RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

RANDOM SHOTS

An Auckland taxi driver has a barometer in his cab. A long spell of "no ehange" may be expected. ♦ + ♦ ♦ After all, a woman is known by the company she keeps—waitins. ♦♦♦ " > How many Rugby teams this season will walk off the field in the middle of a match, thinking the referee had ordered a scram f ■f ♦ ♦ ♦ One day last week a train waited at a small suburban station until a regular morning passenger had arrived. We gather that some of his friends—already deriving great benefit from Mr. Parry's National Scheme—simply held on to the guard's van. -r ♦ . ♦ ♦ We read that a baby boy was born in America with a complete set of teeth. But it tcill be years, of course, before he is old enough to eat his cigars. + + + ■•■ A certain; convivial son! went home sober one night. His dog bit him. his- valve again, he had taken, a staggering lurch forward to sink down upon the slab of rock. His ears sang. The blood hammered in his temples and his bare hands clasped and unclasped in uncontrollable spasms. His brain was numb, he was stunned, incapable of thought. "Golden Eyes! Good Imek, Brown Bearr" His brain was on fire. He saw nothing—nothing of the clustered vegetation or the gaudy darting fish that swarmed round him and played in and out among the coral ridges. He sat there quivering and wretched with the terrible, paralysing shock of it. Bill Nowland— Brown Bear! And he had not guessed. It had never dawned on him. Fool— what a blind, stupid fool! They had been playing with him, making sport of : hiTTT, hoodwinking him and laughing together at him behind his back. He had thought her happy again. Of course she was happy! Had he not given her back her Brown Bear? Had he not — It was beyond endurance. It was too fantastic, too horrible. He had failed utterly. He had invited failure, made certain of it by his own 3tupidity. No wonder she had changed, when she had come otf this trip! Na wonder she and Rowland had been so ready to make friends. 3To» wonder they had been so pleased to : spend hours Miy together while he -went on blindly, suspecting nothing! He rose. He stood there swaying, unseeing, oblivious to everything. He panted, his lips dry, his mouth parched.

By Zamiel

A girl who wee run down by a motorist has announced her intention of marrying him. That'll teach him! ♦ ' ♦ -t- ♦ A machine has been invented that does the work of 10 men. Uufortnnateiv, however, we are not one of the 10. Paper hoe been prodmeed to delicate in texture that a breeze blows it to shred*. It ia expected to be in great demand for treatiee. •¥ + + •¥ The name of a dog entered in a recent show was Plum Jelly. Appropriately enough it waa a Bed Setter. -♦• ♦ ♦ ♦ The prisoners in one gaol complain that the beds are not long enough. It appears that they find it difficult to do a stretch in comfort. He took a slow step forward. The shapeless thing was quite clear now, in the green twilight—another diver, Bill Now land, hesitating whUs he accustomed himself to the pressure, the dimness, and the intense discomfort. His hand fluttered up to the valve, remained there for a while as he adjusted it to his satisfaction. Then he turned round and made a gesture. Morley advanced. He knew that he held the whip hand. The other suspected nothing—could suspect nothing, could not know his supreme danger. It was all so easy, and those up above who peered down so anxiously, could know nothing, could do nothing. They could not see. To them the divers would be only a vague blur, if that, even in the brilliant clarity of the water; their movements could be followed only by the steady- trail of bubbles that rose to the surface and burst with a tiny staccato murmur. Rowland came forward, too, to meet Alorley. The two men drew close. They could see now, more clearly. The Australian's pale face wore a pleased grin and he waved a hand around, indicating the bed on which they had landed, rich in shell. But Moriey still advanced. They were almost touching now, and the ice of his rage was giving place to a fresh spasm of blazing fury. His hands trembled, his lip» opened to shout imprecations and accusations that could not be heard, that were worse than futile.

A policeman who is shortly te retire | announces his intention of entering the | beauty parlour business. Naturally he's had considerable experience in dealing j with ugly customers. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ A man stated in Court that he had run an amusement park and a poultry farm to obtain, a Jiving. Evidently he meant to make good ay fair means -or fond. .♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Some hotels make a separate charge for bed and board. In others the hoard seems to be included in the bed. ♦ ♦-•»♦ Vaudeville in a laudable effort to dispel the lamt remaining trace of gloom, have ordered their comedian* to go out and make the people laugh. That?* a novel idea. ♦ •**♦♦ The blasts of a certain saxophone played by a Wellington veteran are audible a mile away. It is said that as ! a young man he had to leave the local brass band because he always blew their cornets out straight. man held rigid by ntter astonishment. Then he swayed, staggered, pot out * hand blindly and sank to Ms knees. His hands reached up, bsjfcterfmg at Ms helmet, fighting as if to snatch ft away, fluttering weakly, ** n ™y His body swung front side te side, then, 'with a terrible leisureliness, collapsed upon the rough sea. bottom. Morley bent Ms body backwards, I throwing his head back to look up. That dark shadow moved on, the opalescent twilight burst upon him again. For only a fraction of a second' he saw a monstrous shape between him. and the sunlit surface. Then, without conscious | volition he was floundering forward. He acted with incredible swiftness and wholly without thought. What he did I was only the inevitable reflex of a man used to this work, used to sudden dan- | ger, to sudden crises, and trained by experience to respond to them on the j instant; and what he did required all the nerve, all the skill and all the speed ! that are only possible to the expert. He i bent to seize the clumsy body in his ; arms, tugged wildly at his life-line, and closed his air-valve—all, it seemed, in I one moment. He felt himself lifted off : his feet to the buoyancy of his Inflating suit, shooting to the surface, and even so, in that swift ascent, he freed one hand to fumble at the screws on the front of Nowland'3 helmet. He broke surface, bobbing up almost ! to the chest before the dead weight of ! his burden hauled him back, and he sank i until only the gleaming polished dome 1