Blinded by sheets of rain and icy wind, Keziah was so disoriented she did not realise she had taken the wrong road until the black outline of Bran’s forge leapt out of the chaos of the storm. Baxt had delivered her into the hands of a friend.
The gentle giant was crouched by the fireplace heaping logs on a roaring fire. He stared open-mouthed at her dishevelled figure in the doorway. Drenched by the storm, Saranna’s blue cloak weighed heavily on Keziah’s shoulders.
‘Help me, Bran! Jake’s been taken by the traps to Berrima Gaol!’
The blacksmith effortlessly lifted up a child in each arm, carried them inside to the fire and wrapped them up in blankets.
Keziah was stunned by the figure that appeared from an adjoining room. Daniel.
‘What on earth’s wrong, Keziah?’
Trying to suppress her agitation in the children’s presence she kept her tone muted as she recounted the day’s events to Daniel. ‘I don’t know if the charges against Jake are true or even who laid them. It smells like the work of Gilbert Evans. Jake has already done time. As a second offender it could mean Norfolk Island.’
Daniel went pale. ‘I’ll take you and the children to Berrima. We’ll leave at dawn and fight this with everything we’ve got. Joseph Bloom’s bound to help us.’
Keziah shook her head in confusion. ‘There isn’t time! He’s in Sydney Town in his new legal practice. You know how they rush through these local trials. I was going to seek help from Dr Ross but I took the wrong road.’
‘You were meant to find me instead. You know you can count on me, Keziah. I failed you as a husband, but I’m Jake’s friend. I won’t fail him.’
Keziah noted his frown when he saw the curve of her belly. ‘Yes, Daniel. I am.’
Daniel took her in his arms protectively like a big brother.
‘Don’t cry,’ he said. But Keziah knew she was beyond tears.
• • •
When Keziah and Daniel drove into Berrima village Keziah looked across at the huge new sandstone complex that dominated the main street. Behind the high stone walls the gaol buildings were designed to house three hundred prisoners. On the other side of a laneway stood a massive stone courthouse with a columned façade that looked like a Roman temple. The buildings were grand and forbidding, as if to enforce the system for eternity.
Red, white and blue bunting was draped outside the nearby Surveyor-General’s Inn and other buildings in the main street. Keziah felt confused. ‘It isn’t the Queen’s birthday yet, is it?’
Daniel nodded. ‘Yes. You have been isolated.’
He pointed out that tomorrow being 23 May, the whole of Berrima would be celebrating the Queen’s birthday, the traditional excuse for everyone, masters and assigned servants, to make merry. This meant that whichever magistrate was sitting on the bench today would no doubt want to clear the court early.
Daniel’s tone was reassuring. ‘Wait here for me. I’ll find out when Jake is scheduled to appear.’ Keziah pressed a shoelace in his hand. ‘Please, please ask a guard to see Jake gets this. It’s a Romani symbol of good luck.’
Daniel nodded and bounded off in search of a court official.
Alone in front of the courthouse, Keziah felt dwarfed by the four massive columns supporting the triangular pediment – a façade with giant brass doors but no windows. The wind was so bitter she sheltered the children under the wings of her blue cloak. Their eyes were fixed on Jake’s prison, their small faces pinched with silent misery. Keziah buried her own fears.
‘Yes, Papa is in there. We won’t be able to talk to him, but you’ll see him soon when he appears in court. And he’ll see you! That will make him very happy.’
When Daniel returned it was clear he was making a valiant attempt to be positive.
‘We arrived just in time. Jake’s trial is scheduled today. It seems luck is on his side. He’ll be going before Alfred Hamberton, a brand-new magistrate just arrived in the colony – today’s his first day on the bench. The strange thing is I know the man.’
‘How is that?’
‘I began painting his wife’s portrait in Sydney and I’m to go to Goulburn to finish it. My dealings with him were limited, so I don’t know how fair he’ll be. He has to be better than some of the corrupt magistrates openly biased in favour of their local gentry cronies.’
