Free The River Charm by Belinda Murrell Page B

driver was asleep under the dray,’ John explained. ‘But there was an emigrant called Sanders travelling with his wife and child on their way to start work at Mr Moses’s store.
    â€˜Sanders tried to hold off the robbers, but his pistol appears to have been faulty and misfired. Mrs Sanders threw herself in front of her husband, begging the bushrangers not to harm any of them. The leader of the ruffians had her dragged away and shot Sanders in the belly.’
    â€˜Did he live?’ asked Dandy Jack, blowing a puff of smoke in the air.
    â€˜Yeah, but he’s not expected to survive long,’ replied the dairyman. ‘The bullocky didn’t go for help till this morning.’
    â€˜We’ll have the place crawling with constables,’ said O’Brien.
    â€˜The bushrangers’ll take to the hills,’ said Dandy Jack with confidence. ‘They’ll never find them in that scrub – they never do. I’ve heard they have a hide-out in the caves that is as protected as a fortress.’
    A group of workers left the store, carrying bags of dry goods to be loaded onto their pack horses tethered in the shade. Charlotte bent and patted the wallaby again, her mind whirling. Another bushranger attack so close. Do they have no morals at all?
    â€˜Come on, Dandy,’ called Mr Ash from inside the store. ‘We haven’t got all day. Take your rations and be off with you.’
    Dandy Jack whispered something to his companions, who all guffawed.
    â€˜Nice jacket, Dandy,’ said Mr Ash. ‘Is it new?’
    â€˜Aw, no,’ said Dandy Jack. ‘Just felt like a change today. My old one was torn and I haven’t been bothered to mend it yet.’
    Charlotte didn’t really feel like going inside the store, but if she didn’t Mamma would be cross that she had taken so long and returned without the tea. She took a deep breath and entered the dim store. She breathed in the throat-tickling scent of tobacco smoke, tea and dust.
    â€˜Good afternoon, Mr Ash,’ greeted Charlotte. ‘Mamma sent me to fetch some tea, please.’
    â€˜Of course, Miss Charlotte,’ replied Mr Ash. ‘Charley can fetch it for you at once.’ Charley grinned at Charlotte. He scooped tea leaves out of a large sack, into a calico bag which he placed on the counter.
    Charlotte took the bag, her mind buzzing with gossip. Where could the bushrangers be?
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7
    The Chief Constable
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    The constables arrived the following day just as the family was sitting down to dinner. On Sundays, Mamma ordered a special meal that was eaten with great ceremony around the long dining room table, which was covered with a starched, white damask tablecloth.
    The spacious, formal dining room was at the front of the house, overlooking the garden. A fire roared in the fireplace to ward off the chill spring air. A collection of Mamma’s landscape paintings hung on the rich-green walls. She had painted some of them in England, but most were of the surrounding countryside in soft, silvery greens and ochres.
    Mr Barton sat at the head of the table, nursing a tumbler of brandy. Charlotte and James sat on either side of him, dressed in their Sunday best, while Louisa and Emily sat on either side of Mamma at the other end.
    Mamma was standing, carving the roast beef, while the children passed around the side dishes of roast potatoes, peas and beans, baked onions and the gravy boat. The silver gravy boat had disappeared, so they had to make do with the china one from the kitchen. Likewise, the massive silver soup tureen was missing from the cedar sideboard.
    Bridget entered the dining room and bobbed a curtsy, looking flushed and flurried.
    â€˜Mr Chalkley, the chief constable, would like to see you in the office, sir,’ explained Bridget to Mr Barton.
    â€˜Danged if I’ll see him,’ swore Mr Barton. ‘It’s the middle of dinner. Tell him to go away and come back