Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/204

 struck on our ears which had never invaded them before, and looking up, startled, we discovered a fearsome animal coming straight for us. We didn’t wait for further investigation, but, like a couple of scared rabbits, darted into the scrub and fern, and hid, our hearts bumping against our ribs, whilst we buried ourselves deep in the friendly shelter. Nothing would induce us to break cover until, peeping timidly through the fern, we were further startled to see bogey divide itself into two separate individuals. One of these was a weird-looking creature we had never before seen, even in our dreams, but the other we had no difficulty in recognising as a man. This somewhat reassured us, and nothing further having happened, we very cautiously came out of hiding, and were further emboldened when my father came forward and entered into conversation with the man. The whole apparition was simply a man on horseback. Our impression was that both were component parts of a single creature, and we were almost as scared to see them divide into two as we were to see them hurling towards us in unison when they first invaded the sanctum of our playground. It is, I know, impossible for the