THE RESCUERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20713, 5 November 1930, Page 18

THE RESCUERS.

BY M.D.

0043, from the standpoint of a breeder iof Aberdeen Angus cattle' may have been a nearly perfect specimen of what a bull should be, but to tho girl perched precariously in the branch of tho cabbago tree, ho looked more like a hippopotamus than anything, with his fat, shiny black ribs, short, thick legs, and broad forehead. lacked the largo and gentle smilo of the less civilised animal, however. Ho was obviously not in tho best of moods. His knees wore dirty, so was his face, for ho had been rubbing it in a bank of loose soil not many minutes before. Now he was stamping and throwing up tho dust to his massive back and loins, ■while ho grumbled and complained to hiipself in a very disturbing way. Suddenly, ho raised his head, and bellowed [until - the hills rang. Tho answering greeting ho received might have been the echo of his own mighty voico, but for tho appearanco of what, to tho layman, looked like a rairago of himself, but .which, to an expert eye, showed those subtle differences of lino and colour that distinguish one cattle beast from tho lother. The oncoming bruto the other side of the fence seomed more than a littlo peevish, too. For he also rumbled and grumbled, while his small eyes shone with a fierco, red light, and ho did not heed ithat his great sides brushed the wire fence dangerously close to the barbs upon the • j. •. 0043 advanced with immense dignity until ho stood a few feet from the bariier, >vhore -he blow scorn at his neighbour. !The insult that it conveyed must have touched tho other bull on the raw, for .without waiting for any challenging preliminaries, he charged tho fence, head on. iTho twang and clash of the wires excited 0043 into following suit, and the two great beasts pressed and staggered and grunted, foreheads joined, while battens slid out of place, and even the sturdy totara posts quivered under the strain. A man riding slowly up the side of the hill hfiard the clang of the wires, and turned his horse's head that way. ' The girl in the tree shonted a relieved f Hallo!" as he came in sight. For a moment he scanned tho surrounding landscape with a blank expression, until her waving arm drew his eyes in her direction. Then a broad grin overspread his face. " Treed, eh ? Wanted a toreador! 1 am afraid that I a,a not much good as a cattle expert. Shall I shoo the old gentleman away, or will you double-bank with me to a safer spot ?" "I think I will douole-bank. If I do not, you may be in need of a rescuer. 'As a matter of fact, I was up the tree before the bull arrived. I left my horse in the manuka, and came np the ridge and over the fence. I love the view from oto here." , . , . . . " Well, I guess you have had plenty ot fchanceof admiring it by now. ( Can you get on behind from the tree?' Lightly Hazel climbed down to a lower crotch in the trunk, and slid over .on to the horse's back. The quiet old animal ignored her arrival except to utter a grunt $s her eight stone ten landed with a thud bn his rump. " How is the masterpiece getting on I che enquired, as they made their slow way down the hill. " Oh, it is finished. Only has to be te-typed now. Thank goodness, I can do no more to it. I have been over a year ©n it now. If the publishers will not take it, do you think your father would give ma a job as rouseabout ? I have absorbed bo much local colour that I think I could handle .almost anyone's work." * " Would it not be rather a descent from f famous author' to ' general stationband ?' '* " Well, I suppose the latter would probably be the more useful job, to como 'down to tin tacks." " I do not think that 7. altogether agree jwith you. If your book appeals to the public as much as the bits that I have read appeal to me, think what a lot of pleasure you are going to give." I Lightly the girl slid off, as Tony Has!ett pulled up his horse beside the one Bhe had. left. He swung down beside her. " Well, I do not think that I should tall it wasted, anyway. I have learnt a lot of practical things, I am fit and well; far stronger than I have been for years. 'And last, and far from least, I have met fc lot of the nicest people in the world." "Hazel's eyes twinkled. " Sure, and /iwhen did you kiss the blarney stone ? The world is a big place, and it takes tome millions to people it!" , " Well, the nicest people in my world, then, Miss, Accuracy. If you do not believe that, wait until my book is published, and I will tell you some more about it. If I may," he added, a little Bhyly. ? When you are famous you will be bo busy, counting royalties that you will have no,time for your country friends."

The lnan gazed sombrely across the blue-shaded valley to the distant line of deeper blue that was the sea. For miles "thei hills rcwe and fell, ever growing Brnoother and more rounded, as they approached the coast. Dark patches of native bush marked the sites of station homesteads, and through, it all a stony river-bed wound its way, the now-shallow only showing/ ih dots and dashes of white, where it broke against the stones uncovered by the summer The eilenco seemed absolute, nntil the attentive ear picked out the unceasing song of the cicadas, the distant bleat of a lamb, and the shrill trilling of a skylark, somewhere hidden in the peaceful prch of the sky. Abruptly he brought back his wantiering thoughts. "I am .going in to the coasi to-morrow. Anything I can flo for you ?" " Nothing, thanks," said the girl, Vaguely disappointed at the change of tone. Kicking her horse in the ribs, she nodded gaily and cantered off, bending low to avoid the branches of the bushes that crossed her path, ere she splashed through a creek and gained the cleared slopes beyond. t I•• * * • The wind had risen in the night, and from her bedroom window Hazel could see large clouds racing their shadows across the hills. The pines on the ridge thrashed and. bowed, and the stock stood in i what shelter they could find, with their backs to'the mounting gale. On tho distant road the dust was rising in jdouds. •, About 10 o'clock the wind seemed to Rave died down a little, and the girl saddled her horse for a ride. She felt (unsettled and uneasy. Taking lunch jtvith her, she set off down the paddocks jtoward the river. Mid-day she rested in the bush, and listened to tho roaring of the wind in the tree-tops. Where she Jay among the ferns it seemed calm and jWkrm, but when she once more mounted ber horse and started for home she found B, gale was blowing. Up tho slopes, toward the road, they battled their way, the sturdy animal often staggering when b qudden gust of wind mot them down Borne creek-bed or gully. The girl was blinded by the loose strands of hair that Whipped her faco, and small stones and Band stung her cheeks and hands. In the shelter of a bank she drew rein to get her breath and tuck her hair up under her hat. Gazing toward the road, sho was Itartled to see a large column of smoke fising from a patch of bush. Billowing fcnd waving, it alternately rose and ttooped over the wind-lashed trees, tho (jrtderside ominously tinged with sullen trimson. Even as sho watched, spellbound with surprise, n faint crash reached ler ears, and a train of sparks flow skypard, as some giaait of the forest met l» doom. It was a few minutes before

(A NEW ZEALAND STORY).

