Page 65 of Stockman's Stowaway

‘The same night you guys got that visit from those wild dogs. From the condition Bree was telling me they were in, I’d hazard a guess to say that they hadn’t been fed in a while and the smell of prey…’

‘No way.’ Cap’s stomach dropped at how people could be so cruel to animals. Only to blink in surprise at Mia’s tiny hand on his arm giving him a squeeze to console him.

‘I knew it wasn’t a coincidence,’ muttered Dex, shaking his head. ‘We’d only had that mongrel, Leo, visit that same day. He’d been planning this—he’s playing us.’

‘Bree agreed. It’s why she asked me to check it out,’ said Craig.

‘We’ve never had wild dogs before,’ said Bree. ‘Have we, Pop?’

‘Nope. Never. Dingoes, sure. Just so you know, Cap, that little Scout is a brilliant tracker. She followed those dogs’ tracks right to where Bree cut them off from the herd.’

‘What do we do now? Call Porter?’ Ash asked.

‘We’ve burnt the carcasses and can’t prove anything,’ replied Dex. ‘And cutting the fence like that, they could claim they were being neighbourly fixing it.’

‘All we can hope is that the cameras picked up something. I’ll look again.’ Ryder rubbed his neck. ‘Ash, does your drone do night vision?’

‘Not this one. But I’ve ordered a new one that does. It’ll have more range and speed for mustering.’

‘Good. In the meantime, Dex, can clear any blind spots along the perimeter, and I’ll put in more cameras to replace the fake ones.’

‘I’ll widen that firebreak big time with the grader, so they’ll have nowhere to hide,’ said Dex. ‘I do like playing with that grader.’

‘Good call, the wider the better,’ said Craig. ‘Charlie said they started a fire that destroyed the crops last dry season.’

‘I’m hoping that by putting in wildlife corridors we’ll be able to minimise the risks of that happening again,’ said Cap.

‘Yeah, well, I’m sorry, brother…’ Dex dropped his heavy hand on Cap’s shoulder. ‘I’ll be tearing down trees when I expand that firebreak.’

‘That’s brilliant.’ Mia piped in and they all looked at her like she was weird.

‘Aren’t you meant to be saving trees?’ Dex arched his eyebrow at her.

‘Cap, it’s a good thing. Trust me.’ Her tiny hand squeezed his, practically jumping with excitement. ‘We can use the best saplings from that area and transfer them to your new wildlife corridor, as an enormous head start. Bree, Charlie, and Craig were helping me collect samples all morning.’ Mia jumped down the steps.

From the high boards they watched her rummage around the back of the Razorback filled with heavy hessian sacks, where she scooped out handfuls of seeds. ‘Look.We collected all these viable native seeds to start your native nursery.’

Cap leapt over the rail to land beside her and poked around the bags. There had to be thousands of seeds from countless native varieties.

Mia was so excited, opening one bag, then another as she tapped his chest. ‘It’s just like you said. It’s all here.’ She reached into another bag and pulled out thick clusters of seed pods as if she’d struck oil. ‘Bree showed me how the entire eastern firebreak has an amazing number of saplings available and recommended which varieties to use. We can transplant the best ones to get your wildlife settled in long before the rains come, repurposing the trough water from Ash’s paddock to water them.’

It was music to his ears, a dream that Mia was making into a reality for him. ‘For fate’s sake, you’re a godsend, you are, Mia. This is brilliant.’ He wanted to hug her, but his brothers were watching.

‘And you thought we were up to no good, Ryder?’ Bree crossed her arms, wearing a smug look.

‘Hmph.’ Ryder rubbed the tip of his nose. ‘Cap, when are you letting the guardian dogs loose?’

‘Tonight.’ Cap dusted his hands, looking up at his brothers.

‘I’ll help.’ Mia used some string, that curiously matched the twine wrapped around Bree’s hatband, to close the hessian sacks. ‘We can sort out the seeds and create a nursery plan at the same time.’

‘You don’t have to.’ But he’d love to see all that she’d collected.

‘I want to. You’ve only got three weeks before the campdraft is here to get them ready for sale.’

‘What are you selling now?’ Dex asked.

For fate’s sake! He pursed his lips together and began the climb back up the stairs to finally share his plans with his brothers. ‘I was planning on selling the excess of these native seedlings at the campdraft to contribute towards the dog food, and any future vet bills.’

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