Willmar tribune., 1900-05-09

ly, Proctor ran to case or drawers
under the counter few feet away.
On the upper drawer was tackled a
white card which bore the simple le-
gend: "Fish lines" 1t was only the
work of a second to pull the drawer
out and select a heavy, strong line,
about the size used in codtishing. The
drawer underneath was labeled "Sink-
ers," and from this he grabbed a lead
sinker, which he deftly fastened to the
end of the line. From the wall he tore
down sign which read: mo smoking
allowed;" on the back of this card he
wrote in plain letters: Glitch on a
rope. quick!'
Making the card fast to the line
near the lead he rushed to the window
followed by Oglethorpe and myself.
watched the descent of that white
messenger with brea athless interest, for
our lives were in the balance and time
was precious. Three souls hanging to
a cod line and piece of common every
day cardboard.
A man on the ladder seized the card
and read it's message. Waving his hand
upward to signify that he understood,
he ran nimbly down the ladder, darted
across the street to ladder truck, and
with the help of comrade seized
coil of rope, which they flung on the
ground directly under our window.
To prevent the line from chatting
on the stone trimming under the win
dow sill, Proctor leaned far outward
and carefully obeyed the command to
"haul"
"This is a kind of fish worth fish
ing for" cried he, with enthusiasm;
''sort of a goldfish, hey, Mr.. Og1e.
thorpe? All, my beauty, now I've got
you fast!" he exclaimed, as the end
of the rope slipped into his hands.
I believe that Tom had been to sea
couple of voyages when youngster
and evidently the old sailor instinct
returned the moment he got hold of
that rope.
He yanked it in over the window sill
hand over hand till it fairy hummed.
When the last fatho-1 fell at our feet
Tom grabbed it and with a quick turn
of the hands tied a loop, which
think sailors call "bowline.' Slip
ping this bowline over Mr.. glethorpe's
head and down to the hips, he said
to him, tersely: 'Now, then, Mr..
Oglethorpe, you're to sit in this bow
line; hold onto the rope with death
grip. Don't be afraid; you can't fall
out if you try. Mr.. Burrows and l
will lower you down, and all you have
to do is to keep yourself away from
the building with your feet. You
may bark your shins, but that's moth
ing. Lively now, there's not mo-
ment to lose!"
After few more instructions and
no little urging, the man of money
laboriously crawled over the sill; we
Stacked away on the rope and his
head disappeared from view. We had
turn of the rope around steam
pipe and had no difficulty in holding
Oglethorpe's weight, although he
was a heavy man.
Presently we heard a tremendous
cheer from the crowd below, which
told us that Oglethorpe was safe.
Running to the window, we saw him
the ladder. with the help
of fireman.
Tom hauled up the rope again and
in an instant was ready to descend.
His instructions to me were the same
as to Oglethorpe, only he added: IF
I don't get out of this alive, Mr.. Bur-
babies get that million" He glanced
uneasily over his shoulder to the rear
of the room, where the flames were
just beginning to break through.
I made a feeble protest. meant it,
too-that it was only right that he
should go next. He replied almost
angrily: "Stop your nonsense, Mr..
Burrows, and get out of that window!
I'll take two turns around this steam
pipe, so as to hold you all right, and
you'll be on the ladder in a jiffy.''
I have a dim recollection of twist
ing and turning, at the same time
falling down, down, till it seemed as
if I was dropping into a bottomless
pit in the internal regions. Before I
knew it I was standing on mother
earth once more with Oglethorpe
shaking my arm off.
We loked upward, expecting to see
Proctor climb down the rope. To tho
surprise of every one he pulled it up
a third time. "What's the fool do
ing?" exclaimed the fire chief stand
ing near by. "Why don't he slide
down that rope? Guess he's lost his
head" - .
"He knows what he's about" said the
millionaire. "Look!" Il .~
To our. amazement the rope dropped
from the window with knots in it about
six feet apart. y.
t'By Jove!'' exclaimed the chief,
"that's a. trick worth knowing. Won
der how he did it in such a short Jlme.'
. We saw Toms fet come through the
window, where he had to maneuver
a moment to wind his legs around the
rope; then he slid down from one knot.
to the next easily and gracefully dis
daining to use the ladder, and finally
landed within our midst with the
CHEEKY salutation: All present or ac-
counted for!'"'
zI heard Oglethorpe whisper to- the
chief a contribution to the fremen's
relief fund Of ST ,0o0 for the possession