'We talk all the time.' He lifted the bottle of champagne and poured two gla.s.ses.

'No, we don't. Lately we've been arguing, disagreeing, and if we do communicate sensibly it's for business. I thought it time we started off on a better foot. Rebuild our relationship.'

'What's that mean? I don't like beating round the bush.' He handed her a gla.s.s.

She twisted the crystal stem in her fingers and spoke softly without looking at him. 'We've both suffered a loss and while yours is only temporary, I think we need to offer each other a bit of emotional support.' She looked up at him. 'I get lonely and there isn't anyone I can really talk to about how I feel. I miss Conrad's company. I know I am always the subject of speculation in town and while the ladies are well meaning I always feel I have to be on my best behaviour. I can't be myself.'

'Like running around in Chinese pyjamas,' he grinned.

They both laughed and clinked gla.s.ses. 'That was a wonderful trip,' sighed Olivia. 'I think I must have the sea in my blood too.'

It suddenly occurred to Tyndall that the first time they went to sea together helped her come to terms with the loss of baby James. Maybe another sea trip would help with the grief she hid so well most of the time.

'How about coming out for a couple of weeks on the Shamrock? We'll get the rest of the fleet out, take a run up the coast and do some diving, resupply the fleet. The company might do me good, too.'

Relief swept over Olivia. 'I think that's a wonderful idea. Yes, I'd like that. Rosminah could help Minnie look after Hamish.'

'He'll be cranky at missing out.'

'Too big a trip. Besides, he's in school.'

The houseboy served the food and Olivia pa.s.sed on what she'd read in the recently arrived London newspapers. Talk then moved on to the possibility of expanding the company.

As the dessert plates were taken away, Minnie appeared to say goodnight, looking concerned.

'What's up, Minnie?'

'Bin lookin' at the signs. Big wind comin.'

'Can't be a cyclone, too late in the season,' said Tyndall.

'Signs say big blow,' said Minnie stubbornly and wished them goodnight.

Olivia lifted her eyebrows. 'You don't normally reject "the signs". What do you think?'

Tyndall rose and looked at Olivia's barometer hanging on the wall beside a bra.s.s ship's clock. He tapped it and looked thoughtful. 'It's dropping. But not enough to panic.' He walked to the verandah, picking up his skipper's hat. 'Thanks for a lovely dinner. And for ... being a friend. Don't worry. Star of the Sea is back on course.' He put his hat on at a jaunty angle and stepped into the night, casting an anxious glance at the sky.

By morning the first clouds were scudding in on rising winds, the seas were building up, the barometer still falling. Olivia gave Minnie a rueful smile and headed to the office. She noticed some of the shopkeepers were shuttering their premises and people were taking precautions, stocking up on water and provisions, lashing down what they could. There was an oppressive heaviness in the air.

She pulled out essential working files and doc.u.ments to put in the safe only to find Tyndall had the keys. While she was kneeling beside the safe pondering the problem a high wind screeched in, rattling the wooden shutters and blowing an empty drum into the side of the building. It jolted her into action. She bundled the papers together and ran to the foresh.o.r.e camp. All along the sh.o.r.e of the bay was frenzied activity as men climbed over boats securing gear and putting out additional anchors. On the coast the ocean rolled in a slowly heaving ma.s.s as if building up to regurgitate the very depths of the seabed.

Olivia paused for a moment, listening. Above the noise along the foresh.o.r.e she heard a distant moan which sent a shudder through her.

At sea the fleet which had tried to run for shelter was becalmed in intense heat as if put in an oven and the air sucked out. It was so hot the pitch oozed from between planks, and metal burned skin.

On the Annabella Annabella, Captain Evans looked at the wildly dropping barometer and ordered the sails down, hatches battened and everything possible tied down or securely stowed. The two dinghies were hauled in and secured and storm anchors readied.

Early the next morning the cyclone hit the fleet near Broome, making a sudden and dramatic entrance with screaming winds, lashing rain and boiling seas. Some skippers attempted to run under storm sails. Captain Evans and several others decided to use sea anchors and try to ride it out. He knew their chances of survival were slim.

The first casualty was an old schooner loaded with sh.e.l.l that lost its masts and rigging and was thrown by huge waves into a lugger. Both quickly disappeared beneath the waves leaving crew floundering in the sea. There was nothing Evans could do to help them. Despite the sea anchor astern, his boat was hurtling along under bare masts, the rigging rattling and shrieking in the wind. Evans had a lifeline around his waist tied to a bollard and worked the tiller desperately to prevent some of the waves breaking over the stern, threatening to sweep him overboard, and soon stripping the deck.

