Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-04-16
Stairs Of Sand
ERNEST DE LANcY PIERSON.
Copyright. 1901, by Street & Smit

thought he heard the sound of steps
below and the echoes of mufaed
voices.
'They must have got on my trail"
he muttered. "Well, the only thing
to do is to try and reach the roof;
perhaps it may communicate with
some other building. If not-well,
1 shall be caught"
AS he approached the stair again
the sound of the voices below be-
came louder, and, from the frag-
ments of conversation that drifted
up to him, he judged that the po-
lice were making an examination of
the rooms on the lower floor.
cit will take 'em some time to do
that" was the thought that was run
ming through his mind, "and in the
meantime who knows but 7 may be
able to show them clean pair of
heels"
He had reached the stairs again,
and, cautiously that he might not
. awake the s1eepers, assembled them
slowly.
Whoever it was Investigating the
lower rooms, he did not take any
precaution to muff1e his voice, and
fragments of what was said satisfied
! Job that the police were in the
building.
| He had now reached the upper
floor, which, from the silence that
prevailed, he judged to be unoccu-
pied. There was a small iron ladder
! leading to the roof, and, without a
moments hesitation, he climbed this,
and, opening the trap, closed it be-
hind himself on the roof.
It was only through this trap that
they could possibly find him, SO he
thought if he could only weight down
the trap, they would have no easy
task in reaching him. At the same
time, if he found no way of escape
from the roof, his enemies had only
to wait, and he must eventually fall
into their hands.
He closed the trap carefully, and
seeing pile of old lumber near at
hand, by degrees brought the boards
over in his strong arms, and piled
them on top. When he found there
was nothing else of weighty nature
that he could pile over the door, he
wiped his forehead of it's perspira-
ton and sat down on the pile of
boards to consider his situation.
Looked at in any light, his position
seemed to be desperate, for the place
was guarded below, and the house
was full of policemen. He rose and
walked to the further end of the
roof, and then saw below him low
| building that looked as if it were
! factory of some sort. Then he wan
dered to the front of the building,
and, looking down, thought he could
see a policeman walking back and
forth, and, beyond, others. So he
returned to the contemplation of the
little factory. IF he could only reach
that roof, it would not be hard to
get to the street. But it lay far be-
low him, and to jump would be i'm
possible. Just then, as he was walk
ing about, feeling very uneasy, he
tripped over a rope fastened to one
of the chimneys, and which at some
time must have been employed in the
work of painting the building.
/ 1t was only a short piece, but he
took it up tenderly, undid the knots
and then found that it was still of
too short a length to be of any serv-
ice to him. Rope in hand, he drew
near the brink of the roof, and peered
down into the depths. The roof of
the factory, or whatever it was, lay
far below, but he saw small pro-
lection iutting out from the building
on which he was standing, about half
way down. All, if the rope had only
been double it's length! Then a
thought occurred to him whereby he
might make his little rope do double
service.
Fastening it to a hook, where a
lightning-rod had formerly been, he
threw the loose end over the wall,
where it dangled in space. Under
the knot he had tied about the hook
he placed a candle and lit it. His
intention was that by the time he
had reached the lower projecting
ledge, the candle would have burned
it's way through the rope, it would
drop into his hands and then he
! would be able to use it again to
reach the roof of the factory. Hav-
ing arranged this, Job scrambled
over the edge of the parapet, and,
climbing to the rope, launched him
self into space. He knew that it was
possible that the candle might burn
the rope through before he reached
the ridge of safety, but it was neces-
sary that he should take the risk.
In his swinging descent, he could
not help but look upward at the far
ing candle, the progress of which
was to decide his fate, for life or
death. An old rope like that must
consume rapidly. Would it ever last
un Ill he had reached the ledge?
/ But his movements had been so