WBHS_School_Magazine_1966 LR 01

On arriving back in Johannesburg, I took a bus
into the city and had a look at the Afrikaner
Museum at the Library. I also went up Brixton
rower, the FM tower for Johannesburg. At the
top you enjoy an aerial view of Johannesburg.
The day soon dawned when I was to leave. On
arriving at the airport I had my luggage weighed
and then stepped into the Boeing which was to
take me home. The plane took off and I glimpsed,
for the last time on my holiday, the Golden City
of "Johannesburg".
R. FRIEDLANDER.
A MOUNTAIN ACCIDENT
I awakened suddenly to the sound of my alarm
clock. Lazily, I opened one eye to see the
luminous hands pointing to six o'clock. I jumped
out of bed, washed, dressed and within fifteen
minutes I was eating my breakfast. Afterwards,
I packed my haversack and was ready to leave my
flat.
That day my friends and I were to climb Lion's
Head, and when we had reached the summit we
were to have a picnic and return home later in
the day. I had arranged to meet them at the bus
terminus at half past seven. They had all arrived
by half past seven, but, owing to difficulties with
the bus, we left the terminus only at eight o'clock.
We started climbing up the mountain .immediately
after the bus had stopped to turn around.
For the first hour the climbing was quite easy,
and we paused at regular intervals to rest. But
then we came to loose rocks and stones. It was
quite troublesome here because some of my party
lost their footing and although they were inclined
to cut and bruise themselves, none of them was
seriously hurt.
At eleven o'clock we arrived at the top of the
mountain and proceeded to prepare our picnic.
An hour later we started the descent. While
clambering over some rocks, one member of our
party, Tom, lost his balance and tumbled down
the side of the mountain. He stopped just one
foot short of a big rock and we estimated that he
had rolled about thirty feet. We hurried down to
where he lay and found that he had broken his
left leg.
After tying his leg to a splint we proceeded
once more on our way. We left Tom at the
hospital and later went home. A few weeks later
Tom came out of hospital, but his leg was still in
plaster of paris and we were all happy to see him
weU again.
M. GOLDSTEIN.
A MOUNTAIN
CLIMB
The sun shone brightly on a little party of boys,
slowly ascending the high Swiss peak. The party
included Jack Roberts, Peter Hugh, Tom Turner,
Jimmy Edwards, and me. "Whew, hard work
this," panted Jimmy, and although it was winter
and the mountain was covered with snow, we
were all panting and perspiring. Soon the path
became steeper and after a while we started
scaling the shaggy cliff-like rocks to the summit.
"I vote we stop and rest a while," said Jack as
we were nearly at the top.
"Let's just reach the peak first," I called, "and
then we can have a bite to eat."
"Wow!" gasped Tom, "this is a steep one,"
and he spoke the truth, because far below we
could see the earth, but all the way it was a sheer
drop.
None of us noticed a huge cloud, drifting slowly
over the summit, until suddenly I turned round
to see only the faint outline of my friends, who
were sitting really very close. "Quick," I cried in
alarm, "we must climb down before this cloud
blots out the way altogether".
"Right, come one," called Peter, and we scrambled
down the steep slope. Half-way down, Peter
suddenly caught his foot in a bush and he fell
right over the edge.
"Peter, Peter, Peter's falJen," howled Jack, and,
at that moment, I heard Peter screaming as be
fell. Luckily the sun came out just then, and I
could see Peter lying on a ledge far below. It did
not take us long to scramble down to the ledge
and we saw that Peter was very seriously injured.
He had broken his leg and arm and he was in
desperate need of hospitaL attention. "Listen,"
husbed Tom suddenly, and through the stillness
we beard a buzzing noise.
It grew louder, and suddenly the dark shape of
a helicopter appeared above us. "Hooray," we all
shouted togetber, and very soon Peter was being
hoisted into the helicopter on a stretcher. "You
coming too?" shouted a man from the door.
"All right," cried Jim, and soon I was climbing
up the rope ladder into the macbine. When we
arrived bome, Peter was rusbed to hospital wbile
we told our worried parents about the accident.
Dad said he had called out the mountain rescue
unit because be bad been worried about us. After
six months in hospital, Peter recovered and wanted
to climb that peak again.
C. WILLIAMS.
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