HURRICANE HARVEY

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 84, 10 April 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

HURRICANE HARVEY

By Garry Allen

The Tale of a Slow-Coach

CHAPTER I. V.Tien SneatU came to Wingfield as French master no one would have thought that before the term was out Harvey arui he vanld be bosum paU, for Sneath was one of those '•lever .-area* tie fellows who have no a-e for anyone with ■ mind not built for speed, while Harvey was a Unit the slowest chap the school had ever seen. To begin with, in fact. Sneath appointed Harvey his butt-in-chief, compared him to Harvey's disadvantage with his own pet monkey, and dubbed him "Hurricane" the second time he took the Lower Fourth in French. Not that Harvey showed that he eared, mind you. Half an hoar of Sneath's meet cutting witticisms would seem to roll off him like water off a duck's back, and afterward# all he would say wae, "Well, he's right, you know; I'm not exactly what you'd call a smart Alec" And he wasn't either. He was so slow and good-natured that anyone from juniors up could cheek him without eTen getting their head* smacked; though it was a mystery w hy he let them, because he had the strongest arms in the school, being able to poll op on the horisontal bar 24 times at one go and bend a poker with just his two hands. And then came a day when "Hurricane" did mind, or seemed to. It *•* in the French hour, and he was up on his feet translating at the rate of a word a minute when a piece of paper dropped out of the book he was holding. Sneath promptly on it, apparently thinking it was a crib, only to find it was a caricature of himself and his monkev with the legend, "The Link,' written below. Now, ordinarily he would have proceeded to wax sarcastic at "Hurricane's" expense, but this morning he had a headache and a liver, and the mere sound of "Hurricane" stumbling through his translation had set his nerves ajangle. So it was not surprising that th* French master went in off the deep end and promptly ■

gave "Hurricane" the soundest caning he had ever experienced. He never stopped to <utk if the drawing was "Hurricane's" work or not, never paused to consider that the boy was far too good-natured to hurt a fly, much less the feelings of a master, but hauled him out then and there and caned him in front of the whole class. And at the end of it "Hurricane" stood up, looked Sneath in the eye like a boxer taking his opponent'* measure, and walked back to his **at to sit perfectly mum for the rest of the lesson..

"Of course, I never did the beastly thing," he said afterwards; but he didn't add that he knew who had (lone it, that young Phipps sitting next to him had parsed it over as a specimen of his. handiwork just before Sneath called on him to trawlate. Little Phipps hadn't had much chance to own up at the time, and an7"way had been too scared to do it; and as the French hour got further away he grew more and more frightened of confessing. Besides. "Hurricane" had said. "It's all right, it's all over now, anyway"—and no one else knew. But the other fellow* didn't think it was ail over. "Hurricane" had been seen riled, for the first time since Wingfield had known him. and everyone expected him to take his revenge on the French master. So at tea time when it was announced that Mr. Sneath's monkey was missing and would the finder please return it to his study, half the school immediately jumped to the conclusion that "Hurricane" had had a hand in the animal's disappearance. In fact, the only boy who was sure "Hurricane" had " not stolen Adolphus was little Phipps. Who had taken him. Phipps didn't know, but he knew who was going to find him. It was the only way of proving "Hurricane's" innocence and making some return for that undeserved caning. So young Phipps cut prep, that evening to spend an hour searching the npper dormitories and corridors. He dodged the matron and explored bathrooms, cupboards and even the attics without spotting any trace of the monkey. Then, just as the bell was going for snpper, he remembered the flues in big school— the very place, of course!

