"This man offered to make the repairs without staging or assistance, on condition that he should be well paid, and his offer was accepted. Provided with a quantity of strong cord, he went as high as he could go in the interior, and then stepped out at the highest window. He had cut off two lengths of his cord, and made loops in the ends. The heads of the nails which secured the sheets of gilded copper projected enough to enable him to fasten a loop of each cord upon them. In these stirrups he placed his feet. Clinging to the edges of the copper, where the joints were made, with one hand, he raised one of the stirrups with the other hand, until he passed the loop over a nail head higher up. Repeating the process for the other foot, he slowly ascended till he could clasp the spire in his embrace and finally reached the ball, where his troubles seemed to begin. Passing the cord around his waist, he made it fast to the spire, with a considerable spare line between it and his body. Planting his feet against the needle, he dropped back, and straightened out, with nothing but the cord to support him. In this position, his body at right angles with the spire, he threw a coil of line over the ball, and with it hauled himself up to the summit of the globe. Then Telouchkine stood by the side of the angel, and listened to the applause of the vast crowd which had gathered below to witness the feat. Fastening the cord securely above the ball, he descended with comparative ease. The next day he carried up a rope ladder, by the aid of which he was able to make the needed repairs at his leisure." "Bully for Telouchkine!" said Scott. "I shouldn't think any cord he could carry up that height was strong enough to bear him." "But it seems it was." "It must have had some of the Russian bear in it, else it wouldn't have held him." "I hope your bear will eat up your bully," added the professor. "Now we will go into the church."