by Peter Carey
My mother caught my eye a sharp triumphant look. It must of been the smuggling she were always attracted by courage and now wrongly imagined she had found her equal in that quality.
As for me I did not glower or nothing but when I saw my mother give Bill Frost the butter money I suggested to young Jem he come outside. As we left the front veranda I picked up 2 axes and once behind the cowbails advised my brother that we must do the labour which the boundary rider had no taste for. It were this or we would surely lose our land.
Jem were only 9 yr. old but he listened to me v. serious his brow furrowed his dark eyes never left my face and when he understood my strategy he said he were damned if he planned to go back slaving for our aunts then he cut his hand upon his axe and I done the same. We mixed our blood together and proclaimed an oath he said I do swear to be true to my captain or corrovat until death.
It were a Sunday and Bill Frost were not required at his employment but soon he left the property.
Might as well begin said I.
We made our oath beneath a mighty ironbark it were 8 ft. across as old as history its bark so black and rough it were like the armour of a foreign king.
Might as well said Jem then spat upon his hands and laid his axe into the brutal bark the flesh were sour and red we removed it in great glimmering slabs Jem’s axe were 5 lb. I rested often so as not to shame him.
I could of dropped 2 normal trees before dinner but this one were a grandfather we both worked throughout the day the flies was in our open mouths our hands black and sappy we ate no tea neither but continued on until the light were sucked from the sky it were then I heard a creaking sound.
If you have felled a tree you know that sound it is the hinge of life before the door is slammed.
A tree falls slow and fast on the one hand it takes forever and on the other it is swift as a guillotine. I called to Jem to flee he stopped to look back and still I can see his handsome dark eyes his puzzled brow. Then there come a very small tearing noise like a single sheet of paper being ripped apart and I reached and pulled Jem’s head close to my breast. The ironbark went. It fell like a whole empire collapsing its crown crushing into the adjacent grey box I heard the sound of a thousand bones breaking all at once. The trunk bounced into the air and shot back on itself passing us with all the weight of God himself He travelled like a cannon an inch beside my ear.
Our mother had noticed the ringing axes all through the day but until my shout she imagined it were our neighbour Bricky Williamson. Now she felt the earth shake she come running through the dusk and Maggie & Dan & Gracie strung out behind her they was the flesh of her flesh in order of their birth. They was shouting and fighting through the fallen canopy my mother tore her way between the branches she almost stood on top of us. She never wept but now lay down upon the darkening earth shaking us with her sobs her fat salt tears upon our dirty faces. Feeling the child in her belly I pulled away to help her to her feet.
My mother blew her nose. We was brave boys v. good she said she would henceforth assist us in our labours.
I were the man now so I told her we all knew she were with child I said we would look after her and make her farm successful she could depend on us.
I had not known I would say this nor had my brothers and sisters but when they heard my speech they come to my side vowing also to look after their mother. Dan were 7 yr. old he couldnt lift an axe without making a danger to himself but he made his vow all solemn and my mother thanked him. No one said nothing about Bill Frost or Mother’s hand.
At night the man himself returned to find me sitting in da’s chair he didnt say nothing but hurried to my mother in the skillion.
My mother said O let him be. After that it were all whispers but when Bill Frost brung his plate to sit amongst us he wore a smirk upon his ruddy face. So said he spooning gravy and potato into his mouth You boys is going to clear 10 acres is that so?
My colonial oath Jem said.
Well thats a great shame said Frost.
Now hush Bill my mother said they been good boys they is a great help to me.
Bill Frost had a most superior attitude a way of tilting his head up while turning down the corners of his mouth. Now he give his look to Jem saying I thought you’d rather be living in a big house in Melbourne and attending the Melbourne Cup.
You aint doing that said Jem.
O aint I just?
And what will happen to us asked Maggie who were playing with a doll made from a thigh bone wrapped up in a bit of gingham cloth. Would you go away and leave the rest of us?
