Hope In The Great Southland by Mary Hawkins

Author:Mary Hawkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-07-24T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

No one moved or spoke. Kate stared in astonishment and then a little apprehensively at the others, wondering how they would take Jackie’s deception.

Will Gordon had been staring at his stockman with his mouth open. Suddenly he let out a roar of laughter. He moved forward and slapped Jackie’s broad shoulder. “For cryin’ out loud! You bin holdin’ out on us. Hardly ever speaks so we don’t know how much he understands and now. . .speaks English better that many Englishmen.”

Bluey called out in his dry drawl, “Next thing, reckon you’ll want him to teach you how to talk proper, boss.”

Everyone was grinning, and the tension dissolved. Jackie did not smile, just looked from one to the other from his dark, watchful eyes. Kate thought he might be pleased, but then he nodded and shrugged off the large hand on his body.

She saw Adam’s eyes narrow and wondered what he was thinking.

Adam was wondering what kind of upbringing this young aboriginal had been given. He had practically no accent and so must have been reared among whites as a child. It was doubtful if he had even reached twenty years yet.

Jackie continued to look at them each in turn. Then suddenly he grinned cheekily before turning and disappearing into the darkness again without a word.

They stared after him, and after a few more laughing comments the others dispersed.

“He said there was sickness. . .”

Adam turned toward Kate and sighed at her wide, compassionate eyes. He knew what she was going to add even as she went on.

“Shouldn’t we try to help them, Adam?”

“You are a nice white woman, Miss Farnley,” a low voice said from the darkness, “but there is very little you can do for my people when they get measles. Many of them have died already, and now it seems no one new has the sickness. Some more will die. Some will live.”

There was a faint rustle, the soft pad of feet retreating. Then silence.

Adam had heard her gasp at the stark statement and saw her hand go to her mouth.

“Unfortunately Jackie is right, my dear,” he said wearily at last. “The aboriginals have no resistance to our diseases. Many of them have died from our most common illnesses. Even if we had medicines, there would be little any of us could do except pray for them.”

Later the next morning, with the subdued team well on their way, Kate managed to coax Jackie to ride beside her and tell her about himself. He was very reluctant at first, but she managed to get a rather sad picture of a boy growing into adulthood lost between two cultures.

Apparently when he had been a very small boy, Jackie’s mother had taken him to a white couple near Lake Macquarie. They had been trying to improve the spiritual and physical well-being of the aboriginals in the area.

“She was sick. They were good people and looked after her, but she died. I can barely remember her, and they could only guess why she had gone to them and not her own people,” Jackie said without expression.

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