Robbery Under Arms · Chapter
II explained
Dick Marston reflects on his childhood education under the eccentric schoolmaster Mr.
What happens
Dick Marston reflects on his childhood education under the eccentric schoolmaster Mr. Howard, who taught him and his brother Jim alongside other local children. After Mr. Howard's death, Dick begins to understand his father's cattle duffing operations, recalling the first time he helped brand stolen calves. His mother protests against this criminal life, but his father overpowers her, forcing Dick and Jim to participate in the branding and butchering of stolen cattle.
Themes in this chapter
Crime and Punishment
Dick's first involvement in cattle duffing highlights the normalization of crime in the bush and the moral consequences that follow.
Family and Loyalty
The Marston family is torn between the father's criminal demands and the mother's pleas for a lawful life, testing filial loyalty.
The Bush and Outlaw Life
The remote setting and the father's cattle duffing operations illustrate the outlaw culture of the Australian bush.
Characters to notice
- Dick Marston
Narrator recalling his childhood education and first involvement in cattle duffing with his father.
- Jim Marston
Dick's brother, who also attends school and helps with branding stolen calves.
- Aileen Marston
Dick's sister, praised by Mr. Howard for her natural refinement; present during the family conflict.
- Dad Marston
Dick's father, a cattle duffer who forces his sons to brand stolen calves and assaults his wife.
- Mother Marston
Dick's mother, who pleads with her husband to stop his criminal activities and is shoved aside.
- Crib
The family's savage dog, used to heel cattle during the duffing operations.
Key passages
“It’s the best chance of making men of yourselves you ever had, if you only knew it. You’ll be rich farmers or settlers, perhaps magistrates, one of these days—that is, if you’re not hanged.”
Mr. Howard tells the boys that education is their best opportunity to become successful settlers or even magistrates, though he warns that some of them may end up hanged.
Mr. Howard's prophetic warning to Dick and the other boys about their potential futures.
“Don’t I remember well the first calf I ever helped to put our letters on? I’ve often wished I’d defied father, then taken my licking, and bolted away from home. It’s that very calf and the things it led to that’s helped to put me where I am!”
Dick recalls the first time he helped brand a stolen calf, regretting that he didn't resist his father, as that act set him on the path to his current imprisonment.
Dick's regret over his first participation in cattle duffing, which he sees as the beginning of his criminal downfall.
“Is it doing that again you are, after all you promised me, and you so nearly caught—after the last one? Didn’t I go on my knees to ye to ask ye to drop it and lead a good life, and didn’t ye tell me ye’d never do the like again?”
Mother Marston confronts her husband, reminding him of his promise to stop cattle duffing after a close call with the police.
Mother's desperate plea to her husband to abandon his criminal ways.