THE WENDY HUT

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1930, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE WENDY HUT

r > : , . . ... - , ■ ■■!.'■■■„ • ■ GIRLS OF LONG Ago. . ’ \ ' •;/- ' MAJID. •. -p.’.v • \ • ’ Maud had 'been ill with fever, so her father took her aboard ship for France, thinking-the spa air would do her good. ? 'y- ■ It was a great advenfure for Maud. As she rested upon a bundle of hay on the deck, she. thought of. the.important.mission; ' \ on which they were bound. Her father had been commanded t 0... bring .'to England, secretly'a'-special'cargo'fbr Queen Joanna, the. French step-mother of King Henry the Fifth,: and Maud was thrill* ed by the very names' of the wonderful things they would soon have on board.' i >- J • • -••• •' “A barrel.of anchovies,” she murmured)-but shb-was not .at « all sure what ancfwivies were. -‘Seven cases of lamps—marvellous lights, so *my. father says, quite different-from candles. And sixty pipes of excellent French wine. We shall unload in London, so I shall see that city where, they say, the streets are lighted with lanterns since Saint George’s Day last.” fShe could not believe that' there were. in the streets ; at night, but she was sure that the sea wap full of serpents, and - . . she watched the waves all the way .to Brittany where.the precious ~ ... Vj. '- cargo was iaken aboard. It was a very dark .night when- they reached London • and .'.cast anchor in the Thames, and Maud noticed that her father looked worried. While she was listening, and. hoping to hear the . roar of the lions in the Tower, her father came and whispered ' in.her ear. ■ ■■/ - ; :i i>-.,am going ashore to fetch, soldiers/’ he said. : 'T am>’ •; anxious for thia precious cargo. -Say. not a word to the . •''s'.-'j’i sailors.”. •• .:. . -A-j... > ; But news had -leaked out that, a small sbjpbearing mystei- ■ \ ious cargo was ‘in the Thames, and a band , of- dangerous ruffians ■■ | ' crept aboard that night and attacked the crew, who imagined . their captain to be killed. All would have been lost but for the • ' r . presence of mind of ijaud. ’ ‘ ; , 1 | Wrapping herself in a cloth which left-only her pale face visible, she appeared suddenly, crying but that she was the White ' " Lady, and inviting all who would to chance with her. HprrifieiJ,;A: - both sailors and ruffiians fled in cpfifupion; for; the Whitp;.liadigBi, .. J were-thought to be dangerous spirits who-lurked on . narrow •places and flung all who refused to■ dance with them into the I ' , water. ' " ’ ' h ■> - <■» <■■ > - | ■ So Maud saved the cargo, but only. King himself did | j. her father tell the. true story of .the White ‘Lady. And- Henry' j /'• : sent Maud eight ells, of blue cloth "and afar manti© that she-, • j ;,t might, appear-suitably, clothed' for the/feast of Saint George to , which; he invited her and'her father. , ' --,i .: k. j 1 •