‘Is Jake’s lawyer a good one?’
Daniel frowned. ‘I’m afraid he doesn’t have a lawyer.’
‘What? We’ll see about that!’ Flushed with rage, Keziah was ready to rush inside and challenge the law until she saw Dr Leslie Ross approaching.
She called out a heartfelt Romani greeting. ‘God bless your legs for bringing you here! Doctor, do you know what they’ve done to Jake? He has no one to defend him!’
‘Aye, lassie. I was here on duty to witness a hanging when I heard the news. I’ve been remonstrating with the officials all morning. They gallop through these trials with godless speed. They claim there’s no time to find a defence lawyer. I tried to make them postpone his case but they would nay have a bar of it!’
‘That’s British justice?’ Keziah asked with contempt.
‘Aye, common enough for what’s considered misdemeanours of this nature.’
Misdemeanours. To Keziah the word seemed better suited to naughty schoolchildren’s behaviour rather than crimes that could have a man transported to Norfolk Island.
The moment the doors of the courthouse were opened Keziah pushed her way to the front of the spectators’ section at the rear of the courtroom. There were no seats so she was sustained by Daniel’s arm around her waist, the children pressed against her skirt nervously.
Daniel whispered a warning. ‘Keep your emotions in check. Remember we are here purely as Jake’s friends.’
On the wall above the magistrate’s bench was the British coat of arms, supported down through the centuries by its guardians – lion on the left, unicorn on the right. Keziah had first seen this as a child at her father’s trial. Again when Gem was sentenced, and now these animals stood guard at Jake’s trial. Written on the scroll beneath them was the royal motto, ‘Dieu et mon droit’.
‘French for “God and my right”,’ Daniel translated.
‘What good is that to us?’ Keziah said. ‘In the eyes of the law I’m a pagan and Jake’s an atheist. What rights does Jake have under a system designed for the benefit of the Quality? He isn’t even allowed his own damned lawyer!’
Her outburst drew attention to her. The women seated in the double-tiered lady spectators’ box facing the jury all turned to stare at her. One middle-aged woman in black gave her a timid smile of encouragement behind a gloved hand. Keziah felt she looked familiar but could not place her.
Daniel didn’t know her either. ‘But Hamberton’s wife is seated there in the back row, wearing a bonnet that hides her face. No doubt she’s come to show support for her husband’s baptism as a magistrate.’ Daniel was about to point out the woman in blue but Keziah was distracted by the surprising sight of friends in court.
Polly Doyle slipped away from George Hobson’s side to give Keziah a reassuring hug.
‘How did you hear about Jake’s arrest, Polly? There was so little time.’
Polly jerked her head in the direction of Gilbert Evans who stood apart from the crowd.
‘Him, who else? He boasted to Mr Hobson it was God’s will when a bushranger’s sympathiser got his comeuppance. Don’t worry, Hobson and all of us in Ironbark know Jake’s a decent bloke.’
When Polly scuttled back to Hobson’s side Keziah looked around her, feeling cynical about the presence of voyeurs like Bolthole Valley’s storekeeper, Matthew Feagan. She could hardly bear to look at Gilbert Evans.
From the moment Jake entered the court from the prisoners’ holding cell, Keziah had eyes for no one else. A guard escorted him between the parallel railings that separated the legal section from the spectators – a fence so low any self-respecting sheepdog could have vaulted it. When Keziah instinctively reached out as if to touch him, Daniel caught her hand and kissed it to allay any suspicion that she was linked to Jake.
‘Remember, you are my wife today,’ he whispered.
Keziah held her breath as Jake stepped into the prisoner’s box and gave her a reassuring nod. Her eyes traced every gaunt, bruised line of his beloved face. His shirt collar, angled askew, made him look like a small boy.
‘That decent jacket isn’t Jake’s. He doesn’t own one. Mac Mackie must have loaned it to him.’
Daniel gave a faint smile. ‘I know. Mac loaned that jacket to me on our wedding day, remember?’
