FAIRY RING.

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1933, Page 8

FAIRY RING.

(Written for the Tairy B 'ing by n. F. Hoggard.)

THE TUNNEL

JEBEMY wasn't a bad sort, but ho swallowed everything •we told him without a murmur. We wouldn't have been college : boys if we hadn't taken advantage of this. We used to pull his leg with the most weird and wonderful yarns ever conceived. Being a '/Homie," Jeremy didn't know a great deal about New Zealand history! and he- regarded the Maoris living inland on .their peaceful farms as bloodthirsty savages. , During tho Christinas hols., the four of us had come across an underground tunnel. Thinking it a good joke' we solemnly imparted to Jeremy the information that a moa had probably lived' there, and if he looked carefully he would be certain to discover a few bones and other relies. - Amongst' other things, he was a great one , for. natural history. As soon as we mentioned fossils, his. eyes gleamed behind his large spectacles. '"I don't care what you chaps intend to do," he said firmly. "I'm exploring that tunnel." "I'll tell you what," suggested Norman. "We'll pitch camp first as it's nearly sundown; then afterwards when it's dark we'll explore the jolly old tunnel by torchlight. Speaking for myself, I'm feeling peckish." "All right," grunted Jeremy with bad grace, "but I warn you, 1 am going to get some moa fossils." ' . Heartily we wished before long that we had never told him such a yarn. Jeremy talked of nothing else during the meal: Apart from having one subject discussed until we were quite fed up, the subject, of moas, br.ought up around a flickering camp-fire with a night-breeze rustling through the' trees at the back of us, was jolly eerie, to say the least of it; ■■'■■ . ' ■ We were more than thankful when Jeremy changed the subject of his own accord. : . ' ' ■ ■ • "I say; you chaps," he asked nervously, "are moas to.be found in New Zealand1 nowadays?" ■ .■ ■ '■'■/ , :, At any other time we would have promptly answered "Yes," and given him a: list of' exaggerations. • This time we said meekly, "No. For goodness' sake dry: up; Gome oh} we'll explore the tunnel and get it over." The tunnel at some time or other had apparently been a stream which had dried up. It rwas only by accident when gathering bracken for our fire that we had' come across it. A large stone, fully three or four feet high, and rather in the shape of ,a crouching figure,.worn smooth by the friction* of running water in past ages, almost hid, the opening.- -'-,'' •■-.• 'I was the last to-enter. Quite by accident, as I stooped to follow the others, the beam from my pocket- toTch showed up clearly the markings :of' some' sort at the foot of the stone;; .-: . : : ; ■ "Just a -moment,'" I called: to the others. ."Look here!:" ' ; : ■'< •: We crowded round, a"little puzzled by what we saw. It appeared to be wording ■,of'sorhe sort deeply carved into the. stone. / ■ . ; 'Then Jeremy gave a yell of delight, nearly searing .the wits'out of Tis. -.■'■■ : ■••-' •,■■:•■.•' :i , ;.-;■•. ■ ■-.■:•..'■■ .: -.-.'. ■ • ■■' ■,-•■■,. ■•■■" : 'Tve got it,"'ho; said.- "It's not a, stone at all—it's a petrified ship' 3 'figure-head!" ■•;:.■: .-■ : .... • . ••■-.:: ■■: ■ ■.'.-

w,,^™"* o}!* *™ The wordin& as far as we couia make out, wa^ Spanish. Then, to crown everything, we finally discovered the date, AhPlTa™™o^! nhaf .^SP^rds came to New Zealand long before Abel Tasmania Captain Cook," said George slowly. 'Nn T eS ' W dld a Bhip>s fig"e-head get this far inland?" asked «I think I can explain that," added Jeremy. "This part of New ZeaneaSmttlle T °ri- f AS^nish Salleoa ™ S t h^ve foundered ofi risen" DurlJlS the last four or fiye hundred - years the land .- has 6^ 101!? 1*116 ,tuiulel-' It t ur ned out to be the lost galleon itself, .petrified like the figure-head outside „„ Y»a has P r°ceeded only a few yards when, Jeremy, let out a sharp cry and pointed to the floor of the. tunneL It'was. covered in bones of bones^ 68 S1I?eS" 6 n° diffl?ulty' in i-eeognifeing them as moa w kra? 7«ml e£ Cf ei Jeremy» flashing his .torch -backwards and forwffh^te'iSteS chaP*< ?he : last of theJoUyrold moas must.have the-S? Ib3S22rk lSai W^gt? IOW VoiC6i 's—^re ahead in «Wha—what was asked George huskily. ■■'f%-? iay. I suggested hopefully. "What else could it,nave been?" . . _ "A/moa,; of course," said Jeremy, coolly. Then he turned round on me suddenly as. an idea struck him. "I say, haven't you your flashlight camera m your haversack, Harryt,We must take a snap of him!" I nearly refnsed Outright. At that particular moment .I wished to do one thing only—run for my life from the place! But it wouldn't do to show the .white, feather in front of oia Jeremy;, and, besides, one didn't snap a moa every day. I took out the camera. "Here, you are." i ; "We all held our; breaths while Jeremy fixed it in position. Then.. again came that weira, drawn-out cry. And at that instant our torch flickered completely out. There we were left standing in that niehtmiare of. a. place with.not a light of any sort! There came a blinding blue flash."Eun for your lives," shouted Jeremy. ™.™ snapped the moa! "We all rtish ed back through the tunnel, until, TOth sighs of relief we reached'the open air. near the petrified figurehead. , ;■■'. : •;...' ■ . . • ; .... ... ••...*?,.■ •■■ A few days' afterwards we' haa the film developed. . Ana what d,oyou think our, moa turne.a out to be? Nothing larger or more terrifying than a morepork!- There was.no aoubt, we found out afterwards, about the petrified gallepn.or the moa, bones—they were genuine • enotfgh. But the-eeriecry proved to be only a startled; -brown owl, disturbed in his hidden, hiding-place-in the lost galleon. , : ■ : ■. ■