WEEKLY WHISPERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 18 December 1909, Page 2

WEEKLY WHISPERS.

J; tiers's a holt in a' your coats, I ndt yt teitt it ; A chic, s among yc taiiii 1 nates, AhdJ'ait/i, he'll {rent it. — Burns. One hears of many strange hallucinations; but it seldom;' happens that a horse enters into the scheme of the occult. Hence, the mystification of a certain genial Nelsonian the other day is as curious as it is entertaining. Xwo friends went on a picnic, driving several miles up the very gorgy Wairoa Gorge. When they reached the gated branch road leading to Pig Valley and a short cut to Wakefield, or Invercargill, or somewhere, the genial one, taking the horse out of the trap and removing the winkers, put on a head-stall and tied the halter to afence inside the gate with what turned out to be a very "granny" 'knot indeed. The friends went off on an excursion looking for an airship to hoist thm down the cliffs so as to enable them' to fish. But, finding none, and getting nervous at various rifle butts between which and a possible hidden sniper they had to walk, they came back to their camp, ate hard-boiled eggs and other things, and curled up under a manuka tree for siesta, lulled by tlje gentle south-west hurricane that seens to waft around in these parts most times — a sort of elder brother to Wild Boreas.

The friends enjoyed their snooze, till they woke with a start due to a thump from the gentle south-wester, — which tiirew a log at one of the sleepers. Finding that it was 4.30 p.m., and being about 20 miles from home and mother, it was decided to harness up and get out of that very gorgy gorge during daylight. But • the genial one, who had gone to the fence for the gee-gee, returned in consternation to -announce that the animal had -departed. It had undone the granny knot with its teeth, and the presumption was that it had made down the road. Off went his nibs after that horse, and walked two miles or so till lie came to the second gate, without seeing a sign of tho errant one. Thinking that someone had let it out, and that it was well on its way to Invercargill by that time, the pursuant went further along till he came to tho home of a settler. From him he hired another horse and harness, and meantime the settler obligingly got on his bicycle and sped a couple of milesto look for the lost animal. Then the weary one who had tied the granny knot which was the cause of the whole trouble, trudged back to his camp and bu^gy, leading the hired moke, which looked almost as sad and depressed as himself. * * * » » j . While Picnicker No. 1 was away looking for the horse, Picnicker No. 2, who had been left to guard the buggy and the camp, sat on a boulder, disconsolately gazing down the Toad after his friend, md wondering how in thunder h e should get back to ■Nelson that night, or whether ho would have to sleep at the hotel de la belle etoi'le, in plain English, under a manuka or willow. The tuis in the tall trees chuckled to -each other, telling the tale of the lost geegee; and the watcher smoked pipe after pipe waiting for his friend. When quite hopeless, with the hours passing, and the sun sinking lower in the west, the watcher suddenly saw a horse's head, showing from a small gully about 150 yards from' the gato near which the lost animal had been tethered. It was the missing nag ! Picnicker No. 1 had passed it. never dreaming of looking away from the road. It was quickly caught, and as quickly and securely tied to the same fence whence it had escaped. Picnicker No. 2 coo-ed till he was hoarse, but there was no sign of his friend. Then he was tempted to the mischief of the idle. He waited till he saw his friend a long distance off, leadin.: the borrowed horse, and hid-. When Picnicker No. 2 arrived at the gate he saw the original horse just where it had been left earlier in the day. He scratched his head and was heard to murmur; "Well I'm dashed! And we've had only two bottles of beer between us all day! I'll swear that brute wasn't there when I went on the hunting trip half-way to Invercargill after it." For- several minutes he could not realise that his own horse was actually there, till at last the hidden one could keep in his laughter no longer, and their mutual explanations cleared up the mystery. Not, however, till after No. 1 "had endeavoured to prove that the horse he had brought was the right one, and that the animal No. 2 had caught belonged to some one ike. from whom No. . 2 had obviously "nicked" it. Thereafter, a long drive broaght tome -fclio *wr»nt_lor*leF3 nt about 9.45 p.m.— throe or four hours overdue — much to the relief of two very anxious families. Till the other day one never could see the raison d'etre of the wide development of the "Merry Widow" hat si much worn now by the women folk ; but it certainly has its merits, as -a parachute and skin protector 'for instance. ■ It happened that a motor car took it into its head to swerve at a psychological moment on a cliff road and threw its fore wheel over the edge, jprecipitating its load to the depths below. Among the passengers were some ladies, all wearing "Merry Widow" hats and motor veils. Andlo, instread of crashing down to certain destruction, they merely upended, and, their umbrella-shaped head-gear sustained them in mid-air just as a parachute would do, landing them ; sentl-* in somp blackberry bushes, and I even then acting as a fender or buller between their sweet complexions and the thorns. It was alarming to behold ladies with their heads buried in blackberry bushes and their feet waggling in the air; but the thorns could not scratch through the straw of the "Merry Widow" or the tent-liko motor veils now in fashion. Next time one "blesses" those hats at the theatre, let him remember that they may one day save a dear one's life; that they are, first-class Bleriot monoplanes on occasions; and that the fashionable motor veil might serve for a' blanket or a face-protector or a tent on an emergency. The story of an amusing revenge by an ingenious if somewhat sp'l?™l™?- - told of a past agent of the Public Trustee in Nelson. The woman owed about £7 for rent to air estate administered by the Trust, and the agent was preK her for it. At length when FhT found she had to pay or be distrained upon, she secured £7 change in p P ut the coppers in a sugar bag, Tncfleft the load at the. agent a office^ Figure it out: 240 pence m a fi. : 1680 nennies in £7— and the lot left, to the S to count! Bnt still the woman .* Avenge was not sated. She made it her busies To call on various business men who wanted coppers for f* a »f£ *™ told them that the agent of the Public Trustee was hankering to get rid of a lot of nennies. Thereafter, for four or five davs in succession, ihe. agent and M- clerk were frequently interviewed by persons wantin e change in copper, ??• +£> officers went nearly distracted, rTtu^fd S^without lo h sfng P t &3*&^ and %Zn. Fact: (more or iess - MOFUSSILITE.