Under a Flaming Sky E-Book

Elizabeth Haran

• Herausgeber: Bastei Lübbe
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 876

Beschreibung

Australia, 1933: Arabella Fitzherbert, a 19-year-old English lady travels with her parents to Australia as they hope the dry climate will help their only daughter recover from her chronic illness. With the Depression in full swing, the wealthy Fitzherbert family will stop at nothing to pamper their sickly daughter. Their journey takes an unexpected turn, however, when Arabella falls from the passenger train and finds herself in the desert - all alone. Injured, she watches helplessly as the train pulls away, leaving her stranded in the middle of nowhere. Nobody notices her missing until what is presumed to be too late. Arabella’s fate might have been sealed if not for a group of Aborigines who herd her to Marree, a small town in the outback, cut off from the rest of the world. While her parents believe her dead, Arabella is on her own for the first time in her life. Set in the unforgiving yet alluring Australian outback, "Under a Flaming Sky” is a testament of one young woman’s survival and a willingness to grow into her true self.

With an eye for detail, Elizabeth Haran is the author of numerous other romantic adventures including "Island of Whispering Winds," "River of Fortune," "Flight of the Jabiru," and "Staircase to the Moon," available as eBooks.

For fans of sagas set against a backdrop of beautiful landscapes, like Sarah Lark's, "Island of a Thousand Springs" or Kate Morton's, "The Forgotten Garden."

About the author: Elizabeth Haran was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia and migrated to Australia as a child. She lives with her family in Adelaide and has written fourteen novels set in Australia. Her heart-warming and carefully crafted books have been published in ten countries and are bestsellers in Germany.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

ELIZABETH HARAN

UNDERA FLAMINGSKY

Novel

BASTEI ENTERTAINMENT

May 2013

Digital original edition

Bastei Entertainment is an imprint of Bastei Lübbe AG

This title was acquired through the literary agency Thomas Schlück GmbH, 30827 Garbsen, Germany

Copyright © 2013 by Bastei Lübbe AG, Cologne, Germany

Edited by Melanie Blank-Schröder, Cologne

Cover designed by Jeannine Schmelzer, Cologne

Cover illustrated by © shutterstock/Markus Gebauer/rangizz/EVA 105/clearviewstock

E-Book produced by Urban SatzKonzept, Düsseldorf

ISBN 978-3-8387-3737-9

www.bastei-entertainment.com

I would like to dedicate this book to my mother Lucy May who died while I wrote this novel.

Mom, you always supported me and you were proud of me. I am missing you more and more every day.

CHAPTER ONE

Central Australia, October 1933

Like a mythical serpent from aboriginal dreamtime, The Ghan train slithered north through heat that shimmered over Australia’s arid heart. On the far horizon, which seemed to merge with the endless blue sky, the early afternoon shadows were beginning to creep over an almost featureless landscape, the monotony broken only by the occasional willie-willie that weaved and danced across the desert.

The train consisted of the locomotive engine, one car of seats for day/night passengers, a restaurant car, lounge car, two cars for first class passengers with sleepers, and at the back, two cars carrying freight and mail. It was journeying to Alice Springs at a pace barely fast enough to afford a breeze through the open windows. The train driver was proceeding cautiously as the tracks had been known to buckle in temperatures over one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit, derailing the train. This day’s blistering heat had reached nearly one hundred and fifteen degrees in the shade.

“Why are we slowing further down, mummy?” Arabella Fitzherbert pursed her pretty mouth petulantly. She was nineteen years old, but looked younger, especially in her nightgown as she sat on her bed in their first class compartment with her honey coloured hair falling over her shoulders. She hadn’t been able to wait until night fall to take off her dress, clinging petticoats, stockings and under garments in the privacy of their compartment and put on her loose nightdress.

Clarice strained to see what was up ahead.

“We appear to be coming into a small settlement, but from what I can see, it looks quite unsightly.”

A few moments later the train came to a jerky standstill at a platform made up of a pile of rail sleepers with a corrugated iron canopy. A sign, nailed to an upright post at a sad angle, read: “Marree; Population: 84 people and one billion flies”. Clarice grimaced when she read it, but she was thinking the folk that lived in the outback had a strange sense of humour.

There had been almost nothing to see for miles, but even so, the town aroused absolutely no excitement amongst the passengers on the train as a plume of steam cleared, giving them an uninterrupted view of the town. On the main street, little more than a dusty track, there was a two storey sandstone building with a balcony going around three sides known as The Great Northern Hotel, a post office alongside, a police station a bit further along, and three corrugated iron shops. In the distance, through the gusts of red dust, they could see a few fibro houses haphazardly placed amid a few scrawny trees. Clarice observed someone in uniform alight and exchange bags of mail with a man on the platform, but her attention was soon taken by aboriginals and dark skinned men in turbans who approached the train.

“Oh, my Lord,” Clarice said, recoiling from the window. “Will you look at those fearful beggars? We’re not getting off here. I don’t care what your father says.” She remembered her daughter’s state of undress as the curious onlookers outside strained to see in the windows.

“Cover up, Bella,” she said, clasping the sheet and lifting it to hide her daughter’s bare shoulders and arms. “Goodness only knows what’s in their minds.”

