An Australian Ranch by Raymond Boyd Dunn

Author:Raymond Boyd Dunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ranch, country life, cattle, 1875, murder and romance, australiana, jimbour
Publisher: Raymond Boyd Dunn

Chapter 20

There had been some heavy early rain in the Bathurst district and there was a fresh in the creek running through the Johnson’s land. The couple of days of rain had kept Caroline indoors for the time being, and she was becoming restless. There was not much she could do to occupy herself while it was raining. She could not settle down to do any reading, and she made several abortive attempts to do some sewing for Biddy’s coming child. Her mother spent the time in the kitchen, baking bread, cakes and biscuits, but Caroline could summon no enthusiasm for that either.

The high she had experienced after ridding the world of that horrid man from the neighbouring property had long since faded away, to be replaced by an emotion that left her vaguely uneasy. She was already aware that her actions over the last several months were highly illegal, and warranted severe punishment if she was found out. But now the immorality of it all was making itself felt, working its way from her sub-consciousness which basically was morally good, out into her conscious thoughts. There existed in her a sense of confusion, and she was feeling decidedly unsettled and jittery, badly needing to get out of the house again and go for a ride.

When at last the rain stopped, she wasted no time in saddling up Blackie and turned his head upstream along the creek. It was running a banker, the rushing water being just barely contained within the banks. In the lower parts, it had backed up along the tracks leading down to the creek, and her horse had to splash through the still, dirty water which barely covered its fetlocks. Out in the main stream, she could see the floating debris which the heavy downpour had created, rushing along in the strong current. It was mainly just bits and pieces of dead wood which had been washed into the gullies by the torrential rain, thence down into the creek, to eventually find their way into the Fish River. At this stage, there was no evidence of drowned animals of any kind. It was not likely they had lost any sheep, because the land had not flooded, and her father had made sure all his stock was on high ground before the deluge started.

The cloud cover was beginning to break up, and the sun shone through for the first time in days. This in itself caused her spirits to lift, and she began to regain some of the enthusiasm for life which the last few days had seen slipping away from her. The air was fresh and clear, and she breathed it deeply as she suddenly realised it was good just being alive. Never mind the bad things which had happened to her over the last few years, when the only time she seemed to be happy was after she snuffed out the life of the men who did not deserve to live. She felt now she would be quite satisfied to resume her life as it once was, before the awful years began.

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