Page
THE CHINA MAIL FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, JULY 26, 1940
Of Human Valour
(Continued from Page 2)
of her nurse.
engine with satisfaction.
"Bravo," she answered.
ed a gap
beside her.
Johnnie sat in the bows staring "Here skipper," he
no right to take an able-bodied
man from his work in England: She grinned delightedly, and on the spur of the moment would know about rifles too.
she could think of nobody on the had never fired one in her life. spot who was as lindy in the "All right," she whispered. "What's
to take your name?" Johnnie away for the weekend sometimes. Johnnie washed
bout. He and she used
name. "Tanner's the up!
skipper. and looked after the boat when You're a sport." She felt a bit they went ashore. . She was of a sport.
one of the few people who under-
never
an
"Get back. "We're in four where was he-Oh God, where the in the barbed wire, coast of England. covering
I must keep working the was he.... ? where she supposed there were Channel like waterbeetles on the feet.
A bomb burst among rifles and lifeboats obtainable, and surface of à pool. Pleasure steam engines."
"The Bren gun had been silent She listened to the drone of the dismissed her from his mind. ers and yachts, barges, scoots, the men wading towards them.
sherries, lifeboats, motor boats; She shut her eyes for a moment. for a long time, but she hadn't "Keep on sounding, Johnnie, noticed. Now, turning to look She went back to the edge of rowing boats and canoes.
What water have you got?" seaward, she saw Tanner lying Old Ferris had been a mechani-the jetty and hailed old Ferris. cian when he served in the Navy. The harbour was crammed with|
"Fraghfaph-ah," crowed John- beside it with his knees screwed Fishermen, yachtsmen,
long- Inie.
up into his belly. She ran aft It wasn't so good at the start the dim forms of boats manoeuvr-shoremen, men who had
and knelt beside him. but he was enjoying himself downing for berths alongside. Beside been afloat in their lives, "Good boy. Keep it going." in the engine room now he had her on the pier head was a sold-millionaires and the very poor,
The Bren gun broke out afresh. His eyes sought 'hers out of his picked up the hang of the thing.ier with a Bron gun mounted on elderly men and lads in
their Every now and again he put his a tripod.
Tanner, having cleared the jam, grey face. "I bought it, skipper. teens, answering in n headlong head out of the hatch with his
rush the appeal for boats. Boats opened fire again, chanting oaths Sorry.... Got a drop of water?" spectacles on the end of his nose, "Ferris," she called down to the for the Beaches and the last of like a denunciatory psalm. "Slow She raised his head and held
astern, Ferris." "Running as sweet as a nut, miss." "Wanderer'. "Come ashore with the Expeditionary Force.
it against her breast. "There he announced.
me and collect some rifles and
Another cluster of men wad-isn't any water left." lifebelts." The soldier sidled up Somehow she hadn't thought ing to their armpits had reached
His eyes were suddenly puzzed. about the dead. Her thoughts them.
..... He moved his head sideways the were entirely occupied with
Ja little and then smiled, and died, muttered. living. It wasn't till Johnnie Johnnie looked back at her and ineffably content. at the evening star. She tried to "rifles ain't no use. Take me and began making queer noises of pointed at their sun-scorched, remember why she had brought this Bren gun. Wait till its dark distress and pointing down into puffing faces. No doubt existed They followed a big grey coas- Johnnie. He worshipped her like and I'll slip down and come along the shallow water that she saw in his mind that it was all someter back to Dover. Old Fertis a dog, but that wasn't, the reason with you. They won't miss
me them. ... The men who
had thing to do with his lead-line got a spare red ensign out of the It was because she felt she had till I'm back."
been machine-gunned in the shal-achievements. He was delight-Tocker and tucked Tanner up in lows, wading out into the watered. Somewhere out of sight alit. He didn't mind Tanner be- He
to reach security. They were still German field-gun battery opened ing killed, having been disposed She
there, some floating, some sub-fire, the shells whistling vicious-to regard him jealously as merged; in an odd way they seem-ly overhead.
