Leap of Faith (33 page)

Faith didn't seem too bothered about the prospect of being ridden out into the atrocious weather – apparently she trusted that Jessica knew what she was doing. She turned her back to the wind while Jessica shut the stable door and checked her gear. She took a deep breath. Not only was she setting out in this dreadful weather, but she was doing it on a horse she knew very little about. And she had no way of knowing how Faith would react to seeing cattle up close. But she couldn't stay in the house and put their livelihood at risk by not trying to move them.

‘Good girl,' she soothed, as she led the horse towards the gate just behind the house that opened into the paddock. Halfway across, Jessica suddenly realised the gate could be padlocked. Their policy was to keep boundary gates locked, with the exception of the area immediately around the house, to prevent stock thefts. They kept a set of keys in each of their vehicles for when they needed to move stock. Where the hell was the set from Steve's ute? She hadn't seen him put it anywhere, and he certainly hadn't mentioned it. It was most likely still in the glove box in the wrecker's yard.

Jessica paused. Should she go inside and look? No, she'd keep her fingers crossed the gate was unlocked. Now she thought about it, she vaguely remembered Steve saying he hadn't locked it after going out late to check the ewes after more gun shots were heard the other week. If she found it locked, it would probably be quicker to get the bolt cutters from the shed and cut the chain.

She pressed on, Faith and the dogs keeping step obediently beside her.

‘So far, so good,' she said, unchaining the steel gate and leading Faith through after the dogs. She closed it behind them and moved on to open the double gates into the next paddock – a larger area with plenty of shelter. Also, it was a way of showing the dogs where they were to drive the cattle – if she got them that far.

Finally she checked her girth, put her foot in the stirrup, and rose from the ground. Faith was tense and jumped slightly at a fresh crack and shards of lightning zigzagging across the sky followed by a rumble of thunder. It was so close it seemed almost right over the top of them. Jessica's heart leapt into her throat, but she had managed to swing her leg over and was safely in the saddle. She was pleased she'd remembered to add a neck strap to hold onto – she was holding onto it tightly so she couldn't inadvertently pull Faith in the mouth.

‘It's okay, girl. We're okay,' she said. The dogs had their tails between their legs and were sticking close; they were very reluctant participants, but too loyal and well trained to leave.

‘Right, so we're going to go down to the creek to get the cattle and the calves, and bring them up here where it's safe,' Jessica said. She set off at a trot. She was in a hurry, but was too scared to canter in case Faith bolted. That she had once before was in the back of Jessica's mind. And she wouldn't blame any horse taking off in fright in this weather. She just hoped Faith wouldn't.

Every rise in the saddle caused Jessica's heart to leap into her chest. Her legs were like jelly. She tried to breathe through it and stay calm, not wanting her fear to affect Faith, but she was anything but calm. Faith skipped sideways, trying to put her tail into the wind, but was reluctantly obedient each time Jessica asked her to straighten up with a nudge of her legs.

‘Good girl,' she cooed, rubbing a hand on her shoulder. ‘Good dogs,' she called to Laurel and Hardy below, though she doubted they could hear her in the wind howling around them; she could barely hear herself think.

At the gate into the creek paddock, she got off and pulled it wide open. The cattle, now less than a hundred metres away, stopped their stirring and turned to look at her. They were standing on the long, narrow island and Jessica thought they looked appreciative of her arrival. They were a formidable sight, all lined up, staring at her, Faith and the dogs, protecting their young.

A few stamped their feet, which wasn't nearly as menacing as it could have been, given a splash rather than a thump ensued. The dogs whined as if to say, ‘Please don't make us go near them.' Faith snorted. Jessica gave the slightest sigh of relief. At least Faith didn't seem afraid of the cattle. If anything, she thought, as she gathered her reins to get back on, Faith was looking like she was challenging them. That was a good sign.

‘Okay, guys, we need to get around behind them and then bring them through this gate,' Jessica said, as much to herself as the four-legged trio.

