. They were in some awe of my father as the owner of the land but at the same time they regarded him with a certain contempt because of his manners and his cultured form of speech. He was an English gentleman—a breed which was not greatly admired in this part of the world. I heard one of them tell Jacco that in time he would grow into a fair dinkum Aussie, which I supposed was just about the highest compliment they could pay an Englishman. It was clear to me that Matthew was utterly despised. He was not practical; he was a dreamer, an idealist—something which there was no call for in this part of the world. As for my mother, Helena and myself, we were women, and by nature of our sex, second-class beings, suitable for one purpose only—to serve their needs in all directions.

I was most interested in Maud who, in spite of the fact that she was a woman, could keep them in order. I think they applied a special judgement to Maud. She cooked in the great kitchen where, regardless of the heat, there always seemed to be a fire going with pots on it, simmering away.

She was the widow of one of the men—a man for whom they had had the greatest respect—who had come out originally to have his own farm, and this he had done; but it had been destroyed by a forest fire and he had been left with nothing, and a wife and small daughter to keep. He had found work at Cadorsons and had proved, as Gregory said, a good right-hand man. Unfortunately he had suffered from a chest complaint which was the reason why he had come to Australia in the first place. But the climate could not save him and he had died. Maud was left with ten-year-old Rosa. That was five years ago. I thought she was a fine woman. She hated the coarseness of the men and often chided them for their habits. She guarded Rosa like a dragon and I soon began to understand why; Rosa was young and pretty and there was a scarcity of women on the property; men regarded Rosa with lustful longing.

Maud had taught Rosa to read fluently and write well. She wanted the best for Rosa.

My mother was very sympathetic and when we were all together she talked about the possibility of sending Rosa to school. My father said we should wait awhile before suggesting anything impulsively. What we needed first of all was a good midwife for Helena. That should be our primary consideration.

“There is another matter,” he said. “I think Greg is after buying the property. He’s the sort of man who wants to be in complete control.”

“He is that already it seems to me,” said my mother.

“He wants to be known as the master. It’s understandable.”

“What do you think? Will you sell?”

“I don’t know. It’s one of the things I want to decide while we are here.”

“Jacco is very interested in it.”

“My dear, Jacco’s future is with Cador. Can you see him staying out here forever? Bringing up our grandchildren in this wilderness?”

“Heaven forbid that he should stay out here,” cried my mother.

“Of course he wouldn’t want that. He’ll be longing to get home after a while. It’s the novelty with him. He’s seen little of the world. I think I shall probably sell to Greg, although I’ve always liked the idea of having a foot in the country. To see how it has come along since I was last here … well, it is just a miracle. I think there’s a future here. People work. They have to. There aren’t the distractions we get at home. Perhaps that is why they have made such rapid progress.”

“We’ve got plenty of time to decide.”

“Yes, Helena’s affair will keep us here for a bit.”

“I’ll ask Maud about a midwife,” said my mother. “I’d like her to be here well before the baby’s due. I wonder if there is a doctor.”

“I shouldn’t think so … not nearer than Sydney.”

“That’s rather alarming.”

“We’ll be prepared by the time the baby is due.”

“It’s something of a responsibility. Poor girl, she seems so listless. What she would have done without Annora, I can’t imagine.”

“I think she’s looking forward to having the baby now,” I said, “and when it comes that will make all the difference.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” agreed my mother.

The days slipped by quickly. I scarcely saw anything of Jacco. He was out all day. Matthew was planning to go on a trip farther north. He had spent his days talking to the men and making notes. Several of them were convict labour and he wanted their stories. I often wondered whether the tales the men told him were true because I had seen them with an amused look on their faces when he made notes in his book. They were the sort who would think it a great joke to, as they would say, “Lead him up the garden path.”

He was a man obsessed with one idea. I imagined he did not concern himself very much with Helena nowadays. At first it had pleased him to have done his knightly deed. Now his thoughts were of a greater achievement.

He talked continually during meals when we were all gathered round the table.

“Imagine living on those ships going out!” he cried, hitting the table with his fist. He could be really vehement on this subject which was strange because on all other matters he was such a mild man. “Murderers, footpads put together with those who had stolen a handkerchief or a loaf of bread. Do you know they were kept below for a week after sailing out … shut down below, of course. They had to remove the hatches from time to time or they would have been suffocated. The women made the most of their sex … selling themselves to the marines for a tot of gin. We’ve got to stop this. I’m going to do it. My book is going to be a revelation.”

I said: “I wonder what happened to Digory and if he survived.”

Then we talked of Digory and the terrible thing that had happened to his grandmother and how he had been left alone.

