KELLY GANG EPISODE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18571, 1 December 1923, Page 14 (Supplement)

KELLY GANG EPISODE.

&SBCUS BOY'S ' NARRATIVE. im . ; —. BUSH TOWN SENSATION. ]"■'-* :EIOBBERS GO TO ; CHUKCfc A Young Sullivan- 1 toured with a. circus \Z ■ 'Much, took the: dusty highway into the ■' tmsh of Australia, visiting the villages, • raining camps, any odd congregation ■#! - v people who were likely to-pay their cop- >: pers to see " the most wonderful show on ■ earth.'' '"'' - Young Sullivan was kicked about a good deal and cursed in. the fluent manner ' . Of Australian circus men. In the ring at, night, under the .flare of kerosene he I Wd be doing riding tricks on hoise- ' back, acrobatic tricks,, and dodging the whip. During the doy rtJM stable work, looking afU-r circus pcm.es, real drudgery with*£°**™£, soared t0 Yet hi* secret ambitions had soaiea u, the ttwe»B. So he began W*f™*> Quietly P and clumsily.at, *£ bjl ** growing confidence. He w B M . , tricks of the trapeze .with all th• cumMOg that, circus life breeds in its chl, f" n ; But, Sr a time, he kept this knowledge "Vmagfaiter village the trail of caravans «Tu.dered through. A stretch of baked Stb toe Xade%f a few blue gum trees S all the staging that this.- .most wonderful show on earth" required. >atuie -was the grand entrepreneur. Sound 01 a Woman's Laugh. One day the circus awoke to its squab Wins anY garish day to find that two pinks were 8 missing. V of .th. pejW Kg trick ponies. Young Sullivan was told to saddle and ride into the bush to find them. He set off, riding hard and following the trail which led many miles away from the camp. ~ . . ' A lonely place, the Australian hush. When you are in its vast spaciousness even to" whisper would be sacrilege. You ride into a deep silence with only the thudding of your horse hoofs to keep company with the thudding of your thoughts. Young Sullivan stood up in lus stirrups gazing across these* of scrub and the far horizon. "No sign of. the ponies. Nothing but a sun-washed spaciousness. , , j Then, awav in the distance he heard the rhythmic*" thud . . thud caused by a horse. Mavbe it was the lost pomes. He spurred toward the sand which eventually materialised in a cloud of dust moving toward him. The cloud came nearer and nearer, and enveloped him in a slur ot hoofs and the sound of a woman's laugh. As the dust swept away, young Sullivan _ saw a woman on horseback gazing down upon him. A fine type of Australian beauty, dressed in well-worn riding kit. A woman riding alone in the bush was of itself sufficient to make young Sullivan stare. But there was something else, something in that keen, wild-eyed beauty of her face that kept the boy mouth . (agape with astonishment. ... Encounter with Kate Kelly. The woman laughed, a silvery intense laugh. " A woman's laugh sounded so strange in that lost loneliness." said Sullivan as he recalled the incident., 'that I nearly fled at the sound. But one couldn't run away from the woman's eyes. Thev held volt." "Well, youngster," said the woman,, looking at what must have seemed an Australian Sancho Panza who had lost his Bon Quixote, "what are you looking for?'' \ He explained: the affair of the lost . ponies, the cursing ringmaster, and the awful consequences if he returned to the circus without the ponies. She listened carefully, toying with the riding whip that she carried. ' ; , _ .' "A fine pickle, indued," she said. *1«i s go and look for the ponies." So off they rode into the bush, and after several hours the ponies were found, rounded up, and tethered. The woman rode with him back toward the village for a few miles, hut, when the blue gum trees were visible against the horizon, she stop- - • '■ped. :-.j/"'■ ':w':S *?**&. ;?s:<: ; vi - " Gotta say good-bye here, young-rfer," < the said. Boy like, young Sullivan stumbled over his thanks. This wild beauty was a goddess in. his eyes. Shyly he asked her name. "Again she laughed, that, silvery intense laugh. " Tell the boys at the circus," she said, * that" Kate Kelly helped you find the ; ponies.". "-■*'— • Bushrangers at Circus. „.;>.- And she palled her" horse round. on its haunches and disappeared, in a cloud of '■/'■■■ dust. . '/'% : - - ;■ .... '"'"'■'■ '"%■■ . Kate* Kelly, the' sister of the notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly ! Young Sullivan could not move for some minutes. This was seeing life with a vengeance. AH Australia was seething with stories about the Kelly family, their ruthlessness, their :'.; exploits, their courage in the face ■■■ of danger. Young Sullivan rode into the circus that day with his;* chest almost bursting itself with > importance. ■-~,;., . ' •:; The next night, Saturday- night, Young '. Sullivan was going through his tricks in* the ring. There"was a"good..---.crowd in the ti mm v tent and business was excellent. ;. Young I * i Sullivan threw himself about in his somer- {*■■ 1 saults with gusto while the audience > clapped rather apathetically!';; ". V r Suddenly, in the middle of a balancing; trick he caught a glimpse of a woman's'!face in the crowd of staring eyes. He 1 nearly overbalanced at the sight. It was * Kate Kelly. At each side of her sat -£.' two men, "their faces almost hidden under '* the wide brimmed hats. Obviously the Kelly Brothers. Young Sullivan thrilled at the thought of these bushrangers sit- i ting there, calmly confident, watching a mere circus show." '-'.- :-.*. -:■■■'. Policemen Locked in Gaol. As he walked out of the ring amid the blare of the band and the clapping of the crowd, young Sullivan stared into the face of Kate Kelly. She smiled, but there was the suggestion of a warning behind that smile. It drilled him, so that; he went and hid himself in the darkness of a caravan, hugging this tremendous secret to. himself. ,;, ; v .;,,.' . r ... ,• The next 'day,-Sunday, the* town Was :n an uproar. The police and their sergeant had been locked in the village gaol. Ned Kelly was loose. He and his brother had done the trick late on Saturday night, and now, on-Sunday morning, Ned Keltv was actually taking the sergeant's wife to church. The little village church was crowded that morning. Even the circus; people shuffled in at the doors, .young-'Sullivan ' with them. And there, sitting with insolent pride in a pew was Ned Kelly and by his side a little- 1 buxom woman who f looked terrified. Everybody stared at the • couple. The notorious Ned Kelly! The * parson read the lessons, hymns were sung, prayers were said. Finally the service ended, and Ned Kelly led the terrified buxom woman into the sunshine once again. Then he disappeared . . . disappeared to that inevitable death that overwhelmed him at last. He disappeared also from the life of young Sullivan.