Misled by the golden treasures with which the
diggers, anxious as children to please, dazzled his eyes, the Governor
decided that the tax was not an outrageous one; and ordered licence-raids
to be undertaken twice as often as before. This defeat of the
diggers' hopes, together with the murder of a comrade and the acquittal
of the murderer by a corrupt magistrate, goaded even the least sensitive
spirits to rebellion: the guilty man's house was fired, the police were
stoned, and then, for a month or more, deputations and petitions ran to
and fro between Ballarat and Melbourne. In vain: the demands of the
voteless diggers went unheard. The consequence was that one day at the
beginning of summer all the troops that could be spared from the
capital, along with several pieces of artillery, were raising the dust
on the road to Ballarat.
On the last afternoon in November work was suspended throughout the
diggings, and the more cautious among the shopkeepers began to think of
closing their doors. In front of the "Diggers' Emporium," where the
earth was baked as hard as a burnt crust, a little knot of people stood
shading their eyes from the sun. Opposite, on Bakery Hill, a monster
meeting had been held and the "Southern Cross" hoisted--a blue bunting
that bore the silver stars of the constellation after which it was
named. Having sworn allegiance to it with outstretched hands, the rebels
were lining up to march off to drill.
Mahony watched the thin procession through narrowed lids.
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