The Caperings of Carrie

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22050, 25 March 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Caperings of Carrie

'ln; v . (By Barbara Sinclair)

;&; the Cackle Conqueror

**! wish you'd be quiet for a change ana let a fellow sleep. That's' the worst of bringing you wojjien out Cackle Conquering, you do,nothing but chatter the whole time;" said Albert the Halbert. Of Tpourse, Carrie the Cackle Conqueror and Prudence the Pick Axe toofcfpot the slightest notice and kept" on chattering. You see, this was the second attempt to conquer that not so very easy Cackle called Mount Rolleston, which growis at the "back of Arthur's Pass. Red Dawn -ftnd Anne and Rani were out under the stars in their sleeping bags; while Carrie and Prudence and .Albert were propped against the wall of the empty hut. Oswald was peacefully snoring by the roadside,' as is the habit of all small cars or crates., "I really must tell you this story thotitrh, Prudence; I think you'll l>e s.aniused," said Carrie. "I'm li6tening," said Prudence, whp'hj a woman of few words and therefore very strange and very rare.

4 "Get on with it, and make .it Inappy," this from Albert the Balbert, who did not approve of this midnight chatter. "Well," drawled Carrie, "it was like this. Last week I thought itane was sneaking off for a spot « "Cackle Conquering without me. She had Oswald all ready for the journey, also a bag of queer looking things, not in the least like ice axes." •/''lronmongery," said Albert the Balbert, who knew about most things and never waited to be asked. --"Well, ironmongery, or whatever they were, I hopped into the bag OTside them." „"You would," said Albert the Balbert

Jkis ia a picture of Prudence the Wok Axe, Albert the Halbert (near Jwa Dawn's pipe), and Carrie the Cackle Conqueror. The billy has JWt been <m the fire; that is why it is black "And I wish you would stop interrupting," said Prudence the •rick Axe, which was quite a long ■Peech for her, she being a woman ox lew words. i„r All , , ri Hht," said Albert the Hal- £.< L let ' s all keep quiet, a fellow «Ugnt get some sleep then." p -Tell us this story first," said get it over," said Albert. I( *°H climbed into this bag of queer iooKing ironmongery, being just

naturally nosey, and then what happened?" ?'You were most astonished, no ddubt," said Prudence . the Pick Axe. •

"This is no occasion for flippancy," said Carrie, going all superior on the party. ,r I am not nosey and furthermore, I wasn't astonished. Anne started off with Oswald and the bag of queer looking ironmongery, and, of course, me. We seemed to be going in the direction of the hills. But no; we drew into a sort of house

surrounded by trees and people with the same queer looking ironmongery in bags." "What sort of place was it?" asked Albert the Halbert.

"That is just what I couldn't make out, never saw such a place before."

"Well, carry on with your story, if any," said Albert the Halbert. 'who can be very rude. "Dear sweet patient little Albert, the soul of politeness," said Carrie, in her most sarcastic tones. "Anne then picked up this bag of quaer looking ironmongery and met some other people with similar things." "Nice alping party! The joke was certainly on you." said Albert. "Wish I had been there to see it all." "Well, I'm just as pleased you were not. You always ware a rude little beast." "What were these things like?" asked Prudence the Pick Axe, in the hopes of bringing Carrie back to the story. "I cannot explain it. They seemed to be all face and no back. Some had wooden heads and some had iron heads. Sort of lop-sided and quite useless looking." "You mean lop-eared, don't you?" said Albert the Halbert, who is most annoying at times. "Yes. Just like you," said Carrie, in a spiteful voice. "I wish you two would stop it. I'm terribly anxious to hear about this place." And by such a tremendously long speech, Carrie and Albert both knew that Prudence must be losing her usual good temper.

"Well, they all walked away from this place, just a little way, and Anne put down a small round white egg on the ground." "Did she lay it?" said Albert the Halbert, always a curious sort of fellow.

