The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1900-04-28


knew it 1 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 the
surprise of every one he pulled it up
third time. whats 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!"
To our amazement the rope dropped
from the window with knots in 1t about
six feet apart.
"By Jove!" exclaimed the chief,
'that's trick worth knowing. Won
der how he did it in such a short time"
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!"
I heard Oglethorpe whisper to the
chief contribution to the firemen's
relief fund of $1,000 for the possession
of that rope, which was duly accepted,
! and it was afterward generously di-
vided with Tom and me.
Tom called to see me the next day,
smiling and happy.
"Tve got the million all right, Mr..
Burrows" said he, "and have been
walking on air ever since. Have to
pinch myself to make sure I'm not
dreaming. The papers laid it on so
| thick that had to sneak through the
back streets to get here, people stare
so at me-"
In the quiet of my private Office he
| explained to me some of the details OF
the escape from the burning building,
which show that brains count in an
emergency.
ut was this way" said he. "When
our position seemed hopeless and it
| looked as If we were doomed to horri-
BILE death, Oglethorpe lost his head and
acted half crazy, and you, Mr.. Burrows,
were in a trance, daZed like.
"Twice before in my life had looked
death square in the eye, and learned by
experience that one stands the best
chance for his life by keeping cool,
with his wits on the qui vive to take
advantage of any favorable method or
means of escape.
"Unless the fire was gotten under
| control within short time, a rope was
| our only hope. Then l remembered a
story. You may think it queer time
| to think of such a thing as story,
nevertheless it did its part toward our
salvation. 1t was the tale of q pris-
oner confined in high tower. A
| friend outside shot an arrow through
the window; attached to the arrow was
a silk thread, to the thread cord,
and to the cord rope. All these the
prisoner pulled up successfully, and
when he secured the rope his escape
was easy.
"About the instant that story was
running through my brain Oglethorpe
offered the million dollars and caught
sight of the sign Fish Lines That
solved the problem. You know the
rest.
But right here would like to justi-
fly myself concerning that million.
don't want you to think took advan-
tage of Oglethorpe because his life was
in danger; l merely profited by his
generous offer. 1t was matter of
business, pure and simple, and the fact
that he paid up like man is proof that
he considered it square deal"
"How about that string Of knots in
the roper / asked. I'm very curious
to know how you did it, and so are
some of the fremen."
"Oh, that's a simple trick I learned
at sea-" he replied. "You make a coil
of half bitches, pass the end of the
rope through the center of the coil,
and it comes out with knots about a
fathom or so apart"
by the way, Mr.. Burrows, that was
the turning of the tide, after all"
And / answered.: "Well, L should
say so!"-Boston Globe.
4 g. n