The dinghies went first, their lashings torn from the deck by waves. The pump went next, then the fo'c'sle hatch, causing the panic-stricken Koepangers to tumble onto the deck as water surged down. They rallied to shouted commands from Evans and quickly lashed canvas over the gaping hatch. While they were scampering to shelter in the main cabin aft another wave rolled over the stern, bringing down the main mast. When the water cleared off the deck there was no sign of the two Koepangers. Evans looked astern into the boiling sea but could see no one. He kicked at the door of the cabin and shouted for the divers who came on deck at once, sized up the situation, grabbed lifelines and immediately began slashing and cutting at the rigging and main-mast to get it overboard as fast as possible. They knew that survival depended on how fast they worked and whether luck was on their side this day.

While the storm struck first at sea, it soon reached the coast south of Broome, slashing a path through the mangroves, hurling sheltering boats high onto the sh.o.r.e. It was the wild lashing of the cyclone's tail that hit the town, but nonetheless wreaked great havoc. The swiftness of the attack had stunned Olivia, who had barely reached the buildings at the foresh.o.r.e camp before the wind threatened to carry her off. Tyndall dragged her into one of the sh.e.l.l sheds as the upper storey of the flimsy building ripped away, the galvanised iron sheets hurtling through the air, slashing into and wrapping themselves around trees stripped bare of leaves by the howling winds.

They could barely hear each other speak and Olivia clutched at Tyndall, shouting in his ear, 'What about Hamish?'

'Don't worry, Minnie knows what to do. She'll look after him.' He tightened his arm around Olivia as the doors to the shed and the roof were suddenly torn away.

'Let's get out of here, it's going to be flattened. The iron could slice us to pieces,' yelled Tyndall. Half-running, half-dragging Olivia, he staggered towards the beach. A lugger belonging to another pearler had been tossed high on the beach and lay on its side, its masts jammed in the sand, the bottom of the hull beam to the wind. They raced to it and climbed into a hatch for shelter.

They were protected from the wind and whipping rain. Occasional waves crashed against the hull, but the boat, driven hard into the sand and mud by its initial impact, stayed in place.

Huddled together, Tyndall wrapped his arms around Olivia. Her thoughts were with her son, praying he was safe and not crazed with fear and worry. Over and over Tyndall kept rea.s.suring her that Minnie would keep Hamish safe.

It was as dark as night, and the noise of the storm so great that Olivia felt the entire world was being broken apart.

Then came a lull, the eye, and they looked at each other.

'Too risky to make it to town. We have to see it out here,' said Tyndall.

All too soon, the eye of the cyclone had pa.s.sed and the terror began all over again. Olivia lost track of time, reduced to an emotional numbness, unable to think or feel, aware only of the warmth and strength of Tyndall's body. Tyndall was thinking of the little luggers at sea. Few would survive. Thanks to his la.s.situde, Ahmed, Yoshi and Taki were still ash.o.r.e and he prayed they were safe. He could only trust and pray that the crew on the Annabella Annabella would be lucky. would be lucky.

By nightfall the winds gradually eased and then stopped. The sounds of the town picking itself up and awakening from the nightmare began to echo through the devastation. In the darkness, Tyndall and Olivia held hands as they picked their way through rubble and mud to Olivia's house, oblivious to what was around them. But in her street they became aware of voices calling and the crunch of wood and tin being moved by residents a.s.sessing the damage. The evening sky was still overcast but in the dimness Olivia could see her front fence was gone, the tree in the front garden uprooted and, to her horror, one end of the house had slid from its pole foundations and half the roof was gone. She realised at once which part of the house had caved in.

'It's the bedrooms. Oh, dear G.o.d, no ... ' she clawed her way into the house, tripping and stumbling, calling, 'Hamish, Hamish, I'm here ... '

Tyndall scrambled past her, calling for Minnie in the darkened house. He wheeled about and shouted at Olivia to be quiet and listen.

Then they heard it. 'Mummy ... ' followed by Minnie's strong voice, 'In main bedroom.'

As Tyndall and Olivia groped their way into the room now exposed to sky, a light suddenly flared. It flickered from the floor and there, from under the big, solid wood four-poster bed, two faces peeped out, illuminated by the candle in Minnie's hand. Tyndall took the candle and helped Minnie out while Olivia scooped up Hamish.

'Big bed no can move. Good place, eh?' grinned Minnie, then seeing what had crashed into the house in the night she murmured, 'Cripes, no wonder lotsa noise.' She reached into her ap.r.o.n pocket and handed another candle and the matches to Tyndall. 'All I had time to grab.'

