Chapter 5 

Aaron must have seen the look on my face because he hastened to say: “Don’t be alarmed, Eileen. I mean you no harm.” He got down from his horse and as I had kept on walking, he hurried to catch up and then fell into step next to me. “I figured Mr. Vandenberg might not let me near you, so I waited outside. I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for what I said to you the last time we met.” He was obviously not affected by drink this time and my nervousness abated somewhat. “You’ll remember what day it was lass,” he was trying to look me in the eye but I kept my face resolutely turned forward, “I was sick with worry about Joe and angry at Ned for getting him into trouble. Surely you felt the same way?” I was wondering whether he really was as sincere as he sounded. Tom’s words echoed in my mind. Was Aaron just trying to get on my good side in the hope of getting me to tell him something he could pass on to the coppers?  

“I also had far too much to drink. I’m truly sorry that I upset you Eileen.” Finally I turned my head to look at him and he met my eyes. “I know Joe cares for you and he has enough things to worry about already, I’d hate to add to his troubles.” I’m sure he knew I hadn’t told Joe yet and maybe this was his way of making sure that it stayed that way. I couldn’t help being suspicious of him but decided it might be better if I didn’t let him see that.  

“It’s all right, Aaron. I don’t see why Joe should hear about it. I see often enough what too much drink can do to a man.”  

He looked relieved and gave me a smile. “You expecting to see him anytime soon?” 

If he had come looking for information, he would be going away disappointed. I made a show of sighing and looking sad. “With things the way they are, I don’t think he’ll be around too often.” We were nearing the bend in the road, almost within sight of my lodgings and I didn’t want to risk him seeing Joe, so I put a hand on his arm. “Thank you for walking me home Aaron. I’ll be all right from here.”  

He looked pleased. “It was my pleasure, Eileen. You take care now, I will see you again soon enough I am sure.” He patted my shoulder and got on his horse, turning back the way he had come and I let out a sigh of relief. 

“You didn’t forget that I was coming did you?” Joe’s arms went around me from behind as I turned off the road to walk up the path.  

“Jesus, Joe! You scared me!” My heart was racing and it wasn’t helped any by Joe’s hands wandering quite freely across my breasts and his lips that had found my neck.  

“Sorry lass, I got impatient waiting… Who was that on the horse?”  

I really didn’t want to worry Joe so I made a quick decision. “Oh, just some poor confused fellow with too much drink in him, he was going the wrong way. Why, did you think I was bringing someone home with me?”  

He chuckled against my neck. “Well I sure was hoping you weren’t, what with me being in a happy state of anticipation and all…” With his body right against mine, I knew exactly what he was talking about and I let out a whimper. 

“I think we had better get inside Joe or I might just let you have your wicked way with me here in full view of the neighbours,” I managed to groan as his teeth grazed my earlobe.  

“It’s such a beautiful night it would be a shame not to spend it under the stars – but maybe not right here if that’s all the same to you lass. What do you say we take a little trip into the bush, Eileen?” Joe’s voice was soft in my ear. If he had just offered me a night at the fanciest hotel in Melbourne it couldn’t have sounded more enticing.  

“I will just go get a blanket then,” I said and ran inside, nearly tripping on the doorstep in my haste. Joe was already sitting on Music’s back when I came out again, the grey mare fidgeting in her eagerness to be off. He pulled me up to sit in front of him and I leaned back, cradled by his strong thighs and arms. He started humming a song as we made our way through the warm night into the bush. There was enough starlight to see by, not that either Music or Joe seemed to need it; I think they found their way by instinct. I closed my eyes and let my other senses take over, feeling Joe’s body warm against me, smelling the eucalyptus trees in the balmy night and listening to the soft sound of Joe’s humming and Music’s hooves and I felt like I had entered a dream.  

