LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED —BOOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 21 (Supplement)

LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED —BOOTS.

. :(By SHBIIA QUINN.) Boots,' boots, boots. For the last half of tho; third term the school talked of nothing else. It was the joke and tragedy of the term. You see if; all started over the head' 9 ruby ring. But here's" the.. story.

It happened on a wet afternoon when the head was taking us for history. The lesson was proceeding in thb exciting way history lessons usually do when there camo a dramatic interruption. -

"My ring 'boys, My ring," tho head cried in an agitated voice.

Wo looked at his finger. His much treasured ring was gone. Thero and then the third form began a long search of the class room. Anything out of the ordinary was popular with us. We all took a peculiar delight in tearing the pictures off the walls. Emptying the ink wells. Kuthlcssly throwing the contents of desks about. It was real thrilling. • ';• ■ ■■"■.<'

Well, at last we stopped and the ring still remained undiscovered. The story of course soon spread over the school, and though the head was real sporting about.it; the school was not. The'fact remained that the head' had entered the third form room with his'ring on his finger, and while there it had mysteriously disappeared. Therefore, who could have taken it but those, cheeky young thirds. So thought the rest of the school, and wherever we went we were regarded' with cold suspicious stares.

So that afternoon we held a meeting in the dormitory to discuss matters. ■.

Jack Phillips, otherwise Hip, opened the discussion angrily. ' : .'■■

"It's like" their jolly cheek accusing us of taking the head's ring. I vote" we have revenge on tho whole school. Those in favour, hands up." , - '

Every hand was raised.

"Carried unanimously, Flip • Bang out. So the next question was what form the revenge should take.

• For tho next half-hour wo pondered over it, and at last Flip again came to the rescue with.,a plan that made us gasp with excitement. • . -' '.-.

Briefly, it wae.this. 'In the dead of night we should creep round the.school with sacks and take every single boot wo .came across. • Then, slip off to a tiny deserted eottago in the woods about a quarter of a mile from tho college.- Good idea wasn't it? • ••.

.Alas for lTlip'3 brainy plan.

The first part was carried out exactly as arranged. We collected every boot in the school, not inchiding the masters', and safely deposited them in the deserted shack. Then we returned to* the school aud slept blissfully for the remainder of the night.

We awoko in tho morning •with the cry of boots ringing in our ears. ' The corridors were lined with boya all in their socks, from,.the juniors with their, bare toes protruding, to the seniors in their stylish eilk footwear. It was the funniest sight you ever saw. '■'.. . .'■

1 "The prefects wero hopping round in their stockinged feet, looking too exasperated for words, but the juniors were, all convulsed with ,mirth. Minus our boots wo all trooped into prayers; also minus our boots wo went to breakfast and it was there that the head made an important announcement.

"I am sure," he said, "you will all be pleased to know that the ring I lost yesterday has been found. I discovered it last night in one of my boots. Evidently it had slipped there. ■" I must thank all tha boys who helped in the search yesterday." Tho school was'delighted, and our name vus cleared.

The masters, did not. particularly notice that we were all without boots so for the rest of tho'day we enjoyed ourselves as we had never done in our lives before. •...;• ■'.:-. •'■•- %

To see the school captain, a big 'fief fcy chap, of about ten stone, striding round the school grounds in dancing pumps was, as Flip said, "a sight for sore eyes." Also to see infants of the second form dragging their feet round in football boots many sizes too largo made us collapse into fits of uncontrolled laughter.

Well, .we had had our. little revenge, and In a way that had given; us plenty of amusement, and. the sehool rmuch-dis-comfiture for one day, so that night,.as on the previous night, wo -Tepfc from our dorm., crossed the quadrangle, and made our way to the deserted hut in the wood, in order to get the boots jind return them .to the school. - "-■-•

Wo entered tho decayed little hut and glanced round for the numerous sacks wo had left there the niglit before. Then we gasped in horror. THE BOOTS WEKE GONE.

For an hour wo frantically searched with horrifying visions arising in our minds of the school going about for the rest of the term minus boots. At dawn, however, wo fled back to school in terror and spent tho rest of the early morning sitting on our beds shivering, and discussing the dreadful question.

All that i day the chaps went round in socks again, but this time we found nothing funny in the eight. On tho contrary, everytimo we saw a boy hove into sight in socks, it gave us a nasty turn; '.•■■'•

The next day the school awoke to that they had seen the last of their boots, and never in the history of Friadale village,had the boot-shops-been so busy. : They were fairly.stormed with chaps wanting to buy'boots.

After that, slowly by degrees, things becamo moro normal. JBoots wore bought, borrowed or hired. Chaps woreslippers, gand shoes, dancing pumps—in fact anything that resembled a boot or shoo. ■'.:'

So ended tlio greatest excitement the college lias experienced for many a year,. Wβ were not found out. You sec we never informed the school that it was we who had taken the hoots. Somehow wo concluded that they might not think it was the find joko wo thought it at tho time.

Tho school is still talking and wondering over tho affair of the boots. So aro we. The mystery has never yet been solved. Perhaps, far -.away from the college there is a second-hand shop selling the boots we so carefully hid that night when wo had our little rovengo on the school.