Louisiana capitolian., 1880-01-31
The Trapper and the Hur-
1'icalle.

luc lIdppcI dJlu Cllc hui.
1'iCane. i
jackson tAiiss) Comet;
One cold, clustering night, not long
since, stopped at a hotel in Liberty,
and found seated around u cheerful
fire in the Office, some six or eight
travellers like myself, among whom
were two beaver trappers, who had
Just come in, wet, cold and hungry.
Their names I did not learn, except
the smaller of the two answered to the
call of Snoozer. Supper was soon an
nounced, which was cordially well
coined by all, aud was soon over; after
which we repaired to our places be-
fore ablazing fircin the huge old Chin
ney. To fiji our pipes fora good old
fashioned after-supper smoke was the
next thing in order, while each and
every one of us took advantage" "f the
occasion, and puffed away in silence
for full five minutes, when that ST.
lence was broken by the larger trap
per drawing the corn-cob pipe from
his month with the exclamation:
"By jingo, Snoozer, this is a nasty
old night, and reminds me Of the time
| got into that hurricane up on East
Fork-didn't ever tell you Of it'"
"No, not's l knows on" replied his
cOmrade, shows that p
"Wall, twas a mighty funny scrape,
and not 50 much fun arter all, spe-
cially right then, laughed fit to kill
afterwards, and if these here gentle
men don't object to hearing it, III tell
you all how it happened"
"Go ahead; let's hear it," We re-
sponded "A with one voice, all anxi-
ous to relieve the monotony of the
night by hearing q story, let it he
ever 40 Indifferent.
"Wall, you see" said the trapper,
"some five or six years ago, disre-
member the year now, but howsomever
twas the year we had that big slam
snortin' hurricane what blew blazes
outcn widow Sykes ginhouse an tore
up things generally. I'd been stop
pin a couple Of weeks or SO at Dea-
con Hardin's, trappingabout, and had
tolerable luck; he didn't charge me
nothing for board, cause the beaver
cut his corn mighty bad, and he was
right glad to have me gobble 'em.
Vow know Deacon Hardin aint Mt all
stingy. if he amt bigger nor pint of
soap, and there aint II better woman
on Gods green airth nor his wife is, eff l
do say it myself, and she's us brave as
a she wild cat with u litter of kittens.
Wall, that was another just such Il
night as this, only twas little carli-
cr in the season nor this, I'd been out
all day to my traps, and come in with
three of the fattest beavers you nor
any other man ever seed, and l tell
you twas a lug to fotch 'cm. Wall,
after skinning and dressing 'em, and
stretching the skins, l went in the
house and found Parson Lumpkin thar
and you know what Il tub of SOAP
grease he is; thar amt cheer in this
room big enough for him to sit in,
but thar he was, right afore the fire,
sitting on Il bench.
"Wall, arter supper we all set round,
smoking and talking till bed time,
then they had family prayers, though
a thing they never have 'cept thar's Il
preacher comes along and stays all
night, and they have 'em bad. Arter
Parson Lumpkin got through prayin'
and God knows l thought he never
would get through, we all laid down.
"rhe Deacon's wife she went tn bed
fust, and we all turned our back to-
wards her bed and looked serious like
into the fire; then she kivered up her
head, and We went to bed, for thar
aint but one room to the Deacon's
house, sides the kitchen and both
beds are in that thar room, and Par
sou Lumpkin and I took the other
one, and l never shall forgit It az long
as l live. He was the fust and last
preacher l ever slept with-and
never want to sleep with nary nuthe1
one as big as he is; and Lord! can't
he snOre.
"Wall, arter a while we all went to
sleep, and went to dreaming.
thought l was trapping on some great
river whar the beaver and otter was
thick as hog tracks in a tramp lot
and l was right close to big falls on
the river, and they made sich roar.
ing you couldn't hear yourself think
Pretty soon | seed one of my traps
moving out and run to see what was
the matter, when what do you Think
a big beaver was cotched in the trap
and a big alligator had gobbled thu
beaver. run to the trap with my
ax and made a lick at the alligator
but my foot slipped and in l went
Then the alligator let go his holt Of
the beaver and fastened on to me b,
the neck, and swum right towards tn,
the falls. The water grew swifte
and swifter and the gator cl,oked m,
harder and harder rs down we wen
nearer aud nearer the falls. lknowe.
twas certain death either to 90 owe
the falls or into the alligator's den
but | thought when We took the BIZ
tumble, the alligator would got skeer
and let 90 his holt, and I felt I'd ratl,