“We’re here lass,” Joe was already on the ground, holding out his arms and I let myself fall into them. We were surrounded by trees and rocks but there was a soft patch of grass between two boulders where Joe spread the blanket and there we loved each other. Afterwards we lay there looking up at the sky that was brilliant with stars and Joe pointed out the different constellations to me. It felt like we were the only two people in the world and I wished time could have stood still for us that night. 

~~~ 

As the weeks wore on, the newspapers changed their tune and started to question the ability of the police who seemed to be running out of excuses why they hadn’t caught the outlaws yet. 

Public opinion shifted dramatically after the Kelly Gang robbed the bank at Euroa on the 10^th of December 1878. It was all perfectly planned and carried out. Even the Euroa bank manager’s wife, Mrs. Scott her name was, was quite impressed by Ned it was said, apparently commenting on how he was nothing like she had expected. Joe’s name now appeared in the papers too, but the Beechworth Advertiser called him ‘James Byrne’ for some reason. There was a summary published of a letter Joe and Ned had written to Donald Cameron in the Parliament, in the hope of getting a fair hearing for their grievances but of course nothing ever came of it, the police made sure the letter itself never got published and Joe was very upset about it. And then the coppers started arresting Kelly sympathisers, people with even the slightest connection to them were hauled away and locked up but curiously enough none around Beechworth; Aaron Sherritt was known to be a great mate of Joe Byrne’s and yet they left him alone. I had to wonder at that. 

“Eileen,” Joe would say on the fleeting visits that he paid me over that summer, “we’re trying to get ourselves heard and some justice, for Ned and his mother but others too, surely the day will come when Australia is no longer ruled from across the seas and being Irish won’t make any difference to your chances in life.” I didn’t understand everything Joe was talking about but most of it made perfect sense to me and to a lot of others too, judging by the talk I heard at The Vine. The Kelly Gang was giving a voice to the common people and that voice was getting louder by the day. 

Then in February 1879 came Jerilderie. I don’t think a lot of people living in Victoria had ever even heard of the whole place before, after all it was over the border in the colony of New South Wales, but the Kelly Gang changed that in the most spectacular fashion. They locked up the police in their own cells, went around dressed as coppers themselves and fooled the whole town and then they robbed the bank without a shot being fired. All the folk who came to The Vine talked about nothing else for days. The reward for the Gang went up to a staggering 8000 pounds, 2000 pounds for each one of them. It was more money than most people could even imagine and still no one told the coppers anything. Except Aaron. 

I had seen Aaron quite regularly at The Vine after that night out on the road, he would come in and have a drink or two, usually staying by the bar and talking to me if I wasn’t too busy. It was obvious that he now considered us on friendly terms and as he behaved himself, I had no problem with him being there.  

“I’d best be off, Kate’s expecting me to call,” he’d say after finishing his drink. He had told me he was courting Joe’s sister and how Joe’s mother liked having him visit, doing things for her around the house. “Tell Joe he need not worry, I’m looking after everything for him,” was an oft-repeated comment of his. 

Since it was common knowledge around Beechworth that Aaron talked to the coppers regularly, I decided to ask him about it straight out to see his reaction. He just smiled and patted my hand reassuringly.  

“Eileen, don’t you worry your pretty little head with that, Joe knows I have Superintendent Hare eating out of my hand. I know what I’m doing.”  

“Eileen,” Mary pulled me aside one Saturday after Aaron had left, “be careful with him. I was at The Hibernian last week helping out and I saw him there with one of the coppers. They have a tab there for him, the coppers pay for everything. He must be giving them something of value in return, don’t you think?” Mary was saying what I had been thinking for a while then and I resolved to talk to Joe about Aaron when I next saw him. 

I was always quite guarded with what I told Aaron but he didn’t seem to notice or if he did, he didn’t seem to mind. He on the other hand told me a lot of things, about Joe’s family, their friendship and things he and Joe had got up to. It was from him that I first learned about Joe’s opium habit.  

“Here, give this to Joe,” he said to me one evening as he was leaving, handing me a small brown packet. “Tell him I went to see the Chinamen and got some for him too.” When I eyed the packet suspiciously, he winked at me. “It gives him good dreams but he won’t be much use to you when he smokes it, so give it to him when he’s leaving.” I didn’t like the leer on his face one bit – no matter how hard I tried to like Aaron, he always did something that just made it impossible.