‘C’mon, Toby! Take the shot!’

There was such an edge of excitement in his brother’s voice that Toby glanced up at him. Paddy’s gaze followed the dingo intently and it took him several moments to realise Toby was holding the musket towards him.

‘You take the shot, Pad.’

Paddy blinked uncertainly, not taking his eyes off the gun. ‘But what about the rules?’

‘You’re nearly sixteen. C’mon, do you want to take the shot or not?’

Paddy hesitated for a heartbeat, then he took the Lovell from Toby and mimicked his posture, crouching down on one knee.

‘Don’t fire yet,’ Toby warned. ‘He’s moving too fast.’

‘U-huh!’

‘Too many rocks in the way. Wait until he tops the ridge and exposes himself on the skyline.’

‘U-huh!’

‘The ball will drop about four inches at that distance, so aim a little high.’

‘U-huh!’

The dingo was a yard beneath the ridgetop now. It paused briefly on a boulder and gathered itself for the final leap that would carry it out of the gully.

‘When he lands after this jump. Take him, Pad!’

The dingo leaped gracefully through the air with its front legs outstretched, looking more like a cat than a dog. It gained the edge of the gully and paused to glance in the direction of the brothers, its outline silhouetted against the sky. At that instant, Paddy fired.

Toby heard his brother grunt from the force of the recoil. Another cloud of gun smoke obscured their vision before being snatched away on the breeze. The gunshot echoed off the ranges, coming at them again and again.

The dingo lay sprawled on the opposite ridge. The ball had struck the animal in the ribs and its hind legs twitched as it died.

‘Nice shooting, Pad. You killed him. He won’t be coming down to raid Ma’s chooks any more, that’s for sure.’

Paddy lowered the gun, a grin of triumph on his face. He held the musket out for Toby to take. ‘That was the best thing I have ever done in my life, Toby.’

‘Just make sure Pa doesn’t find out I let you use the gun. He’ll never let either of us near it again.’

‘I won’t, Toby. You can bet I won’t.’

Toby could see in his brother’s eyes that there was no way he would give either of them up. ‘C’mon,’ he said. ‘Let’s go skin the bugger to prove to Ma that we got him.’

Chilbi watched the smoke coming from the chimney of the little homestead on the valley floor and knew that soon they would kill again. The two Djarriba were excited, shifting in their saddles and chattering in that strange tongue of theirs, talking quickly so that he was only able to follow half the conversation.