Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1892-10-12

The chances were that this man was one
of the robbers, but forgetting all about
this for the time, Tom Hanson made a
trumpet Of his hands and shouted down:
"Hold hard, old fellow, there are friends
up here"
'Thank Godl Thank Godn' came the
! response from the man on the cliff.
slow long have you been down there?"
"'Bout six hours"
"How long can you hold on?"
''Not long. I'm nigh give out"
A brief examination of the place showed
that the man must have fallen over the
cliff, and that he could not be reached with
out the aid Of a rope, but the necessary
hundred feet of rope was not at hand.
Drawing his Ratchet from his girdle,
Paul Lafarge said to his companions:
'Shout to keep his courage up, Tom
while go off to find rope"
Then he vanished down the ravine in
which the tallest trees were dwarfed to
the size Of bushes.
Leaning over the wall, Tom Hanson
shouted to the man below to keep good
heart" and Hold on like grim death!' but
even as he shouted he felt the hopelessnesa
of the situation.
After being gone an hour, that seemed
like week to the man watching from the
top, and an eternity to the poor fellow
clinging to the cliff, Paul Lafarge came
back. He brought with him an immense
knotted coil Of soft elm bark, as strong as
rawhide and, in the green state, far more
pIiable
II didn't know there was an elm tree
within a weeks tramp" said Tom Han
son as he examined the rope
"But did; remembered seeing them
when l was in here two years ago." said
the half breed.
As all the mans strength as well as the
use of his arms were necessary to hold him
20 the rock, it was evident that he could
not aid his rescuers.
Paul Lafarge let over the rope. 1t struck
against the man down the cliff, with ten
feet to spare, but this knowledge brought
no solution of the difficulty.
There was not within reach a tree, shrub
or rock to which the rope could be made
fast.
Tom Hanson studied a moment, then
said, as he began to throw off his boots and
BELTS
'You must brace yourself against thi.
rock, Paul, and hang onto the rope like
grim death; am going down."
Lafarge protested for the honor, but his
companion would not listen to him. Call
ing out, "Hold hard, Paul!'' he seized the
rope and swung over the cliff, and hung in
midair above the awful abyss.
Down, down, hand over hand, he went,
slowly and steadily, till he reached the cx-
hausted man below. Balancing himself
on the giddy ledge he made the rope Sc
curely fast under the mans arms, then
looked up at the climb that lay before him
self.
Up he clambered, more slowly than
when he went down. At times it seemed
as if his strength must give out, but hs
set his teeth and stuck to it, till, gasping
for breath, he staggered out at the top.
Lit was fully five minutes before Tom
Hanson could come to the help Of his
friend. Then they pulled away, and at
last they seized the man and dragged him
back unconscious from the edge of the
canyon.
The man was a hunter who had long
lived in these mountains and so was zeal
Gus of the coming of the prospectors to
territory which he felt to be his. He and
some Ute Indians had plundered the camp,
and in trying to escape he had gone over
the cliff.
The mans gratitude when he recovered
sufficiently to express it was unbounded,
and his penitence and humiliation were
complete. The next day he restored the