Picnic at Hanging Rock Page #2

the dark one with the curls.

Built like an hourglass.

And 'ave a go at the last one!

The blonde!

Oh, she'd have a decent pair a' legs.

All the way up to her bum.

ld rather you didn't say

crude things like that, Albert.

I say the crude things.

You just think 'em.

Miranda!

Take my word for it.

The Sheilas are all alike

when it comes to fellas.

Doesn't matter if it's a bloody

college you come from

or the Ballarat Orphanage where

me and me kid sister was dragged up.

Didn't know you were an orphan.

Geez! I haven't thought of that

bloody dump in donkeys' years.

Miranda!

I think I'll just, er... stretch my legs

a bit before we go.

Look!

Not down at the ground, Edith.

Way up there in the sky.

Why can't we just sit on this log and

look at the ugly old rock from here?

It's nasty here!

I never thought it would be so nasty,

or I wouldn't have come!

We can't go much further.

We promised Mam'selle...

...we wouldn't be long away.

If only we could stay out all night...

and watch the moon rise.

Blanche said Sara writes poetry

in the dunny!

She found one there on the floor

all about Miranda.

She's an orphan.

Sara reminds me of a little deer

Papa brought home once.

I looked after it...

...but it died.

Mama always said it was doomed.

Doomed? What's that mean, Irma?

Doomed to die, of course.

'The boy stood on the burning deck,

whence all but he had fled, tra la... '

I forget the rest.

I think I must be doomed.

I don't feel at all well.

I do wish you'd stop talking for once.

Poor Edith. We'll go back soon.

Irma! Look at them!

Where in the world are they going?

Without their shoes!

Irma, wait! Wait for me! Please wait!

Wait, Irma, wait!

Whatever can those people

be doing down there?

Like a lot of ants.

Surprising the number of human beings

are without purpose.

Although it is probable they're performing

some function unknown to themselves.

Everything begins and ends...

...at exactly the right time and place.

Look!

Oh, Miranda, I feel awful

... really awful.

Miranda, I feel perfectly awful.

When are we going home?

Miranda?

Miranda!

Miranda!

Miranda, don't go up there!

Come back!

I've gotta go. That's Mrs Appleyard.

Let someone else go.

They won't. No. lm on.

What time is it?

What've you got to do?

- Mrs Appleyard'll skin me.

- We got plenty of time.

You'd better go.

Why are they so late?

God be praised!

Mademoiselle, why are you so late?

Madame... something terrible has happened.

What?

What do you mean?

I can't...

And where in heaven's name is

Miss McCraw?

We left her behind

at the rock.

You left her behind?

Has everyone taken leave

of their senses?

Miss Lumley, get these girls to

bed immediately.

And Cook, Cook!

Hot soup, please, for all of them.

Mrs Appleyard...

I must speak to you alone.

Very well.

Straight up the stairs, girls.

Come along, quickly as you can.

Cook, I asked you for hot soup!

Well, ma'am... ma'am,

the strength of it is this.

Three of your young ladies...

...and, er... Miss McCraw...

...are m-missing...

...on the rock.

What happened?

Well, now, Mrs Appleyard.

That's just the trouble.

Nobody knows what happened.

How soon after the girls

did Miss McCraw leave?

Don't know. No one knows.

No one saw her leave. We were asleep.

And the little one?

Edith Horton.

Like I told ya,

she come tearin' out of the bushes,

dress all torn,

screamin' fit to...

Well, after we'd shushed her screamin',

all we could get out of her was that

she'd left the other three

somewhere up on the rock.

That's about all I can tell ya.

Miranda!

Marion!

Irma!

Go on, get out of it.

Ah, stop it!

Come on.

Miranda!

Try to remember, Edith...

...what it was that frightened you

on the rock.

Think carefully, darling. Carefully!

Did you speak to anyone?

There must have been something.

Was there a man?

Her legs were quite severely scratched.

From running through the brambles,

I should imagine.

Nothing else?

Nothing I could detect.

She hadn't been...

...molested?

No, no, nothing like that.

I have examined her.

She is quite intact.

Since you won't tell me all the details,

how can I give you an opinion, Lionel?

There are no details.

People just don't disappear, my dear.

Not without good reason.

There's talk, is there?

Not just gossip.

People have...

...theories.

Go on.

Well, it couldn't be local.

What couldn't?

No one around here would

do a thing like that.

lve just told you, Sergeant.

I simply noticed these three young ladies

crossing the creek.

What did they look like?

The girls. Describe them to me.

The first one was tall and dark.

... then there was the little dumpy one.

... then a girl with glasses...

...and...

...the last one was... slim and fair.

That's four.

Pardon?

A few minutes ago you said

there was only three of them.

Oh, oh, yes.

That's because the... dumpy one

was back a little.

Then they... er... moved off

into the trees

and that's the last we saw of them.

Perhaps we could go a little higher.

I was tired.

I sat down on a log.

Which log, Edith? This one?

Look around you, darling.

Maybe you can see it now.

Is that the one? You went that way?

I don't know.

I was tired. lm tired now.

There is one thing I remember.

What do you remember, Edith? Tell us.

It was when I was coming down,

when I was running.

It was a cloud.

What sort of a cloud?

It was red.

I remember it clearly.

It was just after I passed Miss McCraw.

Who did you say you saw?

Miss McCraw. She was going up the hill

as I was going down.

Did she stop?

Did you speak?

No. She was too far away.

She was about as far away as those

dead trees are over there.

She was funny.

Funny?

How?

ld rather not say.

You must, Edith.

It could be very important.

Its rude.

Les pantalons.

She had no skirt. Just les pantalons.

Drawers?

You mean she was just

wearing drawers?

One last go.

For the bloodhound.

Miranda.

Hello!

Why didn't you tell us

you followed the four girls?

Because...

...I didn't exactly follow them.

I just jumped across the creek and

walked towards the rock for a little way.

I was curious.

In England young ladies like that wouldn't

be allowed to go walking in the forest.

Not alone, anyway.

But they'd gone by the time

ld come out of the trees

so I turned back.

As the girls were jumping the creek...

...what were you thinking of?

Ah, Michael!

Oh, Michael!

The old man hired me

to look after the horses.

lm buggered if lm gonna be a lackey

at a bloody garden party.

That's what I bloody well told 'im.

More or less.

Had the bloodhound out the other day.

I wake up every night in a cold sweat.

Just wondering if they're still alive.

Yeah, well, the way I look at it is this.

If the bloody cop and the bloody abo

tracker and the bloody dog can't find 'em,

well, no one bloody can.

People have been bushed before today,

and as far as lm concerned,

that's the stone end of it.

Well, it's not the end of it

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