The Golden Stranger
ALSO IN THE
DIAMOND SPIRIT SERIES
BY KAREN WOOD:
Diamond Spirit
Moonstone Promise
Opal Dreaming
Brumby Mountain
KAREN WOOD
First published in 2012
Copyright © Karen Wood 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The
Australian Copyright Act 1968
(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or ten per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218
Email: [email protected]
Web:
www.allenandunwin.com
Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the
National Library of Australia
www.trove.nla.gov.au
ISBN 978 1 74237 858 9
Cover photo by John P. Kelly / Getty Images
Cover and text design by Ruth Grüner
Set in 11.3 pt Apollo MT by Ruth Grüner
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For my little wildies,
Annabelle and Ruby
Contents
SHARA WILSON PEEKED
through her dorm window curtains across the schoolyard. Soft rain fell, grey and drizzly, onto the asphalt, blurring the light and muting the usual morning bird calls. In a nearby building, plates clattered and cutlery jangled as kitchen staff prepared breakfast. A vacuum cleaner hummed down the hallway.
She glanced at her laptop, sitting among a mess of textbooks, notepads and pens on the tiny desk next to her bed. No one had warned her how much homework Canningdale College dished out. It was all she ever seemed to do. One more sleep, though, and her parents would be here to pick her up. Shara would be taking Rocko, her big brown quarter horse, home for three weeks of riding and hanging out by the Coachwood River with her friends.
Shara grabbed a popper juice and some biscuits from her drawer and took her laptop from the desk. She flipped it open and sat cross-legged on the bed watching it come to life. Back home in Coachwood Crossing, she knew her bestie would be doing the same. She logged in to chat and within seconds there was a pop-up message from Jess.
Sharsy, check out this link! There's going to be a WILD HORSE RACE at the Coachwood Crossing Show. They're using real brumbies! Can you believe it?
Shara groaned. Jess would be in a huge tizz about this. She and her boyfriend Luke had been crazy about brumbies ever since Luke brought a herd of them back from Mount Isa last summer. Shara got comfy on the bed and clicked the link.
It took her to the program for the Coachwood Crossing Show, which started the next weekend and ran for three days. She scanned the list of events â it looked more like a rodeo this year, with campdrafting, calf roping, bronc riding and barrel racing. Then she spotted the wild horse race billed as âLunchtime Entertainment'.
This exciting event will use real mountain brumbies, wild
and untamed!
Shara screwed up her face. Roping down wild horses and traumatising them just for the fun of it: how wild and exciting. Not. She typed with one hand, her juice box in the other.
Totally cruel.
I wrote to the show society and asked them not to hold the event and they didn't even answer me.
A bell clanged, signalling breakfast was ready.
âAre you coming?' asked Shara's roommate, Stacey, emerging from the small bathroom with a freshly made-up face.
âNah, I'm good.' Shara held up her juice. She got back to her chat with Jess while Stacey pulled on some shoes and slipped out the door.
Why all the rodeo events this year? Are they still doing
the cowpat lotto?
That event had been Shara's favourite. The committee marked out the entire arena into squares and everyone bought a number. Old Harry Blake would release one of his cows onto the field and every time she lifted her tail, there'd be a roar from the crowd. The winning number won the loot. Harry used to supply stock for the mini campdraft and the potty calf ride, too.
No, since Harry died they've been using new stock contractors. Some new mob from NSW are doing it. All the events have changed.
Damn. I won fifty bucks once!
Shara got up and went to the small bathroom that she shared with her three roommates, stopping quickly in front of the mirror to tidy her straw-blonde hair into a ponytail and splash some water onto her face. When she got back, she found a tirade on her laptop screen.
The new contractors are so dodgy! They buy brumbies that have been trapped in the national parks. Poor things, one day they're free and the next they're on a transport truck. It must be terrifying for them.
I can't believe they can do that.
We need to make a bold anti-cruelty statement, Sharsy.
A what?
As Shara read the long-winded reply, she realised Jess was in earnest, and had already recruited Rosie and Grace Arnold.
Are you serious?
They have to be stopped. Brumbies deserve to be protected, not roped and thrown in front of a crowd of idiots. Look at this!
A YouTube video link flashed before her. Shara clicked it, and a commentator's voice boomed
âGo!'
A dozen or so cowboys ran across an arena, wrenched open the chutes and released eight totally freaked-out brumbies. Before the horses had taken two leaps forward, they were yanked off their feet by teams of men, pulling them by the head and forcibly restraining them.
Shara felt sick as she watched the desperate struggles of the brumbies. Some broke free, others bolted with men hanging off their necks or being dragged along on their bellies on the end of a rope. Some horses were thrown to the ground and had their ears bitten by the cowboys, while others escaped but then galloped through the ropes of other horses and got tangled. It was mayhem. Shara was also struck by how unskilled the men were.
I've seen people catch brumbies without needing to do
that. Why are they making such a mess of it? Losers.
It was true. Skilled horsemen could catch brumbies in a matter of minutes in ways that were gentle and quick. This event was total crap. These horses were intentionally mishandled just to give the crowd a laugh.
Are you in, Sharsy?
Shara hit the keyboard without hesitating.
Yep.
She asked Jess to email her with the details and logged off so she could get dressed â riding jeans, collared T-shirt and boots. She was still stuffing her shirt into her jeans as she emerged from her room and wandered past the dining hall on her way to the stables and Rocko. The bacon smelled great, but there would be plenty of that when she got home to Coachwood Crossing.
