Currency

Elizabeth looked up at the sound. She knew Louisa wasn’t too far away, but she would have been too far away to make such a loud sound. No, this was something else. Or someone else.

Elizabeth and Louisa were friends, not best friends, (they’d only just met), but as the only ones of their kind in this strange new world, (strange New World), they’d decided to team up. It wasn’t a hard decision, they were both loving and brave girls and they knew it would only be a matter of time before they were as close as pease in porridge. Elizabeth was missing her sister, and Louisa had never had one, so they were seemed as interlocking pieces for each other’s lack: extremely well met.

Elizabeth and Louisa were Currency, their parents Stirling. What this meant was that they were the first generation born in the Antipodes, Australasian daughters of English parents. (Louisa’s mother was actually Irish, and her father born of minor Danish aristocracy, but she tended to keep the disgrace quiet.) They were bush girls, constantly losing their stockings up trees where they left them hanging while the girls themselves went walking, tearing their bare feet on rocks and twigs, and generally muddying up their dresses as much as possible.

It was all quite unseemly, considering that they were both twenty-seven years of age.

But the noise Elizabeth could hear, that was not her friend. She tried a tentative call. “Cooee! Weeza? We’ra ya? Weeza!”

“Cooee, Dove!” came the reply. “Down the creek, got a stone in me foot and I’m washin’ off tha blood.”

It wasn’t Louisa then.

The brush parted before Elizabeth, and before her stood a man. One of the men of the area, she recognised him, (he had strange but interesting scars on his torso, like his ribs had individually been added as an afterthought and hadn’t quite settled into place yet), and knew his name, but she’d never met him before.

It was Bynoe Yaku, and he was a Kuri. And he was not alone.

“Weeza? There’s Kuris.” Elizabeth took a step back, but Bynoe Yaku’s smile encouraged her she was safe.

“Wizzit?”

“Bynoe Yaku, and some of his men.”

“You’ll be right.”

Bynoe Yaku crossed his arms across his chest, palms facing out, and motioned away from himself. Elizabeth presumed this to be some sort of assurance that he wasn’t going to hurt her, and offered her ‘brave-smile’. Bynoe Yaku nodded.

Louisa arrived, muddy and puffing, and immediately held out her hand to Bynoe Yaku as if to offer him a handshake. The man took the hand, and held it without shaking. Both offered words in Kuri, still clasping hands. Louisa gestured to Elizabeth, Bynoe Yaku to his party, both nodded, and the hands were dropped. Bynoe Yaku gave a short command to the Kuri men, all merged back into the scrub; with Bynoe Yaku offering a final word.

“Soon, missus.”

Louisa nodded and did the arms-across-chest thing. She turned back to Elizabeth and offered her “grab your boots Dove, Blunt is coming.”

Captain Blunt was Elizabeth’s husband. She loved him deeply and it was he who was her best friend. He was a good man, with a booming laugh and a warm demeanour. He was kind to Louisa, (who had been widowed the previous year, her husband killed when he fell from his horse), and was a friend of Louisa’s father who was chief of works at the Penitential Settlement at Yarra Yarra.

Elizabeth bent to pick up her stockings, but could find only one, (as per usual); remembering with a smile how Blunt had threatened her with the hairbrush should this happen once again. She sneakily took one of Louisa’s, and sat to put them on.

“Oi! My father shall have you mate: absconding my intimacies.”

“Blunt has offered me the back of the hairbrush should I come home one-legged again. He told me he married a lady, not a buccaneer.”

“Serves you right!” Louisa smiled and threw Elizabeth’s lost stocking over at her, she’d found it hanging in a tree along the path. “I know I came with two, you don’t think my father would notice his daughter coming home with one black leg and one fleshly one?”

“He would, I’m surprised you would though. I thought you couldn’t count.”

“Naughty Dove...I can in bare feet.”

+++

The Chief of Works cottage at Yarra Yarra was small, but warm. Louisa would have rather stayed in her own little cottage, but since the death of her husband she had returned to live with her father and mother. Louisa’s father sat looking his daughter up and down as she stood before him and his desk.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Keys Louise, where are they?”

“Why do you think I have your keys father? I have been out walking with Mrs Blunt, I know nothing of your keys.”

+++

“So you found it then?”

“Yeah, Weeza, ah Miss...”
“I know who Louisa is.”

“...Weeza found it hanging in a tree near the path.”

“Found what hanging in the tree? I was asking you about the wattle just beyond the creek, it’s flowering.”

“Oh yes, lovely. Why were you out in the bush today?”

“Escape, three men.”

“Oh, how?”

“They had keys.”

“Ohh.”

+++

CRACK! “I shan’t ask you again Louisa Christine, where did you hang my keys?”