intruder into a nice little family ed to convey resentment at the
party. Moreover he disapproved disturbance of their oblivion by She searched every face as of his language. He walked for- the passing keels.
they came splashing and gasp-ward to the wheel house. ing towards her and somehow
She was moving the spokes of She called Johnnie to her side. contrived to hoist each other in-
the wheel slowly between her "Take the lead-line and soundboard.
blistered hands. Her shrapnel Call the sound- Nothing else matters. Do She took sixty or seventy at helmet lay on the chart beside She was No- a trip and transferred them to the valiant briar pipe.
aware of the old man beside her It was the slow confid-oil tanks of Dunkirk were a sullen you understand, Johnnie?
I am here" the nearest vessel lying out in ing smile of a child. He hadn't blaze that every now and again thing else matters.
the deep water; she had hitherto and of having reached the end the remotest idea where he was leaped upwards like the eruption He made guttural noises, point-believed that the utmost capacity of her tether at one and the same going. He didn't care. He just of a volcano as a shell burst in
in at Tanner who was blazing of the "Wanderer' was a dozen. trusted her. She felt a swift pang the flaming inferno. Fires glow-|
away with the Bren gun of compunction, and stifled it, gived dully along the coast, and shore Heinkel overhead that had bomb- Backwards and forwards they ing him back his sille. Reassur-batteries blinked white flashes|
bombs, exploding ed a trawler astern of them. She went under ed, he resumed his contemplation that reached the ear as dull re-held him with her eyes. "No- under machine-gun fire and
verberations like distant thunder. thing else matters, do you under-whining shells. The searchlights wheeled about stand?" He picked up the lead- She climbed ashore in the the low-lying clouds into which line and went forward obedient- Tanner ran out of ammunition dusk. the awful pipe clenched he-tracer shells were soaring.
ly. She put her lips to the voice and they went alongside a de-
They berthed alongside the Ad- tween her teeth, and was confront-
"Go very slow, Ferris." pipe.
climbed stroyer where he got another case miralty pler and she ed by a man in the uniform of
They had solved the problem "Go very slow" repeated the and a spare barrel for the Bren ashore to find someone who Lieutenant Commander.
could give them fuel and water. The quays were thronged .with "What ship?"
She crept inshore. The beach She lost all count of time, all troops in thousands being fed and The whole night was full of the was pitted with shell craters out fear, all feeling. Sometimes she surted out into units and entrain- "Wanderer". " Nobody had sound of motor boats exhausts. of which men came running, wad-interrogated
weary men; had ed. A hospital ship was evacut-
unit: had ever called the 'Wanderer' a ship There was a young moon peeping ing out into the water to meet they seen 'his
they ing. wounded into fleets of am- liked in and out of the drifting clouds them. From the sand dunes more
name. They bulances. 'She "Stepped aside to and-it-revealed the indistinct lines
stumbled, Helping the shook their heads and begged for give room to the bearers of of little craft far and wide, head-wounded. The whole foreshore water. She had none left. stretcher, and glanced at the face ing in the same direction.
was alive with men and boats,
on "the pillow. Then suddenly it seemed that Johnnie sat entranced by the and the smoke from the Dunkirk
He had a bandage round this spectacle, crowing huskily at inares flowed over them like a dark the beaches were empty. Un
known to her, the men were be head and opened his eyes sud- river. Other intervals. Tanner, having mount
ing marched westward to Dunkirk denily on her face. owners of yachts were crowding ed his Bren gun in the stern, gave At three and a half feet she where the French and British.de-
"I've been looking for you," her a relief at the wheel. He would stop. It was the least they stroyers were crowding alongside she announced in a calm matter said it was much the "some as could float in.. She listened to the mole and embarking troops of fact tone. She felt no emotion He glanced at her shrapnel hel-driving a
She practised the strange cries Johnnie entitted in thousands unter shell fire. Ex- whatever. loading-the-rifle under his tui as he hauled in the dripping leadcopt for a few scattered units tion. Old Perris visited them time, understanding them perfect-moving west, the beaches were He smiled. "Well, here I am, intervals, calling her "Skipper."] ly.
empty. The 'task was done; "but he said. It didn't matter what Johnnie
stood what he said. He turned The sky-line was like the edge over the bows. his head and smiled at her at that of the Pit. To the westward the ings.
moment.