Keziah felt proud that Jake’s level-eyed demeanour marked him as a respectable citizen, albeit an obvious Currency Lad. She tried to catch his eye. As if feeling the intensity of her gaze, Jake turned and pointed to his long hair. It was tied back with a shoelace.
‘Look, Daniel, he got my message of good luck!’
Keziah felt happy for one brief moment. Then Jake gave his undivided attention to the proceedings. He looked more serious than she’d ever seen him, clearly determined not to antagonise the magistrate.
She tugged Daniel’s sleeve. ‘Surely any fool, including this magistrate, can see he’s an honest man.’
Daniel drew her closer and whispered quickly, ‘Be careful what you say. Evans may not be the only informer around us.’
Keziah bent down and whispered to Gabriel and Pearl, ‘Smile at your papa when he looks our way. It will give him heart.’ She was touched to see both children trying to fix permanent smiles on their faces.
Keziah swayed against Daniel as the confusing list of charges was read out.
Jake stood accused under the Bushranging Act of seven misdemeanours. Giving aid and succour to two bushrangers, ‘the deceased Gypsy Gem Smith and William Martens, also known as Jabber Jabber, currently held at His Excellency the Governor’s pleasure in Van Diemen’s Land’.
Keziah looked at Daniel in horror. Seven charges!
‘I’ll bet this is all his dirty work,’ she hissed. She stared fiercely across at Gilbert Evans who was smoothing his moustache as if ready for a direct summons from his god. ‘If Will Martens was here he’d certainly tell the truth about Jake!’
‘Yes,’ Daniel said, ‘but who’d believe a bushranger’s evidence, apart from you and me?’
They were both jolted by the stark words: ‘What say you? Does the accused plead Guilty or Not Guilty?’
‘Not Guilty and Guilty, Your Honour.’ Jake sounded as if he was in Feagan’s General Store ordering half a dozen brown eggs, half a dozen white.
The buzz of consternation caused Magistrate Hamberton to hammer his gavel for silence. ‘No such ambiguous plea is allowable under British law.’
‘Then with respect I reckon it ought to be, Your Honour.’
The magistrate looked at Jake sharply. Keziah knew that look. Obviously he was the type who considered Currency Lads, Gypsies and convicts to be the lowest form of life in the colony.
The magistrate glanced at the rows of seated women then switched to a languid tone. ‘Is your plea Guilty or Not Guilty?’
‘All right. Not Guilty,’ Jake said. He spoke quite affably to the magistrate, but Keziah would have happily seen the man hung, drawn and quartered.
She struggled to understand the intricate proceedings as the heat in the packed courthouse brought her close to fainting. Her anger revitalised her when a hated uniform crossed her line of vision.
She turned to Daniel and hissed, ‘That’s the trap who arrested Jake and had him dragged behind their horses!’
Sergeant Still’s ruddy English complexion was flushed with the heat and Keziah realised for the first time he looked no older than Jake and twice as nervous. She fully expected him to lie under oath or attempt to colour his testimony. This trooper could so easily expose her – worse, condemn Jake.
When he was asked to describe the arrest, the sergeant glanced nervously at Keziah. She was surprised that his report avoided all mention of Jake’s shouted reference to ‘my woman and kids’.
‘Did the prisoner offer resistance at the time of arrest, Sergeant?’
‘Had our hands jolly well full. Andersen was adamant he was innocent. A young family stood nearby. The woman looked to be a lady. Very distressed she was, Your Honour.’
When asked if he had prior reports of the prisoner’s association with bushrangers, the sergeant’s reply was firm. ‘Never. Understood Andersen to be a man of good repute.’
Keziah turned to Daniel in surprise. ‘So he isn’t the villain of the piece. Who was?’
Daniel sighed. ‘No doubt we’ll soon find out.’
‘Why doesn’t Jake look at me?’ Keziah asked wistfully. ‘To protect you, m’dear. He’s careful not to involve my wife in this business.’
She exchanged a look of relief with Daniel when the next witness to be called was Dr Leslie Ross. Keziah felt grateful for his firm testimonial of Jake’s good character.
