Lillipilly Hill by Eleanor Spence Page B

urchins aged from seven to nine, among them Dinny’s other brother, Mick. Harriet’s group was made up of seven children—the Wilmots, Dinny, the girl called Maggie, twin boys with bright red hair and identical freckled faces, and another Mackenzie, a shy, frightened creature named Annie. The back form was reserved for what Mr Burnie termed The Rest, boys and girls kept at school for various reasons long after their contemporaries had gone out to work. Aidan and Charles Farmer, still absent, were the only ones interested in higher education. The other four were simply whiling away their time until they could leave school.
    Glancing round, Harriet could see Aidan’s fair head bent industriously over his books. Next to him, Bill Mackenzie, son of the postmaster, was laboriously spelling out words to himself. His father hoped that Bill would prove capable of passing the Public Service examinations, but Bill lived only for the day whenhe would be free of school, and perhaps allowed to join the Winneroo fishing fleet. Paddy Tolly stared over the top of his slate at Aidan, no doubt planning his campaign of bullying. Two thirteen-year-old girls on the same bench had been permitted to put aside their slates and do some sewing instead—both were waiting for news of work in two wealthy homes near Blackhill.
    â€˜I trust you are not finding our lessons too hard for you, Harriet?’ inquired Mr Burnie, pausing beside her desk on one of his endless rounds. ‘You don’t appear to have done very much writing.’
    Harriet turned red, and bent over her copy-book. Rose-Ann had been writing in her best copperplate for some minutes, and even Dinny had achieved an erratic row of letters. Mr Burnie’s hold over his remarkably assorted bunch of pupils was very firm, and the most reluctant scholars could not fail to leave his school without learning at least the elements of reading, writing, and adding up.
    When the mid-morning break came, Harriet did not know whether to be pleased or anxious. Here in the schoolroom all was peaceful and orderly, under Mr Burnie’s vigilant eye. In the playground, Paddy Tolly and his band could no doubt find ways of evading the schoolmaster, and do more or less as they pleased.
    â€˜Where are we going?’ Harriet asked, as Dinny steered the two Wilmot girls across the playground.
    â€˜You’ll see,’ said Dinny mysteriously. There seemed few private spots indeed in that bare stretch of ground, but Dinny, with her usual resourcefulness, had found one. Right against the boundary fence, beneath a clump of turpentines, stood an old, disused tank, lying on its side. The top had rusted away, leaving an opening facing the bush, and hidden from the playground.
    â€˜Go on—get in,’ urged Dinny.
    Harriet needed no further persuasion, but Rose-Ann hung back, peering doubtfully at the square iron cavern, thickly carpeted with fallen leaves.
    â€˜Are there any spiders?’ she asked.
    â€˜Only little ones,’ Dinny assured her. ‘They don’t bite.’
    Rose-Ann crept unhappily into the tank, and sat down as close to the entrance as she could.
    â€˜This is my own place,’ Dinny said proudly. ‘Maggie and Annie can come here, but no one else. So swear you won’t tell the others about it.’
    Harriet and Rose-Ann promised readily. Harriet had begun to realize that Dinny was quite a personage in the Barley Creek school, and that the bestowal of her friendship was something of an honour. Rose-Ann, understanding none of this, stared in wonderment at Dinny’s bare feet.
    â€˜Don’t your feet get cold?’ she asked innocently.
    â€˜â€™Course not,’ said Dinny contemptuously. ‘It’s warm, ain’t it? When it’s cold I’ll wear Joe’s old boots.’
    â€˜Who’s Joe?’ demanded Harriet.
    â€˜My brother—the second biggest one. He helps Pa with the cutting, and he has to have