Lesson 73 The record-holder
Did the boy go where he wanted to?
Children who play truant from school are unimaginative.
A quiet day's fishing, or eight hours in a cinema seeing the same film over and over
again, is usually as far as they get. They have all been put to shame by a boy who,
while playing truant, travelled 1,600 miles. He hitchhiked to Dover and, towards evening,
went into a boat to find somewhere to sleep. When he woke up next morning,
he discovered that the boat had, in the meantime, travelled to Calais.
No one noticed the boy as he crept off. From there, he hitchhiked to Paris in a lorry.
The driver gave him a few biscuits and a cup of coffee and left him just outside the city.
The next car the boy stopped did not take him into the centre of Paris as he hoped it
would, but to Perpign an on the French-Spanish border. There he was picked up by
a policeman and sent back to England by the local authorities.
He has surely set up a record for the thousands of children who dream of evading school.
Lesson 74 Out of the limelight
Why was their disguise 'too perfect'?
An ancient bus stopped by a dry river bed and a party of famous actors and actresses
got off. Dressed in dark glasses and old clothes, they had taken special precautions
so that no one should recognize them. But as they soon discovered, disguises
can sometimes be too perfect.'This is a wonderful place for a picnic,
' said Gloria Gleam.'It couldn't be better, Gloria,' Brinksley Meers agreed.
'No newspaper men, no film fans! Why don't we come more often?'
Meanwhile, two other actors, Rockwall Slinger and Merlin Greeves, had carried
two large food baskets to a shady spot under some trees. When they had all made
themselves comfortable, a stranger appeared. He looked very angry. 'Now you
get out of here, all of you!' he shouted. 'I'm sheriff here. Do you see that notice?
It says "No Camping" -- in case you can't read!'
'Look, sheriff,' said Rockwall,
'don't be too hard on us. I'm Rockwall Slinger and this is Merlin Greeves.'
'Oh, is it?' said the sheriff with a sneer.
'Well, I'm Brinksley Meers, and my other name is Gloria Gleam.
Now you get out of here fast!'
Lesson 75 SOS
How did the woman get help?
When a light passenger plane flew off course some time ago,
it crashed in the mountains and its pilot was killed. The only passengers, a young woman
and her two baby daughters, were unhurt. It was the middle of winter. Snow lay
thick on the ground. The woman knew that the nearest village was miles away.
When it grew dark, she turned a suitcase into a bed and put the children inside it,
covering them with all the clothes she could find. During the night, it got terribly cold.
The woman kept as near as she could to the children and even tried to get into
the case herself, but it was too small. Early next morning, she heard planes passing
overhead and wondered how she could send a signal. Then she had an idea.
She stamped out the letters 'SOS' in the snow. Fortunately, a pilot saw the signal and
sent a message by radio to the nearest town. It was not long before a helicopter
arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors of the plane crash.