December 1927 School Magazine

Brisba.n~ Girls' Gra-mmar School 1\I.a.g.azi.ne.

IJ e confessed , t hat the ideal at which Mi~s Dau u iJUS<'h aimed ·.v ;u; t11u h·igh. that she a pparenHy forgot. t hat the ma j o rHy of us w8r .c cJttiJ"'? .y untrained in the a[Jpi·ec iation of t he best c lassi cal mu sic- , and i· It:

SMUGGLER'S HA:UNTS. "Would not this be a lovely day to explore the cliffs ?"' The speaker was Joyce Merton, who was .staying at the seaside with her cousin, Betty Fardon. · "Splendid idea!. , came the reply, "we shall start now." The cliffs were about a mile away, but the girls did not take l ong to reach them, so eager were they to begin their explorations. "I have brought a · t orch for the caves, " ·said Betty. They climbed the cliff path to the entrance of the first cave. There were three caves. none of them large, and their ch-arm, to t he girls , lay not in their beauty, but in their mystery, for they were doubtless associated with the usual romances of smugglers. "Ugh!" Betty shuddered as the torch lit up some grote3que shapes on the wall of the innermost cave. "This reminds me o( every ·uncanny tale I have ever read," she said, and started back towards the daylight, followed by Joyce . In the outer cave Betty caugh~ her foot on an old rusty chain , and fell , dragging it across the floor. ' 'Look!" .she cried the next in5tant, for in moving the chain, she had dislodged the rock to which it was fixed , showing a~ opening in .the wall of the cave. "Another cave!" cried Joyce as both dropped on to their hands and lmees to g-et through the na.rrow entrance . This cave was much larger than any of the others , and showed signs of having once been occupied. It contained a number of barrels, one of which held a small wooden box. which had apparently been placed there quite recently. As the girls could not open it , they decided to carry it away with them. . Betty glanced at her watch. "It is after five o'clock, and I t old mother we should be back by half-past ." she said. The girls returned to t.he outer cave , to find that they could not reach the f oot' of the cliffs , as the tide bad risen , and· the' water was washing up t"o th-em. It being also impossible to get to the top of the cliffs , they were thus cut off from home. "Well," said Joyce. "if we must stay here for the night. let ua finish exploring," and they re-entered the large "new" cave. In one dark recess they came across a narrow passage. "I wonder where it. leads ,'" said Betty. "Do you think it migh t end ~omewhere on the top of the cliffs? " "Probably it does ," answered Joyce. "Let •us try it ," and s h:e led the way, carrying the torch. They continued on for some time , ;nd then the battery of the torch gave out, so that they h;td to grope blindly along. It was only a few minutes, howev-er, before they saw a ti!!.Y chink of light ahead. It was the end of the passage. After ascending a few steps the cousins reached a. small trap-doo r , tan.d on emerging, found themselves in the mids t of a thick shrub

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