‘On at least three of the dates listed, Jakob Andersen was, in fact, receiving medical treatment at my hands.’ He glared at the prosecutor, ‘For the record I was given no prior advice of these dates but my medical diary will verify them if the court will accept the evidence.’
Magistrate Hamberton gave an airy wave of dismissal. ‘Not necessary, Dr Ross. Your word under oath is good enough for this court.’
Leslie’s praise was unswerving. ‘Jakob Andersen is a law-abiding citizen of exemplary character. He’s honest to a fault and a man of rare compassion.’
The prosecutor was quick to seize on this. ‘Is it not possible this rare compassion might well have extended to his giving aid to bushrangers?’
Angered by the trap, Dr Ross snapped back, ‘Any sensible man would with a pistol at his head!’
‘Point taken, Doctor – if firearms were indeed a method of persuasion, but these two bushrangers were Andersen’s friends, were they not? One further question. Is it true you consider the accused to be a personal friend of yours?’
‘That’s common knowledge, but on my honour, I would ne’er commit perjury!’
‘No, Doctor?’ His pause was a silent insult. ‘No further questions.’
Keziah saw Magistrate Hamberton’s growing irritation as a procession of witnesses claimed they had been pressured to sign false statements that incriminated Jake. Wearily shuffling papers, Hamberton asked, ‘I wonder if there is anyone present willing to identify Jakob Andersen?’
The whole court was startled by Pearl’s shrill voice. ‘I will! He’s my father!’
Gabriel began to add, ‘Mine too!’ but Daniel quickly cupped his hand over the boy’s mouth to prevent ammunition for gossips.
The sound of Magistrate Hamberton’s gavel broke through the spectators’ laughter.
‘Am obliged to you, young lady. The court shall duly record this identification of Jakob Andersen by a respectable young citizen.’
The tipstaff nodded sagely and a clerk scratched away with his quill.
Jake gave the children a broad smile. Keziah saw how proud he was that his children were publicly standing by him, but her anxiety grew when the hawk-eyed prosecutor fired a barrage of questions at him.
‘You concede you were a close friend of the late, infamous bushranger Gypsy Gem Smith? That you have in your possession this bushranger’s horse Sarishan, the same racehorse you trained to win Terence Ogden’s silver cup in 1839, some four years ago? That The Gypsy later gave you Sarishan in payment for services you rendered him when you supplied him with arms and food?’
Keziah looked at Daniel in horror. How will Jake get out of all this?
Hamberton waved his hand in Jake’s direction. ‘One answer in turn will be sufficient.’
Jake wasted no time. ‘First off, I don’t deny I first met Gem Smith some six years ago.’
The prosecutor’s response was immediate. ‘Transported in chains, was he not?’
‘Like many of the best of us.’ Jake tried to cover his hasty choice of words. ‘I’m friend to any man, bond or free, who’s done me no harm. We shared an interest in horses.’
‘Is it not true this Gypsy stole many horses in his illicit career as a bushranger?’
‘Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers,’ Jake shot back. ‘As for me I can’t speak of what I never saw. But in answer to your mistakes about Sarishan, he wasn’t stolen so I broke no law training him for a race he won fair and square. And he wasn’t payment neither. I made Gem a solemn promise I’d care for his horse if he went to prison. Any decent man would.’ He turned to Hamberton to explain. ‘Brumbies ain’t stolen, Your Honour. They are born in the wild and owned by no one.’
The prosecutor played to the gallery. ‘Never look a gift-horse in the mouth, eh?’
Jake fought to keep his anger in check. ‘In answer to your last question, I never in my life supplied arms or ammunition to Gem Smith or any other bolter. But if any man comes to my camp, bond or free, I never refuse to share my food and drink. That’s not giving succour, Your Honour, it’s the law of survival in outback New South Wales.’
Keziah knew that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t quite the whole truth. Jake refused to deliver arms or ammunition, but he had taken food supplies to Gem in the cave.
