The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1880-09-09

himself. He took all his scafIolding
with him, but, before he went away, lie
fixed beam with pulley in it into the
top of the chimney, an left long rope
hanging through 1t, so that man could
be hoisted up at any time; an there the
rope hung dangling, week after week,
until the owner came 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 !
went on plank, slung 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
an stormy to work, an the owner was
rs impatient to get the job done as if it
hadn been himself that was hindering
it all this time. was rs much at home
atop of the chimney rs l was on the
ground, an l worked on without once
looking down, untilmy job was finished,
an | was putting Up my tools. Then,
all OF a sudden, heard a rattling noise,
an looking over, saw the plank going
down very fast. / called out: "Hullo,
there! send thai up again, will you"
but the only answer | got was 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.
/ looked about for the man whose
business it was to manage the windlass,
but not a sign of him was there, an in
a minute l heard the rattle of the pulley
again, an saw that the rope was running
through it in the wrong direction. l
made grab at it, but twas jerked out
of my hand, an before l could ca ch it
again the end had slipped through, an
there l was, more than hundred feet
fron the ground, not knowing how in
the world l was to get down. an jerry
dancing an capering below, calling
cut:
"Come down an thrash me now,
Mr.. Forde, won't youP"
Then l remembered that a few days
before l had found this boy annoying
Katie, an had given him cut with a
switch had in my hand. He had skunk
away without word at the time, but it
seems he remembered tie blow, an took
this way of being revenged.
Well, at first ! was scarcely fright
ened, expecting somehow that once the
people below knew of the fix l was in,
they'd find some way or other of getting
me out of it. But, when 1 came to
think of it, deuce a bit of way could l
hit on myself, an sure knew more
about chimneys than any one else in the
place. Twas getting late, too; there
wouldn't be much more than another
half hour of daylight, an the wind was
rising-I could hear it whistling through
the trees.
By this time people knew what had
happened, an a crowd was collecting; /
could see them coming from all parts,
for of course l had view all about. /
saw a boy go up TO the door of the
counting-house, an presently young
Squire Philip came running out-run-
ming as if for his life. When he came,
he took the command like, an began
giving directions, an the people, who
had only stared ut first, now ran here
an there as he sent them. First they
brought out long ladder, an fixed it
on the root below tie chimney. Icould
have told them that twas too short
knowing as l did the length Of every
ladder in the place; but somehow,
though heard their shouts plainly, l
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 a longer ladder, and this,
too, didn't reach half way, A man
climbed up it, however, an called out
to know had l a bit Of string in my
pocket that could let down. Not bit
could find. / had had big ball only
the day before, but had taken it out OF
my pocket an put it on shelfa at no me.
took off my braces, an fastened them
an my pocket handkerchief 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, and
/ was getting numb with the cold, mn
stiff and cramped from being so long in
the one position. There was n big
clock right over the gateway just oppo-
site, an | saw that it only wanted
twenty minutes of five, an once the
darkness set in, what little hope / had
would be gone.
The young squire seemed to have gone
away by this time, but there was my
father among the crowd; an who
should / see, standing next him, an
holding on by his arm, but Katie! They
had forgotten everything but the fright
about me, an he seemed to be talking
to her, an comforting her. After bit
saw the young squire again; he had 8
big thing in his hand looking like
pocket handkerchiefs stretched over s
frame, an / saw that it was kite, an
that they meant to send a string up &c
me in that way. But you never in al
your life saw such an unmanageablt
kite. First twas too heavy, an then
twas too light, and then the time they
seemed to lose making tail to steady
il! heard after that part of that same
tail was made of bank-notes Squire
mill lso1. o,,t ~ bia DOnlpI w hon hf