Minnie found cake and made a pot of tea and they settled down in the undamaged section of the house to sleep till dawn.At first light, Tyndall crept outside. He wondered how Minnie's husband had fared in their small cottage near Kennedy's Knoll.

The impact of the cyclone, even though the town missed the full force of it, was shocking. He headed straight for the bay and saw that a dozen luggers making for Roebuck Bay had reached Entrance Point before being wrecked on the rocks or driven into the tangle of mangroves.

The waters of the bay were stained with flood-waters and along the coastline for miles was a hightide mark of flotsam. A jumble of sea rubbish, broken mangroves, wrecked dinghies and shattered boats were tangled with stores and dead birds. Seamen's personal effects and bodies of men were thrown together in a litter of wreckage and death.

Tales of heroism, survival and tragedy would later emerge: the elderly white captain supported in the sea by his Malay crew until they were luckily swept into sh.o.r.e; shipwrecked men who had the clothes whipped from their bodies and suffered near blindness and excruciating pain as their naked bodies were sandblasted by the wind-driven sand; a sh.e.l.l opener decapitated by a flying sheet of iron; and so many other lives lost by drowning.

As Tyndall trudged through the town it looked as if a small war had been fought in the streets. Shanty houses had been torn apart and blown miles into the pindan, foundations remaining as the only evidence of their previous existence. Some commercial buildings in town were flattened and most were damaged. Sheba Lane took a battering but while many lost their roofs and rickety balconies, most of the buildings stayed upright, somehow clinging together for support.

At the Aboriginal camps, there was little to salvage but all had survived by sheltering in thick scrub between the inland sand dunes. Seeing Tyndall, Alf appeared holding the hand of Minnie's daughter, Mollie. Tyndall pa.s.sed on the news his missus was all right.

'Tell 'er not to come home for a bit. I'm still pickin' up 'er stuff outta trees,' he said with a shrug.

Finally Tyndall had to face the inevitable and he turned along the seafront to the offices of Star of the Sea. The building was partially damaged, but intact. Ahmed was asleep on the office floor, his head resting on a rolled-up sail.

Tyndall woke him and together they set out to a.s.sess the situation at the foresh.o.r.e camp. The shed was a total write-off, but it wouldn't take much to rebuild the simple unlined corrugated iron shed and upstairs crew room. The Bulan Bulan was aground well above the high-water mark but the hull was sound. was aground well above the high-water mark but the hull was sound.

'Going to take a lot of bullocks to drag her back to the water,' observed Tyndall. 'Reckon that and repairs to the rigging will take a couple of weeks at least.'

They rowed out to the Conrad Conrad, one of the few vessels to stay securely anch.o.r.ed during the big blow. She sat low in the water, the main hold flooded. 'A pump job and some rigging. Got off lightly there, Ahmed.'

'Good name, Captain. Lucky ship,' commented Ahmed with a smile.

'You may be right, Ahmed. A lucky ship.' Then they rowed over to the Shamrock Shamrock. She had dragged her anchors and was heeling over slightly, sitting on the bottom at half tide, but the two men were soon able to haul it out into deeper water and reposition the anchors. There was stormwater in all compartments, but little damage.

'Another lucky ship, Ahmed. The luck of the Irish is powerful too,' he grinned, aware of just how much import his friend put on superst.i.tion.

In all, thirty luggers were lost at sea but the Annabella Annabella limped back to Broome under a juryrig, having lost both masts. limped back to Broome under a juryrig, having lost both masts.

Evans was praised for his skill though he modestly claimed a lot of it was luck. 'As the divers say, when your day is come, you go.'

Weeks were lost while repairs were made and gradually the remnants of the fleet headed out to sea. Yoshi took the Conrad Conrad and once the masts and pump were replaced, Evans took the and once the masts and pump were replaced, Evans took the Annabella Annabella back to sea. Only the back to sea. Only the Bulan Bulan wasn't ready. Tyndall said he'd bring the wasn't ready. Tyndall said he'd bring the Shamrock Shamrock out to supply them and pick up sh.e.l.l in a couple of weeks. out to supply them and pick up sh.e.l.l in a couple of weeks.

Tyndall had said little to anyone about Niah and Maya, but now he broached the subject with Olivia and confessed he longed to know what had happened to them.

They sat in the shadowy twilight of Olivia's verandah and she reached over and took his hand, hearing the tremor in his voice and realising the depth of his feelings.

'Maybe we should spread the word a bit more,' she suggested. 'Can't the police or the blacktrackers help?'