As a turbaned man came closer, she pulled the curtain across and glanced at the cabin door fearfully, wondering whether she should lock it. With the curtain closed, the air in the compartment immediately became stifling.

“It’s so hot on this train,” Arabella complained.

“Tomorrow we’ll be arriving at our hotel in Alice Springs,” Clarice said. She imagined herself in a shady lounge with an overhead fan, sipping something long and cool, with lots of ice in it.

Arabella opened a Chinese paper fan bought on their travels and began fanning herself.

“This heat is making me feel faint, mummy,” she whined. “And I have a headache.”

“You’ll be all right when we get moving again and a breeze comes through the window.” Clarice swatted at the flies coming under the curtain. “Some nice people have the private compartment next door. Your father and I are going to play gin-rummy with them after dinner. Perhaps you’d like to join us, Bella?”

Arabella flopped back on her pillows.

“No, mummy and I don’t want any dinner either,” she said. “I have a tummy ache.”

It was one of many complaints Clarice had often heard from her daughter, so she wasn’t alarmed. Arabella had always been something of a hypochondriac and a poor eater, and Clarice was certain her lack of any womanly shape was the result.

“It’s the heat, Bella. At least you aren’t coughing. Your father is praying the dry climate will clear up your chest, and it seems to be helping. You know that is the reason we came out to Australia, so please make an attempt to put on a brave face for your father. He was following the doctor’s advice in bringing us out here. Doctor Portman was certain it was London’s damp air and smog that was giving you Bronchitis all the time.”

Edward Fitzherbert was a very successful producer of theatre plays. In England he was quite a famous person. But for the sake of his daughter he had decided to leave London for about a year. Though the Depression has gripped the world, the Fitzherberts need not to worry about a year with no income. Clarice descended from a gentry family owning vast properties. They’d been staying in the city of Adelaide since they had arrived in Australia a month ago, and planned to spend at least three months in the country traveling. In Adelaide the weather had been pleasantly warm and the air clear. Clarice had wanted to remain there as she’d been enjoying the shops, but it was her husband’s exploratory spirit that had them heading into the arid heart of the country. Edward had always needed very little excuse to go on an adventure.

Arabella grimaced. Her blue eyes looked vivid in a face that was the same colour as the sheet.

“Perspiring all the time is so uncomfortable, mummy,” she continued to complain.

“I know, darling,” Clarice sighed and patted her daughter’s hand.

“I think I’m getting a rash,” Arabella whined.

“Where?” Clarice asked.

Arabella showed her mother a tiny red patch on her thigh.

“That’s nothing, Arabella.”

“Yes it is. This heat is ruining my skin.”

Clarice wanted to roll her eyes. She loved her only daughter more than life itself, but Arabella never failed to find fault, whereas Clarice was an adaptable person. With a husband like Edward, who’d taken her trekking through Africa before Arabella was born, it had been just as well. Health wise, she was a robust woman with a full figure. But with this being the first long trip she’d taken since becoming a mother, she had to admit, being a little older, she no longer enjoyed not having the comforts of home and she missed socializing with her friends.

Clarice also knew she was partly to blame for the way Arabella was. When she’d showed any signs of sickness as a child, Clarice had mollycoddled her, setting a precedent for her life. And when she became ill with Bronchitis years ago, Clarice’s worries had made her far too lenient towards her child. She was hoping this trip would make Arabella grow up a little and better prepare her to stand on her own two feet, but so far the signs weren’t encouraging.

“You’ll acclimatize, Arabella,” she said. The staff on the train had told Clarice that there wasn’t much in the desert town of Alice Springs in the way of shops and no theatres, so she hoped Edward wouldn’t want to be staying too long, but she didn’t say so. She didn’t want to colour Arabella’s opinions.

The train began moving again, and Clarice opened the curtains quickly, allowing some air into their compartment. It wasn’t cool air, but any air was better than none.

“I’m going to the lounge car,” she said.

“Can’t you stay here and look after me, mummy?” Arabella moaned.

“You’ll be all right, dear. If you feel a bit better later, join us in the lounge car. The Harris’ are from Kent and they’re awfully nice.”

“I don’t want to meet them. Besides, it’s too hot to get dressed,” Arabella replied sullenly.

“As you wish,” Clarice said patiently. “I’ll fetch you some sandwiches.”

As the train left the town slowly Clarice caught a glimpse of a large pen on the other side of the tracks with lots of camels in it. Some were very big, but there were also a few young, and nearby about twenty Date Palm trees and strange looking buildings set in a small village. In the midst there was a mosque. She realized it must be the place of worship for the men in turbans, and was thankful her husband hadn’t suggested a tour of the town.

“Don’t bother, mummy,” Arabella sulked. “I’ve still got half the sandwich I had for lunch. The bread was dry, and the filling, whatever it was, was horrible. I doubt anything they are serving in the dining car is better, so I’d sooner go without.”

“It was only egg and mayonnaise, Bella darling. I ate mine and enjoyed it. They serve it wrapped to keep it from drying out, but in this heat, you have to eat it quickly.” Clarice wanted to berate her daughter for eating so little, but she knew it would only put her in a dour mood and she wanted to enjoy this trip as much as she could.

