Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [53]
‘I guess we’ve got our orders, Conrad,’ chuckled Tyndall with some relief as Olivia swept from the room. However, underneath he was wondering just how well he was going to get along with his partner’s wife.
With Conrad happily settled behind a desk, Tyndall and Ahmed put to sea, both pleased to be away from the office. With their crew they sailed the Bulansouth to the untouched shell banks in shallow water that Tyndall had been shown by his Aboriginal friends. They readily enlisted several men to dry shell—a form of beachcombing at low tide—for payment of tobacco, flour and sugar. Sharp eyes were needed to spot the flat grey shells embedded in the muddy sand. As the tide moved over them, they drifted away.
It was slow work because for so many hours of the day the mud flats were covered by the ebb and flow of the tides, but steadily the stockpile on the beach began to grow and the two Koepangers hired as crew were kept busy opening and cleaning the shell under the watchful eye of Ahmed. They had good reputations, but Ahmed trusted no one when it came to pearls and he knew that it took only the slightest hand work to conceal a pearl if temptation struck.
When the hold of the lugger, and the space in its engine room, were filled with shell, they lashed to the deck the bags of unopened shell from the final few days’ work and headed home.
They sailed into Broome with the tide and as soon as they were alongside the wharf Ahmed was sent to alert Conrad, who hastened down the wharf and clambered on board the cluttered deck to shake Tyndall’s hand.
‘I say, this looks like a really great haul. The hold full, too?’
‘To the very top, Conrad. And good shell at that. Not many pearls, mostly small baroque, but we still have the deck cargo to open. How have things been going with you?’
‘Met most of the dealers in mother–of–pearl and talked about arrangements. Nothing settled yet. I must say some of them are very shady characters. Had a telegram from Perth from the representative of a European pearl merchant wanting first option on any pearls we find. How do you think they found out we’re in business?’
‘The bush telegraph, mate. The pearl business is a cut–throat one and there’s big money at stake. Information is worth money too, and I don’t doubt that someone in this town has made himself something out of passing on information on our venture to contacts down south.’
The tide was still on the make and Conrad and Tyndall wanted to get as much of the cargo unloaded before the Bulan settled on the mud below the deck of the jetty. Soon the crew were stripped to the waist and slinging bags of shell off the lugger while Conrad kept tally and supervised the hired dray hauling it along to their foreshore shell camp.
The next day the Koepangers and Ahmed began work on the unopened shell before they went off to the foreshore camp. They had barely started when Olivia arrived, unannounced and unexpected. The three men stopped work when she pushed open the galvanised iron sliding door and stood silhouetted against the bright sunlight outside. For a moment she could see little in the dark interior, but as her eyes adjusted she took in the frozen tableau in a far corner of the shed—three men, some large metal drums, and a small mountain of bagged shell. The men were sitting on tiny stools surrounded by piles of shell, some unopened. They stared in surprise at the sight of a white woman in their domain.
‘Apa kabar,’ said Olivia brightly, a greeting she had picked up from Ahmed before he had set out on the trip.
‘Ah, baik, baik, saja,’ responded Ahmed with delight. ‘Please come. Come see your shell.’
Olivia was instantly overwhelmed by the smell of stale oyster, then as she reached the group became aware of a fresher, saltier smell of the live oysters being opened. Ahmed offered her his stool and she sat down, looked over the pile before them, then picked up one of the oysters.
‘Good shell, mem.’
‘I’ll take your word for it, Ahmed.’ She turned the shell over in her