HONOUR SATISFIED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17180, 25 October 1923, Page 7

HONOUR SATISFIED.

NIGHT RUNNERS’ WORK, A COLLEGE AFFRAY.

Tho moon had found a refuge in the - clouds, for it was a. night of secrecy. All wfts silent save for the fretful scurry of the wind, and the beating of tho rail! up the streets. Time passed, ns time does, and it was not long lief ore the silence was shattered by the striking of the College clock. It was midnight now, and “Vengeance'*’ was the watchword. From unexpected places, stealthy figures came into the streets and went towards the west of the town. Up the streets they went, making for the willow tree which the Night Runners had made their meeting place. .Half an hour passed, and all that could be seen of life beneath that willow tree were the red dots of burning cigarettes. Ominous,signals .these, but nobody to whom they would have meant much was there to see them. A furious gust of wind set the telegraph wires singing, and to this melancholy air the Runners came forth from their lair. All faces were masked in handkerchiefs, and ' Bill Sykes caps were pulled down over their eyes. Their footwear was light, and for all the world they looked like a procession of burglars celebrating a great event in their unhallowed history. The Night Runners were a band or Avengers, and their objective was a house in Rolleston Avenue, the home of students, who are men of peace* and seekers after truth. It is not so long ago that the- men of this house were humbled while an illustrious company came among them to be fed and feted. That is history now, and no ! College jest book can let that incident go unchronicled. Then, the men of ; peace, justly enraged, seized the villainous disturber of their serenity, who had so humbled their pride, and made him the unwilling subject of an evening swim in the river Avon. But there were in the College men who despised the men of peace, and they resolved that no comrade of theirs should he treated so ignominoiisJy by such as the men of peace It was this that sent the Night Runners on their errand, and a leader of ' the men of peace was the object of ! their searching. Through the avenue of trees that whispered but told no- : thing they went, and then over the : road into a red-roofed house. Forty runners burst inside and found the sleeping chamber of their man. He woke, and felt many arms a Dour- him. A barbarian with shears ran his fingers through his hair, and then the modern “ Rape of the Lock ” began. The shears snipped away, making uusymmetrical patches. A mysterious bottle 1 containing a mysterious liquid was : produced, and proved on application to the head of the victim to be a par- i ticularlv effective brand of green dye. ' The work of retribution done, the Runners left their victim to his assorted thoughts and went back to the willow tree. But when they got there they found that. Comrade ‘F— was missing. He had fallen into the hands of the enemy. A mighty cry went- up, and a Jiastv conference decided that the unfortunate prisoner should be rescued even if tho Runners were annihilated in the effort.. Hack they went, and once more the raiders rushed into tile thunder, and the cries of in combat came through tho night Smitten bodies made dull thuddino Douses as they hit the floor, and tliev fought like lions as their remorseless attackers dragged them, pvjamalclad, out into the black night and’ rain. One ™ taken out on to the road, and in Pyjamas, rolled towards the gutter, hut in a frenzy he broke avvav. }[,, fled down the street, his bare feet making a pattering on the wet pavement as he went. There was more fighting and the men of peace secured white - clad reinforcements. When the battle had gone far enough and the bloodshed deep enough to satisfy their honour, the Runners went back once more to tho willow tree. The last sight at the door of the raided house was of two "bite figures silhouetted against the light, examining each other’s heads, and rubbing the bumps sympathetic! ally. Silence came once more, and the Runners walking home through the streaming streets fought their battles o’er again.