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Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. About Alison Stuart
  3. Also by Alison Stuart
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Author’s Note
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. Preview of The Goldminer's Sister

Caleb gathered up the food and water bottles Netty had put out for them. Adelaide slapped a broad-brimmed felt hat onto her head and they hurried to the livery stable where Amos waited with the horses. The stench of burning now covered the town and smoke rose high into the sky. The two horses, Adelaide’s bay and Caleb’s grey, sensed the unease in the air, fidgeting in Amos’s firm grasp, their ears swivelling and nostrils flaring.

‘Want me to come?’ Amos asked.

Caleb hesitated. He knew little more than Barnwell when it came to bushfires and he had never been further north than the Blue Sailor gold mine, about ten miles out of Maiden’s Creek.

He shook his head. ‘You’re needed here, Burrell.’

‘I know the country between here and Aberfeldy,’ Adelaide said.

‘She does too. I’d trust ’er.’ Amos grinned at Adelaide.

Adelaide swung unaided into her saddle and Caleb mounted Shadow. Amos packed the saddlebag with the food and water bottles, checked the girths one more time and looked up at them both. ‘Good luck,’ he said.

As they kicked the horses forward, Caleb looked at Adelaide, her lips pressed tight and her eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead, a road suddenly filled with people.

The crowd parted and the two lonely riders passed through, headed north on the Aberfeldy Road into the teeth of a raging bushfire.

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Four

When they were clear of the town, Adelaide put her heels to her horse, anxious to close as much distance as she could between herself and Danny. She heard, but ignored, Caleb’s call for her to slow and he cantered up beside her.

‘Stop,’ he said. ‘Are you mad? You’ll wear the horse out before we’ve got five miles.’

Reluctantly she brought her mare back to a walk and they rode on in silence. In her mind, Adelaide traced the road before them. There were a few side tracks into the more remote mines but she felt sure Richard would stick to the main track.

‘If they get through to Aberfeldy before the fire cuts the road,’ she said, ‘we’ve lost them.’

‘You know this country,’ Caleb said. ‘Is there anywhere they could shelter?’

She shrugged. ‘Some abandoned mine workings on the Aberfeldy River but Danny wouldn’t know that. He’s never …’ A lump caught in her throat. ‘He’s never been a confident enough rider to bring out on this road.’

He reached across and laid a hand on her knee. ‘Adelaide, we will find them.’

‘I wish I had your confidence,’ she said.

Past the turn off to the Blue Sailor mine, the track wound up from the valley through thick forest. The slope of the hill fell away through bracken and ferns and stands of tall mountain ash to the left side of the track. The wind tossed the trees, bringing with it the smell of destruction.