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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

‘I brought you a horse from Sones’s stable. You will find it tethered to a tree up there.’ Adelaide pointed up the track. With a toss of her head, she flicked her long plait over her shoulder and she strode off.

‘If you wait a while, I’ll come with you,’ he called after her.

Adelaide did not turn around. ‘I’m not waiting for you,’ she said.

Sixteen

Sixteen

Getting Geordie to Sale had not been easy. No direct route had been cut from Maiden’s Creek, so they had hitched a ride on an empty wagon heading down to Port Albert. If Caleb had thought the Shady Creek track rough, it was a boulevard compared to this rough bush trail. It must have been a difficult ride for Geordie but he bore it without complaint, and at Rosedale they picked up the coach from Melbourne.

Caleb had left his patient in the care of a competent doctor in a pristine new hospital. As he said his farewells, Geordie asked if Caleb would be returning to Maiden’s Creek.

Caleb shook his head. ‘I’ll buy a horse here and then I’m heading for Melbourne and on to the western goldfields.’

‘Why?’

‘Got to find a man who owes me money,’ Caleb said, but even as he spoke, he struggled to find the conviction in his words.

‘Forget ’im,’ Geordie said. ‘You’ve got a grand girl in Maiden’s Creek. Why’d you want to give her up?’

Caleb had no answer for that.

He purchased a handsome grey gelding he named Shadow for sentimental reasons: in memory of the loyal, gentle animal who had borne him from his father’s farm and through the early years of the war. When the first Shadow died in a hail of Minié bullets, Caleb had mourned for him as he would have his best friend.

As he left Sale, the clouds hung heavy and the air had the consistency of damp wool. In the distance the flashes of lightning and thunder the bush people so dreaded rolled over the countryside.

Ten miles out of Shady Creek, the rain began as a few heavy drops that quickly became sheets of torrential rain. He arrived at Shady Creek at nightfall, drenched to the skin and in a foul mood. His leg ached and he wanted nothing more than dry clothes and a good feed. He saw Shadow stabled, dried and fed before hoisting his satchel and stomping into the pub from which he had set out with such high hopes only a few weeks earlier.

The proprietors of the Shady Creek pub, who he remembered as Ethel and Ernest Gulliver, fussed over him. Mrs Gulliver insisted on taking his wet clothes to dry by the kitchen fire. Considering the few coins in his purse, Caleb paid for a bed in the bunkhouse.