Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-08-16

| "There must be some way" he
kept saying over to himself. and all
The Time he kept thinking as hard as
ever he could. At last he sprang up
with shout:
II have it, he cried.
The men thought that the horror
O. the situation had driven him mad,
but they soon knew better.
Mr.. Sanders was starding in hope
less WY looking down at the little
group, when Tom, making truuipe.
Of his hands, shouted:
"Can you near me, feyther?"
He nodded his head in reply. and
then Tom screamed up at him with
all The strength OF his lungs.
TAX off thy stockin'. an unravcl
it, and let down the thread wi bit
O mortar. Canst hear mc?"
Attain he nodded, this time
eagerly. He pulled off his boot and
then his stocking, which he looked
at for a moment, as il he did not
know how to go about 1t. Toms
mother was on her feet now; all
eagerncss, and she called up to her
husband:
"Begin at the top, lad" You see,
she had knit those stockings herself.
and of good honest Scotch wool. and
she knew all ABOUT 1t.
At last he got the thread started
and unraveIed row after row. He
took his knife and dug out a bit Of
the hard mortar and tied it on the
yarn. 1t came slowly down the tall
chimney, blown about by the wind,
but it was coming.
AS soon as Tom saw that his father
had caught his idea he was off like
the wind. But before the little
thread reached the ground he was
back all out OF breath, bringing big
ball OF stout Irvine. A dozen willing
hands were ready to tie it to the
yarn, and then they shouted:
"NOw hold fast TO the string, lad,
and pull it un"
When the Irvine got to the top the
big rope was fastened on, and almost
without breathing they watched it
slowly uncoil like great serpent, and
at last that, too, had reached the
top
The iron was there all right, and
they saw that he was making it fast.
And now they wondered IL he would
have the nerve to come down. The
last hour had been a terrible strain
upon him. when it seemed that he
must stay in that little circle until
he died.
He came to the edge OF the chimney
and made sign OF descent. Then
he began to come down. He came
rapidly about half way, then, clutch
ing the rope convulsively, he stopped.
His head fell back and cry Of
horror went up when they thought
that. after all, he would be killed.
Again Tom came to the front and
shouted:
"Dinna grc it up feyther; it's but
a bit further moo, dinna gi'e 1t up!"
And he didn't give it up. housing
all his strength he took hold once
more and slid safely to the ground.
where he fell all in a heap, as weak
and helpless as baby.
How they kissed him and cried over
him and how Toms mother thanked
God, and how proud Tom was when
his father at last staggered to his
feet, and, laying his hand on his
head, exclaimed:
"My lad, thou'st saved my life."
DO you need to be told that the
holiday was the happiest one that
had ever come to these hum BILE folks?
shall have to tell you about it.
however, for it was on that day that
a most wonderful thing happened to
Tom; something that made people
change his name from "Happy Tom"
to "Lucky Tom"
The boys had often begged that
their father would allow them to 60
into cave, several miles up the
coast, for they lived in a seaport
town. But the cave was full of water
when the tide came in, and it was
not safe for the boys to go::alone, but
on this day Toms father said to him:
Now, lad, ask me what ye will
and III grant it il can"
Little Ben slipped slyly up and
whispered in Toms ear:
'The cave; ask him to let us go
in" And as that was the very idea
that Tom had in his own head, he
did ask it. and Of course it was
granted.
They took lot of candles with
them and some old clothes, and a
generous basket of lunch and away
they went to the cave.
The opening of it was just great
hole like cellar, but the boys kept
on, and soon they found an opening
through which they crawled, and
found themselves in great room
with crystal roof. They held up
their candles and every part of the
cave glittered as il it were set with
diamonds
Tom ran back to fetch his father,
but he said he would rather stay out
side. They began to look for another
room, and soon they found it. The
only opening into it was a hole big
enough for them to squeeze through.
This led tn IA smaller room, which
they began to explore.