The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-03-19
I" Some says I, nodding toward

| Are you strong| says she.
"'That's part Of my act, says I, but
notagainst crazy man with a Ratchet,
] says I, wondering what she would do
next and about how long it would be
till the crazy man was on deck with
his tomahawk cleaning in the air.
"'Then,' says she, grab hold Of me
right quick and carry me across the
rope over to Mrs. Peck's house SOS
my husband won't get at me with that
axe Z
"she had more nerve in a minute
than had in q week, but when she
said that my professional pride como
to me, and without any moro talk I
reached for my balancing pole, and,
STOPPING down so she could get on my
back, which she didn' like very much, I
made quick run for the end of the
rope just as the crazy husband come
out Of the scuttle through the barrel
and tumbled down on the roof half
smothered with sand. I told her to
hold tight and do the prayin' for both
Of us and I thought could get her
through safe. I don't know how I
ever got out on that rope with her on
my back, for that wasn't the way my
profession done business, but I got
there, and as I shot out with the wom-
an clinging to me the people in tho
street below set up such a yell as /
never heard before and I come near
losing my balance, for I knew, and
they didn't, why this feature that
wasn't on the bills was being showed.
"Thg crowd yelled about twice, and
then all of q sudden got so still Icould
hear the little woman's heart beat.
Anyway, I thought I could, but may
be it was my own. knew when they
done that the crowd had seen the man
on the roof with the Ratchet and rec
ognized him, for all the people in the
town knew the kind Of a fellow he was.
At the same time the crowd got still
something came to me telling me to
nerve myself, for the crazy man would
cut the rope and drop me and my load
in the street, to be crushed in shape
less mass, and I came near letting 60
and dropping before ! was dropped. I
couldn't see what was going on be-
hind me, and all the little woman
knew she was whispering to me to go
ahead, because we were safe if I only
kept my path. I didn't know wheth.
er she thought about the man with the
Ratchet or not. Likely she did. It
wasn't her to mention it, though, un.
der them circumstances.
"While I was thinking about him
cutting the rope I was getting along
it toward the safe end as fast as I
could, the little woman hanging on
till she nearly choked me, but it didn't
hurt. and I was standing it beautiful.
It's funny how a man will find pleas
ure in life when there's so much in
sight that amt. And I nearly forgot
the man with the Ratchet thinking
about the little woman's arms holding
onto my neck as the one hope for her
life. But it was for only q second;
then I felt jar on the rope and !
ohoked and braced myself, for I was
sure that the ciazy man was begin.
ming to cut, and I waited for the sec.
ond jar, but it didn't come, and in it's
place came spring to the rope, as if
weight had been taken off Of it, fol-
lowed by a swishing sound and dull
thud on the sidewalk fifty feet below
us. At the same time the crowd sent
up groan as if every person in it
was hurt. I didn't know for sure
what had happened, but I guessed
that that crazy man, like most any
crazy person or mad dog, only had
room in his mind for one thing at
time, and when that was there there
wasn't space for any more. He want
ed to kill his wife, and the only way
he knew how to do it was with the
Ratchet by cutting her to pieces. It
did not strike him that he could kill
her by cutting the rope and letting
her drop to the ground. That was
too much for him. He knew an cas-
ier way, and as she was out there on
the rope not forty feet from him, he
would 60 ont there and kill her.
Crazy people have such crazy way
of doing things, don't they? He did,
and when he took his second step out
on tho rope he went over and down to
his death. That's what had made the
rope spring back. guess the little
woman must have felt that something
awful had happened, though she
never said q word, because when I at
last stepped safe on to the roof and
the crowd yelled o hundred times
louder than they did before they
knew what they were yelling about,
the little woman let go her hold
around my neck and dropped at my
feet in dead faint; and I didn't
blame her, either; it was time for
somebody to faint, and if she hadn't
done it l would, sure pop. Her doing
it gave me something else to think
about, and T cot her downstairs as