FOR THE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOR THE CHILDREN.

YOUNG PIONEERS. BY EDITH HOWES. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER X. Till nightfall the children pushed their way north-west, up hill and down dale, through rough and rugged country. Four times they waded a mountain stream that crossed and recrossed their track. Fortunately the weather was dry and the stream was low, so there was no need for swimming. At sundown they camped beside its waters and made their evening tr.eal of a wild duck which Jo shot upon its bank.

On again the next day. The way grew more mountainous, but they were able to skirt the forest, st> their going was less slow than it would have been had they had to struggle through its matted undergrowth. They still watched for the notornis as they went, but they lingered nowhere, wasted not a moment; they trudged and scrambled steadily ahead, steering for the Devil's Gap, the words, "Help Needed" ringing in their hearts. Again they camped, and again they resumed their . way. Now they entered a ■wild and rocky ravine, threaded by a narrow mountain torrent that strewed its foaming path with pebbles, boulders, and fragments of rock. Pockets hero and there in the sides of the ravine were filled with bush; except for these the

steep walls rose almost unclad. Here and there a mass of rock had fallen, to form a broken, knoll over whose rough surface the children clambered on their way up the ravine. They were half-way through when suddenly a loud report rang out. . It echoed and re-echoed against the high rockfaces, and the children stood stock-still, listening till it died away behind them. "A gun!" exclaimed Jo. "We are near. Let. us shout!" .. "Coo-ee! Coo-ec! Coo-ee!" They gave the long-drawn call together and with all their powei. The answer came at once, "Coo-ee!" and from the furthest pocket of bush they saw a man step out. He came running toward them, and the children hurried to meet him. As they neared each other and began to descry each other's faces the man halted in astonishment, and Jo turned white. | "Father!" she gasped. "It's father!" Jack stared as astounded as she. "It's father!" he-echoed, utterly bewildered. "Jack! Good Lord, which of you is J>t ?" asked the man, coming on again; and at that they rushed, half laughing and half crying, and wild with excitement, and seized him and held his hands and put their arms about him. "He is alive; quite real!*' said Jo, with a little sob. "Don't you know me in Jack's moleskins, father?" "I do now," ho said he he kissed her, "but at a little distance you two are exactly alike. How did you come so far ? Surely you have not come by yourselves!" « "We came by ourselves." "Did you come to look for me?". Jo shook her head. "We thought you were dead," she said. "They told us you were dead." "Crushed under the rock that you blasted," Jack added. "How did you get .out, father?" Mr. Forsythe looked thoroughly puzzled. "How on earth did anyone know about the blasted rock ?" he asked. "Mr. Brent sent mother a letter when he came back.',' "Brent came back! Whatever do you mean ?" "He said you and Jim Brown were crushed under the rock and killed, but he was not caught under it: so lie came away arid told us about it. He said there were tons and tons of rock on top of you." For a long moment their father gazed speechlessly ,at them. "Well," he' said at last. "Well, that beats all. For nearly a week I toiled at that fall of 1 rock, bruised and hurt as I was, thinking that Brent was under it, and that I might yet rescue him. At last I gave up in despair. I thought he must be dead, and that tons and tons of rock lay on top of him. And so he was safe, after all, and escaped unhurt! Then why didn't he try to «rescue us, instead of leaving us to our fate like that ?" He pondered a few moments. " Brent was always a hasty, excitable chap," he said. " And easily scared. Brainless. No doubt he got into a panic when the accident happened. He would shout a bit and scratch round a bit, looking for us, and then ho would make up his mind we were dead, and ho must have gone as hard as lie could back to the settlement. He took nothing with him, never touched the provisions or the gear in the samp. Wanted to travel light and get back as fast as he could, I suppose. Just ran for comfort and company. There was a survey camp down at the foothills. He probably made for that." > " But you, father, how were you saved ?" Jo asked. " None of the heavier rock fell on me. I happened to be at the outer edge of the fall. . I was stunned, and must have lain unconscious for hours, since it was morning when we blasted, and late afternoon when I crawled out. The niece of rock

" But you, father, how were you saved ?" Jo asked. *' None of the heavier rock fell on me. I happened to be at the outer edge of the fall. . I was stunned, and must have lain unconscious for hours, since it was morning when we blasted, and late afternoon when I crawled out. The piece of rock that bit me 011 the head ana knocked me down seems to have lodged itself in such a way on another rock that mv.face was protected and I could breathe. Showers of stones and rubble fell on me; I was bruised all over and sore for weeks after, and my head was very painful, but 110 bones were broken.

" When I came to myself and tried to move and felt the weight upon me, I knew at once what had happened. 1 remembered the roar of the rock when the fuse went off before its time, and I remembered trying to run and being knocked down with sickening crash

on my head. ~ I wondered if I was crushed, but bit by bit I managed to move and push and wriggle from under the stones, and at last I was free to stagger out and sit in the blessed sunshine and recover."

" And the other man?" asked Jack The children were breathless with interest. . . !

<n.u ; i.ui. xuioYiucft mvc pinful. "Poor Jim! .Crushed, badly crushed. I'm afraid hp will never walk again. I couldn't find him at first, though I knew he had been close to me whan the crash came and had run when I ran. 1 called and searched, and at last I heard a moan. He was covered with rubble as I had been, but under the rubble a great rock pinned him down., How'l got the .rock' off I scarcely know. It took me hqurs, one man alone,; and only the limb cl ,a . tree, for .crowbar. : The • y oor fellow Moaned, for a while and then fell unconscious again. A good' tiling. It -was dark by the time I set him free. I daren't try to move him, so I brought our blankets from the cainp and made him as easy as I could, and I spent the night lying beside him and giving him drinks of water. He has lain there ever since. I put up the tent over him, and made a bed of the softest fern I could find, and somehow got him on to it. He is s 0 crushed that he can't even feed' himself, so I have not been able to leave him and go for help, though once, a few weeks ago, I went as far as I dared and wrote on three big rocks with a burnt stick." ' "We saw one of the rocks. That- is bow we knew where to come." said Jo. " But. little we guessed that it was you we were coming to find." (To be continued).