CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ben buried Ho Lim in a deep grave in the shade of the great fig tree on top of the hill overlooking Jarrah.
Two days later two police constables came to investigate the fire. They were not hesitant in telling Ben that as there were no eye-witnesses to back up his claim of sabotage, there was little chance of finding the culprits, if in fact there were any.
They went on to say, that there was no evidence at all to suggest the men Ben had seen on the river, were anything other than legitimate travelers using a public waterway. And Ben was warned of the serious consequences he may face if he ever discharged a firearm at anyone using the river in future.
The policemen even went so far as to suggest it was possible Ho Lim himself had lit the fire, and then hanged himself to avoid retribution. After all, half crazed opium-smoking coolies had been known to show vindictiveness toward their masters in similar ways in the colony before.
Ben was quick to contact Jack Stark who brought his barge to Jarrah without delay. The barge arrived laden with fresh building materials, and Stark and his crew quickly set up camp and began rebuilding the fire ravaged brickyard, even before the last of the heat had left the ashes of the old structures.
In the meantime Ben visited all his customers. He assured them that most current orders would be filled from existing stocks of bricks, undamaged by the fire. He also promised new brick orders would be delivered with little or no delay, on the railway, until the jetty at Jarrah was rebuilt. And he guaranteed there would be no compromise to the high quality bricks they had come to expect from his yard.
A few customers remained unconvinced, concerned by the possible effect on their own businesses of delays in brick deliveries. When they suggested they may have to order from other suppliers, Ben reassured them by promising to supply their orders free of charge if he failed to meet the due delivery dates.
Confident of his customer's support, Ben set about seeing to it that none of them would be let down. There was much work to be done in very little time. Ben paid his yard workers well, but demanded a full measure of labor in return. He led by example. Always the first to start in the morning and the last to finish at night, he worked without let-up, week in and week out. Stark's crew also worked from dawn to dusk. Soon a new jetty was completed, and the crew began replacing buildings which had been destroyed in the fire.
Even Mrs Llewellyn and Kiri worked without rest. Ben asked them to cook and wash for Jack Stark's entire crew, to free an extra man to assist in construction. They toiled selflessly, preparing everyone three hot meals a day, and Kiri was kept busy all hours of the day fetching and carrying between the house and the camp.
Gradually the brickyard began to return to the way it had been before the fire, except for the terrible loss of Ho Lim. Ben tried to fill his shoes, thankful for the time he had spent working alongside the old Chinaman, and for all he had learned from him about brickmaking.
During the rebuilding period Ben had no time and little patience for anything that was not directly related to getting the yard back into production.
Kiri couldn't help feeling responsible for the destruction of the yard and everything that had happened. The guilt rose inside her, haunting her, as over the weeks Ben's preoccupation with work intensified, and his interest in her and her baby seemed to have all but disappeared.
She tried to compensate for his apparent indifference by striving to please in any way she could, from waiting on him hand and foot, to laboring beside the men in the brickyard. When Ben refused to allow her to do things for him, and reprimanded her for laboring with the workmen, her feelings of guilt, and her fear of being sent away from Jarrah only increased. *
Kiri lay awake in her bed, crying softly, as she had done for so many nights. She listened to the roar of a midnight shower hammer down on the iron roof of the house. She bit her lip, and a new reservoir of tears built up in her eyes when she thought yet again of the prospect of leaving Jarrah. Lying there in the darkness she made up her mind, once and for all, to put an end to the uncertainty which constantly denied her peace of mind.
She dried her eyes on her pillow and got up from the bed. For a few moments she stood and listened to the soft breathing of her baby in the cot beside the bed, then she slipped out of the room.
The loud clatter of the rain on the roof stopped abruptly just as Kiri stole into Ben's bedroom. She stood beside his bed looking down at him, half expecting the sudden silence to awaken him. Then she let her nightdress drop to the floor and slipped into the bed beside him. She reached out for him and ran her hands over his body. He stirred slowly, as he woke from a tired deep sleep. She felt the muscles in his hard body tighten as she pressed her body to his.
`Kiri?'
`Oh Ben Luk,' she whispered, `I'm so sorry for thetrouble I have caused you, and I want so much for you to be happy. And I want you to want me, so I may stay here with you at Jarrah.'
Wide awake now, Ben gently held her body away from his.
`Please do not do this Kiri. It is not necessary.'
`Don't you want me Ben Luk?'