“If you won’t stay with me I’ll try and have a sleep,” Arabella moaned. She hoped the journey might pass more quickly if she slept.

“Very well. If it’s late when we retire, I won’t put a lamp on and disturb you. The conductor told me we should reach Alice Springs early tomorrow morning.” Clarice kissed her daughter’s pale cheek and then left their compartment. She tried to quell the guilt she felt for leaving her alone for awhile. She loved playing gin-rummy, so she was looking forward to it and she needed a break from Arabella’s constant whining.

After her mother had gone, Arabella glanced through the windows at the sky, searching the vast blueness for any sign of a cloud that would break the monotony. Soon the heat and the clackity-clack of the train were lulling her to sleep.

The jerking motion of the train coming to a standstill awoke Arabella. She sat up and looked outside, but could see nothing but desert glowing in the heat. She pulled the curtain back on the door to see across the corridor and out the other side of the train, but they were surrounded by salt bush and desert. Her faint hope that the train had stopped because they had reached their destination vanished.

She waited and waited, thinking her mother or father might come to tell her what was going on, but they didn’t. Eventually, she stuck her head out of the window and looked towards the front of the train. Someone up ahead in the day/night car was doing the same. Then another head popped out between them from the lounge car.

“What’s going on?” the woman called.

The head sticking through the day/night car up ahead turned. Arabella could see it belonged to a middle aged man.

“There’s a dead animal on the track,” he called. “It’s being removed.”

What they didn’t know was that there was a sand drift over the tracks near the dead kangaroo. The crew had already pulled the kangaroo off the tracks. It was a large male that looked like it had been fighting with another male and been mortally wounded, but it would take longer to shovel the sand drift away.

As time passed, Arabella became restless. The shadows of late afternoon were falling as the sun slipped towards the western horizon. She was grateful because it was becoming a little cooler. As she gazed out of the window, she caught sight of a flower she’d never seen before. It was a vibrant red in colour with a black-pea like centre. She loved flowers and knew many varieties, but she’d never seen anything as unusual before. It was like a treasure amongst the monotonous salt bush and only a few feet from the train.

It crossed Arabella’s mind that she could just step from the train and pick it. She’d liked the idea of drying it and taking it home, but dare she? No, she thought. She couldn’t chance it. The train might move off at any moment.

Fifteen long minutes later, the train was still at a stand still, and Arabella was becoming more impatient as each second passed. She kept glancing at the flower, thinking she’d missed an easy opportunity to pick it. In the fading light it was getting harder to see, but the more she looked at it, the more she admired its beauty and wanted it. Finally she stood up and peered out into the deserted corridor. She went to the door leading off the train and opened it. The flower was no more than ten feet away.

“It will only take me five seconds to pick it and get back on the train,” she said to herself. Even if the train began to move, I’d be able to get back on. She had slippers on her feet, so she didn’t fear the stones littering the red desert sand, or the small thorny plants that grew in clumps. Holding the hand rail, she stepped down onto the wooden step. As she went to take another step, her toe caught in the hem of her long nightgown and she slipped. Her weight wrenched her arm, twisting it painfully, so she let go of the rail and landed awkwardly in the sand with her hand on a thorny plant.

“Ouch,” she cried as pain seared through her ankle and the palm of her hand. She picked thorns out of her hand and rubbed her ankle as tears pricked her eyes. “Oh fiddlesticks,” she muttered angrily. Suddenly she heard a gush of steam from the locomotive and the train jerked forward.

“Oh, no!” Arabella cried. She tried to get up, but winced when she put her hand on the ground to support her weight and pain shot through her palm and ankle.

“Wait!” she called as the train began moving away. She tried again to stand up and hobble to the train, but the step she had slipped from had moved away, so there was nothing to hold onto. The train picked up speed and she watched helplessly as the carriages that passed her were carrying goods and no people. There was no one to see her, no-one to call to. Worse! No-one knew she’d been left behind.

“Mummy! Daddy!” she cried. “Wait!” she screamed louder. For a few moments she stood watching in sheer disbelief as the train snaked off into the distance. As the realization and horror that she’d been left behind hit her, she began to cry.

“Mummy and daddy will know I’m not on the train,” Arabella thought, trying to quash the panic rising in her. They’ll come back for me. She thought about her parents playing gin-rummy. She was well aware of how they lost track of time when they were playing cards. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for them to play half the night. She remembered her mother saying she wasn’t going to light a lamp when they came to bed because they didn’t want to wake her. “Oh, no,” she thought, imagining them getting into bed and not realizing she wasn’t in her bed until the next morning. She couldn’t comprehend the full reality that she was all alone in the desert and no-one knew, so she screamed as loud as she possibly could in frustration. Her voice sounded hollow and seemed to evaporate in the boundless isolation that was closing around her.

When the train had completely disappeared from view Arabella sat down, put her head on her knees and sobbed. It was only something crawling up her leg that made her leap up and stamp one foot, which caused another shot of pain in her ankle bringing fresh tears to her eyes. She screamed as she lifted her nightgown to find a large insect on her inner thigh. She knocked it off and shuddered in revulsion before hobbling onto the train tracks, limping in the direction the train had taken. All sorts of thoughts were going through her mind.

