GAFFNEY'S. GHOST

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3004, 15 February 1917, Page 6

GAFFNEY'S. GHOST

A TAlfl /IP 1 TUI? Ttt'BNTV QfiPftNlK A lALd Uγ Inli intlui-StlUnUo

BUSY TIMES ON THE "HILL' Gaffney lived and died a long time ago, when the road across the Rinm-ta-ka Hill was only a bridle-track. No ono saw Gaffney die; he lost his way in tho thickly-timbered hills, and thosa •who went to find him only found hie ghost. They said that Gaifney's ghost haunted the peaks and gullies near tho Summit saddle. Even in recent times ■there liavo Been travellers, benighted on this lonely mountain way, who have declared that they saw or heard the shade of Gaffney in the night watches.

The Twenty-Second Infantry Reinforcements were the first troops to make a night march through these haunted wilds. Seventeen hundred healthy men do not worry about ghosts', though any one of them, posted on. sentry duty at tho Summit, might have felt creepy shivers running up and down his spine on those wild, wmdy; nights, when Gaffney's ghost is said to wander abroad. Their bivouac at Kaitoke was left by tho Twenty-Seconds when the moon was just slipping behind the hills to the westward. One by one the comr panies formed up in the road that showed as a grey strip of gloom running through a blackness that neither was visible nor invisible. The hills, piling in heaps, higher and higher, towards the Summit, only showed their shapes where they lifted the skyline a little moro into the starry heavens. But the troops were used to night wort, had even held converse with respectable well-behaved ghosts which stood stock.still and said nothing and afterward* proved to bo fence-posts carrying barbwire or manuka busQes—that was when, as recruits, they began to,indulge in night ramblings, cross countnr and through barb-wire fences. There had been several civilians in. the bivouac during the day, One.or these intended to go with the troops to Featherston—not as a mascot, since that title belonged to another, tie knew how impossible it is for a civiLau to keep pace with marching soldiers,, even when they carry a heavy pacK the civilian wearies, as a loose horse, does'that trots beside a team, while the steeds in harness go on and on. imwearyingly. So the civilian decided to be a courier and travel ahead on a 'wheii he left Kaitoke the Colonel: was at the head of the column, ready to lead the way, as soon as all was ready. The courier glanced back atthe darker mass in the grey roadwar ere he rode away into tho night, lor a time tne road was more or less level, and the courier sped along, lhcn i« to rise and wind above the gnl'.V whore men are busy from dawn todaric boring into the "old man rock to reach a coal seam hidden far below. Their engine-house and huts were completely hidden from the courier by tlie darkness. Hero and there hie bicycle, and hero and there ne rode And all tho time he appeared to bo going further and further away from all human kind, as ho passed h)gher and higher .into tho mountains. Swinging round a comer, on a rideable pair, of the road, a dead tree-trunk suddenly showed grey in .the stariighV and an eddy of wind swirled down the steep siding. The courier knew it w only a dead tree and only the windBut a shivery' fecljng was m the air, and like a' flash. thought rushed through his brain-Gaftncy's ghost. Superstition is a joke in a warm, brighft world. It isn't quite the samo <m «• wild mountain-side, atone, at half-past one in the morning. He began to hear tho night voices-the moreporks calling afa° off, a wcka or other mght W closer to, and a horrible, flat-toned,-harsh cry that came from he knew no* what. The wind called hoolhoo! hoo! in some dead timber, while little gusts rattled the gravel on tho rocky road. It sounded as though somebody wa* passing, something invisible was press,W nearer. Still the courier pushed on, for" tho idea had como to him £ light a bonfire on the Summit Saddle a ; a beacon to the boys. Not even Gafllney s ghost should prevent him, f™f£ S of soldiers marching, lhfl. Twenty-Seconds were marching fast. tLsoW heartened him, and the need for lS was a tonic. Onward and upward again, and at last he was at tho Summit. . . -. , j Everything was wet, for it liaa rained withm twenty-four hours; the Sventy-Seconds had had a night march in rain. The courier had a. dr> newspaper. Hβ foraged about and found a fruit case and insido it lie .placed- the newspaper and lHited 'it. The blaze enabled iuiu to find more wood, which he piled on the paper till the fruit case was iv Mating UrUer. This was the nucleus of lus fire, the fuel for which ho gathered in tho radius of the light, ile was a picturesque and lonely nguro on the dart mountains; like a genu ot the hills, conjuring fire from their recesses. Miles below, still marching fast, tho Twenty-seconds , saw the blaze, and a. cheer went up. They thought at hrst it was the ladies of Featherston who had once more risen early to make tea and prepare hot food for the -marching troops. But the men forgot that, theywere a flying column, and had no timetable, so that it was impossible to prepare for their coming. Then there was much conjecture and wild guessing as •to who had lit the fire;.and one man said it must have been done by l.attney's Ghost. At any rate, it was a fire and, winding into tho gullies and swinging round rocky spurs, the men had it m view intermittently till they halted beside the blaze and saw it was tho couriers' fire. They had not known that he had none hefore them. "Good old cornier," they said. Wβ thought it was Gaffney's Ghost." So far, the ghost had not revealed itself. But 'before the morning came the courier thought he had met it at last. It was dark when he left tho Summit, still going on before, as a courier should. Down the rocky way he wheeled and rode by turns; and, just before dawn came, he heard weird music that seemed to come from every part of the waste of hills. It was not the "hoo-hoo" of the wind this time, nor the shrill alarm call of the morepork, nor that flat-toned night-call that is between a snake's hiss and a bird's cry. There were hollow-sounding notes in this music and a skirliike bagpipes. The courier looked along the ridges for the player, and' strained his eyes into the dark. Louder and louder the wild melody rang, the droning notes were more awe-inspiring. Reckless of tho ruts, the courier mounted his machine. He would end this ride as soon ns he could. There were too many possibilities in the gloomy hills. Round the corner he swung, rocking and swaving, as* he cleared the curve. The player was a man, marnhing ur> the middle of the road and nlayina a huge mouthorgan, with bell-attachments and other interestiim variants for the embellishment of the tunes. He wore an old volunteer uniform, and his little flag was stuck in one of his Wellington boots, to frev bis bands for his music. It was the Little Mascot, marohinc; up to meet the twenty-seconds. Gaffnev's Ohost did not nnprar at nil on the hills that niffht. No rlount ttiere wpre ton inanv folk nbroad. 'lot to mention thn bon-fire, .nnd the cldrich music and thn stride-stride-stridn of the soldiers and thoir happy siugiug.