son children. There was Jake, just my own age, and Billy, a
little younger, and Connie and Minnie, the two smallest. Oh yes, we each
had our own horse or pony: Everybody rides out there. We slung baskets
and tin cans over our saddles and then started up by the dry bed of the
river towards the head of the gully. It was very hot (January's like
July here), but we all had big hats and we didn't care. It was such fun
to be together. When your nearest neighbours are twelve miles off you
don't see them often enough to get tired of them. Billy was always
making jokes, and Jake was jolly too in a quiet kind of way. Sometimes
we could all ride abreast, and sometimes we had to go in single file,
and our horses seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Brownie loved
company, so it was a treat for him as well as for me. The place we were
going to was a piece of high land that lay at the top of the valley
above the Higsons' block. There were generally plenty of berries up
there, and we thought they'd just be ripe. It took us a fairly long time
to do the climb, because there was no proper road, only a rough track.
It was lovely, though, when we got up; we had a splendid view down the
gully, and the air was so much cooler and fresher than it had been at
the farm. We tethered our horses and gathered scrub to make a fire and
boil our kettle. In New Zealand no one thinks of having a meal without
drinking tea with it. We'd the jolliest picnic. The Higsons were famous
for their cakes, and they'd brought plenty with them. I can tell you we
didn't leave very many in the baskets.

"'Best put out our camp-fire,' Jake said when we'd finished; so we all
set to work and stamped it out carefully. Everything was so dry with the
heat that a spark might easily have set fire to the bush. Then we took
our cans and went off to find berries. There were heaps of them; so we
just picked and picked and picked for ever so long. Suddenly, when we
were talking, we heard a noise and looked round. There was a stampede
among the horses, and two of them, Billy's and Connie's, had broken
loose and were careering down the gully. We ran as quick as lightning to
the others for fear they might also free themselves and follow. I caught
Brownie by the bridle and soothed him as well as I could; but he was
very excited and trembling, and kept sniffing. Then I saw what had
frightened him, for a puff of wind brought a puff of smoke with it, and
ahead of us I saw a dark column whi