No my mother said we aint leaving no one.
But said Bill I thought they had a plan to continue as selectors at Eleven Mile Creek I must of misunderstood.
You understood as good as gold said Jem.
So then your future is pretty much written and you will do a little cattle duffing like your uncles and you will be put in gaol and that will be the end of you except when the wind blows from the south you might stand near the window of your prison cell and hear the sound of the racetrack down at Flemington.
Jem said nothing but his head were bowed and I knew he were trying not to cry so I asked Bill Frost politely not to frighten him.
Said he Jem knows me he knows I’m joking.
I looked at Jem his eyes was pooled but he shook his head not wanting a fight he feared I would be sent away.
In any case said Bill Frost its my home and I’ll talk to youse kids any way I want.
It aint your home said I.
Now hush said my mother.
Frost turned on me saying it certainly aint your adjectival home and you can get out before I throw you out.
At this I placed my hands on the table and looked him hard in his weak little eyes. So you’ll throw me out Bill I asked putting down my spoon and making as if to rise.
He did not say nothing but I swear he understood my character for the 1st time. O Christ said he can’t a man eat his adjectival tea.
Nothing were ever said to note this moment as remarkable but never were there any doubt about what transpired between us.
Hard days followed the butter money were all taken and not a skerrick of income generated by the alleged 60 bolts of cloth. By September the milk had gone up into the cows’ horns which meant bread and water for our breakfast. There was many disturbances at this time not all of them related to Bill Frost or where he sat at table.
Annie’s husband Alex Gunn were charged with stealing sheep I now understood that Alex were as kindhearted and steady as a furrow horse where women and children was concerned. He were known to nurse a sick babe or ride through a rainstorm to fetch medicine galloping 2 hr. to Benalla and 2 hr. back arriving with hail damage down his arms his broad back bruised blue to yellow like a lady’s dress. In Benalla Court I swore on the Bible he bought these sheep from me but my words made no difference and they gaoled him just the same.
Jimmy Quinn were arrested for stealing from a Chinaman and also went to gaol then Sergeant Whelan rode out to tell my mother there was witnesses who’d swear she sold illegal liquor and if she didnt quit that business he would lay a charge and finally old man Quinn died.
I come out one morning to find a long lantern jawed boy sitting on the woodpile sharpening his axe so I asked what the Hell he wanted he said his name were Billy Gray and my mother had hired him to help me grub the stumps. By this I learned my mother knew no profit would come of them bolts of cloth. I told Billy Gray he were not needed and he went away.
Bill Frost were now absent more frequently and my mother oftentimes too tired to work as hard as previous but we laboured into the spring with axe & mattock & horse & fire and my mother even borrowed a pair of bullock from old Jack Dyer so me and she could spend a morning grubbing stumps with their reluctant assistance. Bill Skilling then arrived he were a miner from Gaffney’s Creek 29 yr. old and very strong indeed. My mother employed him then I dismissed him although unlike Billy Gray he would not leave.
The
mudeyes in the creek the emperor gum moths round the lamp at night and every other breathing thing told us it were time to be sowing seed so every day we rose earlier and went to bed later I were dreaming of trees and stumps without end. I were determined that we would have a farm but I saw it as only a madman does it were a phantasy so green it were never possible in such geography a grand homestead a creek flowing all through the drought and not a single smouldering windrow no dead and ringbarked trees. So often were I labouring in the bush that only by a roll of dice were I present when the Chinaman Ah Fook come wandering down the track.
My sister Annie Gunn were back living with us while Alex did his 3 mo. she were pretty much unhappy all the while but that day she brung us picnic dinner and so we had gathered by the creek at the place where the track passes our selection.
My mother sat amongst the riverside grasses on an upturned bucket her belly big and heavy her eyes sunken with a weight of doubts and she squinted back into the hard light at the smoky paddocks which no bolt of cloth would ever save her from. It were October which is when the big rains should come but already she could feel the summer smell the puddles drying and see the ground baking hard around the tree stumps.
