Under a Flaming Sky by Elizabeth Haran

Author:Elizabeth Haran [Haran, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-3-8387-3737-9
Publisher: Bastei Entertainment
Published: 2013-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

They hurried away from the sacred aboriginal place as fast as they could. When they had reached a safe distance, they put a camp for the night. After this strenuous day they had to rest for some hours. At dawn they all mounted their camels and headed back to Marree, Goolim, Jimmy and Paddy led the way. Terry was behind them, alongside Wally, who was hunched over in pain, while Arabella and Jonathan followed. Jonathan noticed Arabella was very quiet and teetering on the verge of tears. He knew she’d been through so much, and it broke his heart.

“You seem to have mastered your fear of riding a camel,” he said, trying to lighten her spirits and take her mind off the terrible ordeal she’d been through. “You’re doing very well.” She didn’t look completely relaxed, even though her camel was tied to the back of Terry’s by a rope, but he thought she was doing extraordinarily well considering how frightened he knew she had been.

“When Wally took me hostage I was that terrified of what he’d do, I didn’t spare a moment to think of my fear of camels. I can’t stop shaking now, though.”

“You’ve been remarkably brave, Arabella, but how did he come to take you? I don’t understand how that happened.”

“It was my own fault. If I hadn’t been in the camel yards …”

“What were doing there?” Jonathan asked.

“I kept thinking about my fear of riding a camel, and I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the camel yards in Ghan Town before daylight. I thought if I familiarized myself with the camels I wouldn’t look so foolish in front of you and Paddy when we were ready to leave town.” Arabella wiped a tear that escaped the corner of her eye. “Wally and Goolim were in the camel yards, but I didn’t see them. Goolim was being forced to saddle some camels at gun point. I literally bumped into them in the dark, so Wally had to take me hostage too, so that I couldn’t tell anyone what he was up to. I was sure he was going to … kill us.” A sob rose in Arabella’s throat but she bravely battled her emotions to stay in control.

“How did you figure out what had happened?” she asked.

“I searched for you everywhere in town, and so did Maggie. Then I went to see Terry. We found out Wally was missing, and so was Goolim, and put two and two together. We were lucky to have Jimmy as a tracker because Stuart is violently ill from eating bush plums and could not lead us to his mine site, which we expected to be Wally’s destination. But we didn’t understand how you came to be with Wally and Goolim. I’m so relieved you are all right. I was terribly afraid I’d never …” Jonathan couldn’t finish the sentence because he became choked with emotion. He hadn’t realized, until that very moment, how much he really cared for Arabella. He decided he had to tell her how he felt – now – and prayed she felt the same about him.

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