The pool of St Branok

"Everything is going to be all right," he said soothingly. "We are going to find gold. I'm convinced of it. It might even be tomorrow ... Then we'll go home. Our little one will be born into riches. We are going to live happily ever after."

"Let's not wait for the gold, Gervaise."

"Just think what we should feel if we packed up and went and as soon as we left they came up with the richest find ever known. We'd never forgive ourselves."

"I feel in my bones that we must go ... before it is too late."

"I know what's wrong. It's the baby. Women get fancies when they are going to have babies."

"I have had this feeling for a long time."

He kissed me lightly: and I knew that I could never make him understand.

I went to see Morwenna. She was able to take the baby into the garden now. She was still weak, however, and in no condition to return to the shack.

She said: "I shall always be grateful to Ben for allowing me to stay here. I don't know how I could have coped with living in that little place."

"Yes," I said. "Ben has been very helpful."

"Meg and Minnie are wonderful and even Thomas and Jacob come out and look at him. It is rather funny to see them. They are just a bit awkward and feel it is not manly to be interested in babies. I have written to Mother and Pa and told them all about him ... how bright he is. He already knows me."

"Does he?"

"Well, he stops crying when I pick him up."

"That means he is going to be a genius."

It was wonderful to see her so happy. I thought: Happiness is transient ... a moment here and another there ... and then it is gone. One should savor it when it comes and never miss an opportunity of seizing it when it is offered.

"Yes," said Morwenna. "I owe a lot to Ben. The way he rode through the night to Dr. Field. I should have lost my baby but for that." Her eyes closed with horror at the thought. "But he went ... that way ... through the night ... And then letting me stay here. When I try to thank him he won't listen. He says it was nothing. Anyone would have done it. I wish I could repay him."

"His repayment is to see you and the baby well and happy here."

"I wish he could get that land he is trying to buy."

"You mean Morley's land?"

"Morley is obstinate. He's afraid Ben would start mining there and he just wants it for cattle. Justin told me about it. Morley is a stubborn man."

"Yes," I agreed. "I wonder if Ben will get it in the end."

"Ben is determined and so is Morley. When you get two men like that you never know what will happen ... except that it is Mr. Morley who owns the land, and if he won't give it up then Ben can't succeed in getting it. Mr. Morley thinks that everyone ought to go back to the towns and earn what he calls a decent living and stop scrabbling in the dust for what isn't there."

"But you see, once it was and some found it. Think of all those lovely houses in Melbourne."

"Yes," said Morwenna. "Wouldn't it be lovely to go home?"

"Yes," I said fervently, "it would."

After leaving Morwenna in her comfortable surroundings, the shack seemed particularly uninviting. No matter how one tried it was impossible to keep the place clean. The dust blew in and covered everything.

I thought that the men at least had the excitement of hope with every shovelful that was brought up and washed in the stream because it might contain what they sought. That would keep them going. For the women there was nothing but the daily chores—the unpalatable food to prepare, the preservation of the precious water.

I said to myself: I will not endure this any longer. There were times when I felt like going to Ben and saying: You promised to take me away from this. Take me home and I will come with you.

No. That would make it seem like a bargain. But it was not only the prospect of going home; I wanted to be with Ben. I knew he had this ambition, this lust for gold which I deplored; and yet it made no difference to my feelings for him.

Then One-Eye and Cassidy came back to the township.

They rode in at midday; the men were all working on their patches; the women were in the shacks. There was a certain midday peace over the town.

And then they came. A shout went up. The men left their work; the women came out of the shacks. They crowded round to hear the news.

One-Eye and Cassidy were triumphant. They had found their gold. They had it with them. And they had found David Skelling, too. With him was his horse—a skeleton of a horse.

"He was lying out there where we found him," said Cassidy. "Not more than fifty miles from here. His horse was still alive ... wouldn't leave him."

One-Eye patted the animal. "We'll feed him. We'll put him to rights," he said. "It was through him we found Skelling."

Everyone was firing questions at them and they were only too ready to tell their story. But the horse had to be fed. One-Eye and Cassidy wanted him looked after before they would sit down. They owed their find to him and they were men who paid their debts. The horse was going to be given royal treatment. He was theirs from now on.