The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1876-03-16

i looked tof5J the place Wnaf i eX-
pected to seemy shanty. Thar want one
log on another, nor yit war thar a log in
sight. The shanty had been clur carried
of, the clay climbing along wi it, an
wuss still the sticks o plenishin' it con-
tanned. The boss shed and corn crib he'd
also disappeared. Lucky the hoss want
thar, nor my ole woman neyther, else
they'd both a. been switched up 'mong
the flynn furniter.
Wal, boys, while maxim these obser-
vashuns / was in fix meself, an
burned queery one, as I've already gin
We hint. What do ye serpose it war?
Wal, ! needn't wait, for ye'd hey merry
chance to guess it. I war in fork!
cit war thuswise. The blast he'd tux
me up an carried my karkiss till it kim
in contack wi one o the outstritchin'
branches O. the dead wood. This branch
he'd two tines to it, partin' like a pair O
tailor's shears jest leetIe ways. open.
The puff o. wind he'd drawn me up
atween the two prongs, most splittin'
them apart. Thar / he'd belim wedged.
When rekiyered my senses / seed how
things stud. I was grupped by the twin
branches right 'roun' the ribs, jest below
the armpits, an out O that fix l soon
found thar Warn't no gettin'. The crotch
KEEP me as tight as if I'd been in a wise !;
an squirm as wud 'twar plainly on
possible to get clear O. it. So I didn't
try arter the fust wriggle or two, for 1
seed it would be a right dangerous bust
ness. The linn warn't over thick an as
the sap was gone out O it, l seed thar
wur possibility O its snappin' right off
and precipitatin' me to the groun', not
less'n thirty feet below. Whenever /
made a move it wabbled about more than
teeled comfortable, SO I made up my
mind to keep still. I he'd to do that, for
thar was no other way.
oval, boys, needn't tell We, it war
anythin' but comfortable fix to be in.
To say nothin' O. the unpleasant position
WI my legs danglin' down, an the hard
dead-wOod branches squeezin ag'in my
ribs, he'd the thort to trouble me tibet /
mout niver git relieved o the. predica-
ment. The ole oman mOUt "a been in
the track O. the hurrikin, on her way
back from the crOss-rOads-fOr it had kim
that way-an' if so, she an the boss an
the grocery fixins, whar would they be
now? That wur what troubled am per
picked me. If she didn't cum back,
who wood? The clearin' war out O the
way O. all traffic. 1t mout be weeks afore
any one 'u'd be strayin' in that .direck-
shun.
"Tske my word fort, boys, I wal, in a
ugly fix, an as the hours passed feeled
skeerier and skeerier. 1 had jest begun
to give up hope, thinkin' must stayup
thar till I breathed my last, an then
stay like 'possum thet's bin shot an
still clings WI his tail to a branch. /
may say I'd gin up hope, when l hearn a
screech tibet made the blood run fresh
an sweet through every veinin my body.
1t war the ole 'eman's voice. l looked
down an see her seated on the hoss, on
the spot whar our shanty he'd stud.
She'd jest arrove, arter a good bit O.
trouble in maxim her way through the
fallen trees. In a mint more she'd slid
out o the saddle, FAN war STAMINA uu-
derneath me.
oval, boys, We may think it war all
over, but it warn't. My ole oman war
thar down on the groun' am 1 up in the
tree. Thar war we, man an wife, not
more'n thirty feet apart. FIR all that,
we war as well separated as if Indiana
divorce court he'd passed sentence atween
us. She ked do no more torst gittin' me
down thun I myself; 50 thar war / in
the grup O tibet fork jest e. tight ez
liver
can thar he'd to stay till she re-
mounted the ole hoss an rode back to
the crossroads store, whar wheeno' fell
lurs war soon gathered an kim on WI
ropes an ladder.
"They got me down at last; but 'twar
all month aore my ribs feeled right
arter the ugly squeezin' they'd expert
enced atween the two prongs O. the dead
wood.