The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02
The rope did not come down again at

The rope did not come down again at once.
 Antoine. Antoiner called the girl.
 He was untying the bundle of woman's clothes and trying to make out what they were by holding them up in the moonlight. Suddenly he dropped them with an exclamation of surprise. on my good!' he said. ''Oh dame du guiabler' N''
 Antoine! Antoine! Antoine, mechant, :, she called.
 '"Sh. 'sh! Not such a rowr' he an- swered.
 Let down the rope; I'm coming up.'' she said F'
 You can't get up,'' he answered.
 You'll help pull me up-quick. the ropei'
 My hands are bleeding"
 "Buzard-black buzardi" she cried, an- grily. You lied to mer'
 I'll let down your clothes to you" he said.
 If you don't let down the rope I'll climb up without it, and if I fall and break my neck it'll be your fault. Quick. Tor I'm going to startr' This frightened him. He tied the ropes still more firmly together, made a loop, and let the coil drop slowly. The loop fell into Minois' hands.
 Don't start yet he called down. ''Tll ] rom the edge to place in the grass where, tying the rope round his body. he could seat himself and brace his feet against ledge of rock. Then he pulled on the rope.
 Minois began climbing, and Antoine pulled steadily Twice he felt the rope suddenly jerk when she lost her footing. but still it came in steadily. and he used nose of rock as a sort of winch. He knew when she was more than one-third Of the way up by the great weight upon the rope, by the more frequent jerking when she slipped Yet this was no lahor and monstrous struggle such as An toines climbing-this was the scaling of a conquered wall by the legions of the victorious.
 She was nearly two-thirds of the way up when cannon shot boomed out over the water, frightening again the vast coveys of birds, which shrieked and honked till the air was a maelstrom of cries. Then came another cannon shot.
 Antoine's desertion was discovered. Upon the other side of the rock boats were putting out toward the shore An toine knew perfectly each movement as well as if he were watching them. The hght was begun between a single fisher man and fleet of French warships.
 His strength, however, could not last much longer. Every muscle of his bodv had been strained and tortured and even this easier task tried him beyond endur- ance. His legs stiffened against the ledge Of the rock, the tension on his arms made them numb-he wondered how near she was to the top. Suddenly there was A pause, and then jerk. Love of Godr the rope was shooting through his fin- gers, his legs were giving way He gath cred himself together, and then with teeth, hands, and body rigid with enor- nous effort, he pulled and pulled He could not see. A mist swam before his eyes Everything grew black; but he pulled on and on!
 He never knew just when she reached the top. But when the mist cleared away from his eyes she was bending over him putting rum to his lips as he sat just where he had stiffened with effort
 What cat l wasp' she said What wildcat I was to make you haul me up, didn't know it was so bad. It was bad for me, with the rope round melt must have been awful for you, my poor esmanus-my poor scarecrow Antoine ,'
 Scarecrow indeed he looked His clothes were nearly gone, his hair was tossed and matted, his eyes were bloodshot, his huge hands were like pieces of raw meat. his feet were covered with blood.
 My poor scarecrow!' she said and she tenderly wiped the blood from his face where his hands had touched it. Meanwhile bugle calls of command came to them, and in the first light of morning they could see the Frenchmen and the