Page:Restless Earth.djvu/101

the work would be arduous and the reward the lip-service of a nation momentarily grateful.

Here and there travelled people who spoke together in low tones, people who drove their cars to the limit of speed and who dreaded their arrival at what they feared would prove the death-places of their loved ones.

But the principal motive power which moved the stream of hastening humanity on this night had its spring in the primitive—in morbid curiosity, the love of tragic spectacle.

From the moment when the terrible tidings had been flung upon the air, an endless stream of sightseers had descended upon the shattered towns—like flies gathering upon a carcase.

Heedless of danger, careless that they obstructed the work of rescue, intent only on feasting their eyes upon a ravaged countryside and the spectacle of mangled human remains disentombed, they came in their thousands by day and by night.

It was such a mobilisation as might have rejoiced the heart of Nero.

****

Midnight had passed when the car pulled into a filling station in Palmerston North. Extra bowser attendants worked the pumps diligently. The town was as wide awake as it had been at noon.

“How long before we get there?” asked Harley, speaking for the first time in a hundred-and-fifty miles.

“Not before half-past three, at any rate,” answered Roy shortly. “Too many schoolboy drivers on the road to-night. It’s about time the driving tests were put through the mangle. Somebody’s going to crash me before I get to Hastings, or I’m a rotten guesser.”

Harley grunted, frowning impatiently at the delay caused by their necessary stop.

He felt for his pipe mechanically and placed it between his teeth. The pungent smell and taste of