`No, not this way Kiri... I...'
Kiri didn't wait for Ben to finish. Stifling her tears, she scrambled from the bed, and leaving her nightdress where it lay, hurried back to her own room.
*
The heavy late summer showers which pounded the house during the night were just a hint of what was to come. The morning saw the strong winds and heavy rains of a tropical storm lash the whole of south-east Queensland.
Jack Stark awoke to find water trickling into his tent. He had just a few days work remaining. One look outside told him that today would not be one of them.
An hour later the trickle of water had swollen to a huge muddy stream. The run-off from the paddock and the brickyard now raced through the tents, threatening to wash the entire camp into the river. Stark and his crew were forced to take refuge from the storm in one of the newly erected sheds.
It was just when Mrs Llewellyn started to prepare breakfast for the men that she realized Kiri was missing.
She rushed through the house looking for Ben. She found him standing at the drawingroom window staring dolefully out into the rain.
`She's gone, Mr Luk.' Mrs Llewellyn called out in a shrill frightened voice. `Kiri's gone, and the baby too.'
Ben turned from the window dumbfounded.
Before he could speak Mrs Llewellyn said, `I was afraid something like this may happen Mr Luk. Kiri feels responsible for the fire and for the death of Ho Lim. She thinks you no longer want her here at Jarrah. She feels so badly about it all Mr Luk, and she loves you so much. Please try and find her quickly. I fear something terrible is about to happen.'
Ben pulled on a rain cape and ran from the house toward the yard. Jack Stark frowned when Ben told him Kiri had disappeared.
`The dinghy Mr Luk. I think she's got a dinghy.'
`What dinghy?' Ben asked. `When we secured the lines on the barge at first light we noticed one of the boats was missing. I thought the storm must have blown it away.'
The river was rising rapidly when Ben, Jack Stark and two other volunteers pushed off in blinding rain from the river-bank in the barge's second, and much larger boat. Almost immediately the boat vanished from view, engulfed by the grayness of the river, the rain, and the murky mist hanging over the water.
More by luck than by good judgment they groped their way a few miles downstream on the twisting turning river without incident. All the while Ben was calling out to Kiri as loud as he could, only to have his words torn from his mouth and hurled downwind.
Whenever the rain eased enough to see the land beside the river, the search party stopped rowing and all eyes scoured the misty banks for a sign of Kiri or the dinghy. And whenever there was a lull in the wind, they just drifted and listened.
Some time later, the boat rounded a wide bend in the river and came into the full force of the wind. Losing what little protection they had from the lee of the land, the men were swept helter-skelter over a number of swirling eddies into a small muddy creek. Eventually the boat was sent crashing into thick undergrowth on the bank of the small tributary.
It finally came to rest in a relative calm beneath a dense umbrella of trees and shrubs overhanging the creek. The men took advantage of the welcome respite from the elements and rested at their oars. After a few minutes there was a lull in the roar of the wind in the trees.
ﾁSuddenly they were startled to hear a baby crying nearby. Ben jumped from the boat into the shallows. He waded off in the direction of the sound, pushing aside the dense foliage as he went.
He found Kiri and her baby huddled beneath a heavy wet blanket beneath a clump of willows on the bank of the creek. Her dark eyes stared at him defiantly as he pulled himself out of the muddy water. When he reached her she drew her baby closer, and her lips trembled as she tried to stem a sudden flow of tears. `You see, Ben Luk. We are not... even able to get out of your life... without causing you yet more trouble,' Her words were interrupted by loud choking sobs. `Go away Ben Luk...please don't stand there and see us this way.'
Ben dropped to his knees beside her and held her face in his hands. `Oh Kiri, please forgive me for allowing you to think you were not wanted at Jarrah.' He pressed her cheek to his, his mouth to her ear. `You can never know how much I want you and how much I have wanted to hold you and touch you. But because of the way men have always treated you before, I have been afraid to, for fear you may think I am no different, and come to despise me for it. And when you came to my bed last night, I thought it was because you came just to show gratitude, in a place where I have only wanted you to bring love,'
Kiri drew her head back to face his. She was smiling through her tears, her face radiant. Her mouth was almost touching his when she said, `You have said what I have always dreamed of hearing you say Ben Luk. And it makes me so happy.'
Ben stood up and held out his arms to take the baby.`Come Kiri,' he said softly, `let us take our son home to Jarrah.'