the end of 1869, or the beginning of 1870, some horses being suddenly missing from Mount Battery Station, near Mansfield, then owned by John. P. Rowe, and Power being abroad, the loss was at once set down to his agency, and accordingly a party, including two constables, was organized at the station, and the track of the stolen animals followed for some distance towards the head of the King River, where they were finally lost sight of. It is believed by many that at one time, the party being unpleasantly close to Power and his then mate, Ned Kelly, the latter proposed to surrender, and that the elder bushranger, threatened to blow his brains out if he attempted it. The subsequent and recent proceedings of Ned Kelly, however, could apparently give the lie to the story.
About this date, one day shortly after noon, two men, armed with guns, made their appearance of the highest verge of a rocky and nearly perpendicular declivity, nearly overhanging and within rifle shot of the Mount Battery homestead. On the alarm being given, Rowe turned out with a rifle, and a friend of his (who had been lunching at the house) with a smooth-bore loaded with ball, to take stock of the doubtful visitors, the shorter of whom, as far as distance would permit judging, answered the description of the then dreaded Power, but the other, who was tall, and at that time rather slight, defied recognition, while the wildest and most improbably conjectures were suggested as to his identity. This youth actually was Ned Kelly, though, for the matter of that, it is not now known for certain, except to a comparatively few, who either of the strangers was. As soon as Rowe had taken a good look at the excursionists, who appeared to be carefully examining the house and grounds, he raised his rifle and let drive at them, without the formality of a challenge or salute of any kind, an example that was quickly followed by his friend, in the same reckless, and, as we consider, altogether lawless manner. The first shot missed them, and the second, as Sir Boyle Roche would have said, hit them in the same place, producing no further effect than inducing Kelly to raise his gun and take a steady aim at the two, but before any mischief ensued, Power threw up the muzzle of the gun, and persuaded him to retire without firing. They then quickly disappeared from the view of the Battery garrison, and, mounting their horses, which were secured hard by, rode off at full speed towards the King River, which they reached that evening, and rested at Power’s gunyah, near Quin’s Station, so as to baffle the pursuit which they anticipated, and which did take place, with the almost inevitable result in such cases.
There was a good deal of excitement about the affair for a day or two at Mansfield, which soon died out, but the general verdict was that Rowe was not justified in firing at men who, for all he knew, might have been nothing more than harmless travellers.
We must now return to the proceedings of the most prominent characters in our history, and follow them to their lurking places in the Wombat Ranges.
CHAPTER VIII
“Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,
It was my hint to speak.”
– Shakespeare
Immediately after the unfortunate fracas with the police near Greta, Dan Kelly deemed it imperative to betake himself to hiding, and was soon joined by his brother Edward, both of them knowing that the evidence of one constable would outweigh the combined testimony of those who took part in the disturbance. They did not, nevertheless, leave the colony, nor did they fail often to visit their home and friends, until they had learned the result of the trial of their mother and the others.
It was on receiving news of her conviction that they made use of threats of reprisals; and then, mindful of the reward placed on the head of one and the warrant out against the other, they judiciously confined their wanderings, for the most part, to the almost impenetrable natural fastnesses of the Wombat Ranges, which lie about 16 to 17 miles N. and N.E. of Mansfield, and form part of the vast extent of mountainous country, stretching in a north-westerly direction from the head of the King River. They also took the precaution to make their visits to their friends, like those of angels, few and far between.
This vast tract occupies an area of many square miles, and the country is of an almost unimaginable impracticable nature, save to the few who have been accustomed to traverse its gloomy recesses since boyhood. The hills are steep, the woods pathless, and the gullies deep, dark, and winding; vast gorges, bounded by almost perpendicular ranges, surfaced with sharp and slippery shingles, monotonous in their outlines, and apparently of interminable extent, as well as ever recurring features, form a labyrinthine territory from the mazes of which the most experienced bushman might well despair of extricating himself. For, although the region is permeated sparsely by small streams and creeks, the difficulties attendant on following their courses continuously are almost insurmountable, from the precipitous and obstructed character of the sides in very many places, while the neighbourhood, for the most part, is covered with thick scrub, and encumbered frequently with huge rocks and enormous trunks of fallen trees; the impenetrability of the first being intensified by the interlacing of the Australian vine (so called).
There are also to be met with several vast and secluded caverns, so that, altogether, a more admirably adapted retreat for fugitives from the grasp of the law could not be conceived, provided the refugees were fortunate enough to have made arrangements with reliable and trustworthy friends for the due supply for such food as they would require, over and above meat, which the vicinity would plenteously afford, in the shape of wild cattle, wombat and wallaby.
The place is, however, open to one objection, from a strategetical point of view – namely in the matter of affording a rapid retreat, if necessary; and it is allowed, on all hands, that a good general, in choosing a position, should always take into consideration of being obliged to retire, and endeavour to arrange so that a retrograde movement, if indispensable, might be made with as little difficulty as possible, and, above all, with the greatest attainable rapidity, more especially in the face of overwhelming numbers.
For, although it would be possible for one acquainted with the locality to remain hidden in the bosom of the Wombat Ranges for years, still he might by some fatality be discovered – either betrayed by the greed of gold in someone to whom blood-money seemed as fair and lovely as riches from any other source, by his own carelessness, or by chance, in which case, although the scrub and vine curtain – provided he gained its shelter – might for a time hide him from the pursuer, yet it might probably prove advisable to take horse at once, and seek a temporary asylum elsewhere.
For such a race for life a good horse would be indispensable, and a corn-fed one at that; whereas the Wombat Ranges, near the best hiding places, are not sufficiently grassed to keep a horse even in fair, soft condition; and, besides, the appearance of a horse in the locality might lead to an unusually severe scrutiny of the surrounding neighbourhood.
Yet there is no doubt that the difficulty may, by some means, be got over, and most probably, indeed certainly, has been so by the Kelly gang, whose leader is too good a general to overlook the possibility of being sold, or, at least, an attempt being made in that direction, unless, indeed, the idea put forward had been true – that the gang had prepared a log fortress, victualled, properly loopholed, and cleared round of all shelter for besiegers, to which they could make their final retreat, and sell their lives as dearly as possible.
To this part of the country, then, the Kellys retired, with a view of avoiding the consequences of a charge which they professed to be unjust, and which is not generally believed to be, if not groundless, at least gravely exaggerated misstated.
Setting aside the horse-stealing charge, which has yet to be proved, and supposing, for the sake of argument, that, in the Fitzpatrick affair, the Kellys were more sinned against that sinning, what could be more natural than their seeking shelter from arrest, knowing the array they would have against them, and conscious that they would be powerless in the hands of their opponents?
