The Washington critic., 1886-09-21

Well, at first / was scarcely fright.
cned, excepting somehow that, once
the people below knew the fix was
In, they'd find some way or other OF
getting me out of 1t. But when come
TO think of II, deuce bit of way could
/ 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, au' the
wind was rising-I could hear 1t
whistling through the trees. BY this
time people knew what had happened,
an crowd was collecting; / could see
them coming from oil parts, for Of
course / had view all about. | saw
boy go up to the door of the counting
house, an presently Master Philip
came out, running az If for his life.
When he came he took the command
like, an began giving directions; an
the people, who had only stared at
he sent them. First they brought
roof below the chimney. | could have
told them that twas too short, know.
ing as did the length Of every ladder
in the place; but somehow, though |
heard their shouts plainly, / could not
make them hear mine; it seemed as If
the voices went up, like smoke. Then
there was a great delay, while they
went for longer ladder; and this, too,
didn't reach half way. A man climbed
up ii, however, an called out to know
had bit of string in my pocket that
] could let down. Not u bit could |
find. had had n big ball only the
day before, but had taken 1t out of
my pocket an put it on n shelf at
home. took Off my braces, an fas-
tened 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 wi nd was rising an
was getting numb with the cold an
stiff and cramped from being so long
in the one position. There was big
clock right over the gateway just oppo.
site, an ! saw that 1t only wanted 20
minutes to 5; 1t would be nearly
dark at 3 an once the darkness set in
what little hope had would be gone.
Master Philip seemed to have gone
away by this time, but there was my
father among the crowd; an who
should | see, standing next to him,
and 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 a bit | saw Master Philip again ;
he had big thing In his hand looking
like pocket handkerchiefs stretched
over frame, an l saw that 1t was a
kite, an that they meant to send q
string up to me in that way. But you
never in all your life saw such an un-
manageable kite. First twas too
heavy and then twas too light, and
then the time they seemed to
lose making tail to steady It,.
| heard after that part of that same
tail was made Of bank notes Master
Philip took out of his pocket when he
| could get nothing else quick enough.
He got them back later, for not mau,
woman or child in the place would
have touched one Of them when they
saw him using them in that way.
When the kite did go up at last, the
wind was so high that they could not
manage 1t properly. 1t came very near
me once, an l made q snatch at the
string, nearly reaching myself in
doing; but missed 1t, an just then
there came terrible gust of wind, the
string broke, an the kite was carried
away, an stuck fast in the branches of
a big tree behind the masters house. /
looked over at the clock to see how
much time was left me, an found l
could not see the hands any longer; the
darkness had come on In the last few
| ,,,t,, i oil 60
! knew never could hold on till morn.
ing. l tried to think of death,
an to make myself ready for
it, but couldn't-not q prayer
nor a good word could I call to mind
only going over an over again in my
head the way 'twould all happen
how the people would so away one
by one. how I'd be left alone in the
darkness an the bowling wind-an
how at last I'd not be able to hold OF
any longer, an fall, an be found In
the morning all crushed out of shape
The people below seemed to have giver
up all thought of helping now, an
were standing quite quiet. Twas 81
dark by this time that could not dis
tinguish the faces at all; could jus
make out Master Philip in his darl
suit among the white mill men, an
poor KQic. She was crouching dow
on the ground now, her apron over he
head. All of sudden | saw her lea
up with great cry, an clap her hand
an call out something. Then ther
was confused sort of shout, as
every one in the crowd was saying th
same thing at the same time, an the
Master Philip, making sign to silenc
them, put his two hands up to hi
mouth an an sang out In voice tha
came up to me above the noise of tn
wind:
Take off your stocking and rave
it; the thread will reach the ground.
AT first l didn't understand him
being dazed like, but then the meanin
came on me like message fror
heaven. / got off one of my sock
with some trouble-nice new ones the
were, too, of Katie's own knittng
that she had given me for Christina
box-an' with the help of my teeth
loosened one end of the thread. |
gave readily enough after that, IN
when had q good piece of 1t ripped
/ tied my knife to make 1t heavy, an
lot 1t drop, ripping more an more o
the sock as it went down. Then fe
it stop, and presently there came
shout telling me to wind it up agair
Very slowly and carefully / did 1t, feal
ing the string would break an whe
the last bit OF 1t came up, there was
piece of strong twine tied to the end o
it. The twine in its turn brought tn
rope ! had gone up by, an then fel
that was safe. | managed someho'
to put 1t through the pulley, an {
soon as they had fastened the othe
end to the windlass below, they CAV
} me the word to come down. was S
numb an stiff that | could not fix my
self on the plank, but | managed som,
how to cling TO the ropes with m
| bands Down down | came ever