“I can walk along the tracks to Alice Springs,” she thought. “I can do it.” With the tracks to follow she couldn’t get lost. But then she remembered her mother had said the train wouldn’t arrive in Alice Springs till morning, and her ankle was painful and swelling. She couldn’t make it on her own. It was too far. They had to come back for her. They had to. And most suitably tonight.

Arabella was soon aware that when the sun faded in the desert, the temperature dropped dramatically. She began shivering and mumbling to herself in fear as darkness she’d never known before descended upon her. Trying to walk on the train tracks hurt her ankle even more and she couldn’t see the sleepers so she kept stubbing her toes. The only thing to do was move off the tracks, and walk beside them in the sand, but she still kept stumbling in the dark.

In her flimsy nightgown Arabella was freezing cold, and she couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her, so she had no idea if there was any shelter nearby. It wasn’t until the stars came out and the moon rose in the sky, giving a little illumination, that she could see a bit further, but there didn’t appear to be any trees or rocks nearby. Now and again she thought she saw something scuttle in front of her, huge insects and small rodent type creatures, which made her scream in terror.

When her teeth began chattering and she could no longer feel her feet, she began to despair that the train wasn’t coming back this night. It felt like hours had passed, but she was sure it hadn’t been that long since she’d been left behind. She kept reassuring herself that her parents would soon know or “feel” she was missing and that they’d insist the train return for her. She had to believe it or she’d go mad. She intended to tell them off for neglecting her. If they had stayed in their compartment with her, then this wouldn’t have happened.

The minutes dragged to hours and Arabella’s hopes faded. The wearier she became, the more depressed she felt. The colder she got, the more she felt she couldn’t go on. Time and again she tripped and fell to her knees, until they were cut and bloodied. Somehow, when she could hardly keep her eyes open anymore and the only thing she could concentrate on was the pain in her ankle, she’d wandered away from the train line. At one point, she fell in the sand, and no longer had the strength to get up. She curled up and cried in misery. She wanted desperately to sleep, but she kept willing herself to stay awake so that she’d hear the train return.

Eventually Arabella was overwhelmed by weariness and dozed off.

The hours ticked by and dawn began creeping over the landscape. Arabella was fast asleep in the sand when a tickling feeling on her leg caused her to wake up. She opened her eyes and screamed in horror as the biggest spider she’d ever seen crawled up her leg. The sight of it almost caused her to faint. She shook her leg hysterically and the spider quickly scuttled under cover of a bush. To her utter despair, the train tracks were nowhere in sight and nothing looked familiar. The desert was made up of unspectacular salt bush and flat red patches of sand where thorny succulents struggled to grow. There were no distinguishing land marks; no rocky outcrops, hills, or groups of trees.

Arabella got up slowly and turned in a full circle, spotting a lone tree off in the distance. It was the only tree for miles, so she made for it. She was thirsty and hungry, and the tree gave her hope of finding that it might bear fruit, and there could be water nearby. She knew it was a long shot, but something was keeping the tree alive where only the hardiest vegetation survived. Her ankle still hurt, but the swelling had receded during the night and the pain had subsided a little.

Arabella’s limbs felt frozen and stiff. As she trudged towards the tree, shivering so hard her teeth were rattling, she was vaguely aware that the rising sun was giving off a little warmth. She’d never been so cold in her life, not even in the heart of an English winter, but then she’d never been outside in nothing but a nightdress. The desert night had been surprisingly damp and she’d begun to cough again, as her mouth was as parched as the landscape around her. In desperation she licked the dew off leaves she picked from bushes she passed.

A strange noise alerted her, and Arabella turned to find five emus coming up behind her. They were making a drumming noise which she assumed was threatening behaviour. Their beaks looked sharp and their long legs, powerful. She glanced at their toes and long claw-like nails, sure they could do some damage with them. As they regarded her with dark inquisitive eyes, she screamed and quickened her quest for the tree. Without looking back she hobbled, fell, and hobbled again, waving her arms and screaming hysterically. She was unaware her screams had already sent the emus off in another direction.

When Arabella reached the tree, she ducked behind its trunk and peered around it to see if the emus were pursuing her. To her surprise, they were off in the far distance, strolling along without a care in the world. For a second she felt foolish for fearing them. Obviously they hadn’t meant her harm, and just for a moment she wished they hadn’t left her all alone. As hunger pains struck her again, she looked up at the tree branches, hoping to find fruit or berries, anything edible, but all she could see was an abandoned bird nest. There was also no water nearby. In utter despair, she sank down by its trunk and cried again.

“Mummy, come back for me,” she sobbed. “Don’t leave me here to die.”

Still sobbing and exhausted, she fell asleep again.

Early on the same morning, the Ghan train had come to a sudden, almost violent standstill that shook the passengers from sleep at around six o’clock. Edward Fitzherbert looked out of their compartment window to see they were not in the town of Alice Springs. Thinking another animal must be on the tracks, he waited a few minutes before getting up to see what had happened. Clarice was not quite awake, so he decided to check on Arabella. He peered around the screen separating their bed from hers, and was startled to notice she was not in her bed. As she hadn’t left their compartment since they had boarded the train, he was at first confused, but then thought she must be in their private bathroom.

