Peak of the Patu Paiarehe

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 8

Peak of the Patu Paiarehe

(Written for the King by A. B. Glover, Karori.)

"Oh just wanders round. Uncle Harry says she carries an armful of pohutukawa. She is supposed to be very pretty, and she wears a green Suddenly Dick sprang forward and snatched the paper from the drawing board. "Jan! Look!" There was some pale, straggly lettering on the bottom of the sheet. "Come and help me. I'm lost." They stared amazedly at one another, then Dick broke the silence. "Help! I say. ..." "We've been up there before," said Janis. "It's not .hard, we 11 say we're going for a tramp. It's quite early. Let's go home and get some food and things. They always take brandy when they search for people. There's some in the cupboard for the>pudding tomorrow!" But Dick laughed. "Brandy for a ghost. She's been dead ninety years." Janis stopped in her hurried, packing. "Oh ... I forgot. How can we help her, then? It's rather silly." "I think we'll go all the same. This message is so queer. And then the drawing. .. . It's an adventure -and nothing can happen. We know the place pretty well." » "And say the Little People steal us, too?" But Dick laughed. "Not they," he said rather boastfully. ■ It did not take them long to get to their home, and with as little fuss as possible they prepared for their tramp. They went out for a day quite often in the holidays, so no one questioned them, and it was rather exciting when they found themselves out on the track once more, and felt that perhaps—who knew—they might never return. It was hot, trudging along the dusty, overgrown track, with blackberry and gorse clutching at one greedily, but they hurried, despite the blazing sun. The air was loud with the song of birds, the persistent riroriro calling its plaintive notes over and over again, and the deep note of the tui mingling with the summery sound of stuttering cicadas. At last they came to the bush, and in the coolness of fern and lichencovered trees, was a quiet relief from the glaring outside world. Dick turned. "We shouldn't have to go very far. In the old days the bush came down much lower, so that where we are now was really a long way in." He pulled his compass from his pocket. "I think we'll work south, as Uncle Harry told me that's where she was lost. Bight beneath the Peak. She was really on tapu ground, so they said." They fought their way through the undergrowth, leaving the path far behind. Supplejacks slung their twisted lengths across from bough to bough like menacing snakes, and lawyers waved their grasping arms. Janis : was hot and dirty. Her dress was torn and her legs and arms were covered in scratches, but she would not give in. Suddenly Dick stopped and stepped back, a strange look of awe on his./ face. I "Over there. Jan," he whispered. ' Janis trembled with excitement, but she crept forward and looked i/n the direction Dick indicated. "O-ohr she said softly. f

In a Tiitle glade, circled by tree ferns, a woman stood, her face lifted to the sun, in her arms a huge branch of pohutukawa, flaming red against her greeri aErock. She appeared to be listening; her eyes shone with excitement. Janis Vrept forward, strangely attracted by the lovely woman. it?" the woman said. Then she saw the two children and laughed delightedly. "Oh. . . . You have found me at last." Jani > could not speak. Her throat was dry and lumpy. She wanted to cry, Iput was afraid to make a sound. Dick had come forward and stood by her, Jbut he seemed tongue-tied also. "I was lost, you know," the lady said. "I left the others. _ I called and cajfed. Is the party over? I was going to decorate the dinmg-room. Will I fte back in time?" „ Dick smiled tremulously. "The party's over, Aunt Lettioe. Th'tj lady gazed at him. "But I'm not your aunt. I couldn t be. My name ft; Lettice, but Flora isn't married and I have no other brothers or SIS cU'k looked helplessly at Janis. Should they explain? It seemed J&Jiis said softly: "What do you want us to do?" "Sake me back. I've been here so long. It must be days now ..... How long is it? Have they- told you?" .Vanis hesitated a moment, then she said: "Ninety years. The little glade was silent for a moment, listening. . % \ &unt Lettice put her white hand to her face. "Then #V-* lam old;. . . and you. . . . Who are you?" .Flora's great grandchildren!" ("Then Flora married. Who did she marry?" ' Dick glanced at Janis. He didn't know, but girls always knew these th/njjs. "Charles Roberts." • "Oh!" For a moment the lovely face was sad. "And he loved me. I /ioved him, too. It was that New Year that he was going to ask Papa C/h. . . . Charles. . . . Then ... he doesn't want me back rioAv?" • Janis shook her head. "You know . . . he's dead, and so is Flora, ?Even Granny, that's Flora's daughter . . she's dead, too." "Dead! Then I. . . . Then the Little People were right. And Jell me, is my home there now?" . "Then there's nothing . . . and nobody." Her voice was desolate. I "No, it was burned down." ' Janis stepped forward to tell her Aunt how sorry she was, but the /'•woman put up her hand to stop her. "No . . . please. You see ... lam really very tired. I shall go back to the Little People. They are very kind. Thank you for coming. Thank you for telling me about Charles. I've been worrying. . . But if Flora. . . ." Her voice faded away, and she smiled down at them. "Now I know, I feel content. I can rest." And she turned and left them in the little glade. "Well," Dick said, and his voice shook a little. "Now she won't haunt any more." But Janis only sighed. At tea that night, the pair were strangely silent. It had been such a queer adventure. Janis thought of her picture. When she had gpne to look at it, the writing had disappeared, and the outline was no longer the Peak of the Patu-paiarehe, it. was just the Devil's Ridge again. She heard her father say. jokingly. "We should have a visit from Lettice tonight." and saw her mother's startled frown, then she turned to Dick, and it secret smile passed between them. * Lettice had gone to her rest.