The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-04-07

BILE portico in front; solid brick fence an
carefully arranged garden; stone steps lead
ing up to parlOr, whence rich strains Q
vocal and piano music were proceeding
Through lace curtains and windows whic
extended to the balcony floor ] could set
while awaiting the summons of the bell
loving couple looking tenderly into eac
others eyes. One of them was the daughte
ofthe house, whose marriage, as has been ex
planned was fixed for the day when the cot
ton Of former years should be gotten rid of
and that event | could hear them sayin,
ough to be now.
The house was full Of gay compan .-peo
pie who were ignorant OF how they woul'
be affected by the war, and who We're en-
joying themselves careessly and recklessly
The disp sition of the four years crOl
which had been preserved intact with s.
much anxiety by double dealing of one sOr
and another, was evidently IA proud mo
ment to the owner. He had had to submit
to Il good many meannesses and humiia
tons, but all would be tight now The
browning success of his life was at hand.
The crisis was too great to admit of mach
delay upon the part of any one. The risk
Of profit or loss was readily arranged (fOr
was becoming mOmentarily more and more
apprehensive) as the old planter had
wished; and it was decided that all parties
should return to the bOat-even the bridal
party that was to be. They were to remain
on board until all danger of detection OF
the cotton Gt there was any at ally had
passed away; and then, when We were
fairly in Red River. the ceremony of mar
riaye should give double cause Of rejoicing.
1t was all very prettily arranged, and
became anxious in thinking about these
tender lovers, that fortune should favor us,
as much on their account as my own.
f.,c<,, in load -,
time, and in moving off towards the city.
The terrible voice of the mate, so bristlng
ordinarily with the most desperate epithets
and oaths, when any of the deck hands
| showed signs of faltering or of letting down
in their work, was as subdued as my own
now. His intense eayerness to get away
from the dangerous locality was rather felt
than expressed, and was, besides, unneces-
sary, as each deck hand exerted his power
full thews and sinews without any artificial
| stimulus, to their utmost tension.
We were fortunate, too, in getting past
| the sand bars and around the worst elbows
! and turns of bayou sufficiently crooked
| to break tish's back to swim up it 4; with
banks so narrow that the branches of the
trees arched above the current, and which
looked like an unpicked field from the hand
fnls of cotton scratched out by bushes. Then
the waters would widen into dreary NOR
rass or lake bordered with innumerable
cypress, whose trunks and stumps were con-
stuntly touching the keel Of our boat even
in what constituted the channel.
At one time we had to unload the great
walls Of cotton which we had piled upon
the sides and transport it across a narrow
neck of land in order to Tighten the boat
sufficiently to admit her passage down. But
the greatest difficulty was in the passage of
a certain narrow channel where the black
water flowed fierce and strong, and where,
unless a boat pursued precisely the true
course she was certain of being thrown
upon rocks or snags which lay beneath the
surface, and where. if such an accident had
occurred, our ruin was inevitable.
In coming to this dangerous locality, the
mate, who had been as silent and concern
trated in his manner as ordinarily he was
demonstrative and noisy, became involved
in an alteration with one Of his hands,
who had made some answer to one of his
commands, and g wing away to an ungov
ernabe tempest of fury he had knocked the
man down with billet Of wood and thrown
him overheard afterwards. He never in
tended to have caused his death outright,
though this was the result of his action.
The boat was III too dangerous a situation
for all to admit of any deviation from her
course and before any other plan of rescue
The accident threw a great camper upon
the spirits of all the men who seemed to
feel that the tragedy had taken away all
luck from the expedition. But this despOnd-
ency to some extent cured by prepare
tions for the wedding festivities which it
was now determined to celebrated at all
hazards, and by the amount Of liquor in con-
sequence that had already upon this as upon
most similar occasions commenced to circu-
late. But this adding. rather added to my
nervousness than detracted from it.
1t had the effect of adding to my mental
anxiety 20 see the couple confident and
hopeful for the future and ignorant of the
situation standing up to be united just as |
have explained at the critical moment, in
the Jaws of our greatest danger. But no
Captain of a boat or ship ever cares to
hint of danger to passenger; and besides
the marriage ceremony had already awak- |
ened as much interest with every one on /
board, as if each of the crew was to the
happy bridegroom, and every one not eager
to see it go on.
l have hesitated a little in my account
about going down that terrible cataract or
gut of water; and it was because every
body naturally shudders who comes through
it. II got its name from the fact that some
accident has attended every boat that has
ever attempted to sail down it, and | have
not heard of the trip being attempted since
the eventfnl night when IRE were there.
But to return to the marriage. The min
lister who had come along to complete the
ceremony was asking, with book IN hand,
for the customary pledges of faith, and the
tender couple were looking into each others
eyes yet more tenderly than they have ever
looked betore-than it will lie ever in their
power TO look again. Their devotion and
love to each other was the only illustration
the only hint at something nobler than
the struggle for riches there was upon the
dark background of our venture. The
most brutal and ragged dsckhand on board
felt in dim way that here was higher
appeal to his sympathy than what his ordi
nary experience afforded him.
wilt thou love, honor and obey" The
answer, if any was made, was drowned in
such a crash as only ever happens on board
of a steamboat-as only happens in the
ruin and wreck produced by a
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