The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-09
THE MORNING NEWS, SUNDAY APRIL g. $780,

pass, and in order that this might be done
in safety l bought tree from wood
cutter up al the top and tied it with
rope to the back part of my bicycle, so
that IL might act as brake and a drag
as I went down the steep incline"
Il have heard of such thing being
DONE" l said, glad to be on familiar
ground once more.
Yes, it is a very old device. You hitch
the rope round the butt end of the tree
and let the branches scrape along the
ground. Unfortunately there had fallen
little snow and the night before there had
been sharp frost; so, besides being steep,
the road was exceedingly slippery. By
and by, to my horror, l found the tree
was chasing me, butt forward, and instead
of acting as drag on my wheel, had
to pedal like one demented to keep clear
of IL. There was no-going TO one side and
getting out of its way, because, you see,
l was tied to it with rope, and my only
salvation was to keep ahead of it. 1
thought l was going TO succeed, and did
succeed until We came to that sharp turn
ing near where the Waloon committed his
murder There, to my horror, the tree
struck against the granite rock, and
bounced over, dragging me and the bicy-
Gle after it."
Suffering Peter!' cried, what stu
alton! Nothing but a mile of clear air
between you and the bottom of the granite
cliffr
Exactly" said George Washington. IT
see you know the spot. Now it takes a
good deal longer to drop a mile than most
people think ii does. and l believe, in fic-
tien that a man in such position spends
the time in going over all his past deeds,
especially those of a sinful nature. l knew
when l started there would not be time
enough for me to con over all the evil L
had done during my short life so / aban-
doned the attempt, and thought instead
of how l could best save my bicycle,
which was. new machine. left the sad
die. climbed down the rope, and took up a
position on the butt end of the tree, which
was going down with the branches be-
meath, so 1 thought that if I could keep it
in this position the branches would act
as series of springs whereas, il it turned
and went down butt first l should very
likely get an arm broken, besides wreck
ing an expensive wheel, on which, un-
fortunately, there was no accident insur-
ance. l resolved 1 would never travel in
Switzerland again without insuring my
bike. / found that by swinging my body
this way and that l could keep the tree
in the perpendicular, so, pulling on the
rope, / got the bicycle down 10 me, end
flop about. l shall never forget the sick
ening sensation with which we reached
the bottom. 1 had much trouble in hang
ing on to the butt of the tree when We
struck, though my arms were clasped
tightly round it, The branches acted just
as I thought they would, and the next
instant we had taken a great leap upward
again. The tree hoped like a gigantic
frog down the valley for about three-quar-
ters of a mile, or perhaps, to be strictly
accurate, between half a mile and three
quarters, and then subsiding, it dumped
me gently into the torrent which flows
at the bottom of the gigantic cliff. l was
unhurt, but regret to say that the handle
bar of my machine was bent a little, and
one of the pedals was knocked askew.
However, these little accidents are bound
to occur to d man who does much wheel
ing"
The train coming TO a standstill at this
point, asked the boys if they had any
more adventures, and they replied that
they had only just begun, and had told
me merely the commonplace occurrences
which had befallen them. This being the
case, 1 shook hands with the three of
them, and sought another carriage. One
sometimes gets enough of information in
an hour to last him several weeks, and I
thought it better not to overcrowd my
mind by stuffing him 1t any more know
edge acquired from the three truthful BIZ
cyclers