A HAZARD OF HEARTS (39 page)

‘Take Lucy first. I’ll give her a push up to
you.’

Lucy, who, with Elly off her chest, appeared to
have recovered her breath, said, ‘The baby...’

‘I’ll search for it. You go ahead to make room
for me to move.’ She boosted Lucy as well as she could in the confined space
and the girl disappeared through the opening, her skirts flapping in Elly’s
face. Only a few flakes of snow sifted in, for which Elly thanked Providence.
The wind, also, had dropped. Nearby someone groaned and she groped her way to
another body in male clothing, too heavy a body for her to lift. It must be the
older man with the gouty leg.

Paul leaned down again. ‘You next, Elly.’

‘I can’t leave the others until I know how badly
they’re hurt. If only we had some light.’

‘I’ll see if the candles are still in the coach lanterns.
Hold on.’ He disappeared again and the cold drifted down through the gap. Elly
could see a faint square of lighter sky.

‘Help me,’ whispered a voice almost under Elly’s
foot.

She reached down to touch the woman’s bodice,
feeling a racing heartbeat beneath. ‘Where’s the baby?’ Elly scrabbled about
frantically until her hands closed around a soft, yielding bundle under the
mother’s arm. The bundle squeaked when she picked it up. The baby was alive!

An upheaval in the dark nearby and two voices
cursing signalled the survival of the other inside passengers. Relieved, Elly took
charge. In her calmest Matron’s manner she lined up her patients, examining
them as best she could by touch. No-one appeared to be badly hurt, although her
hands were sticky with blood welling from a head wound above a bearded face,
the older man with gout. Elly was glad to hear Paul climb up the side of the
coach. His body filled the opening and his face glowed eerily above her in the
light of two candles fixed to a piece of board, which he handed down.

‘Will this help?’ He also passed down her small
bag with the travelling medical kit.

‘Oh, yes. There’s just a superficial head wound
here, plus shock, of course. What about the others?’

He waited before answering, then said steadily, ‘The
driver jumped into a snowdrift. He’s unhurt. Two of the roof passengers are
dead, thrown into the trees to break their necks. The others have various cuts
and bruises. I’m very much afraid there’s a broken leg, a bad multiple break. Will
you come and see?’

Despite the circumstances, Elly was galvanised
by the contact with Paul as he helped her to climb through the gap then lifted
her down. For an instant, clutched in his arms, she melted against him, her
face pressed to his chest, inhaling the familiar mixture of wool, pipe tobacco
and man that was Paul’s own odour. It was like a homecoming. Then she was on
her feet and the needs of the moment came flooding back to claim her.

~*~

A half-hour later Elly had set the broken leg,
with the help of a wide-eyed Lucy who trembled as she held the candles, and
settled the shocked mother to feed her baby in the shelter of a canvas torn
from the coach roof. The able-bodied men had put the coach back on its wheels
so that the more badly injured roof passengers could be placed inside. It seemed
to have suffered no structural damage, despite gouged paintwork and baggage
strewn widely through the trees.

To Paul had fallen the sad duty of despatching
the badly injured pole horses which had been dragged down the slope with the
coach. Their driver, pulled from his snowdrift, proved to be hopelessly drunk,
and unfit to use the shotgun carried under his seat. Elly flinched as the
reports echoed through the trees, then went calmly on with her work, while Paul
and the government agent set off to find the two leaders, who had broken their
traces and escaped the accident.

When Elly finally repacked her medical bag and washed
her hands in some snow, Lucy put down the candles to hug her.

‘Miss Ballard, you’re so brave and strong. I
wish I could be like you.’

Elly smiled tiredly and squeezed her back again.
‘It’s all in knowing what to do. I’m used to emergencies, Lucy. You’ve kept
your head well. I’m proud of you. Do you think, as we’re already intimate, you
could call me “Elly”?’

Lucy beamed.

