The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-07-05

chief was caught fast in the first fork, twenty-five feet from the ground, The first ten feet convinced him of several important things. viz, his muscles were soft, the tree seemed to grow bigger in circumference and harder to hold to the further up he got, and whether he ever got the kerchlef or not his good clothes were ruined. At twelve feet from the ground he stuck. tired out limp and disoonsolate, ready to slide down to mother earth in an undignltied manner. when he heard Bessie say:
 He's doing splendidly, isn't he, May He'll get 1t. know he will. Oh, Algy, you're ever so much better Q climber than you claimed to be-"
 For the first time during the engage ment Algy wavered in devotion to his sweetheart. He had doubts as to whetheh she had suddenly gone crazy or was simply chafIlng him. In either ase it would never do to give up at this juncture, so he vallantly wiggled up five feet more. His hands were parked and torn, hls chin rasped where 1t had brushed against the tree, his collar wet as bathing sponge with precipitation, and all his clothing clinging to his damp body co closely that every effort to advance himself up the tree threat ened to separate Algy from some use- ful portion of ris wardrobe. But he wiggled and shinned upward until only five feet of space was between him and the coveted handkerchief the girls meanwhile keeping up a running com ment of the true tone of which Algy is
 to this day unable to satisfy himself,
 Its just perfectly splendid to be
 man and climb like that, isn't it, Navy And May not only said yes but add ed wish to the effect that she were a 1 man, so she could shin up tree and sit l in the shade of the upper branches on q hot day. Algy heard all this idle chat ter, and 1t drove him to desperation. | He went on with his climbing until he got one leg and one arm around the 1 first outspreading branch, and there he hung utterly unable to advance or re- treat. Every man who has ever climbed a tree knows what sudden ooZing out of courage and vim follows 1 the moment of getting into the position | Algy found himself in. Thoughts of I getting the kerchief had vanished It ] was now merely a question of how he was to get back to terra firma without smashing himself to jelly. In his ag- ony of despair he was every moment be- coming weaker and drawing nearer and nearer the time when he would have to let go and drop to the ground and death Algy began to struggle to place himself away from the danger I point. In doing this he split his coat l afr t,i Have Then Algy got some relief by swearing I The moment came when the climber could hold no longer. He slid and
 scrambled back from the limb to the
 trunk of the tree, just how he never will be able to tell. A second later there was wild rusfr and scraping, fol- lowed by a loud thnaap, and Algy was sitting on the ground at the foot of the tree. He was too tired and sore to
 move, His coat was held together only by the collar, his trousers parted when he struck the ground, and he was not ! in condition to rise and salute Bessie and May. To add to his bad luck both girls roared with laughter when they
 saw him.
 | "He-he-he. He looks too funny for ! anything, doesn't he, Bessie, with his | clothes all torn that way2'
 This from May. It was followed by
 an equally exasperating remark from Bessie, who, between laughs, wanted to know if Algy had got the kerchief. and the misguided man began to brace him.
 self for another outburst of explosives when a small boy came along. The l boy had been fishing in the lake and | l.@ = a.-A is.1n s .Anlr pyt cttt ynv- on II. When May suggested that the boy could earn a quarter by getting the
 handkerchief the urchin grinned and said:
 "Dat's dead easy, see? All does is
 to trow me line up like dat and yank | de wipe out. see?"
 l The boy got his quarter and Bessie got her kerchief, which was badly torn where the youngster had slung his fish ing kit into 1t, As she spread out the mangled bit of lace and linen Algy saw 1 it was not the one he had given her, and he felt bad. He felt worse when she said, crying bitterly, g. moment later:
 q would rather have lost all the oth- CT pretty handkerchiefs l own than had this one torn. I prize 1t more than all the rest because Bob gave it to me" And then Algy said ''d-n'' louder and more fiercely than ever He raved and
 ranted and wanted to know if Bessie thought he was double-blanked idiot to ruin his clothes and iacerate his flesh climbing tree to rescue a measly old rag some cheap skate had given her. Bessie said he was "too awfully horri- ble'' for any self-respecting young lady
 to associate with. Besides she couldn't think of marrying an untruthful man,
 and Algy had travelled far from the paths of veracity when he said he could climb tree. Thus was the engage ment dislocated, and the girls flounced
 off, leaving Algy to be ministered to by
 a sparrow cop who had been watching 1.-the fun from a clump of trees across the road.