Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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The Branksome Slogan 27 mind, flooding it with soothing- unreality. Soon he was sauntering down a quiet lane in the brisk cool of an afternoon in mid-autumn. Clean-cut maples and towering oaks, magnificent in the glory of fall, lived before him. He smiled faintly as his eye caught the fat dog, in mad pursuit of the rabbit she would nev er catch. At last, though he was unaware of it, his body was no longer able to. go on. Sinking to the ground, he raved and muttered in delirium until he slept. A murky haze grew in the sky and in a few hours a slight drizzle began. The tiny drops pattered incessantly and the leaves dripped. A large pool collected around the sleeping form, gradually soaking it from head to foot. Night was approaching when the rain ceased. The air was fresher. The sky had turned to that pale grey of a twilight alter rain. He awoke with a start, clear-headed but very weak. Looking about in the gloom, he strove to recognize one distinguishing feature of the jungle which hemmed him in. It was useless. After the crash, he had thought a tramp of thirty miles due east would take him to tlie air-field. He cursed himself. Thirty miles seemed nothing then, but now he knew it might as well have been three hundred, for he had no food, no compass. He was hopelessly lost. The full realization of his weakness came over him, as he attempted to stand. It left him reeling and nauseated. He lay back, his eyes closed, fighting to stifle the sudden wave of hysteria. When he opened them again, the tall figure of a man, standing just before him, was silhouetted against the darkening sky. He feared his delerium had re- turned. Then dimly, as unconsciousness closed in, he felt someone pull- ing him up and he knew that he was being carried, but he could remem- ber no more. ¥ hen he came too, the sun had risen and was filling the morning with its brillance. The jungle was no longer about him, and he was lying in a clearing which he instanly recognized as being near the field. Suddenly he remembered his rescuer. Forcing his body to a sitting position, he gazed blankly around him. As if in answer to the unspoken query, a man, who had been sitting a short distance away, rose and came forward. He was very young, with unkempt reddish hair. The uniform of a lieutenant in the Air Corps, tattered and filthy, hung loosely on his gaunt frame. He did not speak, but gently raised the sick man ' s right hand and placed a shining ring on its third finger. Having finished, he saluted gravely and turned back to the jungle. In a moment he had disappeared. The patrol found Captain Grey in the tiny clearing in time to save his life. After many weeks his recovery was sure. Major Halliday,

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26 The Branksome Slogan Sometimes I watched when the evening breeze arose, gathering- the scattered clouds under her wing until all the sky was clear, save for the frieze of high, puffy, intangible clouds over the west which the darkening sky had not yet swallowed intO ' its unfathomable nothingness. On clouds like these, the last rosy glow of the departed sun lived for a few seconds in luminous beauty. Then night reigned and the wind was still. I uttered a silent prayer of thanksgiving to Him ' ' who maketh the clouds His chariots: who walketh upon the wings of the wind. ELVA PARKINSON. Lost The steaming jungle was silent. The unearthly stillness was in itself a reason for his terror. The sun beat down through the canopy of verdant green, slanting obliquely, and met the jungle tloor in faded patches of lig ht. Great hulks, of trees loomed in the murky shade, their limbs in an embrace of death by long, thick vines which curled and twisted like serpents of evil. Here and there, exotic blooms glowed against the sombre background, almost sinister in their strange beauty. The black soil oozed water; so that at every step his feet sank into the mud. Though it was not yet noon, the air was hot and fetid, heavy with moisture and teeming with tiny insects. He found it extremely difficult to advance, for at every step he had to force his way through the lush undergrowth and matted vines. How long he had been walking he did not know, for in his fever-ridden mind time had ceased to be. A large beetle, black and shiny, ran paist his foot. He stamped at it viciously, losing for an instant the iron will which had kept back all his anger and frustration. The heat and fever had made him dizzy. He felt again the onslaught of sickness. His head was suddenly very light and his body was shaken by a severe chill. One memory kept appearing before him, much as he prayed that it might be blotted out forever. — The plane, its nose buried in the hill, a blazing trap for the other member of its crew, was etched sharply against the wall of his mind. Of hov he had been thrown clear at the crash he had no recollection, but he could hear still the cries of his companions. He felt he could almost see them, as he fought at the buckled door, even then too late to free them. On and on he staggered, blindly tearing at the vines and foliage in sickness and despair. Mercifully, delerium crept over his tired

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28 The Branksome Slogan in command of the field, came to visit him during his convalescence. As the two men shook hands, a most peculiar expression came over the Major ' s face. He demanded to know how Grey had come into posses- sion of the ring- he was wearing on his right hand. When Grey had finished his account, the Major snatched the ring off his hand, and took it to the windoiv to examine it more fully. Finally he said, ' ' This is ' Red ' Brown ' s ring. He cracked up out there six months ago, and he waved a hand expressively toward the jungle. The crazy fool would fly too low. Said he knew the jungle like a book. I — I helped bury him myself. DOROTHY GAFBELEIN. LETTERS OF FRANCES B. CHASE AND BRAIN Dear Brain: A week from this Monday marks the beginning of the Christmas Exams. I trust you understand that you will be expected to put forth all your energy, beginning not later than the present moment, in helping me in the pursuit of knowledge. I beg you to concern yourself with this problem immedi- ately and employ all your powers of concentration to this end. I hope I am not too late. Yours truly, rMiss) FRANCES CHASE. Dear Miss Chase: I regret to inform you that, due to circumstances which I do not wish to control, I do not intend to be concerned with or concentrate upon the pursuit of knowledge. Furthermore, I have no intention of exerting myself in cramming work which you have neglected since September. You should be interested to know that I am up- held in this decision by my friend and ally, your stomach who. as you remember, was intensly an- noyed Saturday when given no less than four sodas of different flavours to digest in one after- noon. Also with me is my great friend, your heart, (known crudely as ' ticker ), who has been very much disturbed of late by the ap- pearance of that brown-eyed sailor. Yours very truly, Your Brain. Dear Brain: If you are insinuating that I should tolerate such diabolical in- sults from such a minute piece of fluff as yourself, you are labour- ing under a slight misapprehen- sion. I demand that you apologise or I shall read Li ' l Abner again to annoy you. , Sincerely, FRANCES CHASE. Dear Frances: As if you would ever stop read- ing Li ' l Abner! You are in no position to ask for apologies. After all, who started this ! ! I find your coriduct abominable, and I will in-