'Get the f.u.c.k off me, ya moron!' Arthur struggled to get Nat off.

At the same time, Karl shouted, 'Nat, ya fool, that's b.l.o.o.d.y Arthur!'

Nat, realizing his mistake, rolled off poor old Arthur and sheepishly offered his hand to help him up.

's.h.i.t, I'm sorry mate, truly I am. When I saw ya climbin' the fence I thought ya was the idiot that did this!' He jerked his head to the fire.

'Well, if ya do come across the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I hope ya barrel into him as hard as ya just did me. Ya b.l.o.o.d.y knocked the wind outta me!' he gasped.

Up at the house, Dave, Emmie, Win, Ellie and the girls watched on in horror. They could plainly hear the shouts of the men as they fought to keep the blaze from spreading to the nearby gra.s.s area and paddocks.

Emmie dried her old eyes. She had stored a lot of sentimental things in that shed. She would never be able to replace them. Win and Ellie had things in there as well. When Ellie and her son had returned to Kia-Ora, it was decided that the shed would be used as storage s.p.a.ce, and now everything was gone.

Dave sat in his chair on the veranda taking in the scene, a grim look on his old face.

'All they can to do with this one is let it burn out. It's too far gone. There's no hope of savin' anythin'!' Dave spoke for the first time since he'd been woken by the commotion.

'There's a fierce heat coming from it. You can feel it, even from this distance!' Ellie could feel the heat from the fire and it worried her that a spark might reach the roof of the house. Some of the blokes had come up and were wetting the roof, but she was still extremely concerned. The flames from the shed were so high, she felt herself tremble with fear.

'You ain't wrong about the heat, Ellie love,' Hazel said, coming out onto the veranda, 'I just closed the dining room windows and they've both got cracks right across the middle of them. That heat's really bad!'

The heat radiating from the burning shed was so intense it had actually caused the two big dining room windows that faced towards that part of the property to crack across the centre.

'Where's Ted?' Dave asked her.

'He went back down to the cottage. Francis told him he'd keep the roof wet for us. Poor ole Ted's in a bit of a panic I'm afraid, he got a terrible shock. Quite pale he was.'

The men struggled with hoses and battled the intense heat, trying to extinguish the fire. They were afraid of the other sheds going up. Desperately, they soaked them with gallons of water, hoping to prevent a worse disaster. The hayshed was close by, the tractors and other machinery were only feet away and so was the cottage. Ted looked utterly distraught.

The larger water tanker from Albury arrived with more equipment. The crew sprang into action, spraying water onto the flames with tremendous force. Gradually, the flames became less angry until finally a smouldering pile of debris was all that was left of the shed and its contents.

Wearily, the firemen rolled the hoses back onto the fire trucks.

The others dropped the garden hoses where they stood and heaved sighs of relief.

'Well, ya know what I think,' Frank said loudly so they could all hear him. 'I reckon you'se got yourselves a friggin firebug, no doubt about it!'

They stood around looking at each other, their faces serious.

'We can't blame young O'Toole and co. for this,' Digger said. 'It's too far outta their league. Small stuff like the horse jumps yeah, but this? Nuh.' He shook his head.

'Well, it wasn't them,' Rex b.u.t.ted in. 'O'Toole and his mates took 'em all fishin' for the weekend! He was in the pub earlier carryin' on in his usual way, made sure everyone heard him too, said how they were gettin' the kids and headin' out to Darlington Point.'

'Well then, that puts 'em in the clear. So, do we all agree with Frank? We've got a b.l.o.o.d.y firebug in the valley!' Sam looked around the group of men.

'Looks that way!' they all agreed.

'f.u.c.kin' h.e.l.l...' Karl swore.

The men trooped towards the house. They were dirty and tired, eager to wash up and fall into bed. As they neared the house, Eric spotted a movement under the old mulberry tree that grew in the backyard.

'Hey! There's someone near the mulberry tree... look!' As he spoke, a figure emerged from the shadows of the tree.

Father Damien had once again appeared on the scene, unnoticed by anyone.

'Strike me pink! Father Damien! What the blazes do ya think ya doin'? What the h.e.l.l are ya thinkin', hidin' there in the dark?' Sam stepped in front of the priest, glaring at him.

Father Damien took a step backwards, aware that Sam was rather angry. 'I, aah... didn't want to get in anyone's way. What a terrible thing, the fire. Do you know how it started?'

'Done deliberate like the rest of em!' Sam told him, still glaring down at him.

'Father, ya gotta be careful. Ya gotta stop this habit of sneakin' up on us. We've some stupid fool runnin' 'round the valley lightin' fires, an' if ya not careful, ya could be mistaken for him and get yaself hurt... hurt bad...'