Edward put his robe on and then took a minute or two to locate his slippers. Before he reached their cabin door, there was a sharp rap on it. He opened the door to find a porter there.

“Please get dressed, sir, and collect your most necessary belongings. Everyone must get off the train.”

“Why?” Edward asked. “What has happened?”

“The train cannot go any further. The tracks are unstable because termites have eaten the sleepers. We are not sure at this stage how much of the line is affected, so we must walk to town from here. The rest of the luggage will be collected later.”

“Walk? How far?”

“About five miles, sir. Excuse me, I must move along.” The conductor hurried back down the corridor checking that the other passengers he’d alerted were collecting their belongings.

“What’s going on, dear?” Clarice mumbled sleepily as Edward shut the door.

“The train cannot go any further because termites have eaten the sleepers. Apparently, we must get dressed and then walk to town.” As he spoke, he knocked on the bathroom door, but there was no answer.

“You had better wake Arabella,” Clarice said drowsily.

“She’s not in her bed,” Edward replied. “You don’t suppose she’s gone to find out why the train has stopped?” He hadn’t seen her in the corridor, so he was puzzled.

Clarice looked baffled, and Edward knew what she was thinking. It was out of character for Arabella not to wake them if she thought something was wrong. It was certainly not like her to just leave without a word.

“Have you checked the bathroom?”

“I just knocked on the door,” Edward said. “But there was no answer.”

“Arabella,” Clarice called. Still there was no answer. “Open the door, dear,” she said to her husband.

Edward did as she requested.

“She’s not in there!” He shook his head in astonishment.

Clarice swung her legs out of bed. She could never think clearly in the morning until she’d had her first cup of tea.

“I’ll get dressed and begin packing our things, dear,” she said. “After you’ve dressed, see if you can find Arabella.” Maybe her daughter has already started to grow up this morning and was checking the situation for herself.

When Edward returned to their compartment a while later, he was alone.

“Did you find her?” Clarice asked as soon as he entered.

“I don’t know. No-one I’ve asked has seen her.” Most of the passengers he’d spoken to had been disgruntled about having to walk such a distance into town, so they’d barely taken notice of what he’d asked them.

Clarice looked alarmed.

“She must be somewhere. Did you ask the Harris’ next door?”

“Yes, but they haven’t seen her either. People are getting off the train, so maybe we’ll find her with someone,” he said. He was trying not to panic because he knew his daughter had to be somewhere. She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.

Edward and Clarice hurriedly collected the most necessary things, and Arabella’s, and went down the corridor, where stewards were helping people off the train. Some of the passengers had already started walking along the train line towards town. After Clarice had been helped down, Edward stood on the train steps and took advantage of the height to look over the passengers, searching for Arabella.

“We can’t find our daughter,” he addressed the conductor who was at the bottom of the steps.

The conductor tried to remember seeing their daughter, but he could only vaguely recall a young adolescent girl who wasn’t very cheerful.

“How old is she, sir?” he asked, hoping that might give him a clue as to her whereabouts. He remembered the Fitzherberts in the lounge car the previous evening, but their daughter hadn’t been with them.

“She’s almost twenty,” Edward said. “But she wouldn’t have gone anywhere without her mother or me.”

“She’ll be here somewhere,” the conductor said. He was relieved to hear Arabella was almost twenty because that meant she was old enough to take care of herself. He imagined she might have left their compartment to talk to one of the young men on the train. “Now please climb down, sir, because other people want to get down.”

Edward climbed down. As he did, he could hear Clarice calling Arabella as she walked amongst the passengers.

“I can’t find Arabella,” Clarice said in a panic when her husband caught up with her.

“Don’t worry, dear. We’ll find her,” Edward said.

Once most of the people were off the train, the stewards tried to get them moving. They knew it would get hot very quickly, and they didn’t need any of the women fainting.

“Please move along,” the conductor they had asked about Arabella said to Edward and Clarice when they stayed behind after the other passengers began the walk.

“We’re not going anywhere without our daughter,” Edward snapped.

“Haven’t you seen her yet?” the conductor asked.

“No, she must still be on the train,” Clarice said. She knew if Arabella was among those on the ground, they would have seen her by now.

“We’ll wait here until she’s found,” Edward said to his wife, making sure the conductor overheard him.

Half an hour later, the last passengers alighted, an elderly couple who needed help, and still the Fitzherberts hadn’t seen their daughter. Clarice was verging on hysteria and Edward was becoming angry with the train staff for their lack of concern.

“I’m going to search every compartment for my daughter,” he said the conductor.

“We’ll do that, sir,” the conductor said. “Rest assured, if she’s aboard, we’ll find her.” In the back of his mind he was thinking the Fitzherberts may have had a disagreement with their daughter, possibly a young woman with an independent mind, and she’d gone off with someone on the train without telling them. He did have a niggling doubt though, because there had been only forty one passengers on the train, and none of those that had gone on to Alice Springs had fitted the description of Arabella.

