A YOUNG FOLK STORY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 143, 20 June 1925, Page 15

A YOUNG FOLK STORY

BUZZ, JOCK, AND THE TOWER.

(By Charles M. Blake.) One winter's afternoon, Buzz and Jock decided to climb the old Tower. To reach the great bell they had to ascend a ladder that ran straight up the tower wall, through room above room. They felt very much alive as they reached the beU 5 covered in straw, feathers, and

, 3r They to^every. active when two S. "s circledl round thdr Bn'zz' ney tak° US f°r brothers >" said

"I'm oif!" said Jock. *'i\ot yet," said Buzz, shaking himself lings." * ' ' £ Watch he star"

-tJ ?'? 2?, at fche iro" gate," said Jock. 11l whistle at each floor, and you whutlo hack- I'm not frightened. Just menc^toS and * — TT.HISrH° U t l aSl;ret^ nCd at the tWr4 floor. e OKII UZZ f°r a ran, forgetting poor Buzz. He'll come back," said Buzz, when he found himself „ prisoner. '"If he doesn t u,o caretaker rings the bell at eight and I'll tug tho rope." • Clang ! Claug ! Clang !" we nt the bell. The noise was deafening. A humming, ear-sphtting sound continued as the bell stopped swaying The rope jerked out or the caretaker's hands; a fiendish call followed.

The old man dropped hi s keys in f« S f a'^ ' f. ol£ ettui? hat, hnrried to find tho nightwatchman "Sure Mr. Caretaker, you must havo been a-dozmg," said the watchman. „ *ye this bell for fifty years, Mister Watchman, and seen many a rope come down, but not jump up and scream," nervously said the bellringer. Listen ! ° .

i UZZ i P nlle, d more ]e"tly, and called louder than before.

Flashing his torch towards the first trap-door, the watchman beckoned the caretaker to go up. . "It's your duty, Mr. Watchman; mine is done, at eight ten," said the caretaker.

■I 11 do my duty, Mr. Caretaker, and call in the fire brigade or the police but I m not paid for climbing ancient towers to stop dancing ropes !" said the watchman, gazing at the trap-door. ihe rope jerked still more violently; the entrance door banged, and up the ladder flew Jock, taking two steps at a time.

; "My mate, Buzz ! My mate is locked in the tower!" he breathlessly exclaimed. And before tho two old officers had time to stop their bumping knees, Jock had set Buzz free. " "Buzz," said Jock, as they walked home together, "I'll never play pranks again. You must have been very frightened, Buzz?" ■ .

Only cowards are frightened of the dark, said Buzz; "but I'm miehtv hungry." ° -