Page 37 of Stockman's Stormcloud

Charlie tapped the brim of his well-worn hat. ‘And I got a good set of crocodile boots and belt from that creature, too.’

‘You know, they’re a protected species.’

‘It shouldn’t have bit me, then.’

‘Who are you going to tell, Mr Illegal Street Fighter?’ asked Bree.

‘We don’tkill ‘em anymore,’ Charlie said. ‘We mainly catch salties to protect their cousins, the freshwater crocodiles.’

Charlie pushed through the dry grasses that brushed his knees and walked to the verge where he pointed to the wide waterhole. A large cattle carcass floated on the surface, only to be dragged underwater leaving a pool of expanding ripples. ‘Crikey. Carked-it’s gotten big if he’s dragged that steer down.’

‘Is this the part where I sayI told you so,’ said Bree, standing beside them. ‘Can’t fish in here for a while.’

‘Are those ours?’ Dex pointed beyond the glistening waterhole, to the white dots scattered across the landscape of wide, open fields.

Charlie nodded, as his sun-hardened skin crinkled around his eyes. ‘Dusty diamonds, eh, lad?’ He patted Dex’s shoulder.

It was a herd of Brahman. ‘I didn’t know we had them.’

‘I’m sure I told you mob that you had a few scrubbers bashing through the brush.’

‘You did, but that…’ The decent-sized herd was more thana few. ‘How?’Breathe, brother.

‘Don’t you worry none, them grass puppies all come a-lookin’ for water this time of the year. And that’s when we muster them up like throwing out a butterfly net. In a few weeks, that mob will be ready for mustering.’

Dex made a mental note to tell his brothers. ‘How many head?’

‘Bree? You’ve been overseeing this mob.’

At the trailer, Bree hammered large trolley wheels into the base of the crocodile cage. ‘You’re just shy of eleven hundred head in this area.’

Dex’s eyes widened, as he adjusted his hat as if to help him see the dots of white scattered throughout the valley. ‘Why didn’t you say anything, Bree?’

‘Did you ask?’

‘Did you hide these, too?’ He scowled at Bree, who gave himthat evil grin.

‘Nah, the kid played drover, and played hide and seek—’

‘Pop,’ warned Bree. ‘Don’t give all our secrets away.’

‘But you did.’ Charlie chuckled as he hitched his jeans higher. ‘You see, lad, them flamin’ overpaid contract musterers Darcie’s son hired never bothered going through Scary Forest. Not after Bree told their Aboriginal stockmen, who’d come from New South Wales, that it was a sacred site for secret women’s business. They refused to go near the place after that. Then Bree drove what cattle she could deep into Scary Forest, right before she helped me muster that other mob into Wombat Flats.’

‘How long did you keep that herd in Scary Forest for?’

‘Not long. As soon them contract musterers’ left, after stripping the place bare, Bree drove them back out here where they belonged.’

‘You’re my hero, Bree. You should make yourself a monument out of steel for the smithy’s shed.’

‘Don’t get too excited, Stormcloud,’ said Bree, coiling up the long rope then tossing it back into the trailer. ‘This valley used to hold ten thousand head with room for more.’

‘How do we get out there?’ The trek from the caretaker’s cottage had been a challenge.

‘You come in off Emu Plains.’

He knew Emu Plains. Not only was it on the way to the Stoneys, it also kissed the edge of their newly fenced laneway to the drafting yards.

‘Now do you understand why we need to get rid of Carked-it?’ She nodded at the cattle peppered in the valley.

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