Asked if he was willing so to swear, Jake answered, ‘Truth is it’d be a hollow oath, Your Honour. I’m second cousin to an atheist. I will swear on my own honour. Every man knows Jake Andersen’s as good as his word.’
‘That’s true!’ Keziah’s impulsive words drew murmurs of agreement from the surrounding crowd and a gruff, ‘Hear, hear,’ from George Hobson.
The magistrate glanced at the court clock. ‘Every man considers you an honourable man, Andersen? That is a sweeping claim. Trust light will be shed by the final two witnesses.’
When Keziah saw Gilbert Evans take the oath she hissed at Daniel, ‘Clean water never came out of a dirty place! I’ve got a good mind to—’
Daniel stopped her mouth with a swift kiss.
• • •
Daniel felt a stab of empathy at the look Jake exchanged with Keziah. Her eyes were awash with love. He tried to suppress his own feelings to remain alert to any clues that could aid Jake’s cause. He was afraid of what lay ahead if Jake was found guilty. Daniel was ashamed of his instinctive aesthetic reaction to the new punishment designed to subdue prisoners. Prolonged dark cell isolation was preferable to the mutilation of Jake’s superb body under the lash.
Daniel watched intently as Gilbert Evans gave evidence. The man’s manner was silky and servile but his testimony was riddled with more innuendo than facts. When Evans referred to an incriminating unsigned letter to be produced in evidence, he was forced to admit ‘a friend’ had passed it on to him and that he had no direct proof as to where and when the letter was obtained.
‘What letter?’ Keziah asked Daniel. ‘Evans “speaks with forked tongue”. They can’t convict Jake on all this hot air, can they?’
Daniel tried to sound confident. ‘So far all the evidence is circumstantial.’
When the final witness was called to the stand, Daniel felt Keziah sway against him. She turned to him in shock. ‘Daniel, it’s him! The man with the cleft chin.’
Daniel knew right at that moment the game was up.
The Devil Himself solemnly took the oath, his hand on the King James Bible.
Daniel’s mind went blank for several minutes. He broke out in a cold sweat at the sight of Iago. For years Daniel had lived in fear of this man and suffered the consequences of every twist of his devious mind. He’d believed that now he was married with a ticket-of-leave he’d be free of this tyrant forever. But here the man stood only a few feet away. And Daniel did not doubt the bastard would use his power to deliver Jake the coup de grâce.
Daniel looked desperately at the magistrate. Would Hamberton recognise the truth about Iago? On the rare occasions Daniel had talked to Hamberton it was clear he was a passionate dilettante of law and order. But today, despite his bluster, Hamberton appeared nervous that his knowledge was now being put to the test.
When Daniel heard the Devil Himself formally identified as Iago, Overseer of Gideon Park, he knew the name was but one of several aliases that were not revealed in court. There are no records of his place of birth, how or when he came to the colony. He must have friends in high places.
On the stand Iago projected manly integrity as a gentleman who appeared reluctant to condemn Jake Andersen. His sworn statement claimed Jake had given aid to bushrangers on many unspecified occasions. It read like a masterpiece of fabrication.
Daniel could barely watch, afraid to catch his eye.
Magistrate Hamberton paused before responding to Iago’s testimony. ‘Your memory is commendable, Sir, albeit unsubstantiated. However one thing concerns me. You took considerable time to bring your claims to the attention of police officers.’
‘Quite so, Your Honour. I am fully aware of my civic duty. It would be a terrible thing to send an innocent man to prison.’ He paused. ‘However on the final occasion I was left with no choice but to inform the authorities.’
Hamberton could barely conceal his irritation. ‘The final occasion?’
Iago looked troubled, as if unwilling to recall the scene.
‘I was riding along the Sydney Road with my friend Mr Gilbert Evans. After we parted company I chanced upon Andersen’s stationary wagon. The full moon enabled me to clearly identify Sarishan, the champion racehorse who was The Gypsy’s payment for services rendered to him. By Andersen. As the letter in evidence proves.’
