Through South Westland : A journey to the Haast and Mount Aspiring New Zealand . wandering winds that pass,Bear with them, oer the thistled grass. The darksome forests moan. H. L. TWISTLETON. It was indeed a sorry place to spend a night, butI was thankful to get there ! We turned the horsesloose, and proceeded to light a fire : the chimneywould not draw—not, indeed, to be wondered at,for after all it was only a hole, and all the smokecame inside. Then we found there was no tea,that being in one of the abandoned sacks. All wecould do was to mix some cream and hot water,and this, with a hunch of
Through South Westland : A journey to the Haast and Mount Aspiring New Zealand . wandering winds that pass,Bear with them, oer the thistled grass. The darksome forests moan. H. L. TWISTLETON. It was indeed a sorry place to spend a night, butI was thankful to get there ! We turned the horsesloose, and proceeded to light a fire : the chimneywould not draw—not, indeed, to be wondered at,for after all it was only a hole, and all the smokecame inside. Then we found there was no tea,that being in one of the abandoned sacks. All wecould do was to mix some cream and hot water,and this, with a hunch of bread and butter, con-stituted our supper. I took the wet wrappings offthe cake : it was a ruin, reduced to a mere pudding—and we left it for the next party of first we thought of Transome riding back forhelp, but it was now 10 and he was tiredout, and we were both depressed over this tragicending to a perfect day. So we decided that heshould go early next morning, and then turned ourthoughts to making ourselves as comfortable asmight be for the S <l^^ 1 i^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B • V JLi:u_™ T^^^I^^^H . 1- fff -^ THE NIGER HUT. 153 We found some dry litter ; and once upon a timethere had been two bunks there, but most of theslats had been used for firewood by the settled himself on the floor in his bag,and was asleep m a few minutes ; fortunately thesleeping-bags and nigs were dry. I collectedsome slats lying about, and repaired one bunk,which stood just below the frameless window-opening. And now a new cause of disquietude presenteditself. All the cattle on the flat had collected roundthe hut in a wild state of excitement, and theirappetite for dry goods seemed insatiable. So har-ness and everything had to be brought inside—andI just rescued my towel and bathing-dress from ahungry cow ; nor would the door keep shut, and amoist nose was constantty pushed in, to be withdrawnin haste after receiving a sounding slap with
Size: 1366px × 1829px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidthroughsouth, bookyear1900
