THE CARAVAN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 91, 10 January 1918, Page 6

THE CARAVAN

AND WHERE IT RESTED

' [By Will Lawson.] This caravan was a troop-train, hauled by two engines, and composed of many seated wagons. Its speed, of course, exceeded by a great deal tho speed of a caravan. Its resemblance to that old-timo perambulator lay in the fact that it rested, not frequently, but quite decisively. From Lambtqu Station tho troop-train pulled out amid farewolls, both vocal and visual—the handkerchiefs looked like Hags wujcii' , : Then the train sped awav towards Featherston Camp; at tho Upper Ilutt a rest, necessary for railway purposes but important to the passoiip- r . made. The next rest' would be at Kaitoko. The importance of t)u> i. could never bo over-estimated.

The passengers by a train not far ahead of thfi caravan noticed signs of intense activity at the tca-rooins at Kaitoke during a brief stay thore. There were mountains of sandwich** and cauldrons of tea being made ready; pyramids of cakes and stacks of bottled liquids. Theso colossnl preparations made tho passengers fed that

.>•"!• nvt' wants wore stvingplv simple and small, and they themselves as mere civilians were small. Thov w ,, - ■nore than usually araenablo to the guard's urgent appeal. '''! snnted, please." 'Til noccniMTm* f ,r >in cli 1 i' - o i '"^ the bend with engines hurling smoke and steam at the heavons in their haste. To sneak truthfully, it was ho'-1r.,. out iif i-V -rn.y. for f!lf estrnvr"' roared into Kaitoke station very soon afterwards. Its forward end was

f| r--! into tn« loon-linn bv n 'iv.-.V switch, and the rest of it rumbled into .■hit havpu of refuge, that is protre hv intnrlocl'"'r , ti cesir and othr>r contrivances. The caravan Tiad rested..

The down evening mail swung into Knitn'cf b«fpre tho troop-train left its secluded siding, it being a simple recognised railway rule that two trains cannot pass on a single track. All tho troops were back in their wagons, however, and ready to go. They looked contented and calm. A long lino of sunburnt faces peered from • opened doors and smiled at other faces—some of them were very pretty faces —at tho open windows of the mail.

"That is a well-disciplined crowd of men," a passenger said, "to waitslike that, aiid the refreshment-rooms just over the way."

He thought the mail-train peoplo were to have "first serve." He did not realise that this caravan had fully rested—and refreshed. But ho soon saw evidences which could not be overlooked. From the south signal-box right along to the extreme north end of the station, two lines of white extended—one at the extreme edtre of the platform, the other olose against tne station buildings. These were empty cups and saucers, hundreds nf them— and not more than two had been broken. Insido the tea-rooms tbcro was nn atmosphere, an aftermath, as it were., of recent intenso activity. More empty cups and saucers lay oit the counters; and the staff, looking a trifle 'tired, wai? busily cutting sandwiches and making more tea, having hj , herculean efforts got a small stock ready to go on with, in the interval of tho troops retiring to their caravan and the incoming of the mail.

For ages past men and women have talked and written and sung about caravans and where they have rested. But do they really understand what that means?