In tlie old dari Hum flues, which ran under the ftone floor and round ft* walls, had been intended for heating purpose*, but they had not

been used for many years, and were now only remembered l>v the manhole which led to them from big school floor and the rumours of other exite and entrances in etrange placet;. How little Phipps ever summoned up the courage to undertake the adventure only he could say, but bv half-past eleven that night he wan down in big si-hool with a candle nt hit* side prizing up the plate that covered the manhole. The footbar of the desk that ran above it was exactly over the middle of the hole, and came in very useful for a handj hold when l'liipps went down, j It was pretty eerie down there, [and the candle only seemed to make it still darker. Of course he had to crawl on all fours, and the place was so dusty and cobwebby that he soon changed his mind and decided that such a hole was the last place where a monkey in his right mind would hide himself. So hack he shuffled bit by bit—the flue wasn't wide enough to turn round in—until a draught of fresh air told him he was under the manhole again. Climbing up the hole was a very different business from dropping down it, however, and finally Phipps had to reach and put thp candle on the floor and lever himself up with his arms and leg*. He had just got one leg out when there came an ominous creak from the other end of bisr school, and one of the big double doors began to open. Little Phipps didn't wait to see that it was merely the wind blowing it ajar, but sneaked out from under the desk and fled out bY_ one of the centre doors, through the green haise one beyond that, downstairs, along the cloVter*. round the corner, and up again into the corridor that led to D dnmitory. "Hurricane." who slept in one of the beds next to hw. woke up as he was slipping off his dressing gown, and looked sleepilv ronnd. "Where the dickens have you been?" he asked. "You're breathing as if you'd just run the mile." "I've been down the flue in big school, looking for Adolphus." began Phippn. and was beginning to recount his adventure when Stteggles, the prefect, woke np and told them to "Stop that talking there!" So they had to. and when little Phipps began again he fonnd "Hurricane' had gone to sleep. The next thing he knew was that the school fire alarm was ringing and it was three o'clock. The other fellows were alreadv up. erumbHns at the nnkindness of the head in staging an alarm at this time of night,

while Steggles was gingering -them U P to get a move on and be first down in the quad.

The canvas chute was pushed out of the window, and one by one "D" dormitory shot down it to the' ground, but it was not till Phipps' turn came and he arrived in the quad that lie realised that there really was a fire on. And even then he didn't realise what had happened till "Hurricane" walked over and said in a whisper. "What did you do with that candle?" "Candle?" said little Phippei. "O-ooh. mv sainted aunt. 1 forgot clean about it. and it must have been right under the footbar of the desk, too. I sav, 'Hurricane,' whatever shall T do?" "Xothing," was the answer. "At least not yet. You'll have to tell the head in the morning, but it's' not much good trying to find him now, he wouldn't h* a bit grateful. Come »n. let's see if there's anything to be done." Big school was well alight by now, the flames licking tip from the windows while great clouds of smoke rolled- up into the sky. Bnt as the building was joined to the rest of the school only by cloisters, there was not much danger of the fire spreading; so that all the fire fighting could l»e focused on big (school. "Hurricane" and Phipps were roped in immediately to form part of a bucket chain from the swimming bath, and the buckets came and went at such a rate that the younjssster had no time to think of anything else—which was just as well. - For a good 10 minutes they worked away slinging the buckets np the line, when suddenly someone shouted and pointed to the tower on top of big school. "Look," he yelled, "there's Adolphus!" And there, indeed, was a tiny figure dancing up and down in terrified excitement on the top of the tower. One minute he would be hidden in the smoke, the next minnte lit up by the flames underneath; but there was no doubt that it was Adolnlius. "D'you see him. •Hurricane?"* said Phipps. turning round, but there was no "Hurricane" there. He had vanished. Ko one who was at Wingfield that night will ever forget the next five minutes. Adolphus was found, but there was no earthly chance of rescuing him from, the flames. There the poor little beirjrar was. like a guy on a bonfire, while Sneath looked on trying to think of a way of rescuing him. Everyone was feeling sorry and helpless when a shout went up from the other side of the quad where the head's house is. and several boys began pointing up into the sky. Two legs were swinging in midair. above them a swaying body and two arms stretche.'. upwards. It was "Hnrrioane," and it was obvious that he was hanging from the telephone wire# that went into the head's house. His arms were moving hand over hand along the wires, his legs swinging with every movement; and a great gasp went up as the whole school realised what he was doing. (To be continued.)