CRACK! “Father I don’t have your keys, why would I ...

CRACK! “...sob, have your keys?”

CRACK! “I didn’t say you had them Louisa, I asked you where you hung them.”

Pause. “On the hook, Father. Last night you gave them to me when I went to hang your trousers for you, so I hung them on the hook with your belt...”

CRACK! “...ah-ha-aa.”

CRACK! “Obviously I found my belt, Louisa, but my keys are gone. So have Wilkes, Jonson, and Brawley. Right girl, that’s nine. Stand yourself up.”

Louisa stood up carefully, rubbing the back of her drawers vigorously. She didn’t often feel the sting of her father’s belt; she certainly hadn’t felt the fury of his heavy dress uniform belt for a long time, but she understood his frustration. Three convicts had escaped, she was the last to have seen his keys, his keys were the only ones missing, and now Governor Bass was furious with Doctor Elissen. Louisa flicked back her petticoats and skirt, and flinched as she bobbed to straighten them out.

Elissen knew it was his responsibility, but someone would be flogged for the escape and it seemed safest that it be Louisa rather than himself. The keys were certainly NOT on the hook this morning, and three men were on the run, one of them a murderer. He looked up at his softly sniffling daughter and waved a dismissive hand at her, noting with ill-concealed pride she was standing at attention in front of his desk again. She dropped her eyes, bobbed a neat curtsey, and left the room.

+++

John Brawley looked up at the sound of the returning men. Rufus Wilkes and, what was Jonson’s name?, some Russian thing, Yuri Jonson, broke through the darkness.

“Rat again?”

“Kangaroo.”

“Same thing.”

The fire they had lit was deep in a hole underground, it had been their great fortune to find such a hole as it meant they could have a fire without it being seen in the darkness. Still, it was only a small fire for lack of air, and the heat was soaked up by the ground. It would do for making damper and for taking the raw off the meat, but little else.

“When you unlocked the gate, where did you put the key?”

“In the barrel, just dropped it in.”

“Hmmph.”

+++

WHACK! Elizabeth didn’t know whether to yelp or laugh. Blunt had warned her, and she had inadvertently confessed to it. WHACK! So she had not lost her stockings, (not permanently anyway), but she had taken them off to go wading and that was not seemly for the wife of a captain in HM Royal Marines. So here she was now, face down over her husband’s upturned knee, as she had often been across her mother’s knee as a small girl. It hadn’t been as much fun back then.

WHACK! The hairbrush was broad and hard, and Blunt was a strong man, but Elizabeth knew he wasn’t hitting her at all hard, even though he had insisted upon her baring her bottom first.

WHACK! “Only livestock go barefoot in the woods Elizabeth, not ladies of quality.” WHACK! “Only beasts and birds, do you understand me?”

WHACK! “But I’m a Dove,” offered Elizabeth, in parts equally giggle and gasp.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! “And that is why I love you. However, if you insist upon removing your undergarments in public, be under no misapprehension that I shall...” WHACK! WHACK! “...remove your undergarments in private.”

“Ohh, is that a promise?”

WHACK!

+++

Elizabeth looked up at the sound. She knew Louisa wasn’t too far away, but she would have been too far away to make such a loud sound. No, this was something else. Or someone else.

“Weeza? Cooee, Louisa?” Elizabeth used Louisa’s correct name, she was certain this wasn’t the Kuri this time. The noise was too loud.

“Cooee Dove, just cupping water for a drink.”

Louisa was down at the creek, and certainly not acting in such a way as to make the sort of twig-snapping noises Elizabeth could hear beside her. Elizabeth put down her book, and reached across for her boots; then thought better of it and stood to walk barefoot down to the creek itself. The soles of her feet weren’t as tough as those of Louisa’s, but the path was soft with mud.

“Good day Mistress Blunt.” Elizabeth turned and faced the man she immediately knew to be John Brawley.

“How do you...” Elizabeth’s question was cut through by a scream from the creek.

“Ah, Rufus has found the Elissen girl then. How do I do? I am cold, wet, hungry, and angry.” Brawley took a step towards her.

“How do you know who I am?” asked Elizabeth.

“I know many things Mistress Blunt.”

“Get off me NOW!” The voice, and then the writhing form of Louisa Elissen broke through into the clearing. She had her boots hanging around her neck, her hands tied behind her with a stocking. She fell to the ground, unable to break her fall with her hands or to sit herself up again. “Agh! Bastards!” she hissed, face down in the mud. “Felonious scum, clear off before I get mad!” The men all laughed, and even Elizabeth flickered a smile.

“Your father cannot save you now Miss Elissen.”

