RAUPO. IN SEARCH OF RAUPO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2199, 23 April 1896, Page 40

RAUPO. IN SEARCH OF RAUPO.

By One of the Party. The morning of the day fixed upon for our expedition was ushered in with a high wind and frequent showers. Of oonrse we declared that we had expected nothing else, and that to plan anything in the way of outdoor amusement was to ensure bad weather. However, as the day advanced the rain became lighter, until by noon it ceased altogether and the sun shone out brightly. " It's sure to rain again directly we start," observed the Graduate ; " bat I suppose we mast go." The provision basket had already been packed, the Dog of the Party, who thoroughly comprehended the meaning of Bach preparations, evincing great interest in the proceeding. " We certainly must," answered the Owner of the Dog with decision ; "it would never do for everyone bat as to tarn up. Besides, I hate putting off anything that one's prepared for." We had named i p m. as the hour for Btarting, and the post office quadrangle as the rendezvous. Thither we ietook ourselves accordingly, allowing half an hour for walking the mile and a-half. / The Man of the Party, with that punctuality which is so particularly a masculine virtue, had already been waiting 20 minutes , when we arrived. Ten minutes later the school-teacher hurried up, but there were still three defaulters. " I expect they think it's too web ; we'd better put off going," said the Graduate. "Let's wait 10 minutes," suggested the school-teacher. * " Never wait for anybody," murmured the Man of the Party in an aside to the corridor, and the Dog of the Party quivered with sympathetic impatience. Ten, fifteen minutes passed, and no signs of the laggards. "It's very cold, and my head's aching; I think we'd better give it up," spoke the Graduate. "What does everyone say?" . I appealed to the company generally. A vote was taken, and the starters had an overwhelming majority. We left the friendly shelter of the stumpy cbek-tower for the chilliness of the wind-swept street, but as so much time had. been wasted we considered it more expedient, if more expensive, to drive the first five miles of the distanoe. A bargain was quickly struck with the driver of a fourwheeler drawn up beside the pavement. The Graduate clambered in with all the dignity compatible with the occasion; the D:>g of the Party sprang hastily up the steps before his owner ; the rest of us followed, and we set off. Invercargill's solitary one-horse car started a few moments afterwards a little way behind us, but I am glad to be able to record that we maintained our lead. A discussion on phrenology engrossed oar attention so closely that we forgot to watch the state of the weather, and were proportionally surprised when, on reaching the spot at which we had directed our driver to stop, we found the sky ominously overcast and drops of rain sprinkling the road. As we alighted the Graduate glanced upward and ahead and shivered. "I think you'd best just go baok in the cab," I ventured. The Man of the Party approved the Buggtfstion. " 1 1 you've got a headache and a cold, and toothache and neuralgia now," ha remarked, " you'll have something else by the time we get to the creek, and I think you'd better go home." The Graduate cast one more glance ahead, shivered again, and re-entered the cab. The Man of the Party carefully closed the curtain, the driver mounted to his seat, and after a facetious remark or two which had no particular bearing on the subject, turned bis horses, and rattled awaytownward, while we set out briskly along the road that led to the Oreti and raupo— the Dog of the Party scenting rabbits and glory, racing in the lead. Before half the distance had been accomplished the rain increased to a downpour that soaked through our jackets, filled onr shoes, and threatened to damage the contents of the basket. We straggled on in the face of a bitterly cold wind, and when within a few chains of our destination espied a small hut standing in the paddock a few yards from the road. "We'll camp In there; come along," exclaimed the Owner 'of the Dog, scrambling through the wire?, and making for the leeside of the hat. We all followed, and the Man of the Party was deputed to knock* at the door and beg admittance. A pleasant-faced lad opened in response to his knock, aud to the question whether we might shelter inside for a while answered, "Oh yes, if you don't mind coming into a rabbiter's hut." We quickly entered and were greeted with low growls from beneath the bunk, covered with straw and sweet manuka, whioh took up most of the room. The rest of the farniture consisted of a slab set upon supports against one wall, which evidently served as a