Siddon Rock (25 page)

Young George walked into the kitchen.
Mrs Morningstar … Catalin … does Macha Connor know Jos?

Catalin shook her head.
No. She has not met Jos, he is always at school when Macha walks with me. This is early in the afternoon. I am always home when Jos gets home.

Nell watched the line of searchers move around the lake, and knew she could help. Ahead of the party, in the drying salt at the lake margins, Nell drew a map, and the story of Jos.

First she drew the area, the shape of the place, with the lake, the Yackoo and other areas of bush, the unmistakable bulk of the rock. After that she marked in each house and shop in the town with the war memorial in the centre. Then
she took a thin sharp stick and drew figures – the search party where it now walked; the dancers of the night before; and another figure, in the town, at the salt lake, and at the edge of the bush. She drew the story of that early morning, when her dingoes had worried her with their restlessness and she had thought it was because the sky was hidden by the fabric of the town as it spread upwards and outwards from the hall.

As the searchers came near she stood up and waited for them to notice the story, but Harry Best was the only one who saw her, the only one who stopped. Nell waved her arms over the story.
What is it, Nell?
Harry said.

I c'n help ya.
Nell pointed to the drawing, but all Harry saw were dots and lines and squiggles.
I c'n help ya
, Nell repeated. Harry waited. Nell pointed at the drawing. Harry looked at Nell enquiringly.
That's interesting, Nell
, he said,
but I've got to keep going.
It was then Nell realised that, for all his whiteman education, the school teacher could not read story.

Later that morning Macha Connor saw the drawing and stopped to look at it. There she saw a map of the entire region laid out, but most of the figures of people, drawn in fine lines, had all but disappeared. One figure was much larger than the rest and drawn deeper into the earth, but in the oozing salty mud it was difficult to distinguish whether it was a man on hands and knees or a dog. Certainly there was a tail, but the face appeared human. Macha looked at this drawing for a long moment, touched it with her rifle and continued on her way.

The searching men saw no trace of Jos anywhere near the lake, nor at the sheds of the company that used to be Geo. Aberline & Son Minerals. There was no small body wedged in the gigantic machines abandoned by the Bush Bashers and now rusted into skeletons at the edge of the Yackoo.

The searchers walked the two miles to Brigid Connor's farm where the low level of water in the dams revealed only two dead sheep that had stuck in the mud and drowned.

While they were searching, the men watched out for Macha Connor but she was nowhere to be seen. They returned to the pub in frustrated silence, to meet Inspector Bailey and the tracker.

Here are the entries from Inspector Bailey's notebook, made before and during his talks with Catalin.

Nell heard that a tracker was coming from the capital, so she waited on the war memorial steps. When the tracker arrived, he sat on the pub verandah while Inspector Bailey talked inside with Catalin and the men. Nell walked up, diffidently stopping on the pavement close to where he sat.
I c'n help ya
, she said. The tracker looked straight ahead. She tried again, not looking at him, but down at the pavement.
I c'n help ya.
This time she understood that he was not going to hear her. She left the town and stayed in her hut, making sure the dingoes did not stray out of her sight.

In the bar a group of men gathered around Inspector Bailey.
We gotta start right away
, Young George was saying.
There's a lotta bush out there, and a lot that ain't really been into yet. Or the plains towards the inland – who knows how far he could have got, if he went that way. And wild dogs – dingoes. We all know what they c'n do to a sheep so God help any kid who gets taken by one of them. If we can't protect our kids, then what bloody use are we?

But those who heard him knew that what he really said was,
If we can't protect our kids, then there ain't no future anywhere.

When the search party was being organised Kelpie Crush was nowhere to be seen. Bluey knocked on the door of the Strangers' Room and looked in Kelpie's bedroom, but there
was no trace of him.
Just go
, Marge said,
I'll send him on after you when he gets back.

A bloody mongrel with a yellow streak
, Bert Truro muttered.
Better off without 'im.
Bert always saw the bad side of anyone and remembered too well that Kelpie Crush had snapped at him on the night Bert tried to burn Nell's hut.

Catalin wanted to go with the search party, but Inspector Bailey refused.
It's no place for a woman
, he said. Catalin, carrying the cello case on her back, went to the highest point of the rock from where she watched the group walk along the edge of the road. In front was Jimmy James the tracker followed closely by Inspector Bailey. Behind them was a motley group of townsmen and farmers. Some way behind them came Alistair Meakins, who had stopped to put a notice on the door of the shop: THIS SHOP WILL RE-OPEN WHEN JOS MORNINGSTAR IS FOUND.

At first the group moved rapidly, then Jimmy James slowed as they left the gravel road and headed across the open ground towards the salt lake. He indicated that the group should stay back behind him. He walked around carefully, pointing out several places to Inspector Bailey, and even from a distance Catalin could see the frustration and annoyance, and she wondered what caused it. She could not see the many footprints and churned-up earth from the searchers that morning.

She did see, though, Inspector Bailey signal the group to stop and wait, and she watched the tracker walk alone to the edge of the perpetual pool, to the salt ponds of what
had quite recently been Geo. Aberline & Son Minerals, then back to the perpetual pool, occasionally shaking his head at whatever he saw on the ground.

In the waiting group, Young George looked at his watch.
Wasting bloody time, aren't we
, he said to the men sitting on the ground.
Half-past two already, and we're still hanging around like a bunch of sheilas.

Still walking alone, the tracker followed the shoreline of the salt lake towards Sybil Barber's house. As he approached, Sybil came out carrying a hat and small bag. She spoke with Jimmy James for a moment, then joined the waiting group.

When Catalin saw Sybil walking towards the search party she rushed down the rock and ran to catch up, the cello case bumping up and down on her back. Inspector Bailey frowned on seeing the women.
We dunno how long this'll take
, he said.
And we dunno what we'll find. Better you wait at home.

Sybil just ignored him, and Catalin said,
There can be nothing worse than things I saw in the war. This is my son.

Catalin and Sybil stayed a few yards behind the main group, and Sybil looked at the heavy cello on Catalin's back.
Do you want to leave that at my house?
she said.
It'd be real quick to drop it off.

Catalin shook her head.
This will tell me how Jossy is, even if not where. I must keep it.

And the women walked on.