Read Online True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey - Free Book Online
Authors: Peter Carey
Tags: Fiction
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her not to. After she were finished the Judge listened to Cons Sheehan read aloud from his notebook. Then the Judge addressed Uncle James and asked did he wish to say anything in his defence.
I will marry Mrs Kelly.
But do you have anything to say in your defence?
Yes I will marry her.
And that is all?
Yes your honour.
Then I will pronounce sentence. Justice Redmond Barry took a square black cloth and placed it over his head.
Mother were now moaning I thought she were upset by this proposal but then I heard the Judge say that Uncle James were to be taken away and hung until dead and I watched the old boy’s mouth open and saw his tongue flick around the corners. His frightened eyes looking out towards us we watched in horror while they took him down.
When we come out of court the women was weeping but Jem and me was silent sick with shame to have our wish come true.
After the death sentence my mother were red eyed and the worse for drink she caught a night coach back to the rented rooms in Wangaratta and what them rooms was like I cannot say. A mother can have no secrets in a settler’s hut she cannot so much as break wind and all her children must hear what she has done but now she were far away from Fifteen Mile Creek and no longer could I guess her life. I were told she took laundry and perhaps she did but I am sure she only did what she must do. She had a mother and father and brothers and sisters but in the end she were a poor widow and she had 7 children and all of them was alarmed and unsettled by their lives. Dan peed his bed and Annie’s bones ached at her knees and when she run they made a click. Nor were I too shy to tell my mother the misery that come of being her sisters’ slave.
I didnt know I had grown 2 in. and thought my Aunt Kate were boiling my clothes too hard for they now was cutting into my crutch and tight across my chest but all I knew were that an unpaid Agricultural Labourer went hungry and weary from dawn to dusk.
I were sitting in the outhouse at Fifteen Mile Creek one August morning that is 4 mo. since Uncle James were sentenced I heard a rider approaching at a gallop but I didnt think much of it for all the Quinns and Lloyds was flashy riders they was lairs and larrikins and they would put on a show or jump a fence as soon as blow their nose. I sat in the stinky dark and did my business listening to the horse trot round the hut and a woman’s voice hooing hahing and then I heard my name being called impatiently. I were peeved that I could not get a moment to myself I come stumbling from the dunny tugging at my braces as my buttons would not do up no more.
It were my mother wheeling around me the morning sun behind her I saw her dress were some fancy silk or satin it were a new and brilliant red. Land ho she cried.
She wore no hat but her black hair were braided and her face flushed and her black eyes bright and she sat astride her handsome chestnut mare with her skirts rucked up to show her smooth bare knees. Land ho she cried we got our land.
I looked to the new dairy and saw skinny Aunt Kate and buxom Jane they was standing at the door and Aunt Kate were frowning and Aunt Jane were smiling to see this vision of their sister splendid as a queen. Just then Jem come mooching out from behind the woodheap where he had been hiding but seeing the visitor he run up to the mare he got a grip on the horse’s kneebone between his big toe and his 2nd toe and with that stirrup he sprung upon our mother’s lap. He had missed her company very bad.
I asked what were the rent and she kissed Jem on his head and neck then wheeled her horse around. No rent she cried it is selected I give the money order to the Land Office last night at 5 o’clock it is our own own land my darling boys.
Where Ma where is it?
You’ll see she cried for we’re off to live there now.
Today?
This very adjectival minute.
I had never thought I would be happy again but a 1/2 hr. later having give Jem my saddle
I will marry Mrs Kelly.
But do you have anything to say in your defence?
Yes I will marry her.
And that is all?
Yes your honour.
Then I will pronounce sentence. Justice Redmond Barry took a square black cloth and placed it over his head.
Mother were now moaning I thought she were upset by this proposal but then I heard the Judge say that Uncle James were to be taken away and hung until dead and I watched the old boy’s mouth open and saw his tongue flick around the corners. His frightened eyes looking out towards us we watched in horror while they took him down.
When we come out of court the women was weeping but Jem and me was silent sick with shame to have our wish come true.
After the death sentence my mother were red eyed and the worse for drink she caught a night coach back to the rented rooms in Wangaratta and what them rooms was like I cannot say. A mother can have no secrets in a settler’s hut she cannot so much as break wind and all her children must hear what she has done but now she were far away from Fifteen Mile Creek and no longer could I guess her life. I were told she took laundry and perhaps she did but I am sure she only did what she must do. She had a mother and father and brothers and sisters but in the end she were a poor widow and she had 7 children and all of them was alarmed and unsettled by their lives. Dan peed his bed and Annie’s bones ached at her knees and when she run they made a click. Nor were I too shy to tell my mother the misery that come of being her sisters’ slave.
I didnt know I had grown 2 in. and thought my Aunt Kate were boiling my clothes too hard for they now was cutting into my crutch and tight across my chest but all I knew were that an unpaid Agricultural Labourer went hungry and weary from dawn to dusk.
I were sitting in the outhouse at Fifteen Mile Creek one August morning that is 4 mo. since Uncle James were sentenced I heard a rider approaching at a gallop but I didnt think much of it for all the Quinns and Lloyds was flashy riders they was lairs and larrikins and they would put on a show or jump a fence as soon as blow their nose. I sat in the stinky dark and did my business listening to the horse trot round the hut and a woman’s voice hooing hahing and then I heard my name being called impatiently. I were peeved that I could not get a moment to myself I come stumbling from the dunny tugging at my braces as my buttons would not do up no more.
It were my mother wheeling around me the morning sun behind her I saw her dress were some fancy silk or satin it were a new and brilliant red. Land ho she cried.
She wore no hat but her black hair were braided and her face flushed and her black eyes bright and she sat astride her handsome chestnut mare with her skirts rucked up to show her smooth bare knees. Land ho she cried we got our land.
I looked to the new dairy and saw skinny Aunt Kate and buxom Jane they was standing at the door and Aunt Kate were frowning and Aunt Jane were smiling to see this vision of their sister splendid as a queen. Just then Jem come mooching out from behind the woodheap where he had been hiding but seeing the visitor he run up to the mare he got a grip on the horse’s kneebone between his big toe and his 2nd toe and with that stirrup he sprung upon our mother’s lap. He had missed her company very bad.
I asked what were the rent and she kissed Jem on his head and neck then wheeled her horse around. No rent she cried it is selected I give the money order to the Land Office last night at 5 o’clock it is our own own land my darling boys.
Where Ma where is it?
You’ll see she cried for we’re off to live there now.
Today?
This very adjectival minute.
I had never thought I would be happy again but a 1/2 hr. later having give Jem my saddle
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