table, and a smaller one of the same kind between the foot of the bank and the fireplace, upon whioh the Dog of the P^rty immediately mounted. Our first proceeding was to take off and shake onr dripping coats and hats and then wring the water out of our skirts in the open doorway, while our young host set a match to the pile of scrub in the fireplace and quickly had a fire blazing halfway up the chimney. He then went out of the hut and we stood round the hearth, watohing the clouds of steam whioh rose from our soaked clothes. Presently the Man of the Party was despatched with the billy in search of drinkable water. On his return the water was emptied into our host's kettle—" to save our billy," as I explained, " and now you open the basket." No sooner was the lid lifted and the first paper opened than the school teacher uttered a cry of rapture—" Tomatoes I how lovely 1 I jast go mad when I see a tomato I I can't keep from them." "That makes yoa all the same as a drunkard," observed the Man. "How do you mean?" with just the slightest inflftf-.Hofl of indigft&iiwa l& bss ton*

"Why, you say the liking for them possesses you, and you can't leave them alone; tbat oan't be good for yon." " But they don't do one any harm." " No," put in ths Owner of the Dog, " but he moans it's all the same In principle; and bo it is. You feel a craving, and so does the drinker, and you both give way to it instead of resisting." The school teacher was commencing a sentence by way of arguing the point, But a particularly tempting specimen oaused the words to end in an indistinct murmur, and I added more wood to the fire. " I say, it's a shame to be using up all his kindling wood," said the Man of tbe Party; " be must have wanted that for the morning." " We'll get him some more in," I answered — a commendable resolution, which, I regret to say, was not oarrled into effect. Here a brief altercation ensued between the Man of the Party and the O wner of the Dog, the former insisting that the dog should be removed from the table — that it was too bad to mess up a fellow's place in that way ; the latter maintaining that it Was impossible he could be otherwise than perfectly clean when he had just come in out of such a rain, that tbe appearance of his feet was due solely to moisture from the grass around the hut, and tbat he had as good a right to the table as anyone else. -. Eventually, as was just to be .expected, tho latter carried the day, and' the Man resumed unpacking .the basket, lifting ont a paper bag of plums, various* other eatables, one tpoon, one knife, a number of cups, and, lastly, a small brown earthenware teapot. " And to think," he ejaculated, as he held it up to view, " that I've carted a teapot all tbis way." . - "It was for Ohumte," I hastened to explain, " that teapot is an old acquaintance of hers, and she won't picnic without it." " Well, all these cups now," waiving his hand towards the variety spread out onithe bunk. " Because I didn't know how many people wouia be here— there wouldn't have been one apiece anyway if everybody had come." ... "There wouldn't have been enough tomatoes." As the kettle gave evidence of boiling at this moment we commenced our repast. " You've put the sugar just under my coat, and the water's dripping down Into it," observed the school teacher presently, as she helped herself to the half of a large tomato. " Don't take that," said the Man hurridly, "it's bad." "It's not— they're always soft in the middle when they're ripe." "It is bad, I tell you ; I had the other half jast now, and it tasted horrible." " Have some cake," said I. The Man regarded tbe golden-brown hemisphere before him with a dubious expression, and remarked, "If there's one thing I oan't bear it's carraway seeds." " That's all right, then," I answered, «' for when I bought tbat cake I asked the girl what kind it was, and she said it was a seed cako, only there weren't any seeds in it." " Why didn't you make it yourself 1 " " Because I hadn't time. I made the scones, though." ■ " And they're very good," put in the aohool teacher, soothingly." The Man of the Party said no more, but his expression plainly indicated that in bis opinion everything provided for a picnic that can be home-made should be home-made. I bold those views myself, and felt a humiliating consciousness that my failure was due not so much to lack of time as lack of confidence in my own skill. Before I had recovered from the depression into which this bad sunk me a diversion was caused by tbe appearance on the road of a horse aud trap, into the single seat of which ware squeezed three men, in one of whom the school teacher immediately thought she recognised a town acquaintance. The Owner of the Dog doubted this. We gathered