Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-12-23
Fiction. !
his LAST ASSIGNMENT
BY CHARLES E. VAN LOAN.

UA udMc SAOt 4AtV thC MASuis dAu lAc
clang Of hurrying engines rose sharp
|Iy from the Gathering streets below.
Great Jehoshaphat! That's big
Gre, Chester; close too Who's got it?'''
The city editor came to the window,
copy in hand, and flattened his nose
against the pane. 5s.3 I
'She is roarer, isn't shea ] sent
young Stanley out on that. I didn't
know it was going TO sbesa big thing or
I'd have sent some one else. Looks like
more than he can handle, I'm afraid. !"
| The sporting editor ceased his tap
ping on the window and turned to the.
speaker.
"Say, Ches, what's the matter with
the youngster anyway? From the way
he shaped up at first thought he was
going to make top notcher, but Eddy
Rice and the News and Tim Barnes Of
| the Reporter skin him alive whenever
they're out on the same assignments.
don't understand It. And he was
such big help to me last winter with
that football stuff, too; knew all the
team like book; played on one Of 'em
year before last, If you remember.
| Hes as steady as clock and as will
ling as boy can be, vet every time
he gets chance to do something big
he goes up In the air. .
II know that, !" said the city editor.
'sThis is strictly on the q. t, but the.
old man sent for me only last night to
talk to me about that very thing. He
says the boy hasn't shown any nat
ural aptitude for newspaper work and
unless he makes good he'll have to be
dropped" !" And the city editor went
back to his blue pencil again.
i From down the smoky street came
the mufied roar Of human voices. The
sporting editor threw up the window
and leaned out.
Cheering, by Georgel Hear 'em,
I Chester? There must be something
doing down there; fireman making a
i grand stand play most likely. I can
see your scare head tomorrow Our
Brave Fire Ladies' Hey ~
4 Ten minutes later one Of the office
boys dashed in, breathless and excited.
Say, Mr.. Chester, you otter been
down TIL street. There's three women
|up on tn top foor Of tn building
whats afire, an everybody thinks
they're goners, cause th' streets is tore
up wit sewers, an TIL firemen can't
get In there wit th' towers a man
/ gets through tn ropes an runs across
th' street wit his coat over his head,
an before they could nab him In he
goes at tn front door. Th' next we
saw of him he was up on th' roof
4 a-lettin' down piece of rope to th,
window where th' women was. Th'
rope was only a short one, an SO he
hauis 'em up on tn roof where he is,
i an then we sees what he is goin' to
4 do. You know tn three story brick
what's next door? Well, they's wire
runs from tn top Of tn big buildin'
Il down to th' brick on q slant, about
So" And here Bobby indicated an
! angle of about forty five degrees. .tHe
bitches tn littlest woman on to this
4 wire wit piece Of rope an cuts her
| loose. didn't watch, because was
4 scared it wouldn't hold her, but it did.
4 an she got down all right. Then he
4 sends TIL next one down. Nobody said
Il word. We was just holdin' our
breath. While he was tyin' on th' last
woman th' whole insides OF th' build.
1 in caves in, AMI / thought they was
4 both gone for sure, but when tn smoke
clears away there he is way on th'
edge of th' wall, WI fire all around
him, an th's last woman Is halfway
down Th' rest Of th' rope he was
savin' for himself must have went
down into TIL FIRE, for he looks around
for itjust once an then swings out an
comes down that wire hand over hand
i Ike q circus actor. When th' crowd
saw that he was a-goin' to make it All
] right they cut loose, am bet you
could have heard 'em over Ia Jersey
4 They swarns around th, brick buildin
to meet him when he comes down. bui
somehow he makes a clean getaway
am there don't nobody know who fe
Is nor nothin'. z. |"
And Bobby paused for breath, much
abashed to find that every one had
drawn near to listen.
The city editor threw up his hands
and groaned.
Now, isn't it just my luck to send
Stanley out on q story like that? why
4 Billy Kimball would have got three
columns out Of that, besides signed
interview with this unknown person
and maybe picture Of him thrown In