“Now Claverings would be back at Oakland Hall.”
I rode every day, determined to improve; and when Joss returned he said we would be leaving England very soon.
Banker went back soon after the funeral. He was going to settle in Melbourne, he said. It was October before Joss and I sailed for Sydney.
5.
OUTWARD BOUND
It was a golden autumn day when we embarked on the Hermes, which was to take us to the other side of the world. I quickly realized that Joss was a person of some importance and was known, as Ben had been, to the Captain and a number of the crew. He told me that when the ship docked in Sydney they were often entertained there by some members of the Company and this meant that innumerable little concessions were granted to us.
“One of these,” said Joss, ‘is being provided with single cabins which they think is rather unorthodox in a newly married pair, but I am sure you will feel exceedingly grateful for that. “
“I do."
" It was quite adequate, that cabin; and Joss’s was next to it. I was thankful for the partition which divided us.
The weather was rough at first, but I was delighted to find that I was a good sailor. He was, of course! I should have hated to have given him an advantage over me in that respect.
There was little to do on board except sleep, eat, talk and study our fellow passengers. Naturally Joss and I must spend a good deal of time together. He talked then about the Company and life in Australia and I had to admit that I found it enthralling.
We breakfasted at nine and dined at twelve. On one particular occasion the ship was rolling and pitching badly, and as the atmosphere below was stuffy I decided it would be more pleasant on deck in spite of the high seas. I staggered up there to find it was almost impossible to stand upright. The waves were pounding the side of the ship, which was so much at the mercy of the sea that as the prow rose up towards the sky it seemed as though it would never come down again; then after a while it would plunge down so deep that I feared we were going to turn over. The wind tore at my cape, threw back my hood and my hair streamed all over my face so that I could scarcely see. I found it exhilarating.
I tried to walk the deck, but I had reckoned without the wind. It tore at me and lifted me off my feet. I was caught suddenly and held. It was Joss and he was laughing at me. There was spray on his eyebrows and his hair stuck up round his head. His ears looked more pointed than usual.
“What are you trying to do?” he demanded.
“Commit suicide? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to walk the decks in weather like this?”
What of you? “
“I saw you come up and followed you, guessing you’d be foolhardy enough to defy the wind.”
He was still holding me and I made an effort to free myself.
“I’ll be all right now,” I said.
“I beg to contradict.” The ship rolled and we fell against the rail.
“You see?” he taunted, his face close to mine.
"Yet another occasion when I have to admit you’re right, I suppose. “
There’ll be so many. I wouldn’t bother to count. “
“Perhaps I might turn the tables one day.”
“Who knows? Miracles have happened. Look. There’s a bench over there set against the bulkhead in the shelter of those hanging lifeboats.
We’d get the freshness without the buffeting there. “
He put his arm through mine and held it close against him. He gave the impression that he enjoyed such contacts not because they pleased him physically but because he knew they disturbed me.
We sat down and he put an arm about me.
“Safer,” he said with a grimace. the only reason, I assure you. “
“Had I in my folly been washed overboard everything yo now share with me would have been yours, wouldn’t it?”
That’s true. “
“A consummation devoutly to be wished, surely?”
“Perhaps there are other consummations which would be more devoutly so.” I drew away from him.
“Be prepared, Jessica,” he went on.
“One of these days you’re going to grow up.”
“It seems that you never speak to me without attempting to denigrate me in some way. So of what interest will it be to you when I reach this adult stage?”
That’s what I can’t wait to discover. “
“You seem to think you should instruct me in this art of growing up?”
“A husbandly duty, perhaps. ” And when I do. “
“Ah, then we shall see. I am impatient to discover.”
Tell me about the Company and the life I’m going out to. “
” It’s something you’ll have to experience for yourself. Ben has told you a great deal. You’ll be right in the midst of opal company. We’re all opal men in Fancy Town. You know the town got its name because Desmond Dereham had all hunch about it. ”
” Yes, I do know. He was my father. ”
” I know that too. Ben told me the story. Tell me how you; felt about Ben. You were fond of him, I know. He fascinated you, didn’t he? He was a great man. But he sent your fathers away, branded him a thief and deceived us all about these Green Flash. You don’t brood on that, do you? One of the things you’ll have to learn is to accept our code of behaviour! out there. It’s something you’ll have to adjust to. Ben felt r~” compunction for having behaved as he did towards yo father.
He was going to steal the Green Hash and desert yo mother. Ben was fond of your mother and when he got for of people, he was really devoted to them. He was a gamble at heart. We all are. We wouldn’t be there if we weren’t That’s how it is with men who go after gold, sapphires, diamonds, opals, whatever it is. Nature plays tricks and you compare it with playing a card game. You don’t know what card is given to you till you turn it up. It might be the ac of spades; it might be the ace of hearts; that’s death and love they say. But it might be the deuce of clubs and that won’t mean much either way. There’s a lot of luck in life, and I’ve always thought you we got to believe hick to gci’ll.
He told me about some finds which had come to light in the Fancy. He explained to me how there were pieces attached to fossilized wood which itself was impregnated with opal, but only fragments of it-nothing that could be used.
“Sometimes,” he said, ‘it’s like a sandwich. What a sandwich I There’s the precious bit in the middle and on top you get the sandstone and underneath the opal dirt. Ifs in between that there’s the meat. But these are not the lumps I’ve been telling you about. They consist of a lot of fine grains of sand stuck together . and the cracks there’ll be this hint of opal. There are times when you can gouge out enough to make a small stone but the effort is hardly worth it. But I tell you this-when you find these, you can wager that not far off you’re going to come across the precious stuff. It might be opal matrix, opal dirt or just plain potch, but where it is there’s always hope that somewhere, nearby, if you can only find the spot, is the precious stuff, and every miner believes that what he is going to find is going to be better than anything that ever came to light before. “