Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1854-07-27
A Night am eng the Animals.

Well, i,strangd r, We have floods her
in louisiana, s uch as, l guess, yo
have never seeh the like of. in Eng
land. England is not large enougl
to have such foods Que of then
would cover your whole country,
have heard said | will not say tha
it is true, as am not acquaintet
with your geography. | know how
ever, there ar 3 mighty big freshet.
here. as hi We sailed a skiff more
( than hundred miles across one O
/ them, where there was nothing to bt
seen but cypre ess tops pseping out o
the water. The flood as you know
comes every year, but very large
ones only occ lsiopally. We'll, about
ten years ago, located in the Red
River bottom, about fifty miles OF
thereaboat below Natdhitoches.
there / had built shanty. had
left my wife and Two children in Mis-
sissippi State, intending to return for
them in the spring; so you see, |
Was all alone by myself, except my
old mare, a Collins axe, and, Of
courss, my rifle. ~
4 had finished the ghanty all but
the cliinlling and the building of a
chimney, when what should come on
bat one of those severe floods. 1t
W S at night when it began to make
its appearance. | was asleep on the
floor pf the shanty, and the first
warming l had of it was feeling the
water soaking tllrong gh my old blank
ct coat. l had been dreaming, and
thought it was raining; and then.
again, | thought ! WAS being drowned
in the Mississippi; but was not
many seconds awake before guessed
what W hs the reality; | jumped to
my fedt like a startled buck. and
groped my way to the door What
Il sigat'I beheld. / had cleared al
piece Of ground around the shanty :
about coupleof acres leaving the
stumps a good three feet high; but
now there waB not one to be SEEN
My clearing stumps and all was un-
der water; and | could see it shining
among the trees all around the shan,
ty. OF course my first thought was
about my rifle; and | turned back
into the shanty and laid my claws
upon that qnick enough. | next
went in search of my oldImare. She
was not hard to find; for if ever a
creature made a noise, she did. She
was tied to tree close. to the shan
ty, and the way she Was squealing
was Il caution to cats. found her
in three or four feet Of water. pitch
ing aud Cd unae,ing all round the
trae. Sac bad nothing on but the
rope she wis iritched by. Both sad
die and bride had been washed Always;
SO made the rope into n sort of
halter, and mounted her bare-backed.
.Jdst then 4began to think where /
was going. The whole country ap-
peared 10 be under water; and the
nearest neighbor had lived across
TIE prairie, ten miles off ] knew
that his shanty stood on-high groonds
but how was | TO get there? It
1t was night; / might lose my way
and ride 'chuck into the river
When thought Of this. concluded
it might be better to stay by my
own shanty until morning could
hitch the mare, inside TO keep her
from being foatcd away; and for my
self, | could climb on the roof
However, willie I was thinking Of
this | noticed that the water was
deepening. and thoaght ehteisu
my head that II would soon be deep
enough to drown the old maze. For
myself was not frightened. !
co uld climb tree, and stay there
till the flood. fell; but ] I-should then
loose the mare, and that creature
was too valuable to think of such a
sacrifice: SO | made up my mind TO
Chance crossing the prairie. There
was no time to be wasted-neyer a
minute, sol gave the mare a Afoh
on two in the ribs and started.
4 found the path out to the edge
Of the prairie easy enough. l haa
blazed it wher | first come to the
place; and as the night was not "a 2
very dark one, could see the el'ise.
as / passed between the trees. My
mare knew the track as we'll as my
self. and waded tlironghit at 81 arp
rate. forshe knew, too, there was
no time to be wasted. In five pm
s .