THE BOAT RACE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1935, Page 20

THE BOAT RACE

(Original.)

lUriginal.) During toe Easter holidays, the Abbots decided to go to 'Wilton's Bush tor a picnic, so well before eleven In the morning they started off. Dufciet Jennifer. and Sybil started firsCbltt toe grown-ups soon caught up, as if take long for the chUdrei to h? !MC^ *o use as boatß, which sailed beautifully down the gay little stream. For about half an -hour they rambled on along the path; but at last they arrived at the, fireplace furthen down the track. He»tfc,Wh2cfc before which Dulcie and Sybil,-.the* inseparables,'skipped with the former's rope, while Jenny.'the boy of the tamily, constructed a very shaky dam.

Afterwards they all three made particularly ornamental ships—piecespf wood with leaves stuck through them and tied round with ferns. Dulcie even added a buttercup, which soon came out, much to her private dismay. ■ - .< "

'Let^race the boats .toJ'Robinson Crusoe Island,'" suggested -Jedny.(The other lwo,feadily fell in'withfßie plan, and were soon lined' upTSsidy to start. J( t-r ' "One, two. three, got" yelled SybiL land m a flash they were off. ' "Rosalie!"' shouted- DuJcie, 'ad-' dressing her gallant vessel. "Go Sk You're winning!", , %™-.v't • ",,'» Onia! ' "fged Jenny." '.'Oh, 'Son-^ Along raced the boats, "Rosalie' keeiiing well in front till there was a'daT mal wail from Sybil "My 'Beatrice is lost I can't find her!" "Never mind; make another."" idvised Dulcie, who kept a firm eyeW Rosalie. i ' * ■'"''_■ By this time 'Sonia the Fourth"was dashing merrily down .the stream, fa* wards the swiftly-neariug bridge. Here they both waited for. Sybil to bring •Beatrice the Third'along. Still, •Rowlie the First* was making good progress, when, to Dulcie's1 horror and Jenny and Sybil's delight,1 she disappeared! ■• • Jenny's triumphant shouts rang out over the water. "'Sonia's' winning! Oh, 'Sonia!' Go-oo it!" Dulcie~tur£ ing an anxious eye on the stream in front, beheld What'she dreaded—•Robinson Crusoe Island,' a heap of huge boulders in the middle of the creek But all hope was riot lost, for in a moment or two 'Sonia the Fourth* disappeared.

, Jenny snatched a stick from the shore, while '.Rosalie' just missed a large and fearsome whirlpool by a fraction of an inch. 'Dulcie held her i breath, and a thankful gasp broke from her lips as- her boat sailed past Danger was not over, however. ■ The worst was still to come, and almost before they knew it, calamity had overtaken them; • The waterfall, already perilously near, seemed to burst oa' them all of a sudden, and swept the •Rosalie' down—an easy first Now, as. all the Abbotts knew, at the foot of this fall, where the writers rushed and bubbled and foamed; a very deadly whirlpool Teposed. With her heart in her mouth as it seemed, Dulcie watched her tiny vessel. Slow-' ' ly—oh, painfully slowly—she sailed past the first pool,1 and, -just -« vahe was almost through, a sudden rush of water swepther right into the biggest, deepest, and deadliest whirlpool of all. Dulcie heayed a stone.-and^he piece of wood wavered for one. brief moment, then floated slowly out ,-Its proud owner waded in and grabbed 4t. The 'Rosalie* was safe! ■ - Then there were Jenny's -and Syb's boats to retrieve. It took ages' to move either of them, and Dulcie, at' great peril of falling in,' crawled ov*r the rocks, balanced on the least slimyone she could find, and probed about > with a stick. At last, a stone thrown-by Sybil knocked both ships out-of their-prison, and Dulcie brought 'Beatrice 1 ashore,' whide Jenny hooked the "Sonia" to her a little further down. It was a long time before the Abbotts forgot that race, I can assur* you. "MOONSHINE FAIRY" U2>. Xarori.