It were she who 1st saw the Chinaman coming through the glare predicting what he wanted while he were still 50 yd. away. In court Ah Fook claimed he were a poultry hawker but there is no such thing as a hawker of one thing as they are jacks of all trades from corsets and opium to lead pencils for the littlies. He also said he had asked for water and that were his 1st perjury because he begged a dram of whisky and my mother would not supply it.
You give me.
No I don’t do that no more.
Ah Fook made the grunt the Chinaman will make it is a kind of hum in their throats. He looked us all up and down but when his eyes lit on me he took a step forward and held out his hand and my hair stood on end to see what was in his paw a 1/2 dozen marbles they was agates & cat’s eyes & bloodreels & twisters & lemon swirls & tombowlers & glass eyes. Were this the Chink we robbed before I did not know.
We got no time for games said I.
Boy got plenty time he said then pushed the marbles at me so I knocked his hand away and the marbles spilled onto the ground like quondong seeds.
Pickee up said he.
You going to be ordered by a Chinaman Annie asked me.
I aint said I and sat back down to take the plate of boiled eggs as Annie passed them.
The celestial were meanwhile looking down at his marbles then up at me and across to my mother. He very bad son said he.
Arrah nonsense my mother said he is an adjectival good son.
He very bad son the Chinaman said then took me by the ear hoping to make me pick up them marbles.
I now believe he intended no more than to give a gift but it were a grave misjudgment on his part trying to force a Kelly so I knocked him in the gullet. Continual fighting were the way of the world in them days just watch the birds in the gum blossoms it is still the same. Dan kicked the Chinaman’s leg while Jem picked up the fellow’s own bamboo and struck him severely on and about the head. When the poor b– – – – r rose I kicked again then the marbles burst from his person as from a broken pod.
Regaining his feet he were surrounded by Kellys and he dare not move.
Barley called my mother all right quit it come and give him back his toys.
But we would not go barley and it were Mother who picked up all the marbles and give them to their owner.
But now Ah Fook folded his arms across his chest. I report you b– – – – rs said he I report to police you adjectival devils.
Now now my mother said fair is fair my Ned meant no offence.
You crazy Irish devils you try to kill me.
No no says our ma they’re just boys.
But Ah Fook suddenly wrested the bamboo pole from Jem’s grasp leaping backwards with the pole raised like a sword.
Now you hang on a mo said my mother you just wait right here.
Calmly turning her back on the bristling fellow she walked back to the hut. The Chinaman stayed with his pole held high as if about to smite us but we was not scared. I had an axe Jem a mattock and when we picked up these implements and made a circle round him he must of thought his end were come.
Soon our ma came back from the hut holding in her hand a generous jar of grog. This will be after improving you.
The Chinaman sniffed at the grog. He put down axe said he then I drinkee.
I laughed then put my axe down as the Chinaman took the jar. When it was empty my mother gave him a 10/— note.
You would consider that fair but when this were all transacted the perfidious celestial walked into Benalla swearing to the coppers I had robbed him of £1. Sgt Whelan came out with 2 troopers the following day when he dismounted I imagined he were just checking for stolen brands as was the custom.
Are you Ned Kelly?
Yes I am.
Then I am arresting you for Highway Robbery.
At Benalla Barracks Sgt Whelan dismissed the Constables and escorted me through a dark narrow passage containing 3 black doors their surfaces studded with black bolts the last of these swung noiselessly and my fate announced itself in a sad and manly perfume of musk and piss and unwashed skin. Stepping inside I discovered an uneven floor of worried earth also a single window v. small and deep high up in the wall.
This is your new selection said Sgt Whelan and I knew I were finally in that place ordained from the moment of my birth my eyes were adjusting to the light I were studying that iron cot beneath the window thinking it not as bad as I had feared.
Hold up your hands lad. His tone were fairly friendly.