“Of course she’s aboard,” Edward bristled. “Where else could she be?” He didn’t like the look the conductor gave him, but he didn’t say anything.

Twenty agonizing minutes later, the conductor and two stewards reported that they’d searched every compartment on the train, even the cargo cars, and found no-one.

“Then where is our daughter?” Edward demanded to know.

While they’d been searching, he’d asked the last of the passengers heading for Alice Springs on foot whether they’d seen Arabella, but no-one had.

“We have no idea, sir,” the conductor answered.

“What do you mean, you have no idea? Are you in the habit of losing passengers on a journey?”

“Of course not, sir. We’ve never lost a passenger.”

Clarice looked at her husband. “You don’t suppose … you don’t think … Arabella could have …” She put her hand over her mouth, unable to finish her thoughts.

“What dear?” Edward asked, wide eyed with concern.

Clarice looked at the conductor.

“Is it … possible our daughter could have fallen off the train?” she asked in a voice rising near hysteria.

Edward gasped and turned his attention to the conductor who looked very nervous.

“Yours was the last carriage, so if she’d opened the back door, it … is possible,” he said, going red in the face. He’d been thinking that was a strong possibility, but he hadn’t been brave enough to suggest it. Something like this had never happened before. It was too shocking to contemplate, but what else was there to think?

“Oh, my God,” Clarice cried. She went as white as a sheet and then almost collapsed. Edward caught her in his arms, and lowered her down onto one of their suitcases. At the same time, he glanced back down the hundreds of miles of train line that snaked into the desert, and tried to imagine poor Arabella lying somewhere beside it, injured.

“I must go back and find my daughter,” he said.

The conductor paled.

“I can’t let you do that, sir,” he said.

“Try and stop me,” Edward said angrily.

“Sir, we must go to Alice Springs and organize a proper search,” the conductor said. “It would do your daughter no good if you were to perish, too.”

Clarice clung to Edward’s shirt sleeve.

“We must have traveled hundreds of miles during the night,” she said. “You can’t walk that distance, Edward.”

The magnitude of what Clarice said hit Edward like a flying brick. How were they going to find Arabella along hundreds of miles of railway track? He felt himself go light headed before he broke out in a sweat.

The conductor took charge. He ordered two stewards to carry the Fitzherberts’ luggage to town.

“Where were you going to stay in Alice Springs, sir?” he asked Edward.

“At the Central Hotel in Todd Street,” Edward said, slowly going numb.

“We’ll get your luggage there, sir. You just take care of your wife. She needs you now. As soon as we arrive in Alice Springs, I will report your daughter missing at the police station and I’m sure a search will be mounted straight away. It’s the best chance your daughter has, sir.”

Edward knew he was speaking the truth, but he still felt he should be looking for Arabella.

When Arabella opened her eyes, she screamed in terror. Ants were crawling all over her feet and legs. She jumped up and stamped her feet, flicking wildly at her legs and screaming. She could feel their painful bites as she furiously tried to brush them off her. Never would she lie down again in this disgusting desert, she swore to herself. She picked up handfuls of sand and rubbed it over her legs to get the last of the ants off her, and then hobbled away from the tree, out into the glaring sun. When she looked at her legs she was shocked by what she saw. Her white skin was covered in angry, red lumps that were painful and itchy. Arabella cried in despair.

“I want to go home,” she sobbed. She longed for the comfort of her own bed and the safety of the family home in London. “How could this have happened?” she asked herself. “How did I end up here, alone? I can’t … die out here.” She imagined someone finding her bones years from now, or never, and her parents never knowing what had become of her. It was a shocking thought.

Arabella was acutely aware of the silence around her. She wondered if the train had gone past when she’d been asleep and she hadn’t heard it. She wondered how far from the track she was. The sun was now beating down on her as she searched for the train line in one direction, and then another. She felt the skin on her arms burning but she couldn’t sit under the tree because that’s where the ant nest was. She was dizzy and so thirsty. She thought of the dry half sandwich on the train that she had discarded. She’d give anything to have it now, and a large glass of water. She’d give her soul to the Devil just to quench her thirst.

In the early afternoon, Arabella collapsed. The shimmering heat had been playing tricks on her mind for some time. She kept imagining she was seeing the train coming and she’d get excited. She’d lost all sense of direction and had been going in circles. The ant bites on her legs were painful and itchy and her head ached.

Lying on the scorching ground, Arabella was sure she was going to die, but she had no more tears to cry. She closed her eyes as salty perspiration stung them. Her lips were swollen, cracked, and sun-burned. Her tongue felt like a piece of leather in her mouth. As she lay there listening to the intolerable silence, broken only by the buzzing of bush flies, she heard the cracking sound of a breaking twig. She imagined the wild dogs they’d seen from the train had come to devour her body.

“I’m not dead yet,” she mumbled deliriously. She opened one eye and squinted up into the sunlight. A dark, shadowy being, appeared over her. She gasped and put her hand up to her eyes to shade them from the glaring sunlight and squinted.