'Sam's right, Father.' The others had circled around the priest. 'We'll catch this bloke an' when we do he won't be lightin' anymore fires... Ya better be very careful wanderin' 'round the valley from now on, eh Father?' Karl warned him.

'Yes... yes! I understand. I only wanted to stay out of your way until the fire was out. I'll... I... will be more cautious. I'll be on my way now then, looks like you have things under control... Nasty business. Goodnight.' He had a fl.u.s.tered tremor in his voice.

They stepped back to allow the priest to leave.

'Stupid little man...' Francis said, shaking his head in exasperation.

'Yes, he's gonna get himself hurt if he continues to sneak around,' Arthur grumbled.

They stood around on the back veranda of the house, discussing the night's events.

'Dig, let me check your hands. You too, Karl.' Win had seen them heaving the rotary hoe across the yard and guessed they would have suffered a few burns.

'Aah, they'll be right love, just a few blisters, no need to fuss.'

'No, let me have a look.' She grabbed one of Digger's hands. 'Just a few blisters!' he exclaimed. 'Look at them, the skin's peeled in places and you have more than just a few blisters!'

'Hazel,' Emmie called out to the housekeeper, 'bring the Rawleighs ointment out will you please? And some gauze. We have to attend to some burns on Dig and Karl.'

'Stop fussin',' Karl grumbled, holding out his hands all the same. They both allowed Hazel and Win to attend to them. They had sustained some nasty burns, but in their eyes they were nothing to be concerned about.

'h.e.l.l, we thought for minute Kia-Ora'd gone up,' Sam told them.

'The damage tonight's b.l.o.o.d.y heart breaking! We won't ever be able to replace some of the things that we've lost, and the expense of replacing tools isn't goin' to be cheap. Not to mention what could have been if a spark had got to the other sheds or the house and cottage!' Digger spoke seriously and everyone agreed with him.

Karl looked across at Dave. 'Dad, we gotta face it, there's a firebug here in the valley! We've been blamin' those kids, but this one's not done by them. O'Toole took 'em fishin' for the weekend and even if they were here, this one's way outta their league.'

'So, what do we do about it? We can't sit around on our a.r.s.es. We gotta hatch a plan and catch the b.a.s.t.a.r.d!' Dave heaved himself out of his chair and went to stand at the edge of the veranda, looking down to where the shed used to stand.

'd.a.m.n shame, d.a.m.n... b.l.o.o.d.y shame!' Dave spoke emotionally. His old face showed the distress he was feeling.

'Look, we're all b.l.o.o.d.y exhausted. We'll head off and you blokes get a bit of shuteye an' we'll talk about this when we get up. There's only a coupla hours left till daylight,' Nat said. 'We'll come back after breakfast and help you'se go through what's left down there.'

'Yeah, we'll work out a plan then too! We'll get this b.a.s.t.a.r.d, mark my words!' Sam growled.

So it was agreed that a plan would be hatched to try and catch the firebug. The men all left to go to their own homes. Dave and his family finally went back to bed for what was left of the night. Sleep wouldn't come easy no matter how tired they all were. The upheaval had left their nerves on edge and sleep was almost impossible.

CHAPTER SIX.

'What's happening in our lovely valley?' sighed Win. She was sitting at the kitchen table the next morning with Ellie. Neither felt much like breakfast; they had lain awake for hours and were dog tired. 'To think some lunatic is out there, watching us and waiting until we're all asleep, then setting fire to our things!' She shuddered. 'Just think, Ellie, whoever set fire to our shed was out there watching me while I was on the veranda! It scares me to even think about it!'

'Whoever it is, Win, the blokes will catch him. He won't get away with it.'

'Mum had some lovely things stored in that shed, and now they're all gone and all the tools...' Win's voice drifted away as she sat thinking, then she looked up abruptly. 'Ellie, I bet it was the firebug who followed you the other night, and it was him in the orchard when Kathy said she was sure someone was there!'

'We don't know that for sure, Win. Yes it could have been the firebug in the orchard, but it could have been anyone that followed me.'

'No, I know I'm right!' Win smacked the palms of her hands on the table. 'It's all too coincidental!'

Emmie wandered in with Hazel and soon, at Hazel's insistence, they had steaming cups of tea in front of them and poached eggs on toast.

The men had been outside going through the ashes since daylight. Arthur, Sam and the boys were there, and Nat and Rex had come back to help as promised. Karl and Dave had put off their trip to town and Digger had phoned another bricky to do the Henty job.

The only thing left that hadn't been reduced to ashes was the statue of a dog. It looked forlorn, sitting on a fence post where Dave had placed it.