Out of the darkness came a tall figure leading
two horses in dangling harness. ‘Your father would be proud of you, also, Lucy,’
Paul said. ‘Would you now hold the candles for me, while I cobble together
these bits of leather and, with any luck, we’ll get these nags to drag the coach
back up to the road. It’s not far.’ He glanced at Elly. ‘I saw cheeses loaded
aboard for the market. If you can find one we’d all welcome some sustenance – Oh,
Lord! That’s all we need.’

‘Where’s me whip? Got to keep up with the
timesheet. All aboard now.’ The driver staggered towards the coach, tried to
climb up to box seat, then fell back heavily into the churned mud and snow,
swearing.

Handing Elly the harness, Paul bent to grasp the
man under the arms. ‘Shut your mouth. You’re not driving anywhere.’

‘Me legs’ve gone,’ the driver muttered in a surprised
tone as he collapsed against Paul.

Paul shook him. ‘And so have your wits. God! What
an idiot. I suppose I’ll have to tie you on. There’s no room inside.’

‘No-one but me drives my rig,’ the man
blustered, swinging an ineffectual fist at Paul’s head.

‘Wrong, friend. You just watch me. Come on, up
we go.’ With help from two men, the driver was hoisted to a roof seat and tied
there to keep him from toppling off.

All available hands pushed and dragged the coach
away from the dead horses, in deference to the sensibilities of the live ones. Then
a large cheese was found and broached, along with Paul’s hip flask of brandy. When
the harness had been mended to his liking and the remaining horses poled up, he
addressed his companions.

‘The snow has stopped and we should make it down
from the mountains safely if we’re careful, even in the dark. With only two
horses and injured people aboard, the pace won’t go much above a snail’s. Still,
it’s the best we can do. So, all aboard, ladies, as they say. You men who can walk
will have to push us up the slope as far as the road, but once there you can
climb up top. Does anyone have any better ideas to offer?’

There was a murmur of general consent. Elly,
preparing to mount into the coach with her mind on her patients, spared a
glance for the man who had taken such complete charge. He seemed rocklike,
indomitable.

Lucy stared at him, rapt in admiration. ‘Isn’t
he marvellous?’ she whispered. ‘I think he could take care of anything.’

Elly smiled in complete agreement.

Their resumed journey down to the plains, while
slow, remained uneventful. From the way station a team of fresh horses carried
them on to Parramatta where the injured travellers could receive medical
attention. Elly would have pressed on to town, if she could. The old
superstitious fear that some great difficulty would arise at her hospital if
she were not there to somehow forestall it, had risen in her mind. She also
knew she should leave Paul’s company as soon as possible.

However, he pleaded exhaustion, making a
determined effort to appear wrecked by the cold journey in the dark down
through those ugly bends, physically controlling horses and coach brake,
responsible for so many lives.

Undeceived by Lucy’s insistence that she needed
to recover, too, Elly yielded to persuasion, and they spent one more night at
an inn. The loss of their baggage was a minor inconvenience and Elly, in her
shift, slept dreamlessly alongside Lucy for ten hours. The following day the
three boarded the river steamer with Lucy in high fettle and anxious to regale
the other passengers with her adventure.

Elly stood alone at the rail watching the farms
and orchards slide by when Paul joined her. She avoided looking at him, saying
brightly, ‘Our journey is almost over. Despite all the drama, I’ve enjoyed it.’

‘So have I. Oh, not the accident or its
aftermath, but being with you. Your friendship means a great deal to me, Elly.’

Her smile slipped. ‘My friendship?’

‘Yes. I don’t deny it’s been a struggle to
overcome my deeper feelings for you. That day at Botany Bay you wrenched the
heart out of me, and it’s never been the same since. Yet you were right to say
our loving each other would be a mistake. There are so many reasons why we
should agree to remain just good friends. I’ve finally come to terms with this
and I’m happy again. I wanted you to know.’

‘I ... see.’ Elly turned away, unable to control
her expression. However, her voice remained steady. ‘Of course, you have made
the right decision, and friends we shall be, always.’

He patted her arm. ‘Wonderful. Now, I must find
Lucy. That young lady is ever ready to slip away at the first chance.’

