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