, 1883-10-20

draughts.
1t has been often repeated since
that to the brandy must be ascribed
the disaster. Did he drink too much
or too little Of it, how can we know? ?
Who can say to what a degree Of eX-
haustion he had fallen? And if he
was frightened ?
When we think of the amount Of
strength and skill he had displayed
to reach the height he had attained,
may we not think it possible that Il
man capable of such superhuman
courage had, with as much precise
ness and prudence as an experienced
physician, counted the drops Of the
salutary but dangerous cordial?
From where he was he could touch
easily the foot Of the cross. lie was
seen after some minutes of rest, ,mOy-
ing his arms several times around
the four iron bars which fix it. He
had cOiled the rope around 1.-two or
three times, and, having attached to
that support the hook fastened to his
breast, he seized two Of the iron bars,
let go the support under his feet, and
contracting his arms, hoisted himself
up so as to knecl on the platform.
Then measuring with a glance the
height of the cross, he discovered
with satisfaction that it was scarcely
ten feet, and, as his pole was twelve
feet long, he saw that he would re-
quire to fasten it but once, which
shortened and simplifed the last part
of the ascent. He stood up, passed
the rope around the shaft of the cross
to which he fixed his breast hook,
seized one of the thinner cords tied
to the thick one, and drew up the
pole, left until then at the foot Of
the roof.
This pole, armed at its fnrther ex-
tremity with three-pronged Crap
mel, had at equal intervals projecting
pads Of twisted leather and wire.
The man hooked the grapnel Of the
pole to the top Of the cross, and in a
few minutes, by the help Of his
breast hook and of the Tiers straps
fastened to his knees, climbed up
the pole as if it had been a knotted
rope, but with this advantage, that
the pole, being stiff, maintained and
kept in position by the grapnel, did
not swing.
He easily managed to slip sidewise
between the bars forming the radius
Of the cross, which, once, the upper
part of his body passed gave support
to his arms, and finally enabled him
to sit on the summit of the cross, his
breast against the pivot of the vane,
which rose scarcely two feet above
his head.
He fastened himself 10 this splndle,
and, with the help of the second cord,
the end of which he held, hoisted up
the bird from the lower platform.
At this point Of my narrative /
cannot help remarking how fantastic
death is inits executions. As this
unfortunate man had to die, was it
not easier to let some tile fall on his
head? But no, the grim monster
has his whims, and while he rocks
some people to everlasting sleep with
a mothers tender care, he grants
final deliverance to others only at the
price of endless pain and trouble. 1t
was written above that this wretched
man should pay in. single day for
all the suffering from which his
hum lie life had so far preserved him,
and that he should exhaust all his
strength, all his courage, to climb to
the giddy height where death await
ed him.
am not aware that any musician
ever thought Of nothing but the
chorus yelled by a humarAcrowd pos
sessed by the frenzy of enthusiasm,
but at last when the man stood up
right in the air, bolder than the
bold editice over which he was tow
ering, wild acclamations sprung up
with terrible harmony towards the
poor wretch who had caused them.
1t was his ruin.
Up to this fatal moment his hum
BILE heart, his narrow intelligence,
could no. have entertained the idea
that he was in the eyes of the world
anything but the bird that passes or
the blade of grass on which one
treads. And even now, during the
progress Of this perilous undertaking
the last of which he was about to ac-
complish, not one Of his iron nerves
had given away, not one of his fibres
had shuddered; he has not once
thought either of his danger or his
courage. He said to himself: "The
work is hard" His thoughts did
not go any further.
But at the burst of the enthusiasm
of the multitude below, his eyes,
which had never seen the radiance
of glory, his ears, which had never
heard its formidable voice, opened
suddenly to dazzling intoxication.
From the height where he saw him
self raised, he embraced the skies,
he ruled over the earth, and the
thousands of men moving and shout
ing at his feet appeared to him
smaller than ants. He who had till
then known nothing of humanity
but its miseries, he understood great
ness, and felt himself arrayed with
all its majesty What could he do,
the poor man, against this enthus-
iasm, the echoes of which whirled
around him like vertigo?
He was seen to bend down, to sit