The Colonists by William Stuart Long

Author:William Stuart Long [Long, William Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
ISBN: 9780868241388
Google: uGDLAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0440113423
Barnesnoble: 0440113423
Goodreads: 1265080
Publisher: Dell
Published: 1984-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XV

Rick Tempest was in a cheerful mood as he rode back from the river, intending to take luncheon with his wife and spend the rest of the afternoon at home in her company, as proof of his pleasure at her return.

His pleasure and, he knew only too well, his relief, for the terms on which they had parted, following her confinement at his sister Abigail’s house, had been such as to cause him to fear that she might elect to stay in Sydney and not come back to him at all. True, Pengallon was isolated, and their neighbors were few and far between, but Katie’s reluctance to live with him here was not, he knew, solely on that account. It stemmed from a much deeper cause, which had its roots in the loss of their little daughter, followed—so tragically soon—by that of their stillborn son.

Katie blamed herself for both losses, he knew, and nothing he could do or say would convince her that, in his eyes, she was completely blameless. He had tried, heaven knew; she listened, smiled a sad little smile, and gave his words and his pleas no credence. Since her return, however, she had seemed happier. The stay in Sydney and the influence of his sister Abigail had clearly done her good; she talked to him more and appeared glad to have resumed their normal life together, and she no longer wept when the name of their little dead daughter was mentioned.

There was hope, Rick thought, for they loved each other and … He smiled to himself. George De Lancey, whom he had once feared as a rival for Katie’s affections, was himself happily married to Rachel Broome and the father of a child whom he adored, so there was nothing to fear from that quarter.

Lips pursed, he started to whistle a gay little tune, expressive of his present mood of optimism. He enjoyed the life he led, up here in the new lands beyond the Blue Mountain barrier. By any standards, he was well on the way to being a successful farmer, despite his initial lack of experience. He had three hundred head of beef cattle—half of them bred from William Lee’s shorthorn bulls—which were thriving mightily on the lush hill pastures of his own grant. On the land he shared with Justin, there were close on to twice that number of merino and half-merino sheep, which, under Jethro Crowan’s skilled care, were now producing high-quality wool and remaining healthy, while those of some of his neighbors went down with foot rot or liver fluke. And there were the horses he was breeding from John Macarthur’s Arab stallion… .

Best of all, though … Rick felt in the pocket of his coarse homespun jacket, fingering the two sizable gold nuggets he had that morning retrieved from the bed of the river. Of necessity, he had to keep his gold finds secret—even from Katie—under the terms Governor Macquarie had imposed on his lease. For that reason, the

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