Sentence:  No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, ornb.... And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to <WSD>take</WSD> such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To participate in.