A black face was peering at her. It had a very broad, flat nose, which gave it a fierceness she’d never seen before, and dark, mesmerizing eyes. The hair framing the face was frizzy, and there were ochre painted marks across the broad expanse of forehead and cheek bones. While Arabella stared in terrified disbelief at the face, she heard voices but she didn’t understand what was being said. For a moment she thought she must be seeing and hearing things. She must have sun stroke!

Suddenly Arabella was prodded with what she thought was a stick in her ribs. A command was shouted at her by the owner of the stick. He looked angry. She jumped with fright and struggled to sit up. She found she was surrounded by fierce looking natives. They were nothing like the ones in Marree, who in comparison looked friendly. Arabella simply started screaming again. The natives, eight in all, jumped back a step and exchanged opinions in a rapid foreign language.

Arabella was not to know they were suggesting she was demented. She struggled to her feet. As terrified as she was, she was convinced what she did next could mean the difference between life and death, so she tried to bluff them by shouting at them. She hoped they didn’t notice the tremor in her voice.

“Keep away … from me! If you harm me … my father will have you all shot!”

The men from the Arrernte clan looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Crazy woman,” their elder, Djalu said in their language. Her sun-burned, blistered face intrigued him. “She look like she bin roasted like an emu,” he said and laughed.

When the others laughed too, suggesting there wasn’t much meat on her bones to eat, Arabella didn’t know what to think. Were they mocking her?

“What we do with her?” one of the others asked Djalu. “She die soon out here.”

“Where she come from?” another of the group asked the elder. They were joined by two women and a child, who approached Arabella from behind.

“Must be Marree,” Djalu said. “Don’t know how she got this far away.” He was thinking she might have been banished from the town because she was crazy. Or she’d wandered away and got lost.

All sorts of things were going through Arabella’s mind. She glanced at her nightgown, which was torn around the bottom from catching it on thorny bushes. She put her hands over her breasts because she had no undergarments on to disguise their small outline. Then she noticed that the native men wore nothing but a tiny piece of animal skin over their private parts. Having never seen a man in such a state of undress, she was embarrassed and humiliated. It wasn’t until one of them turned that she noticed his bottom was uncovered, and she shrieked again. She turned to flee, but stopped suddenly when she came face to face with the women behind her.

For a second Arabella was pleased to see women, because she thought they’d take pity on her, but when she noticed that their breasts were uncovered, it was yet another shock for her. She blushed but her face was so sunburned that they didn’t notice. The lower half of the women’s bodies was covered by an animal skin, and one of them was carrying a small child who was looking at Arabella in bewilderment with enormous brown eyes. It was a small boy. She knew that because he was completely naked. Arabella was immediately of the opinion that the natives were very primitive, which meant she was in no end of trouble.

One of the men put his hand on her shoulder from behind. Arabella jumped in alarm and turned to find he had the branch of a bush in his hands and he raised it over his head. Suspecting he was going to beat her, Arabella shrilled, startling them all again. She then tried to flee.

Djalu called to the men, who began herding her in the direction they wanted her to go in, but Arabella thought it was some kind of game, and they were taunting her. When she tried to run in another direction, a young native chased after her and ‘herded’ her back the way they wanted her to go. All the while Arabella screamed like mad, sure their intention was to kill or rape her. She imagined them cooking and eating her flesh and called for her father.

The aborigines were sure she had lost her mind and discussed it as they continue to ‘shepherd’ her in the direction they wanted her to go. As she couldn’t go very fast with her hurting ankle, they had no trouble keeping up with her.

After Arabella had half run, half hobbled for about twenty minutes, she fell to her knees. Exhausted, hot and dizzy, she could hardly catch her breath. “Please give me water,” she wailed. She was so dehydrated that she couldn’t go on. She pointed to her mouth, trying to make them understand.

“Water, water,” she pleaded.

The natives had a discussion amongst themselves, which sounded like an argument to Arabella, and then one of them walked about ten feet away and began digging under a succulent bush. She had no idea what he was doing. She was so thirsty, she didn’t care anymore. She believed she was going to die. She just hoped her death came quickly.

A few minutes later, Arabella was dragged by her arm, screaming, to the hole the native had dug. She was convinced he was going to bury her alive, and pleaded for her life. But to her utter amazement there was water in the hole. It wasn’t very clear, but Arabella was still overjoyed to see it. She cupped it in her hands and wet her mouth and then gulped some down. She drank thirstily for several minutes, not caring that the water tasted terrible, and then wet her perspiring neck. It felt glorious to feel cool for just a minute.

When she looked up, she saw something off in the distance. The shimmering heat danced over the desert, distorting everything, but she thought there was a building way off in the distance, and trees. She was sure her mind must be playing tricks on her. How many times had she imagined she saw the train coming? She was prodded in the back again and turned to see the native was using the blunt end of spear, and the elder of the men, Djalu, shouted at her. He was pointing in the direction that she’d been looking in, to where she thought she saw a building and trees. It was a long way off and the sun was dazzling. Arabella was sure it must be a mirage, but he seemed to want her to go in that direction.

Arabella suddenly had a thought.

“Alice Springs,” she said. “Is that Alice Springs?” Could she have walked that far? “Mummy, daddy!” she called. “I’m coming.” She didn’t know where the train tracks were but she no longer cared. Somehow, she had made it to Alice Springs.

