ADDITIONAL PRIZE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 65, 20 September 1940, Page 11

ADDITIONAL PRIZE

(E. E. Malden) T was dark ... And suddenly the road took a turn under some dark and overhanging trees. As Mr. Potts came round the corner, instead of seeing his man walking steadily ahead of him, all he saw was the white ribbon of the road fading into the dusk-his man was gone! And with the realisation that somehow and somewhere he had given him the slip, all Mr. Potts’s old fears and inhibitions came back like a rising tide, completely swamping his new found courage and powers of decision. At first he hurried on to where it was lighter, then he came back slowly, peering into the shadows, throwing an occasional . ft Ade

stone at the deeper shadows under the trees and then running back quickly to the lighter part of the road. In fact Mr. Potts was dithering. As it got darker the more confused he became, having no mind but in his imagination he found it impossible to decide on any line of action. Was the man behind him or in

front? Was that his shadow just beyond the tall gum tree? Should he go back to his car? And so while he was still trying to make up his mind it was decided for him. The lights of a baby car swept down the road, and as it flashed by, he not only saw the ironical salute of the driver, but also its number; and like the worm he was, Mr. Potts turned and began his long walk back to Christchurch.