The Gold-Stealers

Gold-Stealers, The

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Title: The Gold-Stealers A Story of Waddy
Author: Edward Dyson
Release Date: October 19, 2005 [EBook #16903]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE GOLD STEALERS
By Edward Dyson
CHAPTER I.
THE schoolhouse at Waddy was not in the least like any of the trim

State buildings that now decorate every Victorian township and mark
every mining or agricultural centre that can scrape together two or three
meagre classes; it was the result of a purely local enthusiasm, and was
erected by public subscription shortly after Mr. Joel Ham, B.A., arrived
in the district and let it be understood that he did not intend to go away
again. Having discovered that it was impossible to make anything else
of Mr. Joel Ham, Waddy resolved to make a schoolmaster of him. A
meeting was held in the Drovers' Arms, numerous speeches, all much
more eloquently expressive of the urgent need of convenient scholastic
institutions than the orators imagined, were delivered by representative
men, and a resolution embodying the determination of the residents to
erect a substantial building and install Mr. J. Ham, B.A., as headmaster
was carried unanimously.
The original contributors were not expected to donate money towards
the good cause; they gave labour and material. The work of erection
was commenced next day. Neither plans nor specifications were
supplied, and every contributor was his own architect. Timber of all
sorts and shapes came in from fifty sources. The men of the day shift at
the mines worked at the building in the evening; those on the
four-o'clock shift put in an hour or two in the morning, and mates off
the night shift lent a hand at any time during the day, one man taking
up the work where the other left off. Consequently--and as there was no
ruling mind and no general design--the school when finished seemed to
lack continuity, so to speak. As an architectural effort it displayed
evidence of many excellent intentions, but could not be called a
brilliant success as a whole--although one astute Parliamentary
candidate did secure an overwhelming majority of votes in Waddy after
declaring the schoolhouse to be an ornament to the township. The
public-spirited persons who contributed windows, it was tacitly agreed,
were quite justified in putting in those windows according to the
dictates of their own fancy, even if the result was somewhat bizarre.
Jock Summers gave a bell hung in a small gilded dome, and this was
fixed on the roof right in the centre of the building, mainly for
picturesque effect; but as there was no rope attached and no means of
reaching the bell--and it never occurred to anybody to rectify the
deficiency--Jock's gift remained to the end merely an ornamental

adjunct. So also with Sam Brierly's Gothic portico. Sam expended
much time and ingenuity in constructing the portico, and it was built on
to the street end of the schoolhouse, although there was no door there,
the only entrance being at the back.
The building was opened with a tea-fight and a dance, and answered its
purpose very well up to the time of the first heavy rains; then studies
had to be postponed indefinitely, for the floor was a foot under water. A
call was made upon the united strength of the township, and the
building was lifted bodily and set down again on piles. When the open
space between the ground and the floor was boarded up, the residents
were delighted to find that the increased height had given the structure
quite an imposing appearance. Alas! before six months had passed the
place was found to be going over on one side. Waddy watched this
failing with growing uneasiness. When the collapse seemed inevitable,
the male adults were again bidden to an onerous public duty; they
rolled up like patriots, and with a mighty effort pushed the school up
into the perpendicular propping it there with stout stays. That answered
excellently for a time, but eventually the wretched house began to slant
in the opposite direction. Once more the men of Waddy attended in
force, and spent an arduous half-day hoisting it into an upright position,
and securing it there with more stays. It took the eccentric building a
long time to decide upon its next move; then it suddenly lurched
forward a foot or more, and after that slipped an inch or two