THE FRIGHTENED PAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 57, 7 March 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE FRIGHTENED PAIR.

CBy Joyce Squir®. Dargayille; age 17.) Robin stirred uneasily in his sleep and then awoke with a feeling that all was not well. Ah!! Now he remembered. For the first time in all their nine years he and his twin brother Jimmy had been left in the house alone at night. True Bennett's, the neighbour's place where mummy and daddy were attending a party, was lees than a quarter of a mile away, still the house seemed hi" and lonely and quiet when he knew there was nobody in it but themselves. Mother had left a lamp with the wick turned low on the table, and the little glimmer of light was a comfort. Somewhere a dog whined mournfully, and nervqusly Bob snuggled closer to his brother, whose sleep must have been a light one, for with a drowsy grunt he turned over, then sat up, fully conscious. "Are you awake, Rob?" he whispered. "Yes," Rob whispered back, "are you ?" "Of course, silly. Say, what are we whispering for?" Jim began the question aloud, but so strange and hollow did his voice sound in the stillness that he immediately subsided into a whisper again. "Gee, I'm hungry," he declared, preparing to slide out of bed. "Come on Rob, I don't think mummy would know." "Oh. wouldn't she! Mummy always remembers how she arranges everything in the pantry and we never can. Bemember what we got last time!" Jimmy did, and he squirmed uncomfortably at the recollection. In the next instant however, all thoughts of past misdemeanours and punishments were completely dispersed, for suddenly the lamp flared, spluttered feebly, and went out. With one accord the boys dived beneath the blankets, but after a minute Jim exclaimed disgustedly, "Well, aren't we sillies! I suppose it was just a gust of wind or something. Let's light it again."

\ Haying don© so they crept back to k bed to anxiously await results. For a :, minute or so it burned steadily then I again it flickered and went out. Twice 1 more they tried, but with th© same i results. The lamp refused to bran, e They were both by now,, thoroughly 1 alarmed, though Jim, for all his tremi bling, would not admit the fact. "Never - mind," he said, with assumed confidence, » we're not such 'babies that we need a t light. We'll pull the blind up and it , won't be so very dark." ' The blind slid up with a rustle and & - click, and the room was filled witlt-An. eerie half-light that was almost worse than the darkness. , They turned from the open window and stood glued to the floor, frozen with For drifting towards them slowly, noiselessly, came a three-headed ghost! A choking, suffocating silence— then wild screams sounded as they clambered through the window. Over the verandah, across the lawn, crashing through mother's hydrangeas, without a thought for the treasured blooms, out on to the road, terrified, breathless, whimpering with fright, every step an agony to their bare feet on the rough stones, as they made all haste toward Bennett's. The light twinkling out through the trees calmed them a little, but it was a sorry, bedraggled pair that broke in upon the party. With much amazement and some amusement the two dew-soaked, pyjama-clad figures were received, blinking into the midst of the merrymakers. "The lamp—" panted Robin. It wouldn't stay lit," finished Jim. There was a ghost—" And it had three heads!" gasped the other dramatically. Strangely enough nobody seemed to take the matter very seriously—except mother. She could' see that'they had both been horribly frightened, and t>lie was very sympathetic. Yet even she seemed sceptical. After Mrs. Bennett had treated Bob and Jim to a delightful supper, mummy and daddy, with two very drowsy' youngsters, clad in borrowed coats, set off for hortie. The house was dark and silent as they approached. Daddy .v\vitched on his torch as he opened tlie door, and the little group crowded in behind him. Everything was as usual. Nothing had been disturbed. Into the bedroom _ they went, while the twins held their breath. Daddy flashed the beam about tlie room, and there it was —the three-headed ghost. It was resting despondently against the curtains unable to force its way through. « V , dad<l y mummy laughed, for the ghost" was nothing more terrifying titan three big gas balloons tied together. IJtey had been tethered to the sideboard m the dining room, and somehow coming adrift from their moorings, had, on somo_ wayward current of air, gone floating into the adjoining room. - e n m i l l ation of tlie lamp,, sent daddy in further gales of laugh-terL -Mr he mana ged at last, ; ~how wnld the lamp possibly burn? There was no oil in it!^