Elly watched the gliding landscape unseeingly,
the pain in her breast sharp enough to make her bend and clutch the rail while
drawing in shallow breaths, guarding herself against further hurt. How could
she continue to be in Paul’s company, knowing that he no longer loved her? Even
his attention to the sensual young Lucy upset her, innocent as it was.
Scourging herself inwardly for letting her grand future plans be weighed
against an impractical dream, she made a vow that, back at the hospital, away
from Paul’s distracting presence, she would regain her balance. This time she
would make it happen. Her path had been chosen and she would not deviate again.

‘Chinaman’s Gully’s down there quite a
ways,’ said the digger, pointing a dirty callused finger southwards. ‘It’s on
the other side of the range. One of the fields opened up late last year. Just
about cleaned out by now, I reckon.’ A slit in his grizzled beard revealed a
grinning, toothless mouth. ‘‘Cept, a’course, for the Chinks, who’ll find pickings
in a kiddy’s sand box. You hoping to try your luck, youngster?’

Pearl shook her head. ‘I’m hoping to find my
brother down there, Mr Coffey.’ They had met up earlier in the morning as the
digger ambled down from the north-west hills to discover that both were headed
in the same direction. She was pleased to have company on the tramp.

‘Call me Ezra. And this here’s Polly Doodle.’ He
flapped the reins on the mule trotting beside him, loaded with tools and camp
equipment, ropes and canvas flapping in the wind. ‘We’re from the States, both
us two. We’ve covered a lot of ground, and ocean, together.’

‘And have you found much gold yet, Ezra?’

He winked. ‘Some’.

Pearl continued to make polite conversation as
she trudged along the muddy track beside her guide, although her mind ranged
ahead to the encounter with Li Po. Lately she had been unsettled, forced to
look beyond the reunion to an uncertain future. Had she envisaged herself
digging alongside her brother, cooking for him, becoming a sort of camp slave?
Why hadn’t she considered this before? Had she thought Li Po would be
emancipated enough to let her lead her own life? Chinese women simply didn’t do
so. But she could never go back to the old ways, not after being her own
mistress for so long.

She sighed, straightening her back, and Ezra
Coffey suddenly brightened. ‘Hey, you’re a woman. I’ve not seen a female other
than Polly Doodle for nigh on a year.’ He licked his lower lip. ‘Your slanty
eyes are purty. I always thought a woman’s eyes were her best point. Fact is, your
whole face is purty, even with the scar.’ He then sighed and said,
disappointedly, ‘But you cut your hair.’

Pearl stopped and studied him for a moment,
appreciating the fact that he had not blatantly tried to see beneath her clothing.
She removed her cap, letting her braid fall down over her shoulder, saying, ‘Would
you like me to loosen it? It’s all I will do. I’m not available as a whore, if
you have that in mind.’

Ezra blinked and a dreamy expression came over
the part of his face she could see. ‘Could I just touch it? My wife, God rest
her soul, had hair just like yours.’

Pearl unbound her hair, letting it ripple down
her back where the wind caught it and whirled it in a dark cloud. She stepped
forward, offering it to the old man’s touch.

‘It’s silk,’ he whispered. ‘You could weave it
on a loom, just like Maddy’s hair.’ He captured a flying handful and ran his
gnarled fingers through it, then dropped it, saying briskly. ‘You’d better do
it up again, gal. There’s others ‘round here wouldn’t treat you with respect if
they saw you.’

He watched as, with some difficulty she redid
the plait and pinned it up under her cap

When they resumed their plodding progress he
explained how he had been up in the hills alone, prospecting without much
result. Now he intended to try one of the surface drifts opening up continually
around Ballarat, more particularly along the White Horse Range.

‘A lot of new leads’ve been found, but at the
same time the surface deposits and the old river gravels are worked out. It’s
easy enough to find gold under a thin layer of clay or sand but, you mark my
words, there’ll be deep reefs under the rock.’

Pearl said, ‘I’ve seen the shafts at Ophir where
the gold had sunk down into the clay. The men brought it up in buckets and
washed it on the surface, but I haven’t seen them try to dig through rock.’