‘Where have you been?’

‘Visiting with my sister in Melbourne,’ she said with the ghost of a smile.

‘Lizzie, get in the coach. The sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll be home,’ her husband chided.

Caleb helped the maid up into the coach and lifted the child in after her. As he raised the footstep and closed the door, the maid turned to look at him. Her mouth moved and for a fleeting moment he thought she had mouthed the words ‘Help us’, but the coach had begun to move.

Caleb glanced up at the scudding clouds. Patches of blue had appeared and it looked like the afternoon would stay fine. Time to go. He saddled Shadow and set out on the road to Buneep, but each step along the muddy road took him further away from Maiden’s Creek and he felt the wrench as something physical.

‘You’ve got a grand girl waiting for you. Why’d you want to give her up?’ Geordie had said.

He didn’t want to give her up. All he had to do was turn his horse and take the road north into the mountains. North to Maiden’s Creek. North to home …

Just a few miles to Buneep, he told himself, and you can consider your options there.

The thought of Buneep brought back his last conversation with Mrs Gulliver as he settled his account.

‘Glad to see the back of the Murrays,’ she had said.

‘Why’s that?’ Caleb enquired without interest, counting out his coins.

‘Mrs Murray made a right mess in their room and despite what he said, it wasn’t nothing I served ’em. She was sick when she arrived. That pub at Buneep serves rancid meat in their stews.’

Eating at the Buneep pub was to be avoided, Caleb thought.

He wondered if the Murrays would get through to Maiden’s Creek. Mr Murray certainly seemed in a hurry, but that was understandable if his wife was unwell. He turned over the symptoms in his mind. Fever, aches and vomiting could all be attributable to a dose of rancid meat but a rash around her mouth?

The answer hit him with the force of a Minié ball.

He hauled so hard on Shadow’s reins that the horse went down on his hindquarters. Caleb turned the animal and put his heels to him.

He reached Shady Creek in the late afternoon and found Mrs Gulliver taking her leisure on the front verandah of the hotel with a cup of tea and a plate of scones.

Caleb swung off the horse, tethering Shadow’s reins to the front rail and ran up the steps to the verandah.

‘Mrs Gulliver, we have no time to waste.’

The woman started, slopping her tea over her hand. ‘Whatever is the matter, Mr Hunt? What brings you back so soon?’