Robbery under Arms / A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and in the Australian Goldfields

. We were not called boys any longer, except by mother and Aileen, but took our places among the men of the district. We lived mostly at home, in the old way

p the bucket into it herself, when she wanted one, fro

ick of kangarooing, like the dogs themselves, that as they grew old would run a little way and then pull up if a mob came, jump, jump, past them. No shooting, except a few ducks and pigeons. Father used to la

ttle play now and then to keep them straight. If there's none, they'l

f sight of mother, to ride over to that old villain, Grimes, the shanty-keeper, where we met the young Dalys, and others of the same sort-talked a good d

d habit, and that was to drink spirits. What burning nasty stuff I thought it at first; and so did we all! But every one wanted to be thought a man

good friends with them, though they never came to our house, and only we boys went to theirs. They we

ine corn and pumpkins they grew; and how they had a church at Windsor, and used to take their hay and fruit and potatoes to Sydney, and what a grand place Sydney was, with stone buildings called markets for people to sell fruit and vegetables and

under. Another minute or two would have finished her, but I was off the old pony and into the water like a teal flapper. I had her out in a second or two, and she gasped and cried a bit, but soon came to, and when Mrs. Storefield came home she first cried over her as if she would break her heart, and kissed her, and then she kissed me, and said, 'Now, Dick Marston, you look here. Your mother's a good woman, though simple; your father I don't lik

re, and sit on my knee and look at me with her big brown serious eyes-they were just the same after she grew up-and talk to me in her little childish lingo. I believe she knew all about it, for she used to say, 'Dick pull Gracey out of water;' an

e a filly, but I wouldn't have it, boy as I was. I never cared for money nor mo

t of what I'd done for her, and years afterwards I threatened to punch his

; 'but don't you forget you've got another brother besides

ked all day and every day, and saved every penny he made. Catch him gaffing!-no, not for a sixpence. He called the Dalys and Jacksons thieves and swindlers, who would be

od appetite and a good conscience? I'm afraid of no man; the police may come and live on my ground for what I

lks up to the yoke in the morning and never stops hauling till he's let go at night. This is

rk and save when he's young if he don't want to be a beggar or a slave when he's old. I believe in a man enjoying himself as well as you do, but my notion

I said. 'What's the use of having money when you're

at a low pothouse or a shanty, listening to the stupid talk and boasting lies of a pack of loafers and worse. They're fit for nothing better; but you and Jim are. Now, look here, I've got a small contract from

te of some sort of fun once in a way. I can't put it out clear, but it ought to be fixed somehow for us chaps that haven't got the gift of working all day and every day, but can do two days' work in one when we like, that we should have our allowance of reasonable fun and pleasure-tha

uff at an old friend. All I want is to do you good, and

were lots of chaps fighting how to give us a lift. Good-bye, George, old man; I'm sorry we

ed on to my horse and went off down the hill, across the creek, and over the boulders the other side, without much caring where I was going. The fact was, I felt I had acted meanly in sneering at a man who only said what he did for my good; and I wasn't

and Jim rode up alongside of me. He was just the same as ever,

r me, and had given up

to stay and turn good,'

'but you know very well, Dick, that whatever turns up,

out speaking. The sun had set, and some of the stars had come out, early as it was, for it was late autumn. Aileen was sitting on a bench in the verandah reading, mother was working away as

we let go our horses, and brought the

ing,' she said. 'There is a message f

ught it?

Dalys-Pats

rong arms. 'I must go in and have a gossip with the old woman. Aileen

s fonder of us two than she was of Aileen. Mothers are generally fonder of their sons. Why I never could see; and if she thought more of one than the other it was Jim. He was the youngest, and he had that kind of big, frolicsome, loving way with him, like a Newfoundland pu

did if he'd been away more than a day or two, I took a walk down the creek with Aileen in the starlight, to hear all about this mess

ke any agreement with Geo

king to you about me? What right h

. Anything that he said was onl

said. 'Let him keep it for those tha

he knew you two and himself could finish it in a few weeks, and that he expected to get the contract for the timber for the new bridge at Dargo, which he would let you go shares in too. He didn't like to speak about that, because it

ing with other people's business. Jim and I are quite able to manage our own affairs, as I

last week he said he was sick and tired of having nothing to do-that he should soon lose all h

e away by myself, and only saw him just before we crossed the

ou to destruction. That will be the end of it, depend upon it, Dick. I tell y

my way I won't hinder him; I won't try to persuade him one way or the other. Let him take his ow

e were born, and what does she live for? You know she has no pleasure of any kind, you know she's afraid every morning she wakes that the polic

was always about somebody else and their misfortunes. She was a quiet girl, too, very determined, and not much given to talking about what she was going to do; but when she made up her mind she was sure to stick to it. I used to think she was more like father than a

onfounded night-hawks flitted on a dead tree before us and began his 'hoo-ho', as if it was laughing at me. I can see the place now-the mountain black and dismal, the moon low and strange-looking, the little waterhole glittering in the half-light, and this

g a road where we shall never come back from, or whether we can go just a l

to choose a hard-working, pokey kind of life at the word of a slow fellow like George, when I might be riding about the country

honest daily labour like a man-like a man who hoped to end his days in a good house, on a good farm, with a good wife and nice children round him, and not in a prison cell. Some people wo

all night? I shall be afraid to come home if you're g

putting her hand on my shoulder

day or other. Something tells me that there's bad luck before you. But never mind, you'll never lose your sister if

a big mob to drive, and where's he to get a big mob there in that mountainous, beastly pl

e you I wouldn't go. It's no good, and father's trying now to dra

o bad?' said I. 'How ca

s come home after dark, and be that nervous every time he sees a stranger coming up you'd think he was come out of gaol

right to say that he's robbing, or something of that sort, becau

, but it was m

fully-'that you and Jim were old enough to tak

'll have nothing mo

river before he knocked him down. 'Why not? You need never ask him for another meal; you can earn an easy livi

sneeringly; 'Father Doyle-of course he knows

hat wasn't good and kind. He says mother's a good Catholic,

to come riding up the rough mountain track on his white horse, and tiring his old bones, just 'to look after his flock

sin, but if it is I'll stand by it, and now I'll swear it (here she knelt down), as Almighty God shall help me at the last day, if you and Jim will promise me to start straight off up the

ere ever was a good girl in the whole world she was one. She turned faint as she said this, and I thought she was going to drop down. If anything could have turned me then it would have been this. It was almost like giving her life for ours, and I don't think she'd have valued hers two straws if she could have saved us. There's a great deal said about different kinds of love in this world, but I can't help thinking that the love between brothers and sisters that have been brought up together and have had very few other people to care about is a highe

ise at that hou

nge mournful bellowing that comes from a drove of cattle forced along an unknown track. As

and a big mob too. It's father-for a no