In the Land of the Long White Cloud

route. He would have a head start if he turned around, as the men would first have to wade through the three-hundred-head flock of sheep crammed in the riverbed. But they had fast horses and he only had his mule, which, moreover, was laden down with everything he owned. There was no way out. Fleurette, however…
    “Fleur, turn around!” James called to her. “Ride, like I told you. I’ll try to hold them off.”
    “But you…we…”
    “Ride, Fleurette!” James McKenzie reached quickly into his belt pocket, at which a few of the men opened fire—fortunately only halfheartedly and without any aim. The thief drew out a small bag and tossed it to the girl.
    “Here, take it! Now ride, damn it, ride!”
    In the meantime, John Sideblossom had directed his stallion through the flock and had almost reached McKenzie. In a few more seconds, he would notice Fleurette, who was still mostly hidden from view by some rocks. The girl fought back her strong desire to remain by McKenzie’s side. He was right: they didn’t have a chance.
    Halfheartedly, but with clear instructions, she turned Niniane around while James McKenzie rode slowly toward John Sideblossom.
    “Who do these sheep belong to?” the breeder spat out hatefully.
    James looked at him unperturbed. “What sheep?”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Fleurette could just make out John Sideblossom pulling him from the mule and striking him hard. Then she was gone. Niniane galloped at a breakneck pace into “McKenzie’s Highlands.” Gracie followed her, but not Friday. Fleur kicked herself for not calling the dog, but it was too late. She breathed a sigh of relief as Niniane set her hooves on grass—she had put the most dangerous of the rocky landscape behind her. She rode south as fast as the horse would take her.
    No one would catch up with her again.

7
    Q ueenstown, Otago, lay on the edge of a natural bay on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by rugged and imposing mountains. The landscape surrounding it was overpowering, the massive lake a steel blue, the fern forests and pastures expansive and luminous, the mountain range majestic and raw and still virtually unexplored. Only the town itself was tiny. In comparison to the handful of two-story houses that had been quickly thrown up here, Haldon seemed like a big city. The only building that stood out was a three-story wooden structure whose sign read “Daphne’s Hotel.”
    Fleurette tried not to be disappointed as she rode down dusty Main Street. She had expected a larger settlement. After all, Queenstown was supposed to be the center of the gold rush in Otago at the time. Then again, you could hardly pan for gold on the main drag. The miners probably lived on their claims out in the wilderness around the town. The small community would make it that much easier to find Ruben. Fleur stopped boldly before the hotel and tied Niniane in front. She would have expected a hotel to have its own stables, but from the first step inside, she could see that this place looked quite different from the hotel in Christchurch where she had occasionally stayed with her family. Instead of a reception desk, there was a bar. The hotel seemed to be partly a pub.
    “We’re not open yet!” a girl’s voice called from behind the counter when Fleur stepped closer. She saw a young blonde woman, busily engaged in some task. When she got a look at Fleur, she looked up in surprise.
    “Are you…a new girl?” she asked, taken aback. “I thought they were coming by coach and not until next week.” The young woman had soft blue eyes and very pale, delicate skin.
    Fleurette smiled at her.
    “I need a room,” she said, a little thrown off by the strange reception. “This is a hotel, right?”
    The young woman looked Fleurette over in astonishment. “You want…now? Alone?”
    Fleurette blushed. She knew it was unusual for a girl her age to be traveling alone.
    “Yes, I just arrived. I’m trying to meet up with my fiancé.”
    The girl looked relieved. “So your…fiancé is coming soon.” She said the word “fiancé” as though Fleur had not quite meant it seriously.
    Fleur wondered whether her arrival was all that strange. Or was the girl not quite right in the head?
    “No, my fiancé doesn’t know that I’m here. And I don’t know exactly where he is. That’s why I need a room. I at least want to know where I’ll be sleeping tonight. And I can pay for the room; I have money.”
    That was true. Fleurette was