As she made her way along the fence, she wondered why the cattle hadn't crossed the creek of their own volition. They were on the low side; there was much more space along here. Jessica tried to push aside thoughts that she would have to cross the creek to get to them that kept creeping in accompanied with images of
that
day.
Stay focussed.
She had to concentrate. She couldn't lose it now.

‘Good girl, Faith.'

She'd been looking for the best place to cross, but the end of the paddock was now less than fifty metres away – she was running out of options. The creek was flowing fast and quite a bit of the bank on either side had been eroded, especially on the few bends, which were now considerably more pronounced than they'd been yesterday. She hoped she'd be able to stay on stable ground. Faith picked her way slowly. While Jessica wanted to, needed to, move faster – she could see the cattle were almost knee-deep in water – she couldn't risk Faith tripping. Anyway, she could barely feel her legs though her wet pants, certainly not enough to make the horse do anything. She could only trust Faith to make her way safely. The horse seemed to know what was going on.

As did the dogs, who were bounding ahead. They knew that something was happening with the stock, because the gates had been left wide open and they were now making their way around the cattle ready to drive them back towards the openings. They were in work mode, heads and tails lowered, concentrating, and seemingly oblivious of the weather raging around them. Jessica observed vigilantly – she didn't want them to get ahead of themselves in their exuberance and plunge into the creek to be swept away to their deaths.

She stopped Faith at the fence line where the creek disappeared under the secondary road just beyond their property. In front of her and to her right on the other side of the creek two capped fences turned the boundary fences into jumps. She shuddered, thinking of how she'd jumped them hundreds of times, as had members of the local hunt club, which she and Steve allowed to ride through their land in order to complete the run their property split. Now she could no more imagine jumping one of them than she could flying.

‘Right, Laurel, Hardy, go right round,' she called loudly into the wind. ‘On to the other side.' She raised her arm and waved towards the road and crossed her fingers. She hadn't given a correct command – there wasn't one for what she was asking them to do. She held her breath as the dogs raced off, over the fence and back over the fence on the other side. They stopped and looked at her for direction.

‘Good dogs. Now, go way back,' she yelled, and waved towards the cattle. This command they knew, and off they bounded, barking, towards the tail end of the line of cattle and calves.

Jessica looked down at the creek. Jesus. She felt the blood stop in her veins. She had to cross it. But how was she going to make herself ask Faith to go into it?

She had a flashback of herself on Prince at the water jump. She felt sweat begin to bead under her coat. Her heart raced. But she was frozen to the spot.

She looked back to where the dogs were, just ten metres or so away. Perhaps they could do it and she wouldn't be needed. She wouldn't have to face her fear. But the dogs were at the cattle, and all the beasts were doing was snorting and trying to stamp their feet in anger. Laurel and Hardy had given up barking and trying to nip their heels to get them moving, and were standing motionless, looking back at her helplessly.

‘Oh, God,' Jessica said. She looked back down to the water churning below her. How deep was it? She tried to picture how high the bank was when it was dry and compare it to Faith's height. She swallowed hard. There was no choice. She gathered up her reins and gave Faith a half-hearted squeeze with her legs. A part of her hoped the horse might refuse to budge, but another knew that the cattle and the dogs were relying on her.

She was thrown back in the saddle as Faith lurched forwards and dropped down into the water. Jessica held on tight to the neck strap. She felt the surging water swirling against her legs. It was up to Faith's belly. Jessica held her breath. She desperately wanted to close her eyes, but even they seemed frozen open, staring straight ahead.

Before she could have another thought, Faith had made two leaping strides, and was clambering up the unstable muddy bank.

Back on level ground, tears stung in Jessica's eyes as a wave of intense emotion hit her. ‘Oh, Faith, you good, good girl,' she croaked, and patted the horse on the neck.

But her quest was nowhere near over. Jessica pulled herself together with a gulp, gathered her reins again and gritted her teeth.

‘Right, come on everyone, let's move these guys.'