When this letter was produced, Iago confirmed he had found it in the vicinity of Andersen’s camp site and had passed it on to Evans for the police.
Daniel looked at Keziah to gauge her reaction as it was read. Although unsigned, the letter had obviously been dictated by Gem and Keziah was clearly the unidentified woman Gem had ‘willed’ to Jake’s care. Daniel could see Keziah was so moved she could barely breathe. He drew his arm around her shoulders to brace her. He knew Iago. Worse was to come.
He clenched his teeth in anger when he heard Iago’s soft voice damning Jake by distorting the letter to ‘prove’ that Sarishan was ‘payment for services rendered’.
Instructed to describe what he had witnessed at Andersen’s camp that night, Iago continued. ‘I saw the accused lying on the ground in despicable circumstances.’
Keziah turned to Daniel. ‘What the hell is going on?’
Daniel barely heard her. He was overcome with confusion at Jake’s horrified reaction.
Iago made a gesture of apology. ‘I hate to say this in the presence of ladies, Your Honour. I saw the accused locked in the embrace of the notorious bushranger Will Martens!’ He pointed directly at Jake. ‘Jakob Andersen was giving the boy succour.’
Shock spread through the court. Daniel saw the blood drain from Keziah’s face.
Jake yelled out, ‘You lying bastard, Iago, it wasn’t like that at all!’
The guard battled to restrain Jake, who finally quietened down after he was threatened with contempt of court.
When questioned as to why he had failed to include this evidence in his sworn statement, Iago savoured the moment. He looked in turn at Jake, Keziah and Daniel, then at the magistrate.
‘I was loath to do so, knowing that proof of this bestial act draws the death penalty.’
Hamberton’s face looked like a mask. ‘Do we take it you refer to sodomy?’
Iago hung his head. ‘I regret that I do, Your Honour.’
Daniel forcibly stopped Keziah from charging at the witness box, but he could not stop her screaming out, ‘Bengis in tutes bukko!’
The meaning of the Romani curse was unknown to Daniel but there was no doubting the venom in her words. In the lady spectators’ box Daniel saw the fashionable woman in blue rise to her feet. Mrs Hamberton’s gloved hands covered her mouth as she sank back in her seat.
Daniel hissed at Keziah, ‘What on earth did you say?’
Her rage was beyond control. ‘The Devil be in his bowels! Did you see Iago’s face? He knew what it meant! He’s no Rom but I’ll bet he was cursed by my people in prison!’
Daniel looked at the clock anxiously as the court grew quiet. It was a quarter to four. Being the eve of Her Majesty’s birthday no doubt the magistrate desired to end the proceedings. Yet he took his time.
‘Under British law proof of the most heinous crime of sodomy requires a second witness. There is none to corroborate it. Mr Evans produced the letter on exhibit. But his statement clearly shows that he and Iago parted company that evening. Evans did not claim to have witnessed Andersen or Martens together under any conditions. Mr Iago did not choose to include this claimed act of abomination in his sworn statement.’ The magistrate hesitated and glanced at his tipstaff before adding, ‘Therefore I must deem it inadmissible evidence.’
Daniel whispered to Keziah. ‘Look at him. He’s new to the job. He’s not sure if his ruling is strictly legal.’
He saw Keziah’s eyes were fixed on the clock. Time was running out. Six of the seven charges were dismissed from lack of evidence. The seventh charge involved Jake’s acknowledgement of Gem’s letter and his present ownership of Sarishan. The horse was deemed to have been payment for services rendered to the bushranger Gypsy Gem Smith. The verdict – Guilty.
Keziah screamed out in horror. ‘Two years! Mi-duvel. God help us!’
Feeling trapped in a nightmare, impotent and powerless to move,
Daniel watched as Jake, manacled, resisted being dragged back to his cell.
Daniel caught Keziah as she slumped in his arms, but he was unable to tear his eyes from Jake’s agonised expression as he struggled in vain to reach her. He felt Jake’s pain as if it was in his own body. Jake gave a gut-wrenching cry, helpless to come to the aid of his woman.