The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-03-05

Cricketing was set aside for that day, for
Joey Rance went of and got the rope, COM,
ing back with 1t cooled over his arm, and
throwingit down before Billy in adefiant sort
of way, as much as TO say
ssThere, now let's see you do it"
without a.word, Billy picked up the coil of
rome and went in at the belfry door, to come
out soon after on the top of the tower, and
then. with one end of the rope made into n
loon and thrown over.his shoulders, he went
70 one edge of the eight-sided spire and be-
gan to climb up from crockett to crockett,
which were about n yard apart, and looking
IKE so many ornamental knobs sticking out
rom the spire.
We give him q cheer as he began TO go up,
and then sat on the grass wondering like to
see how active and clever the fellow was as
heIwent up yard after yard, climbing rapidly,
and seeming as if he'd soon be at the top.
The whole of the village turned out in n
state Of excitement, and we had hard work TO
keep two brave fellows from going up TO try
at other corners Of the spire.
'Hell'do it-hen do it !" was the cry over
aud over again.
And it seemed as il he would, for he went
Oh rapid" till he was within some thirty feet
Of the top when all of n sudden he seemed
" lose his hold, and came sliding rapidly
down between two row of crockets faster
and faster, till he disappeared behindthe par
IPet of the over.
We held our breath, ono and all, rs we saw
him fall, and ~a.coldkhilIof horror came upcL
rs. 1t was not until he had reached the top
Of the tower that we reused ourselves orun
10 the belfry door, and began to go up the
spiral staircase to get to the poor fellow,
shom we expected to find half-dead.
Halle! - cried Billy's voice, as we got
aal. way up the corkscrew. "Pm coming
Town"
Amt you hurt, then ?" cried Joey Rance.
NO. not much, said Billy, MS We reached
hiuIby.ondpf the ~loopholes in the stone wall.
Got some skin of, aud a bit bruised
Why. we thought you were half killed, -
sc said.
Not l." he replied, CRAFTY "the rope
caught over ono Of the crockets, and that
broke my fall a bit"
Going to try agnin Z" said Joey, with n
,ncer.
NO, 1 amt going to try again, neither, ="
said Bill, grufly. Il left the rope up ut III,
TOP there, thinking you were SO clever you'd
iko TO GO"
.'Oh' l could do 1t II I liked" said Joey.
"Only you d%aren't," snid Bill, rubbing his
elbows, md putting his lips to his bleeding
kuucklos.
"Darcn't II" said Joey.
And without another word he pushed by
Billy, and went on steadily up towards the
top of the over.
81 hopehe'n like it" said Billy, chuckling
at amt so easy as he thinks. Let's go want
a down. Pm a good bit shook, and drop of
brandy"
Poor fellow, no looked rather white when
40 got down and to our surprise on
looking up, on hearing n cheer, there was
Joey hard at work with the rope over his
shoulder, climbing away, the lads cheering
himaRain and again as he c~limbedhigher and
higher, till no ut Inst reached the great cop
per support of the wenthercock, and then.
drawing himself up abit higher, heclung there
m~otionless for n few minutes, and We beganto
think he Ind lost his nerve and was ~afraid!tc
move.
But that wasn't it-he was only gathering
breath and we gave q cheer, in whichlBily
Johnson heartily Joined, as upithere looking
N small asa crow, the plucky fellow gave the
weathercock n spin round, afterwards holding
OH by his legs, clasped round the copper sup
port, while he took tho rope from his shout
lers, undid the loop, and then tied it sccurely
10 the great strong support.
All this time he had had his straw hat on:
and now, taking it off, he gave it a skim away
from him and away it went, right out into
space, to fall at last far from the foot OF the
tower.
Joey now began to come down very SLOWLY
and carefully, MS il the coming down wal
worse than the going up, and more than once
he slipped; but he had tight hold of the rope
with one hand, and that saved him, SO that be
only rested, and thencontinued to c%omedown.
You sec the spire sloped so that he did not
hang away from it, but against tho stone
sides and so We won't on watching him till
hewusnbout half way down, when he stopped
to rest, and, pulling up the rope n bit as he
held on to the rope 80 rs to rest his legs.
We gave him another cheer, and sodid Par
sou, who Just then came up, whenJoey waved
his hand.
AS lie did this, something occurred which
took away my breath for, poor fellow, he
seemed TO slip, and, before we could utter Il
cry, he turned over andhung headdownwnrd.
falling, with his leg slippingthrough theloop,
I'll lns foot caught nnd lie hung byit, fight
tng bard for u few moments to get back, but
ia vain and us We watched him his struggles
got weaker, 80 that he did not turn himself
UP so far in trying..to reach the loop where
his ankle was caught; and Mt Inst lie hung
there, swinging gently to and fro, only NOV
ing his hands.
by this time Pnrsou, |, and two moro had
got to the belfry door, and we ran painting up
the ark staircase till we got upon the leads.
Hold on, Joey" shouted 'Im ON
ing"
Nuke haste, =" lie criedback, family. 'rm
about done"
lBy this time | was about ten feet up, and
tlimbmgGs hard AS could, forgetting all the
danger in the excitement for 1 don't think |
should have dared to 60 up on another occa-
-iOn.
1t was veryhard work, and as l climLed,tlc
wind seemed to Llow terribly but got up
aud up, painting US l did so, till at last | was
cl.ngIug there with one foot resting on n
crockett, wondering what / should do.
Look sharp, lad" said poor Joey. at
seems as if all my blood was rushing into my
head
Ilenucd over mud got hold of the rope close
TO hib ankle, but do anything more 1 could
not. | had all the will in the world to help
the poor fellow, but it took all my strength
10 keep myself with one hand from falling.
aud as to raising my old companion, 1 neither
had the strength nor the idea as to how it
could be done.
The only way out Of the difficulty seemed
To Ice to take out my knife and cut the rope,
and then the poor fellow would be killed.
Como down, cried n voice below me.
And looking towards the leads, there was
fnrSon, stripped TO his shirt and trousers,
aud with II coil of rope over his shoulder
tor the new well rope had proved to be long
enough TO let him cut of some five and
thirty feet.
Don't leave me" groaned Joey. who was
haIf-lhintiug. Il feel as If | should fall any
nnonent. say, lad, this is very awful"
Here's Parson coming up" said.
Aud 30 it was; for he went to the row of
rrockets OH the other side--of Jooy, who now
hung, looking blue in the face, and with his
uy Is closed.
lila must p1ntn EnEta -,,a1,a bart, y H.