(COpymcnT.)

sho realised that this was the reservo in whoso shelter tho deserted roadman's whare was that had been Tony Haslett's liomo for tho last 12 months. At tho samo instant it flashed into her mind that ho himself was away in tho township, and his precious manuscript exposed to the danger of utter destruction. No power on earth could savo tho whare with this gale behind tho roaring Haines. Sho kicked tho unwilling horse into action, and - they cantered and scrambled up tho narrow track toward tho road. The girl was heedless now of dust or wind, her one idea to beat the flames to tne littlo homo in tho shelter of the trees, which were now its greatest danger. Reaching tho gate, sho wasted valuable minutes trying to opon it from the horse's back, but the wind was too strong, the horso impatient and self-willed, upset by tho mad ride, and anxiety of his rider. She had to dismount, and even then it took all her strength to open it. Tho horso was nervous, and pulled back as she tried to lead him through, and tho gate banged shut again. Eventually, during a lull, she managed to get him on to the road, and, mounting once more, sho raced onward, lv:r horso scarcely under control. It needed all her horsemanship to stop him when they reached tho gate into the reserve. Without waiting to tie him up, sho slid off his back and ran for tho building, set a few yards from tho highway. In front was a small and straggling garden, now overgrown and buried under long, dry grass, but at tho back and sides the trees seemed almost to overshadow it. A small creek wound its way through the ferns at one side, to disappear under a culvert on the road. Breathlessly Hazel flung herself against tho door. It was locked. Despairingly she tried the windows, but those, too, wero fastened, and sho realised that if sho was to be in time she must use drastic means. On tho wood pile, in a little clearing, sho found an axo, carelessly embedded in tho chopping-block. With this sho attacked tho entrance, and, the wood being old and rotten, managed to break through in a few minutes. -She stepped in through the gap, but, hunt where she would, sho could not find the manuscript. Close at hand now she could hear the roar of the flames, and the whare shook with the crashing of tho falling trees. Somewhere in here it must be. If she could not find it, then she must make a desperate effort to save the buildinc itself. h

. Picking up an old sack, she soaked it in the creek. Fortunately the whare \va« of corrugated iron, the chief danger being from sparks igniting tho grass round the piles, and lodging in the windowsills or in the doorway. _ The smoke was blinding ,now, and flaming leaves, sparks and ashes made the air almost impossible to breathe. Close at hand, the top of a tawa had caught, and a tuft of dry grass was smouldering. Quickly she dashed this out with the wet sack, only to see another a few feet further on. For how long she kept up the hopeless fight, she could not have told. Running from one danger spot to another, re-wetting her sack, beating and crushing out flames and sparks, and blazing twigs. Blinded, breathless, exhausted, she struggled on, only at last to catch her foot in a trailing lawyer vine, and pitch on her face, too helpless to rise again. So engrossed had she been, that a new sound in the terrifying but magnificent orchestra of the firo and gale had not reached her senses. It was the repeated " pitpat" of water upon her hand, and a long sigh and spit amongst the grasses*that made her realise that what she had taken for the sound of the fire and falling of the trees had been the warning thunder of the gathering storm. A vivid flash of lightning now lit up the scene, and dark, heavy clouds were joining the rolling smoke above her head. A steady hissing sound, like steam escaping from a boiler, was all around her. Too unutterably weary to move, she lay where she had fallen. It was not until she heard her name called in anxious tones, that she tried to raise her head, only to let it drop once more. Strong arms turned and lifted her, and the fresh and life-giving rain soothed her smoke-swollen eyelids like caressing fingers., Her sore and blistered hands were clasped tight in Tony's, and his worried voice roused her from her overwhelming fatigue. " Hazel, little girl, you should not have done it. Nothing I could ever own or do would be worth the cost. Tell mo, are you badly hurt ?" His arm slipped round her shoulders, and lifted her gently, as if expecting her to break under his hands. " Oh,"/ she gasped. " Your manuscript! It is all right? Did the whare get burned down ?" "My manuscript?" Tony's voice was puzzled. " Why, I took that in to post to be re-typed this morning." A sudden light broke on his troubled mind. " Did you think that it was still in the whare ? You poor little girl. There was nothing there of value. So that is why you made such a desperate attempt to save the old place!" " So, it was all for nothing," Baid Hazel with a sob. " Not for nothing if it means that you cared enough for mo to take such a risk. If tho novel is a success, Hazel, will you marry me 1" Closer she buried her streaked and swollen face into his wet shoulder. " I don't care if it is a success or not as far as I am concerned," she whispered. " I don't think I do either, now," said Tony happily, and really thought he meant it, which merely proves that a man in love is not a responsible member of society. Above the blackened and glistening mass of tree and shrub, a few faint blue columns of smoke arose against the overhanging stormy clouds. One level shaft of old-gold sunlight threw the ancient wharo into artificial relief, as tho two closely riding figures took tho homeward way.