She trotted Faith as boldly forwards as she could in the soft, squelching ground, feeling anything but brave. The dogs seemed to relish the larger reinforcements and rushed forwards with renewed enthusiasm. They barked and nipped at the heels of the cattle, which had started shuffling away from the approaching contingent.

Now the herd was moving, Jessica settled in the saddle enough to consider that Faith must have done more than just encounter stock before. But her thoughts were brief: another crack of lightning and roll of thunder caused her racing heart to leap and remind her again of what they were doing and why.

Where the cattle had been was boggy, and a few times Jessica was thrown forwards as Faith sank into the mud. She continued to give the horse her head, letting her pick her own way. How she went about this was crucial. As long as they drove the cattle up to the fence and across the creek by the gate, they couldn't go wrong. There was really nowhere else to go, anyway. And, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't rush them and risk the young calves falling down and being left behind by panicked mothers.

She hoped the calves could get across the creek. It was looking very deep, and just getting worse. The water even seemed to be flowing faster than just moments before. She tried to control her rising panic. She had to get the cattle across and herself, Faith and the dogs out of here, else they could all be swept away. She fought the urge to push the cattle harder but, like Faith, they needed to pick their own way to stay safe.

It seemed to be taking forever. In an effort to try to keep her composure, she began silently chanting: ‘Slow and steady wins the race.' She kept it up, despite hearing and seeing chunks of the banks giving way behind and around her.

The first of the cattle were now standing alongside the fence facing the creek. They couldn't go any further without crossing and they began bellowing their protest.

‘You have to,' Jessica cried, feeling the frustration and emotion starting to spill over. Her chest ached and a lump was lodged in her throat. ‘Push them up,' she called to Laurel and Hardy. They went in, nipped a heel each and darted back out of the way of flying hooves. They couldn't push any harder than that and they weren't about to put themselves at risk of being kicked. Now what?

‘Come on. Gee up!' she shouted, hoping Faith would understand it was the cattle and not her that the direction was aimed at. All she needed was one brave beast to take the plunge – literally – and show the way. The rate they were going, the bank would give way and do it for them.

She continued to sit on Faith in the drenching rain, waiting, feeling helpless. The dogs were hoarse from barking. With sheep, they would have leapt up onto their backs, raced forwards and barked in the ears of the leaders to get them going, and then darted back before hopping down onto the ground again to nip at the heels of those at the back. It didn't work like that with cattle, they were too big and menacing. And these were worse because they were trying to protect their young.

Jessica looked across at the fence spanning the creek to her left. So far it had held, thanks to Steve's ingenious invention of a series of floats and springs so the span could rise and fall with the water level without being swept away. Then she looked around for a long, narrow branch. Perhaps if she could poke some of the cattle in the backside, she could create movement. But the ground was so wet and churned up from all the hooves, all she could see was mud.

This felt like it was taking hours, but it was probably less than thirty minutes since she'd left the safety of the house yard.

Then she felt Faith lurch beneath her, and watched, stunned as the horse stretched her neck out and nudged the closest cow. This in turn sent the unstable cow's head into the beast in front of her. Suddenly the first three plunged into the water.
Shit
, Jessica thought, as two calves followed, only their necks and heads visible.

‘Come on, get up!' she yelled. ‘Good girl, Faith. Push.' She urged the horse forwards with her legs. And Faith pushed. Jessica's heart leapt into her mouth again and she choked on an intense rush of emotion. Slowly the cattle and calves crossed and streamed out into the next paddock at a rambling trot and then a canter, as they realised they were free and the ground was firm.

Jessica found herself staring at two muddy banks with filthy, bubbling white water racing between them. The cattle were all heading up the hill towards the house. Tears began to stream down her face. She had done it! They had done it!

‘Good dogs. Good Faith,' she said, rubbing the horse on the shoulder.

A rumble of thunder brought her attention back. While she might have got the cattle to safety, she, Faith and the dogs were still stuck on the wrong side of the creek. She'd momentarily forgotten the wind and rain in her excitement. She wiped the tears away and looked down at where the cattle had crossed.