I turned to him so he could fiddle at my handcuffs with a bunch of keys.
You know what you is charged with sonny? The chosen key didnt seem to fit. You heard the charge clear enough?
I did.
All his attention were on my handcuffs. Ah theres the little blighter said he as the manacles come off. Did I know he asked me what were the penalty if I were convicted.
No.
It is death by hanging you little eff.
Many more times would death be pronounced over me but on this 1st occasion I were least prepared I could hear some boys playing cricket in the yard across the road also the regular chink chink chink of a nearby blacksmith at his forge. My legs must of give way beneath me but I didnt realise I were sitting down till I felt the crib’s cold hard cleats behind my knees.
Then I heard the mongrel laugh I couldnt see him properly no more than the white of his teeth the reflection in his big bug eyes but as he laughed I knew him weak and thus were comforted.
I know you is Harry Power’s offsider said he and if you help us nab him then we’ll let you go before tonight.
I made no comment.
Stand up!
I obeyed and received a sudden blow in my stomach which winded me but in the pain and airlessness I seen the truth and hope. He wouldnt of hit me if he were going to hang me.
Stand up he cried again. Now what do you answer me?
You never asked me nothing.
He hit me once again but I could endure much worse than this without succumbing for I were raised on stories of Irishmen being tortured and would not go home a traitor.
Said he I’m going to call for an interpreter for the Chinaman. You could be here for a month or 2 while we find someone suitable.
I thought you was hanging me.
And so of course he hit me again giving a comfort he did not intend for with every blow I were reminded that I would not die.
When he finally locked the door on me I were very hurt but still able to climb up on the crib and here there were sufficient light to see the yellow bruises surface slowly on my sallow Irish skin. I watched them like clouds changing in the spring sky thinking of my father and what horrors he endured in silence.
Yet the greatest torture in that cell were not the walloping not the threats of hanging it
were the vision of my family working without my assistance I knew myself better off than them for I had fresh yeast bread and jam there were barley and mutton soup for dinner and delicious stews for tea each one better than the day before.
Finally on the 11th morning a strange pale fellow in a high winged collar come into my cell he were tall and stooped and his voice were high.
Edward Kelly he asked peering into the gloom. For Jesus Christ’s sake how old are you?
I am 15.
Well I am Zinke said he giving me his hand which were very limp and damp. I am 28 yr. old and I have been retained as your solicitor.
I told him there were no money I could not afford to pay him.
Well I would be very worried if you could.
My mother’s got no money neither.
I am instructed said he that if you are not released by teatime I am to pull a rabbit out of Whelan’s arse and make him eat it raw.
Harry’s paying?
Shush boy I never consort with escapees do you understand?
Yes Sir.
And nor do you.
No Sir.
So speak quickly young fellow for we have just 1/2 an hour until we face the bench.
PARCEL FOUR
His Life at 16 Years of Age
National Bank letterhead as in Parcel 1, 44 pages of medium stock (8‘ × 10‘ approx.). A few finger smudges or stains in text but otherwise very neat, as if produced in domestic circumstances.
The author’s confession of having made a threat to murder. A narration of the events following Bill Frost’s abandonment of Mrs Kelly and the author’s subsequent reunion with Harry Power. Description of a journey on horseback through bushfire. The shooting of Bill Frost. A character portrait of Harry Power and a detailed explanation of the factors leading to the robbery of R. R. McBean. An account of the two offenders’ journey across Mt. Stirling to Gippsland and of the author’s disillusionment with his mentor.
ARRIVING BACK ON OUR SELECTION at teatime I discovered Bill Frost sitting in my chair with a big plate of mutton stew in front of him and it were bring me this & give me that but I embraced my sisters thus preventing him being served. They hugged me crying my mother smiled at me but she were busy bandaging Dan’s finger. Bill Frost were calling bring me this & give me that but I held the girls around me and he had to vacate the chair in order to get his own potato.