་
of the star.
before. He
that.
would have
"What is she?"
"Forty foot motor cruiser." "Armed?"
She shook her head.
rqund asking for orders.
met.
"Well, you'd better collect some rifles and life belts. First aid outfit too, if you haven't go it.
·
"Then what?" She stuck her hands in her trouser pockets,
La of navigating to
Panne by following a paddle steamer that had half a dozen life boats in tow.
car.
old man.
men
at a
called her, because nobody could Presently, her mouth to the understand what he said.
voice pipe, she gave the order to stop. Tanner was having trou "You're a bit young for this bue with the Bren gun and swear making her voice as gruff and game, eh, skipper?" asked Tan-ing in a ceaseless flow of incom- laconic as possible.
ner. "How old are you?"
prehensible blasphemy. Old For "About a hundred," she repli-ris, complete in shrapnel helmet "La Panne. Time it so as toled with a gruff laugh. And in and life belt, climbed out of his towards her; get there in the dawn. Take off that moment, before the dawn of hatch and came all you've got room for each trip hell's delight, she felt it. and transfer them to something
lighting his pipe.
bigger. Stick it as long as you The dawn came slowly, reveal- "They said I was too old to can, and good luck." He indicat-ing the small craft of the south'fight, but-"
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gun.
ever heard
his
moment.
Old Ferris kicked Johnnie, asleep at her feet, into wakeful- ness. "Take the wheel," he said gruffly, and held her as she pitched, sobbing and exhausted, into his arms.
**
This rocking exercise is an all-round reducing move-
ment to be tione › when ""body>has been@limbered,
How To Reduce
Hips
4
upper thighs are very heavy you will have to do the famous old bicycle -exercise at least five min- utes each day in addition,
Now is always the time to begin |
Lle on your back, legs extended. a daily hip-reducing routine. Slowly raise 'both legs in: the air Rubbing and bumping exercises and pedal them up and down as are the most effective for quick you were riding a bicycle. Do hip reducing. So begin with them: this as rapidly as you can, paus- fresh 1-Slt cross-legged and swaying once in a while for the body from side to side, roll-breath. In time try to do the same. ing over on the upper, part of your exercise by balancing yourself on buttocks. This reduces other parts your shoulders supported only by of the body as well. Sway back placing your hands on your hips. and forth in rhythm for three That gives you quick results in minutes.
: slimming the hip-measurement!
2-Next sit with-back-erect, THE ROOKING EXERCIGE. legs extended and palms placed „Now after a couple of moments' back of you for support. By us-relaxation, leon your stomachi ing your abdominal musoles as the and extend your arms and legs. motive power, slide back and forth Stretch. Relax and-stretch again with your hips. You will find that reaching up as much as you can, ja you will travel across the room in and pushing your feet down as far Little Jerks, as you roll back and as possible. Relax. Now bend forth. Roll for afty times.
knees and point toes toward your
3-Lie on one side and balance shoulders. Reach back and grasp yourself with your elbows. Place both ankles. Keep head and chest the fatty part of yourthip or but-up and rock back and forth on tock which reeds reducing on the your stomach. Itolax and repeat. floor. Then rub it against the This particular exercise is splen- floor in a firm massage by letting did for reducing and for strength- the body move lengthwise rhytening your spine. It should be thmically.Rolaithe body as much done Inst in the routine because as possible.and court a fone-twó"}}your bolly, should be limlared be- slow.massage. Turn and massage fore, you attempt to rock. It the opposite :hip or 'buttocle, th strengthens your abilonitril mus¬ FOR THIGH ‘REDUCING dles which helps ito gazredt poor The threb exercises soljove all porture and slim hips depends ip to "reiluce" "the thighs but Hilupon-good postur