We're Almost Out of Rope, Isn't It?

Seven fairly inebriated men managed to steal a second bell from St. Mary Magdalene Church without raising any alarms is beyond me. They got back there with a rope twice as long, but it still wasn't long enough. One by one, they let go of the rope, until Jim's one and two were the last ones holding it. Maybe this would do it, he thought. He couldn't live with himself if the next drunk guy got a rope a few feet longer, and Jim 1 missed it by that much. The men all decided that they never met each other, and they all went home early that night because they didn't want to hang for stealing two bells