‘I shall do what I can for your brother. It’s best if you wait outside.’

The doctor slipped into the tent and Toby lowered himself onto a packing box beside a smouldering campfire. A digger came over and thrust a pannikin of hot tea into his hands. ‘There you go, young fella.’ Toby looked up and recognised the digger who had directed him to the doctor’s tent. He nodded his thanks and looked down at the tea, but didn’t take a sip.

The doctor muttered away to himself in the tent as he worked on Paddy. Toby had seen a skull with a depression like that once before when one of his father’s horses had kicked a dog. The animal had lived through one agonising night of miserable whimpering. The next morning his father had taken the dog and the Lovell behind the tack shed and ended its suffering.

Not my brother. Please God, not my brother. He’s the only person I have left in the world.

He thought of his parents, their bodies lying where they had fallen. He hadn’t even taken the time to move or cover them. When he’d discovered Paddy was still alive he’d hooked the horse to the wagonette, bundled his brother in as best he could and headed for town. Colleen Smith and her daughter had been returning to their neighbouring property when Toby came across them on the track. She’d told him about the doctor camped in town and said she would go to the homestead and see what she could do, but his neighbour was a frail woman and Susie only nine years old. Toby doubted they would have been able to move the bodies.

Toby wasn’t sure what time it was when the doctor finally emerged from the tent. The pannikin of tea had gone cold in his hands. He hadn’t touched a drop.

‘I’ve done what I can,’ the doctor said, squatting on his haunches beside Toby. Someone had thrown wood onto the fire, though he couldn’t remember when. By the light of the dancing flames he could see blood on the doctor’s hands. ‘I managed to lift the bone fragments. He’s a strong boy. If he lives through tonight, he’ll be through the worst of it.’

Toby thrust thoughts of the whimpering dog from his mind. ‘He—he’ll be all right?’

‘I’ll know more when he regains consciousness.’ The doctor paused and Toby thought he was going to add, ‘If he regains consciousness.’ Instead, he adjusted his spectacles. ‘But he’s a fit lad. I think he’ll pull through. There’s nothing more you can do here. Have you reported the incident to the police?’

Toby shook his head. ‘I brought Paddy straight here.’

‘Rightly so,’ the doctor said. ‘Maybe you should go and find the local sergeant. He seems to spend a lot of time in the hotel. Don’t worry about your brother. I’ll take good care of him.’