Tyndall shrugged. 'I've already mentioned it on the quiet to my mate the sergeant. Out of their territory. Lumped as "blackfella business".'

Later Olivia decided to talk with Minnie.

'Captain Tyndall is still upset over Niah and Maya. How would you go about trying to find out where they are?'

'Why? If Niah ready come back, she come back. But I can send word again. Wally find out.'

'Wally? Who's Wally? What do you mean again? again?' Olivia demanded. As she studied Minnie's set and closed face, Olivia began to feel cold shivers run through her. Minnie, jolly, honest, open Minnie was holding something back.

'Wally one of the mob. Same as me. Sorta cousin.'

'What does he know about Niah?'

When Minnie didn't answer straight away, Olivia was insistent. 'Minnie, you must tell me. It's important. If you know anything about Niah and Maya, you must tell me.'

'Niah take Maya find her Dreaming, learn 'bout her family. Them be all right.'

'Minnie! You know know where they are, why they went?' where they are, why they went?'

'Me and Alf are townies now. Don't keep in touch regular with my people. I dunno what happen. Niah unhappy. She ask me what t'do. I tell her take Maya find her people. Niah belong same people. We all same people. Same family. Wally take 'em. Mebbe if Wally come back he know sumthin.'

The jerky answers pieced the story together for Olivia, who was still somewhat shocked by this revelation. 'Please Minnie. We must find out. It's not fair on Captain Tyndall. He loves little Maya, she's his daughter. And I suppose in his way, he loves Niah too.'

Minnie gave her a shrewd look. 'I see what I can find out.'

Olivia was about to leave when she turned back to Minnie. 'What do you mean, you all the same people. Who are you talking about?'

Minnie lifted a hand in a vague gesture. 'My people belong same country you make friends when you come on beach 'n' have your first baby. Wally belong same people. He live in town some time. Some time go bush.'

Olivia stared at Minnie. 'You mean the women I first met down the coast from Cossack are your your people?' people?'

'Yeah. But I got taken by police 'n' sent to a mission school.' She gave a defiant lift to her head. 'Learn white ways, work for white people. I marry Alf, he mix-up blood too. But I find my people again. We got different lives now. Keep in with 'em, they always family.'

'I don't know what to say. Who knows this?'

'Ahmed know. He fetch me when Niah baby come 'cause he know we same people. He know my people help you. They watch out for us.'

Olivia sat down, trying to absorb this avalanche of important information and wondering if she would ever understand the Aboriginal way of thinking, their different att.i.tude to life, different values.

Eventually she said slowly, 'Minnie, could you send some sort of message via Wally, when he turns up again, to please find out where Niah and Maya are. If they are all right and when or if they are coming back? Do you think he can find out?'

'Mebbe. We try. Don' worry, mem.'

Olivia decided not to say anything to Tyndall until they had some answers.

It took two weeks. By whatever method messages were relayed over the vast distance of the bush, the story filtered back of Niah being kidnapped by Gunther and possibly killed. Looking distressed, Minnie relayed the news to Olivia.

'But what of Maya? Where is she, she's so young, what's happened to her?' Olivia dreaded having to pa.s.s on this news to Tyndall.

'Oh, Maya safe. She with her family, all the aunties and uncles look after her. She learn their ways, wait see if her mummy come back.'

Olivia was frustrated and angry. 'What if Niah doesn't come back, and it seems unlikely. Maya should be here, with her father.'

'Maya with her people,' said Minnie stubbornly.

'Do you know where she is?'

Minnie shook her head. 'They on walkabout. Come back some time. Better Maya stay with her people. Tyndall no can look after little girl proper. No can teach her business.'

'But she could have the advantages of going to a school here, learning our ways too. She is half white, Minnie.'

Minnie shrugged. 'Maya come back to Broome one day.'

Olivia saw it was pointless arguing with Minnie. She knew what Tyndall would say, that if Maya stayed away, she'd forget this life and her father.

Tyndall said little after Olivia quietly told him the details in his office. She noticed Maya's toy lugger was back on his desk. He stood and looked out over Streeter's Jetty and the activity of rebuilding and repairing the cyclone damage. She had expected him to rant and rave and lose his temper. His silent pain was actually harder to bear. 'Leave me be please, Olivia. And thank you ... for finding out what ... happened.'

They didn't speak of the matter again. He didn't appear for their sundowners for a couple of nights and she suspected he was comforting himself with a bottle of whisky. When he did turn up, it was all business.

Ten days later he surprised her by asking, 'You still game for a trip up the coast?'

She nodded. 'I'd like some peace and quiet. The town is still a shambles.'