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They know, as soon as they see her. ... They know who she is: Captain Thunderbolt's woman. She has so many nicknames: 'Thunderbolt's gin', 'Mrs Thunderbolt', 'Mrs Captain Ward', although she likes to call herself 'the Captain's Lady'. Few know her birth name. Mary Ann Bugg. although they all know her role. She is the notorious Frederick Ward's eyes and ears, the bushranger's right-hand man, his wily tracker, his commissariat, his lover and the mother of his children. And she is here in their town, which means Thunderbolt himself is nearby. Not that he is likely to rob the town itself. He rarely does. He is craftier than that. Instead, he likes to know if the 'traps' are around, even in towns and villages with no police station of their own. The troopers might be passing through while carrying out their duties, and the last thing Thunderbolt wants is an unexpected encounter with a policeman escorting a minor felon or searching for lost sheep. They notice her slightly cocked nose, a sign of her impetuosity, and her large mouth and chin that warn of her boldness. And bold she undoubtedly is, to ride with a bushranger, to parade through their town as if entitled to be there. Sometimes she tries to fool them by pretending to be a boy, stuffing her hair under a cabbage-tree hat and clothing her five-foot, two-and-a-half-inch frame in shirt and trousers. But they know who she is, they know what she signifies -- and they are afraid. |
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