Untitled - Beeldbibliotheek

176 CARAVAN DAYSgame. But I would like to indicate some of itsmany subdivisions and to show how, by adoptingsome of the finer features of quoits, curling,bowls and putting, ithas a just claim to be regardedas the Universal Pastime. In certainforms it will also be found to be related to a longforgottengame of one's childhood, whose memoryone loves to treasure on account of the strikingbeauty of its name" Squales."It isas quoits pure and simple that the gamefulfils its highest service to the race, as an everpresentstand-by for odd moments, for unexpectedpredicaments, for all periods of waiting,of incarceration, of enforced inactivity. As afiller-up of gaps and intervals, as a bridger-overof hiatuses it stands alone, always ready tooccupy the drearyhalf-hour with interest andactivity.It comes to the rescue when you havemissed your train, on long afternoons on boardship, or in a hayshed on a moorland farm whenthe guns have been imprisoned by a thunderstorm.If lunch is half an hour later than you expected,ifone member of the party has been delayed andfails to turn up, whenever you are waiting (as allof us so often do) for someone to come out orcome in, to come down or to come back, there isoccasion for Penny Dip. So long as there are