'b.l.o.o.d.y mess, isn't it?' Karl cursed, gazing around at the sheets of twisted tin that once were the walls of the shed. They now lay in buckled piles among the rubble.

'Yeah, nothin' left at all,' Digger sighed and sat on an empty diesel drum.

'Hey, did you use any diesel yesterday?'

Digger thought for a minute. 'No, mate, I didn't go near the shed yesterday.'

'Well, where'd the drum you're sittin' on come from?' The men all looked at each other.

'You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?' Digger asked.

'Better check the shed!'

They strode over to the machinery shed where the diesel was stored.

'How many drums did we have?' Dave asked 'Nine,' replied Digger. 'The empty one I was sittin' on I got from over near the saw bench at the wood heap!'

'Well, there's only eight in here! The dirty rotten mongrel used our own diesel to destroy our shed!' Dave took a step back as realization hit him. 'It doesn't ignite straight away, needs somethin to be burnin around it to get it goin', so he could set it and get away before it all went up!'

'The firemen reckoned it smelled of fuel here last night,' Digger said thoughtfully.

At that moment, the police arrived.

'G'day fellas...' Keith Brewster, the local cop, greeted them. 'This's Detective Bennett and Detective Simpson from Albury.'

'Yeah we know... we've met,' they replied, shaking hands.

'This's my father, Dave Mason,' Karl introduced Dave to the detectives. He urged Dave to sit down on a stack of wood. He was looking pale again.

'You looked mighty thoughtful there as we came along the path,' Keith said to them. 'Find anything?'

'Yeah, could have. We're a drum of diesel short here. Dig was sittin' on an empty one back over there.'

'That's right, mate. I got it from over near the saw bench. The firies said the place smelled of fuel last night!'

'We reckon the mongrel took the drum from in here and used it to start the fire!' Karl stated flatly, explaining the drum missing from the shed.

'Well you could be right,' the detectives agreed. 'It burns slowly, doesn't explode like petrol, so whoever lit it had time to get away before she went up. There's plenty of sawdust from the wood heap to use as an igniter.'

'Well, we haven't found anythin' apart from that. We've gone through the rubble but there's nothin' else there.' Dave told them.

'Look, we can't point the finger at the kids for this either,' Digger pointed out. 'This one's too big for the likes of them. Also, Rex told us that O'Toole's took 'em fishin' out at Darlington Point. They couldn't a done this.'

'That's right,' Dave added. 'There's a friggin firebug in our valley and we gotta catch him before he does more damage!'

'So now you've changed your tune about those youngsters and agree it's someone else?' Bennett spoke with a hint of sarcasm.' I'd say you Masons have an enemy... Someone doesn't like you much, eh?' he added.

'Detective Bennett.' Karl took a long breath and exhaled slowly. 'We got a f.u.c.kin' firebug in the valley. We haven't been the only ones targeted; Walter Hansen was first. You blokes better catch him before we do, ya understand?'

Keith Brewster stepped forward. 'We know you're p.i.s.sed off, mate. We'll do our best to get this bloke. Let's take a look around here, see what we might find.' Brewster eyed the detective, hoping he'd get the message to stop pushing Karl's b.u.t.tons.

The detectives took a good look around. They raked through the ash and rubble, but found nothing. There was absolutely nothing for them to link to anyone.

'Well, that's all we can do here. Apart from a.s.suming diesel was used to light the fire, there's nothing to go on. If you can think of anyone who might have a grievance with you, let us know immediately,' Simpson said, then added, 'Now it's established there's a firebug in the valley, we'll send a patrol car to do random drives around the place. Just keep your eyes open for anyone acting strangely. Call us if you think of anything more.' They shook hands again and left.

'Beats me, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d must've been here while Win was sittin' on the veranda!' Karl stood, hat tipped back on his head, scratching his forehead.

'Yeah, and you know what else bothers me, Towser didn't bark but he knew something wasn't right. Win said he stood at the edge of the veranda and all he did was growl, and even wag his tail. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! He must've sensed who it was!' Digger said thoughtfully.

'Well, he hadn't set the fire then because we had a good look 'round when Win woke us.' Karl stood, hands on his hips, his brow furrowed. 'The b.a.s.t.a.r.d must've took off an' hid in the orchard when Win came in to get us.'

'Yeah, an' after we went back inside, he came back, got the diesel outta the shed, an' set the friggin' fire!' Digger added. 'Which means the b.a.s.t.a.r.d knows where we keep our stuff. That can only mean one thing... he knows us!'

'I don't like this one bit. The bloke must've been watchin' an' waited til you all came back inside. The cops aren't much use are they? h.e.l.l, we gotta get this fool.' Dave kicked a cloud of ash into the air.