The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-09-10

sometimes maybe not 50 good. At any
rate, there was delay about the con-
ductor, an in the meantime the en-
gines were ct work, an the big CHM
ney was smoking away like blazes:
Mr.. Brown, the strange workman. had
gone away, saying, very condescend-
ing like, that he was sure Jim Forde
(that was me) would be able to fasten
the rod to the chimney as well as he
could do it himself. He took all his
scaffolding with him, but, before he
went away, he fixed beam with .
pulley in it into the top Of the chimney,
an left long rope hanging through
it, so that q man could be hoisted up at
any time; an there the rope hung
dangling, week after week, until the
master come home bringing the rod
along with him.
Once it had come, there was no good
losing any more time in fixing it, so one
Saturday afternoon in January up I
went on plank, Sung securely at the
end of the rope, my tools along with
me. an settled myself astride on the
stone coping. twas rather late in the
day, but the morning had been too wet
and stormy to work. an the master
was as impatient to get the job done as
if it hadn't been himself that was him
dering it all this time. Twas as much
at home atop of the chimney as 1 was
on the ground, an 1 worked on without
once looking down, until my job was
finished, an was putting up my tools.
Then, all of a sudden, I heard q rafting
noise, an looking over, see the plank
going down very fast. I called out,
'sHullo, there! send that up again, will
YOUR but the only answer I got was q
loud laugh, for all the world like silly
Jerry, the natural's; and sure enough,
there he was, standing by the windlass,
jumping an clapping his hands. I
looked about for the man whose bust
ness it was to manage the windlass, but
not sign of him was there, an in
minute I heard the rattle of the pully
again, an saw that the rope was run
ming through it in the wrong direction.
made a grab at it, but twas jerked
out of my hand, an before I could
catch it again the end had slipped
through, an there I was, more than a
hundred feet from the ground, not
knowing how in the world was to get
down, an Jerry dancing an capering
below, calling out, "Come down and
thrash me now, Mr.. Forde, won't your"
Then I remembered that, few days
before, I had found this boy annoying
Katie, an had given him cut with the
switch I had in my hand. He had
skunk away without word at the time,
but it seems he remembered the blow,
and took this way of being revenged.
Well, at first I was scarcely fright
ened, expecting somehow that, once
the people below knew of the fix I was
in, they'd find some way or other of
getting me out of it. But when I came
to think of it deuce a bit of a way
could I hit on myself, an sure l knew
more about chimneys than any one else
in the place. Twas getting late, too;
there wouldn't be much more than an
other half-hour of daylight, an the
wind was rising-I could hear it whist
ling through the trees. By this time
people knew what had happened. an
crowd was collecting; l could see them
coming from all parts, for of course 1
had a view all about. I saw boy 60
up to the door of the counting house,
an presently Master Philip came out,
running as If for his life. When he
came, he took the command like. an
began giving directions; an the people,
who had only stared at first, now ran
here an there as he sent them. First
they brought out a long ladder, an
fixed it on the roof below the chimney.
I could have told them that twas too
short, knowing, as I. did, the length of
every ladder in the place; but some
how, though heard their shouts plain
ly, could not make them hear mine; it
seemed as if the voices went up like
smoke. Then there was great delay
while they went for alonger ladder; and
and this, too, didn't reach halfway. A
man climbed up it, however, an called
out to know had I bit of string in my
pocket that I could let down. Not a
bit could I find. had had a big ball
only the day before, but I had taken it
out of my pocket an put it on shelf
at home. I took off my braces an
fastened them an my pocket. handker-
chief together; but they didn't near
reach the top of the ladder, so that
plan had to be given up.
All this time the wind was rising, an
I was getting numb with the cold an
stiff and cramped from being so long in
the one position. There was q big
clock right over the gateway just oppo-
site, an l saw that it only wanted
twenty minutes of five; it would be
nearly dark at five, an once the dark
ness set in, what little hope I had would
be gone.