right, Mr Bonnar,” Matt agreed, “It’s what my father said in his time.” He discoursed about recorded giants and told stories of even bigger karri trees which had flourished and fallen before the coming of the white man to stand abashed by the vision of what they must have been when standing. And then when Emma brought up her daughter again, Bony turned his mind to more serious affairs. He said:
“Your buttered scones were delicious, and now that you cannot get them back from me, I will make a confession. Please hear me out before telling me to go. I have here a letter from your daughter which doubtless will tell you a little about me. Several days ago I called on her and her husband. I then explained who and what I am, and the purpose of my intended visit down here, and they were pleased to give me this letter of introduction. Having talked with Constable Sasoon and his wife about you, I am encouraged to take you into my confidence and seek your co-operation in the work I have to do.
“I am supposed to be the manager of a cattle and sheep property away up in the Murchison District. I like fishing, and I am supposed to be a keen amateur photographer and have with me a camera and some pictures to support the claim. Actually, I am a detective-inspector, and actually my assignment is to apprehend a man you know, viz: Marvin Rhudder.”
They had both become taut, the woman stilled with her hands in her lap, the man’s hands clenched and resting on the table. Bony went on:
“I don’t know this part of Australia and the coast, but Sasoon says, and he has pressed the point, that a man holed up down here wouldn’t be dug out by an army, and might be by one man acting alone. This is the type of assignment which I have accepted more than once, proving past history in that sometimes it takes an army of detectives to round up one criminal, and other times it demands only one man to corner a gang of crooks.
“In the old-time story-books great detectives were ever the masters of disguise. I am a master in the art of fabricating a fictitious background, and every detail supporting my claim to be the manager of a station in the Murchison District has been firmed in presumed fact, so that anyone wishing to test will find every detail substantiated. Which is why the senior officer at Geraldton and I called on your daughter and explained about the Rhudder problem. They both gladly consented to give me this letter of introduction. Here it is, and here I am.
“And as for the children, Mrs Jukes, I found all four of them just splendid, and when I retire, which I don’t suppose I shall, I am going to buy a house like theirs and live in Geraldton.”
Jukes and his wife remained quiescent after Bony ceased speaking, and he poured himself another cup of tea and began to roll a cigarette. Matt then said:
“Our Rose wouldn’t of told you about what Marvin Rhudder did, I suppose?”
“No. However, Sasoon did hint at some bad trouble years ago when he told me he was sure you would be glad to help me as much as you can.”
“I’ll help you, too right I’ll help,” came flooding from Matt Jukes, his eyes blazing and his beard standing out from his chin. “Old Faust traded his soul with the devil for youth, and I’d trade mine for the chance to get my hands on young Rhudder.”
“Now, Matt! Please, Matt!” cried Emma, laying a hand over his fist. The man fought for composure and won, but his voice trembled when he spoke again.
“That swine dishonoured our Rose, and he broke his father’s heart. Me and old Jeff were boys together. We had our fights and our good times, and we grew up like brothers, and where one had bad fortune, the other always went to his help. We begat children and they all grew up close, playing together, schooling together, adventuring together. You wait till you see old Jeff Rhudder. ’Taint the sciatica what’s made him old afore his time. What’s made it bad for all of us down here is that we raised Marvin as high as the top of yonder karri, and he went and fell not to the ground but for a mile or more under it. Too true, I’ll help you, Mr Bonnar.”
“I’ve been hoping you would, Mr Jukes. Sasoon tells me you know this coast as well as the back of your hand, and that is where we think Marvin is holed up. Or somewhere in the nearby forests. Because of the lapse of time, I’ve first to be assured he is still down here, and then find him and have him apprehended. And I can expect no assistance from his own people.”
“No, you won’t get any help from them. Let me tell you about Marvin, as from the beginning. Let’s go outside and talk.”
Matt rose and strode to the doorway, and Emma cast a look at Bony which was both appealing and encouraging. They sat on a bench against the wall, and again Bony was confronted by the great tree which now dwarfed the picket fence to a line of matching sticks.
“The kids called themselves the Inlet United. There were the three young Rhudders: Marvin, Luke and Mark. There were our two: Ted and Rose. And there was Sadie Stark, the daughter of the woman who’s been housekeeping for Mrs Rhudder for many years.” Matt paused to light his pipe. “Six of ’em. They was always close; grew up close, you might say, until the explosion.”
Emma came from the house and quietly sat next to Bony, and her husband proceeded with the occasional hesitation of the man wanting to choose his words. “Six of ’em, remember. Four boys and two girls. No other children. No neighbours. Marvin was ever the leader, beside being the eldest. What he led ’em into down on the coast made our hair stand on end when we heard tell of it. He saved Sadie from drowning one day and pulled our Ted out from under a sneaker some other time.
“Just imagine those six kids, reared like babies together, going to school on the milk truck to Timbertown, sometimes having a fight, sometimes ganging up to fight the kids in town. We watched ’em growing up, me and Emma and Jeff and his wife, and we were proud of every one of them like they could of been all our own.
“To Marvin learning was as easy as falling out of that karri. He went to High School at Bunbury, and from the High he passed to the Teachers’ College up in Perth. Went in for writing stories for the magazines, and could do it without failing anywhere at the College.”
Matt stopped to attend to his pipe, and on the other side of Bony, Emma sat with her hands in her lap and in that immobile state he had seen her in before. Her husband sighed, and went on:
“Learnin’! Learnin’ wasn’t anything to Marvin. Read a poem, shut the book, then recite it. Go to chapel, listen to the sermon, come and repeat what the minister said from first to last. Did his course at the Teachers’ College and then entered the Theological College intending to be a preacher. Us oldies, and all the kids what had grown up with him, could see the sun shining on him.
“Well, come the time that Marvin was home from the Theological College on the long summer vacation. He was filled out, tall and big. He took the service at chapel on three Sundays, and he was good. I still remember him preaching on the life of Joseph, but never mind that. As I said he was good, and it was only afterwards that Emma said she and Rose didn’t think he was as good as us men thought. Women, Mr Bonnar, can think and look deeper than men.
“Then comes the time he has to go back to college. Our Rose is a little poorly, and we think a spell in Perth would do her good. So it’s planned for her to spend a month with her aunt up there, and as it’s a long train journey everyone thinks it a good idea for her to travel up with Marvin. The train leaves at eight in the morning, and Luke is to take them to Timbertown.
“When they call to pick up Rose who’s all ready, Luke says he’s forgotten papers Jeff wants put into the bank, and he says he’ll go back home on the timber truck what’s due to pass on to the Inlet, get the papers and go on the truck to Timbertown, and so, after doing the business, come back home with the car.
“Off goes Rose with Marvin, luggage and all, all excited by the trip, looking her best in a blue dress and white hat and shoes. The driver of the truck and Luke found her on the track, on her hands and knees, groping about like she couldn’t see, the blue dress in shreds. I wasn’t handy when they brought her home. I didn’t see her till after Emma had tended to her, and Emma said she looked like she’d been passed through a chaff-cutting machine.
“Looking