Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-04-02
She DulIed IL ont and gave It to me.

The girl went out, soooinR, ana locked the
door after LR-.
sat down for while, feeling doleful, for
Hound myself extremely young 70 be hanged
But soon the whangl whangl Of the hammer
below reused me- Come" thought, IN
zee what that rascal is doing, at any rate,
and, pulling the file from my pocket, began
10 attack the window bar with will. had
no need for silence at this great height above
the ground, and, besides, the hammering con-
tinued Justify.
Daylight was closing as finished my task
and, pulling the two pieces Of the bar aside,
thrust my head out at the window.
Directly under me and about twenty feet
from the ground l saw a beam projecting,
about six feet long, over a sort Of doorway in
the wall Under this beam, on ladder, was
carpenter fellow at work, fortifying it with
two supporting timbers that rested on the
sill Of the doorway He was merry enough
over the job, and paused every now and
again to fling a remark to a little group OF
soldiers that stood idling below, where the
fellows work bag and great coil OF rope
rested by the ladders foot
Reckon, Sammy" said one, pulling long
tobacco pipe from his mouth and splitting,
"'tis long while since thy last job o. the
Sort
"Ay, lad; terrible diSrepair this place has
fallen into But send us a cheerful heart,
say /! Instead o. the viper an owl shall
benccforward be hangings Of men an all
manner o. diversion"
kept my head out of sight and listened.
what time doth a swingF asked another
IF the soldiers.
81 heard the colonel give orders for Q
o'clock tomorrow" answered the first sol
iier, splitting again.
The clock over the barbican struck four,
and in a minute was being answered from
tower after tower down in the city.
-Four O'clockl" cried the man ON the lad
der; "time TO stop work, and here goes for
the last nail!" He drove it In and prepared
to descend.
Hill" shouted soldier, you've forgot the
rope"
"Thatil wait till tomorrow. There's
staple to drive in, too. l tell you I'm dry
and want my beer"
He whipped his apron round his waist and,
gathering up his nails, went down the ladder.
At the foot he picked up his bag, shouldered
the ladder and lounged away, leaving the
coil Of rope lying there. Presently the sol
diers sauntered Off also, and the court was
empty.
NOW, uD 10 lulh lEOulcuL uhu Bub OuC luG0
of avoiding my fate, and that was to kill my
s-lf Twas to this end 1 had borrowed the
bodkin of the maid. Afterwards had q no
ton of fiinging myself from the window as
they came for me. But now, as l looked
down on that coil of rope lying directly be-
low, a prettier scheme struck me. l sat down
on the floor OF my cell and pulled off my boots
and stockings
Twas such pretty plan that l got into q
fever Of impatience. Drawing of a stocking
and picking out the end Of the yarn, began
to unravel the knitting for dear life, until the
whole lay heap of thread on the floor. !
then served the other in the same way; and
at the end had two lines, each pretty near
four hundred yards in length, which now ]
divided into eight lines of about hundred
yards each.
With these set to work, and by the end
Of twenty minutes had plated rope-ifr rope,
Indeed, it could be called-weak, to be sure,
but long enough to reach the ground with
plenty to spare. Then, having bent my bod
kin to the form of hook, l tied it to the end
of my cord, weighted it with crown from
my pocket and clambcred up to the window.
| was going to angle for the hangmans rope.
Twas near dark by this, but l could just
distinguish it on the paving stones below,
and, looking about the court, saw that no
one was astir. | wriggled first my head,
then n shoulder, through the opening, and
let the line run gently through my hand
There were still many yards left that could
be paid out when | heard my coin tinkle
softly on the pavement
Then began my difficulty. A dozen times
pulled my hook across the coil before it
hitched, and then full three score Of times
the rope slipped away before had raised 1t
dozen yards. Ny elbow was raw, almost
with leaning ON the sill, and | began to lose
heart and head, when, to my delight, the
bodkin caught and held. 1t had fastened on
kink in the rope, not far from the end
began TO pull up, hand over hand, trembling
all the while like leaf
For Thad two very reasonable fears First,
the rope might slip away and tumble before
it reached my grasp. Secondly, it might,
after ali, prove a deal too short 1t had
loOke,l TO me new rope Of many fathoms
not yet cut for tO-mOrrow's purpose; but eye
sight might well deceive at that distance,
and surely enough saw that the whole was
dangling of the ground long before it came
to my hand.
But at last 1 caught it, and, slipping back
into the room, pulled it after me, yard upon
yard. Ny heart went loud and fast There
was nothing to faSten it to but an iron staple
in the door, that meant losing the width Of
my cell, some six feet This, however, must
be risked, and made the end fast, lowered
the other out of the window again, and,
climbing to a sitting posture on the windoU
sill, thrust out my legs over the gulf.
Thankful was l that darkness had fallen
before this and hidden the giddy depths be-
low me. l gripped the rope and pushed my
self inch by inch through the window, and
out over the ledge. For moment dangled,
without courage to move hand Then,
wreathing my legs round the rope, loosed
my left hand and caught with it again some
six inches lower. And so, down went
Minute followed minute, and left me still
descending, SIX inches at time, and looking
neither above nor below, but always at the
gray wall that seemed sliding up in front Of
me. The arst dizziness was over, but a hor-
rible aching of the arms had taken the place
Of it Twas growing intolerable, when sud-
denly my legs, that sought to close the rope,
found space only. had come to the end.
looked down. A yard below nv feet the
beam Of the gallows CLEANED palely out Of
the darkness Here was my chance. l let
my hands slip down the last foot or so Of the
rope, hung for moment, then dropped for
the beam
My feet missed it, as intended they should;
but ] flung both arms out and caught it,
bringing myself up with jerk While yet
hung clawing, l heard a footstep coming
through the gateway between the two wards.
Here was fix. With all speed and silence
I drew myself up TO the beam, found hold