Matthew listened intently. He said: “I’ll find him. His story would be worth recording—particularly as I know something of his origins.”

“How I should love to know what became of him,” I went on. “I should be relieved if I could hear that he had settled down … perhaps acquired a bit of land.”

“Let’s hope that he came through,” said my father. “He was a boy who wanted to be alone. He did not seem to care much for the companionship of others.”

“It was because of his circumstances,” I said hotly. “Who was there?”

“You and Jacco did a good deal for him.”

“And so did you.”

“I don’t recall that he was particularly grateful.”

“He didn’t know how to show it.”

“He showed it by stealing … unnecessarily. I could have understood it if he had been hungry. I’m afraid what happened to Digory was inevitable.”

“I shall see if I can find him and get his story,” said Matthew.

He was leaving the next morning for Sydney.

“I shall make the Grand Hotel my headquarters while I’m there,” he told us. “So that is where you can find me if I am wanted. From there I hope to be going to various parts of Australia … at least where I am likely to find the information I need.”

“Have you any idea how long you’ll be away?” asked my mother.

“So much depends on my success. When I have collected enough material I shall want to set about the writing.”

“And Helena … her time is not so far off.”

He smiled at me. “I know she will be safe with you.”

Words trembled on my mother’s lips. I knew she wanted to say that at such a time a woman wanted her husband with her. But of course this was no ordinary marriage and I supposed we should all be grateful to Matthew. We must remind ourselves that he was an earnest philanthropist and there was not time in his busy life to be delayed in his work by anyone—even though it be his wife.

The next morning we said goodbye to Matthew. I think Helena was relieved to see him go. It must be trying to be continually reminded that you owed so much to one person. Not that he reminded her; but Helena could not forget.

My father was out a great deal with Gregory and Jacco was invariably with them. They would sometimes leave before we rose in the morning and come back before dark. Often we would sit out of doors in the evenings. The men made fires and cooked in the open air and it was quite pleasant when it was cooler after sundown. The men would sing songs which they had brought from home. “Coming Through the Rye,” “Sally in Our Alley” and “In Good King Charles’s Golden Days.” One of the men had a musical instrument which he called a Didgeridoo. It was a long wooden tube which boomed when blown; another had a banjo. They would grow very merry.

Gregory was always there. I would hear his voice above the rest. He had said that the convivial evenings were part of his duties.

“You’ve got a group of men about working hard all day … they’ve got to have something to look forward to in the evenings. A little get-together with a bit of singing gets us all friendly,” he had explained. “It keeps their minds off the women and there are not enough of them to go round. It’s a consideration.”

Our arrival had added considerably to the female population. I had seen some of the men and girls together and I guessed that they were more than normally friendly. I noticed the way in which the men looked at the women … even us. I felt that there was a certain amount of tension in such a situation.

That Maud felt it I knew, because of her careful watch on her daughter. If any man talked to Rosa her mother’s eyes would be immediately upon them. It must be worrying to have a pretty young daughter in such a community.

Gregory determined to show us the country. We saw a great deal of him for although he had given up the house when we came and had gone to one of the shacks, he dined with us every day.

One day he told us about the boat.

“You see we are not very far from the sea. An hour or so on horseback gets us there. I often take a trip. I like to get some good sea breezes. We are less than two hours from Smoky Cape. You can bathe there if you’ve a fancy to. We must go there one day. I’ve got a little boat house there and my boat, well … she’s a humdinger, I can tell you.”

I went with my father, Gregory and Jacco. Helena was unable to ride and my mother stayed behind with her. We had a picnic and then Gregory took us sailing. He managed the boat with skill and it was a wonderful feeling to be sailing along on the open sea.

We kept close to the coast.

“Storms can blow up pretty fast,” Gregory told us, “and we’ve got precious cargo aboard.” This with a wink at me.

He still disturbed me. I would find his eyes watching me, calculating almost.

I thought of what he had said about the men and women and I felt he was summing me up, waiting. That made me very uneasy and when I was in my room alone at night I was thankful that my father and brother were close by.

That was a very enjoyable day in spite of the few uncomfortable moments Gregory gave me. I thought that perhaps I was imagining something which was not there. Sometimes I would think of myself alone in the house with him and that filled me with something like terror … a certain sort of horror, like that which I had felt as a child when I had conjured up images of giants and hobgoblins and trembled at the thought of them … and in a way longed to see them in reality.

“We must use the boat more often, Greg,” said my father.

“It is at your disposal, Sir Jake. Please use it when you feel the desire to do so.”

After that my father often went out in the boat, sometimes with Gregory, sometimes without him. My mother and I sometimes accompanied him. Jacco, of course, was very keen on sailing. Helena did not go at all. Her time was getting very near.