round the door. "Whistle, Mac, and make them look rouad." The Man of the Party put his fingers to his lips and sent forth a call that would have done credit to any shepherd among the ranges. The trap stopped. We backed oat of sight, and our hospitable .entertainer, hurrying, round the corner of the hut, demanded, ," What's up 1 " " Ob, nothing— but, I gay, come and have some tea." But we could not prevail upon him to- join us. "Just take anything you want and make yourselves at home," said he, and departed again. i We' could only resolve to leave all the surplus provisions in his hub on our departure. "Are these tomatoes out of your own garden 7 " asked the school teacher presently. " No," I answered, " we don't grow them." " These plums are yours, though 1 " observed the Man of the Party. Again I had to confess to a shortcoming. " I bought those, but we do grow plums." "Better than these I" There was a world of significance in bis tone. I hastened to assure him tbat any comparison between the specimens was impossible ; and by way of changing the sub • ject remarked that I believed the rain was abating. " It'll come on again," said be, " but I don't care as long as I get the. raupo." "It'll be late when we get home, won't it ? " observed the school teacher. "I don't care as long as I'm back by 8 o'clock to-morrow morning, so as to go tcv. work," answered he. " Watcb, Mao," whispered the Owner of the Dog. The Man of the Party was seated upon tbe edge of the bunk, holding In one hand a teacup of liliputian proportions. Having emptied into this two foil-sized teaspoons of sugar he added some milk and filled all the space that remained with tea. He then gave the cap * vigorous circular shake and swallowed the contents at one galp. This process he repeated several times, and after each gulp he examined the inside of the cup with a kind of wondering expression, as though asking himself, " Did I get anything to drink tbat time or not 1 " Presently, becoming aware of our observations, he rose, and measuring the contents of his cap into one of the ordi-nary-sized ones, turned towards us and ftm£baticalhr announced; "Look, here, I've

only had the fifth of a onpfal every time, and you'll Bay I've been drinking tea." " Well, I wanted yoa to take a big one Aft first, and yoa wouldn't." "Well, I supposed if you brought thole yoa meant them to be used;" " I knew yon wouldn't be ablt to gefe a drink out of those things," remarked the Owner of the Dog. "They're pretty little caps," «a!d the kindhearted school teacher. I was beginning to foal crashed again, bufe rallied myself, and observed that I wished the boy would oome in ; it was too bad to keep him out in the rain bo long. "He's after rabbits," said the Man of the Party, who was looking out from the door; •• he's got one in a hole," and in a moment; the speaker was out of the hut and bounding across the paddock. We busied ourselves in collecting the remains of the meals and placiog the fruit, milk, &c, carefally on one side for our host. Then we swept down the table and tidied the room and fireplace ; repacked the crockery in our basket, and were donning our hats and ;, coats when the Man returned. After carefully inspecting the fire to makeaure that wa. had left all safe, he led the way at a brisk pace toward the creek. B veryone who knows, much about the habits of raupois aware that it prefers to grow in water,- especially daring • the winter, but I believe the point is yet audeoided whether, when you are already wet , through, it makes you any the colder to plunge over the boot-tops in brakisb, swamp water. _ " What we had come for, however, was ranpb, and that we got, catting until the. dusk deepened so much that we were unable to distir gaiih the stems from leaves. The Man of the Party made our separate bundles into one immense sway, which be hoisted on to bis shoulder, despite our offers of assistance and requests to be allowed to carry at least a portion of the load. ■■ Wa called at the hut for our basket, bade a friendly adieu to our young host, and set off for town again, enlivening the way with songs and stories. We paused awhile on the Bay road to watob the revolving light on Dog Island, counting the moments between each appearance, and finally reached tho post office jasfc as the chimes sounded for 9' o'clock. Wo turned up one of the side streets and haulted beneath a gas light to divide our spoil, while a policeman passing on bis beat eyed us with wonder and amusement. The Man of the Party insisted upon carrying each bundle to its destination, which entailed much additional tramping on his part, after the Dog of the P»rty had partaken of a particularly .appetising supper and sunk into peaceful slumber upon his owner's bed.