November 1922 School Magazine

November, 1e22. BRISBANI4 GIRLS' GRAMMAR SC1iOOL MAGAZINE'

11

iunate chivalry! Hazel'was puzzled-Frecl being her brother. Betore long the sky took on a threatening and stormy appeal'anrce, and they resolvecl. that the short cut across the dried-up swa,tnp must be taken if shelter rvere to be reached in time. The girls dreaded it-f or f ear of nleeting the old y,.oman; and !'red, despit,e his bravaclo, said he preferred the other way home and a good wettingl But the girls respected their frodks, and clesrpite their mis- givin'gs, ulged Fred to take the ti-tree track -which he clicl, though iwith no very gooiL gracel In the hurried wa1k, Hazel's brooch came unclaspecl and fe'l1 down into a little culvelt beside the track. Naturaliy she junrpecl do,wn atter it. And then a strange thing happened! Hazel pilcked it up as in a dream, gazing belreath the iitile briclge wirir a fixed stare, for al1 the worltl as if she harl been tulned into one of the stones on which she had subsided. "Are you hurt?" asked her brother gruUly. "Look!" gasped ths '9111. Sy'bil looked. There beneath the little ,cu1- vert was an orld yellov/ed ghawl, an unmis- takable bonnet, a piilolw, and a black skirtl Frecl went lbrick red, then he coughed. "Nothing very remarkalble atbout old clothes. What-" Hazel lookecl at him steadily and with mean- ing-ancl particularly at his nose. Itls hue was rerminiscent, of partially rubbed off coch- ineal. Then she knew! "You beast!" she said; "calling yor a he,ro! Oh, you-you lunatic!" "A tribute to my acting, sweef. si,ster," Ifred bowed sh,amelessly. "You bo.y* lunaticl" she said with scorn. "We sarw the' old woman' making for the ti- tree track. No woncler you \\'ere so gallantly at hand to rescue us! Oh, you-" Words failed her. "Little girls need a fright to keep them out of undesirable places," said thi,s. incorrig- ible youth. "In doing this ndcessarily pain- fu1 actiou I had your future rvolfare ar heart. Sybil gasped-she didn't posses,s rl bi:olher. "You hateful, hat,e,ful boy," she sald-.but. she said it with a laugh in hel eYes. D.D,, IV. B.

What terrible thing could not haplpen in the trlack and still darkness! Hazelrfollorwecl her glance, and sajw near the iow ceiling of the roorm, a t.iny window covered iby a tol'n scrap of blind. A 'means of escape perh.apsl- A coh-rveb covered and ricketty olcl (box was Soon dragged ,beneath it, but the height of the window from the ground macle exit by this means impossilble-and the girls groaned' Suddenly Hazel nearly upset the box in her effort to gain yet a larger view fro'm the win- dow. "Oh," she saicl, "there's th,rt-she's rvalking down through the bush, going to- 1ya1ds lhat olcl track through the ti-tree s'wamp !" "We can't get out, anyway," Sybii an- nouncecl in a voice of agony, and she sank down on the floor in despair. I't seemed hour,s to the girls before footsteps were again hearcl in the darknessrbut this time they rvere heavier-more terrilble' "Her husbandl" N'ailecl S:rbi1' "oh-I-" but Hazel clapped her hancl over her friencl'-s mout.h. They waited in breathless rsilence, as the unknown terror neared the cloor of their prison, when a 'rYell-known voice saici, "You here, by any chance, 'girls-Haze1' Sybil- coo-ee." "Oh, X'recl! I' came in chorus trom the two' "Iet us out quickiy; we're lockecl in. Oh' hurry ! " "Lockeal in!" surprise and horror were in his voice. "What on earth-perhaips one of my keys might fit; if not-" For s'ome min- utes there was a scraping sound, and then the door burst orpen-and the girls rusherl out. They lore out of the house followed rby Frecl. "Tell you on t.he way home!" gas'ped Hazel. "Quickly!" "Just as well I gave up cricket this after- noon," Fred re'marked, in the ca1'm voice olf a hero. "Thought it best to foliow, anal keep an eye on You childrenl" "You clear rboy," said lfaTsl-6 remal'k which she afterwards sincerely regretted I On the way from the house, they told their story, and tr'red voiwed venrgeance on the old hag, though with more feeling that was ahso- lutely necessary, considering that he had not sufferecl at her hands! Sybil put it do\i/n to