the poor fellow had fallen two or three feet, and was now hanging by the rope round his breast right way upwards.
He did not make any effort for a few minutes, and as cheer after cheer came to us from below, he swung there, with us holding on for dear life.
Can you climb down now, Rance, said the Rector, if I cut you free?
No, sir, he said hoarsely, Ive no use in my arms or legs theyre all pins and needles.
Then we must lower you down, said the Rector, calmly. And getting hold of the long piece of rope, he climbed up once more, as coolly as if he was on an apple tree in his own orchard, and saw that the knots were fast; then coming down, he passed his long rope through the one round Joeys breast, and tied it again round him.
Now, he said, Fincher and I will hold on by this rope, and you can let yourself slide through the other loop one arm first, and then the other, steadily.
The poor fellow had hard work to do it; but the loop was loose enough to let him work it over his head, and then with the Rector striding across from the crocket at one angle to that on the other, and me holding on to the rope as well, we let him down, sliding with his back to the stone, till his feet touched the leads, when he fell down all of a heap.
Untie the rope, said the Rector, and get him down.
He spoke very hoarsely, shouting to them below; and a cheer came up.
Now, Fincher, said the Rector, weve got to get down.
As he spoke, he made a running noose in the rope with the end he held in his hand, let it run up to the the big noose, and pulled it tight.
Then he made an effort to get his legs together on one angle; but the distance he had been striding was too great, and he couldnt recover himself, but swung away by his hands.
I cant help it, Fincher I must go first, he cried. And he was already sliding down the rope as he spoke; but I was so unnerved and giddy now, that I dared not look down.
I believe I quite lost my head then for a few moments; for I was clinging there for life a hundred and twenty feet above the ground, and the wind seemed to be trying to push me from my hold.
I was brought to myself, though, just as the landscape about me seemed to be spinning round, by feeling the rope touch my side; and I clasped it convulsively with both hands, and then, winding my legs round it, slid rapidly down, the rope seeming to turn to fire as it passed through my hands.
A few moments later, and I was safe on the tower leads, trying like the rest to smile at the danger we had passed through; but it was a faint sickly kind of smile and we were all very glad to get down to the green, and cared nothing for the cheers of the people.
The rope was left hanging there, and stayed till it rotted away; but somehow before a week was out, that weathercock stopped squeaking, as if some one had been up to oil it, and, though nothing was said about it, Ive always felt as sure as sure that the Rector went up by himself and did it early one morning before any one was up.
He was cool-headed enough to do it, for he certainly saved Joe Rances life, and I know no one in the village would have done it without bragging after. At all events, the weathercock was oiled, and as I said over and over again to Joey, if Parson didnt oil that weathercock, who did?
That all goes to prove what I say, I replied when he had finished. You were all guilty of foolhardiness just to gratify a little vanity.
Well, you see, doctor, no man likes for his mates to think him a coward.
Let them think, so long as you know you are not.
Thats what Parson said, replied Fincher, when he talked about it next day.
Then Parson , as you so politely call him, was quite right.
Chapter Seventeen. My Patient the Warehouseman
What! in moderation, doctor? he said.
Yes, even in moderation; men existed and were well and strong and happy, depend upon it, long before beer or mead was invented.
Ah, doctor, I see youre a teetotaller, he said.
Not I, my man, unless one who seldom takes wine, spirits, or beer be a teetotaller. When you get as old as I am, you will probably begin to think that it is as well to take as much care as possible of the machine in which you live. Suppose you had some clean, pretty mechanism your watch, say, or a musical box, you would be very careful not to injure it.
Of course, doctor.
Then,
why take anything that is likely to destroy so wonderful a piece of work as the human body?
But, does drinking beer destroy the body, doctor?
That depends, I said. If you have your half-pint or pint of beer for dinner and supper, I believe, honestly, you would be better without it, speaking as a doctor; but I dont believe that indulgence would keep you from living in fair health to seventy, eighty, or ninety.
Then wheres the harm, doctor.
The harm is drinking when you dont want it, and causing in yourself an unnatural thirst or desire for strong drink that can never more be quenched. Look around among your fellow workmen, and see how many you know who must have their half-pint before going to work, and their half-pint at eleven oclock, and at four oclock, and after leaving off; and at last get so that their machine wont go without oiling, and they cant pass a public-house without wanting more and more.