"No. Don't try to be funny. She just put it there on the grass,

balancing it on the smallest of egg cups. She then took one" of the wooden headed things from the bag and started swishing it about most vigorously." "Good heavens!" said Prudence. "Was ehe annoyed?" "On the contrary, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Imagine my surprise and astonishment when she took aim at the poor little egg and hit it!" "Did you get splashed?" asked Albert the Halbert. "I was expecting you to ask that. No, I didn't, and if you really want to know, the egg didn't even break!"

"It could not have been an egg then," said Albert, feeling very wise.

"Definitely not," said Carrie. "It was smacked about all over the place and bowled into little holes, then picked out again and smacked

on and on to further holes. This sort of thing went on all day." "Queer tastes some people have. All sounds very silly to me," said Albert the Halbert. "You're not thinking of rabbiting, are you?" "Course not!" said Carrie in disgust. "You don't need eggs to go rabbiting, or queer looking ironmongery either." "Why didn't you. ask one of these lop-eared chaps about it?" asked Albert the Halbert. "That is just what I did do. I waited until a very flat-faced looking fellow, who had been doing quite a lot qf work, had been returned to the bag with his face all smeared in sand, and asked him what all this business was about. I thought it the best time to ask, because he couldn't ' be very superior with sand all over his face! He was quite an amiable sort of person and told me his name was Niblick, which I thought was most strange. He also said he was the hardest worked nerson in the bag. He was, too! He seemed to spend all his time in sandy holes, which he called bunkers, also thick long grass." "Did he tell you what all this business was about?" asked Albert, who was really curious in spite of his interruptions. "Yes. He said it was a game they played, called Golf! They played this game on what is known as Links, where Oswald had taken us that day. These links have 18 small holes, too small sometimes it seems, spread all over the links, into which they try to coax the egg. using as few smacks as possible. The one who smacks the least and treats the egg with the most respect is usually the winner. Some people, so the Niblick told me, never know when they have had enough and often make 19 holes, but that is not advised, as it rather complicates the game. "Did the egg look at all surprised or astonished?" asked Prudence I

the Pick Axe, coming out of her trance.

"It was just like any other egg, devoid of all expression," said Carrie, who had been reading far too many books. "I asked this Niblick person if the egg ever broke, but he said it was very hard to break, though they never gave up trying and they often managed to cut it slightly. Though it seems the more they cut it, the wider It grinned at them. And it wasn't an egg, it was a golf ball." "Think I'll stick to Cackle Conquering," said Albert the Halbert. "Did Anne find you in the bag?" asked Prudence the Pick Axe.

"Yes, but she just growled about the extra weight and said she wished she had noticed me when the egg hid itself upder a tree. I know I could have dug it out for her better than those lop-sided looking things, who call themselves Clubs, if it interests you." "Clubs?" asked Albert in his most surprised voice.

"Yes, Golf Clubs, silly," said Carrie the Cackle Conqueror. "Well, it all sounds very idiotic to me and it serves you right for butting into other people's picnics. But then you are « nosey little thing," said Albert the Halbert. "And you're quite the rudest person I've ever mot," said Carrie, in what she imagined to be her most crushing voice. And it was just at that very minute that Red Dawn stumbled into the hut with Anne and Rani behind him, thus putting an, end to any further squabbling between Albert the Halbert and Carrie the Cackle Conqueror. It was 1 o'clock in the morning and very dark and it had started to rain. So Red Dawn got a big Are going and they brought in their sleeping bags ana went to sleep until daylight. When daylight came, rain was still falling. Red Dawn and Anne and Rani had breakfast in front of the big log fire and at 7 o'clock it had cleared sufficiently to make a start at Cackle Conquering. They climbed along the very same track they had climbed along before,

with the signpost marked "Upper Otira," and the further, they went the wetter they became. Anne was wearing a navy blue shirt and it was very wet and in a short time all the dye started to run. All along the snow there were little blue dots. Everytime they stopped to look at the sky for soma (Continued on page 7)