The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-16
The EVENING STORY
Ciimbing-and Climbing.
(By J. M. Phillips.)

10Y =. M Fu1tllpS-)
A group Of young people was stand
platform at the top of the town
hall. Below struggled the village
falling away in q picturesque confu-
sion from the hill on which the hall
was situated. OF to the east. be-
meath the rays Of a perfect moon.
cleaned the radiant surface of Sill
yer lake.
II am going to climb the flag
staff," said Calvin Brest. He was a
drug clerk in the village. a why,
an adventurer, despite the humdrum
occupation OF purveying pills and
powders. He felt. moved to do some
thing noteworthy tonight. Spring
was stirring his riotous young blood
and Jessie Dane was standing beside
him.
| There were a chorus of half fright
ened exclamations. The Flagstaff
sprang from the top of a low cupola
just above. their heads. 1t was
thick. crooked lance Of timber thirty
feet long. worn smooth by the beat
ing of many storms
resolve to cool. From the top Of
the railing he leaned forward and
drew himself UP on the roof Of the
on the pole.
Wrapping his legs about it he be-
ganto climb. 1t merely shivered a
bit at first: but when he was third
of the distance to the top the pole
swayed back and forth If it snap
sheer drop of nearly one hundred feet
to the cobblestone court below.
But it did not snap. Brest reached
the top without a mishap, patted the
gilt ball that crowned it and then
with a whoop slid down the staff
q
rallied platform.
He was given the reception of an
admired, spoiled child. They praised
and scolded him. but the scolding
had been climbed but once be-
fore, and then in the daytime by a
Isteeplejaek whose many precautions
seemed foolish beside Brest's daring
cleverness.
Albert whitcomb broke in on the
congratulatory chorus. ST am going
up, too" he said, and there was an
other sensation. Whitcomb was a
young farmer whose land adjoined
the town. He glanced at Jessie Dane
as he spoke.
The girl took step forward and
put out a hand as If to stop him:
and then, realizing that any pleading
might render her conspicuous, she
turned away without a word.
Whitcomb got to the roof and be-
Brest, and less skilled. Under his
labored efforts the pole swayed and
shivered.
The smiles slipped from the faces
of the watchers; their gay words of
encouragement were stilled They
remembered that the staff was old;
| it had been years in place. AT any
moment Whitcomb might go down to
his death.
| But good fortune waited on him.
l. t. EAv
ment on the gilt ball, and slid back
| thankfully. He was not so popular
as Brest and his safe return was
greeted by less of a dem
A constraint fell over the group.
The same thought was in every mind.
For the youth who had been Jessie
Danes boyish adorer was there.
Would he do as much as the others?
| Whitcomb voiced the question of
all when he said with sheer:
"Well Peter?"
Peter Price. leaning indolently on
the railing, drawled, well. Al?''
"Are you a sport?"
"Do you mean am I going to climb
that pole, too 2"
Having been born with some
sense" replied Peter, 81 am not. Be-
cause you and Calvin made fools OF
yourselves is no reason I should.
Whitcomb laughed boisterously: Il
always thought you lacked sand" he
said. Later, Whitcomb and Calvin
Brest walked home with Jessie.
| Peter Price did not seem to notice
any change in attitude toward him.
He attended the village merrymak-
ings as usual and kept as near Jessie
as possible, fetching and carrying for
her and anticipating her wishes. AS
for Brest and Whitcomb, they enjoyed
to the full the fame their exploit
brought.
They all attended the first picnic Of
the year on Snake Island, so called be-
cause of its peculiar shape and the fact
| that it terminated in a bluff two hum
bred feet high which looked like the
up1ifted head of a serpent The island
was in Silver lake, perhaps mile from
shore.
The boat landing was on narrow
strip Of beach beneath the head of the
serpent. To get to the top Of the bluff,
| it was necessary to walk for a thou
sand yards along the beach to spot
| where the precipice began to subside
and a path wound upward.
The day was beautiful with all the
warmth of summer. When the dozen
young people reached the top they sat
down on the new grass to rest after
the climb. and to enjoy the sweep Of
sparkling water and wooded shore
spread out before them.
A sudden scream of fear cut through
their nght-hearted conversation and
brought them to the edge of the bluff.
Below on the beach was sight that
for moment struck them dumb with
horror.
Two of their party. Mr.. and Mrs Dan
Pomerey, had just landed and drawn
/, their rowboat into the cluster of other
small craft Barely had they stepped
ashore when the huge, black-bearded