MAUD ALLAN'S MOTOR

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 85, 16 May 1914, Page 14

MAUD ALLAN'S MOTOR

RESCUED BY BULLOCK TEAM. Miss "Maud AUan has : had some "back-woods" adventuresawhile motor-1 ing • about New Zealand -which make good stories as retailed in lier crisp American way. One dealt with a creek, a farmer and. a team of bullocks—"And'tili my,' but it;was just too terrible for words." -Miss.Allan and her party were. proceeding from Napier to Masterton, and the car- fetched up against a creek which looked.pretty uii; crossable, but the chauffeur thought, he would at least attempt it. This is the wflvMiss Allan tells the-story.' "We charged' right into like the Four Hundred,— although- it looked deep, and the current was so strong that a dog which attempted to swim across was',carried down stream; When we were in trie middle of it, one side of the car went down with a great dip, and there we stuck. We took off -our shoes and stockings and seized our precious belongings and waded to the shore, mounting guard over them, and it was cold! We had thought--to get to Masterton early in the afternoon and had planned to have a nap, and a comfortable dinner and so on, and there we were, cold and hungry, —for we'd left our-lunch in the car and hadn't courage enough to wade back for it, —and our car fast in the' m'nlillc of the stream! Finally one of the Oherniavskys wentto a farm-house near by, and the farmer iiuau came -with his bullocks, —great huge creatures, almost as big as this room! He had names for all of-them too, —Barney ami Snowy and goodness i knows what else,—and he hitched them j to the car, and they pulled it out as j easy as falling off a log, and up to the ! top of a hill. Nearly toppled it over j the side of the road once, through bearing too much over to one side, but | Barney and'do. were persuaded back to I the straight path eventually. The farmer man was so nice,—didn't know which was Miss Allan, so he lifted his hat to both Miss Lonnon and me with the greatest impartiality. When he found out which was me. he asked for my photograph, but I hadn't one there to give him. But I wish I hadn't packed my camera up,—l'd have liked a picture of those huge bullocks pulling us out of the creek to s£nd home to America." They were, late for the concert at Masterton, but the audience when told' of the cause of delay, freely foxgay.c. In returning to Wellington on Thursday night the party came on a roail in the .rough—just'-;.being' made, and huge rocks aud boulders packed for some dis-

tance along the track. The car refused to budge, and a man "driving a poor meagre horse in a dump cart" came to the rescue and extricated them. By.a great scramble they were' able to appear in Wellington on schedule time. Another man who Came, along also driving a dump cart watched the" ear; l being assisted to safety by the "poor meagre horse" gave a parting.shot with the words, "After all, an 'orse is a darned sight better than.a.motor car, any day!"