The Loving Heart: An Australian Outback Romance by Lucy Walker

Author:Lucy Walker [Walker, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: small town and rural, outback romance, clean romance, clean and wholesome, australian romance, autstralian rural romance, australian author, australian rural novels
Publisher: Wyndham Books (Small Town & Rural Romance)
Published: 2021-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth went to the hut door to see if there was any sign of Grant’s return. The fire had warmed the hut and she had forgotten how clear and sharply cold the night was outside. Even the white moon and the white stars had the edge of cutting cold in their sharp brilliance.

A terrible wailing howl suddenly filled the night air. Elizabeth stepped back into the hut and closed the door. She stood leaning against it.

‘What … what was that?’

‘That’s Red,’ he said. ‘Old man dingo. I been hunting him two years and last night he knew I’d got the bomb. Came right in close to the hut and kep’ up that sing-song all night. Like tellin’ me the game was up an’ I wasn’t goin’ to hunt him any more.’

‘It sounded a long way away to-night.’

‘Yeah. He’s a cunning one, that. He can see the light. He’s jes’ let out that howl to let me know he’s still around. Can you use a gun, Miss? If you just kinda sent a shot off into the dark he’d kinda know I wasn’t so far gone as maybe he thought. It ’ud give him something to think about.’

‘No,’ Elizabeth said hastily. ‘I wouldn’t know which end of a gun to hold.’

‘Well, never mind. Say, what was that!’

Elizabeth bent her head and listened. A long way off there was a faint thrumming. Gradually it became louder.

‘That’s ol’ Rastus,’ said Flinty. ‘That’s Grant comin’ back.’

Elizabeth was so relieved she could have cried. The dingo and the talk about guns had unnerved her. She opened the hut door and ran out to the enclosure gate. She opened it as Grant came galloping up.

He threw his leg over the saddle and slid off.

‘Old Flinty all right?’

‘Yes,’ Elizabeth said breathlessly. ‘But there was a dingo ‒’

‘Oh, was there? Did you get some food into the old man?’

‘Of course I did,’ said Elizabeth with some asperity. ‘Have you ever heard a dingo howl, Grant?’

‘Have I what?’

He halted on his way to the hut door.

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘A dingo is a wild dog. It doesn’t eat human beings.’ He turned again to the hut. ‘Unsaddle Rastus, will you, and throw the saddle over the …’ Again he stopped and then turned to Elizabeth. ‘Oh,’ he said shortly. ‘I forgot. I’m sorry. You wouldn’t know anything about unsaddling a horse, would you?’

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ said Elizabeth. ‘But I did know how to look after Flinty. He’s had food and drink and he’s very much alive and talkative.’

Even in the moonlight Elizabeth could see the tenseness go out of Grant’s tall broad-shouldered body.

‘Good,’ he said.

He did not wait for Elizabeth to go into the hut but strode inside, leaving her out in the moonlit cold. She went gingerly over to the horse which stood, head down, the bridle trailing on the ground. Elizabeth had seen horses being handled in films. Otherwise she had no idea what now to do with Rastus. She picked up the reins from the ground

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.