Arabella tried to hurry, but she felt as weak as a new born kitten. She was faint with hunger, but if she could just make it to Alice Springs her parents would see that she was cared for. She trudged along, now and again prodded by the blunt end of the spear. Angrily she turned on the man with the spear, but the look on his face stopped her from shouting at him. Terrified, she said nothing and hurried on.

“You wait until my father hears what you have done to me,” she mumbled defiantly over her shoulder. “He’ll have your hide nailed to a tree.” She knew he couldn’t understand her, but she felt better for giving him a piece of her mind, even though she was careful not to sound threatening.

The nearer they got to the settlement, Arabella could make out Date palms and camels. The palms gave the impression of a shady desert oasis. She was so weak she could barely walk, but she longed to get into the shade. Her feet ached and she could feel the heat of the scorching desert sand through her slippers, burning the soles of her feet. The bites on her legs itched, and her head throbbed. She also kept seeing spots before her eyes. She was sure she couldn’t walk the mile or more to the buildings, but the natives wouldn’t let her stop and rest. Every time she fell to her knees, they pulled her back to her feet.

It seemed to take forever to reach town. It wasn’t until they were quite close that Arabella thought it looked familiar. When she saw the train line and the platform she realized it was Marree. She was disappointed and cried out in despair again because she had built her hopes up that she’d be reunited with her parents. The natives had assumed she’d be relieved to reach some form of her civilization so her reaction totally convinced them she had lost her mind.

As she passed the “Ghan” town, Arabella saw the turbaned men kneeling on mats under the palm trees with their heads down, praying. They were all facing the same direction. The sight of a white girl being brought into town by aboriginals barely rated a second glance from them, even though her face was as red as the desert sand, her hair was littered with dry leaves, and she was wearing only a thin nightdress. Nothing detracted from their praying. She did arouse the interest of some aboriginal children playing in the dust, but there were no Europeans to be seen.

Arabella was heading for the hotel, when suddenly she had the feeling she was alone. She stopped and turned, startled to find the aboriginals had gone. Strangely, she couldn’t see them anywhere. She was totally bewildered. How could they have just disappeared in a flat landscape? She felt too weak to think about it. She was so weary and thirsty, she could barely stay upright. It took all her will power not to collapse. She trudged on, making for the hotel, where there were horses tied up outside. When she reached the door, she barely had strength to push it open. She leant against it and stumbled inside. It was dim and it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dimmness. There was a man and woman behind the bar, who were looking at her in astonishment, and four or five men with their backs to her, drinking.

“Has … the train … come back?” Arabella asked weakly, just as her legs buckled beneath her. She barely saw the looks of sheer disbelief on the hotel patrons when they turned to look at her before she fainted.

CHAPTER TWO

In Alice Springs, Edward took Clarice to their hotel and had one of the staff look after her while he went to the police station to make sure that Arabella had been reported missing. The conductor hed spoken to, a Mr. Hampton, was already there making a report. Apparently, before Mr. Hampton had arrived, a telegraph was sent down the line, notifying the towns that depended on the train, that the tracks needed repairing. By the time Mr. Hampton told the police about Arabella, a telegraph pole between Marree and Alice Springs had collapsed, taking the line down with it and tearing it apart.

When will a search party get underway? Edward demanded to know.

I need to go over a few facts to determine what might have happened to your daughter, a Sergeant Menner said.

She could by lying injured, waiting for us to come and get her, Edward said, losing his temper.

We cant think about mounting a search until we are sure she has fallen off the train, the sergeant said.

Where else could she be? Edward got excited.

The sergeant sighed. He understood a huge amount of emotion was involved.

Could you tell me when you and your wife last saw her, sir?

Yesterday evening. We left her in our compartment while we went to the lounge car to play gin rummy with the couple from the next compartment. Arabella didnt want to join us. She said she was tired.

Was she in good spirits?

What do you mean?

What was her state of mind? Happy or depressed?

She had no reason to be depressed.

Did she eat dinner?

Edward couldnt fathom where the questioning was leading, and his anger and frustration were building.

My daughter could be lying in the desert injured. Do something about finding her, or I will.

Once I have questioned the staff on the train, Ill mount a search.

How long will that take?

I cant say, sir. It depends on what information I receive.

What good will that do? They dont know anymore than I do. Shes not on the train, so therefore she must have fallen off it during the journey.

I have to gather all the facts before I send anyone out into the desert. Its a very dangerous place.

Edwards eyes widened.

All the more reason to find my daughter as soon as we can. If she dies because you were asking questions, her blood will be on your hands. Edward marched out of the police station and into the nearest hotel, which was across the road. A bar tender was polishing glasses while three people sat at the bar drinking.

What would you like, sir? the bar tender asked him.

I dont want a drink. I need to hire some people to go into the desert to find my daughter. How do I go about it?

The bar keeper looked startled.

You need some trackers if shes wandered off, he said.

She didnt wander off. We think she fell off the Ghan Train during the night.

The bar keeper blinked in surprise.

Finding a body out there wont be easy, he said. Do you have any idea how many hours ago it might have happened?