“Neither can he save you if I get my hands on you Brawley: I’ll see you swing for this.” Brawley laughed again, and flipped Louisa onto her back with his boot. He put his foot up Louisa’s skirts , she lashed out at him with her own foot. “Clear off, I’m warning you!”

“Manners young lady! Or must you go face down again? Put her on the log.” Brawley’s instruction was met by Wilkes pouncing on Louisa and tossing her gently, face down, over a fallen log. Elizabeth noted at that point that he had been carrying Louisa’s dress, she turned back to see that her friend was indeed dressed only in under things and petticoats. “I am pleased, Mistress Blunt”, that you have chosen to show decorum, even if you are as bare-footed as a lubra yourself.

“Yo ho, ho and a bottle of gin...no, a bottle and a gin!” Wilkes laughed at his own joke.

“Drunken bastards! Let me up.” Wilkes broke off his laughter instantly and thrashed Louisa across her buttocks with a stick. She screamed and kicked, but without use of her hands could do not much else.

“Drunken? Oh I wish Mistress Elissen, I’ve not tasted since six years now. I presume you can count to six.” He emphasised his point by removing Louisa’s drawers and petticoat, and with eight harsh lashes of the naked buttocks before him. “Oh, I always was so bad at counting, shall I begin again?” Three more lashes were forthcoming before Brawley motioned a stop: the last one had drawn blood, which Elizabeth saw.

“Cruel man.” Elizabeth knew it was a mistake the moment she said it. Hate filled Wilkes’ eyes as he thrashed Louisa twice more, with vigour, and turned to approach Elizabeth.

“Rufus, no. This one we keep. She’s Mistress Blunt. Still...” Brawley turned and saw what he was looking for, a stump of just the right height. “HM The Royal Marines seem to think the lash is important for maintaining discipline, let’s see if it works.” Brawley seemed to sit on the stump, pull Elizabeth across his knees, and have her skirt up in the one motion. He began to spank her with his hand. Elizabeth struggled, but could not fight free of the convict’s grip. To her chagrin Wilkes had left Louisa prone across the fallen log and was pinning down her own naked ankles while Brawley continued to spank her.

The spanking continued for some time, rhythmic but solid, whack upon whack on Elizabeth’s covered bottom, a bottom still tender from Blunt’s hairbrush treatment the previous evening. Elizabeth fell into quiet sobbing, with the occasional gasp if a smack was particularly hard or well placed. Wilkes had tried to slap Elizabeth’s naked calves, and had been rewarded with a kick in the head for his carelessness in releasing his hold on her legs. Then, suddenly, he wasn’t there. And Brawley had stopped spanking. Elizabeth was pushed roughly to the ground, rolling onto her back at the feet of Bynoe Yaku. Beside him stood two Kuri, and as Elizabeth began to get up she could see Louisa bending over a very dead Rufus Wilkes: the lines across her bottom perpendicular to the spear jutting from the dead convict’s side.

“Is that the best you can do, blackfella? You only had the one spear, and there are three of us.”

Bynoe Yaku didn’t move, but spoke one word in Kuri. He turned to Louisa, who was bending gingerly to pull on her underwear, and offered more words. “He says,” said Louisa, “one. Wilkes is dead, and he has already found what remained of Jonson in that hole you chucked him in.”

“Idiot left the key in a barrel of flour, that sort of idiocy is a liability. Still, there is the one of me, and I...” Brawley roughly pulled Elizabeth towards him, “...have...ooph!” He crumpled to the ground. Louisa looked up just as Brawley’s head hit the soil. Bynoe Yaku was laughing loudly, his two companions crossed their hands in front of themselves proving that some things cross all cultures.

“What...” began Louisa.

“Calico injection: that’s The Power Of Dove. Can these men take us home?”

+++

It was discovered that the keys found in the flour barrel belonged not to Elissen, but to a Lieutenant whose kitchen maid had dropped them in the penitentiary while bringing him tea, and had failed to report them missing. For “key compromise” he received six on the breech; she later received two dozen more, without the breech.

Brawley was sent on to a place of secondary punishment, where he was murdered in his cell by the elder brothers of Jonson, Fyodor and Boris.

Louisa and Elizabeth were quietly celebrated for their escape, although the glory of their rescue was attributed to the ineptitude of the convicts rather than Louisa’s gallant run half-naked into the Kuri camp to raise the alarm.

Elissen’s keys were found in a tankard, into which they had fallen as the Chief of Works had dressed. Louisa was offered an unconditional apology, (her first, ever), and a severe thrashing for her unseemly behaviour in going half-naked into the Kuri camp. This was concluded with the news that she would never be subject to corporal punishment again, on the understanding that she begin to accept the station of a grown woman.

Dove and Weezer were last seen heading for the creek...although they now leave their stockings neatly folded on the tree stump before they go.