The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-04-10
TRACKING A BURIED RIVER.

The Adventure of Two Sailor Boys.
The sum of 1900 francs ($600 will be
paid by the Scientific Association OF MorlaN
| TO any one who shall succeed in tracing the
course of the Larve, and ascertaining
whether it has any under-g ground commune
cation with the sea.
FELIX DELARoCHE, President.
Snch was the announcement which,
posted in the quaint three-cornered
market-place of the old French town of
| Longchamp, attracted good many
readers, and among the rest two lads in
sailor costume. one of whom remarked
to the other:
"What a holiday we'd have If sce
could earn it eh, Pierre, my boyP"
at should think SO! But nobody will
earn that reward very soon. Don't you
remember how, year ago, they
widened the cleft into which the stream
falls, and let down a man with Ian
tern, and how, before he'd gone thirty
feet. he got bumped against rock and
broke his lantern, and hurt himself SO
badly that he had to be hauled up
O. True; it's not very likely job.
Well, come along. and let's get the
boat out"
Pierre Lebon, the younger of the two,
was 1.-THE, olive-cheeked, merry little
fellow, whose slim figure and jaunty
black curls contrasted markedly with
the burly frame and thick sandy hair of
his chum, Jacques Vaudry. The latter
ought rightly to have been called Jack
Fordrey, for he was an English boy,
born in Guernsey; but having been
adopted by Breton fisherman after his
fathers death, both he and his name
had got considerably " Frenchiied."
The bows had to manage by them
selves the boat of which they were joint
owners, for old Simon Lebon, Pierre's
real and Jack adopted father, was now
too aged and rheumatic to help them in
their work, except by advising them
when to start and where to 60. But his
advice was always good, for in his time
he had been one of the best fishermen
on the coast, and the lads were usually
very successful.
On this particular day, however, their
good luck seemed to have forsaken
J them, for, try as they might, they could
catch nothing worth mentioning. Posi-
bly they were thinking too little of their
, work and too much of the reward Of
fered by the Scientific Association; for
three thousand francs would have been
, quite a fortune to them both. More
, over, the idea of tracking an under
ground river had a spice of romance and
: adventure about it which was the very
thing to tempt them.
The little stream of the Larve had
, long been the acknowledged puzzle of
3 the whole neighborhood. After skirt
: ing the town for some distance, it van
: ished into the earth through narrow
9 cleft, and was seen no more. Where it
1 went to after that, no one could tell /;
9 and, as we have seen. the first attempt
g to find out had succeeded so badly that
: nobody felt much inclined for second.
Tired out at length the unsuccessful
! fishers went home, inwardly resolving
I to try whether they might not
: have better fortune by night
. than by day. Pierre, indeed, when
the night came, began to have
4 some doubts about the wisdom of the
idea, having heard his father say once
3 and again that it was very dangerous
!. thing to attempt at that season. But
I the hardest thing in the world for boy
q to do.is to draw back from any thing
simply because it is dangerous. Rather
than let Jack think him afraid, Pierre
would have gone to sea on hen-coop
r so they stole out of the cottage as noise
lessly as possible, and away they went
Y over the dim gray waste of sea, hall
e lighted by the rising moon.
v The take" of fish was very good
q one this time, and the boys began to
think their night voyage lucky idea
= tie after midnight the sky began tc
cloud over and the sea rise in way
+ hich showed that there was storm
brewing. They put about at once, and
:, made for the shore, but long before they
!, reached it the storm burst upon them
!, in all its fury.
In an instant the boat was half full o.
q water, and it was all they could do t.
keep her from laundering outright, a:
they few through the great white roar
ring waves, thumped and banged abou
l from side to side, and drenched to thu
IL skin at every plunge by the flying gust!
e of spray. Pierre grasped the tiller In
:. his half-numbed hands, while Jack kelt
on with all his might to the "sheet'
g that steadied their little three-cornere(
Q sail, at which the wind tugged as i
v meaning to tear it away altogether.
y The little craft held her own calamity
Z and the young sailors began to hop,
that, after all, they might make the en-
II trance of the bay without accident, bu
# just then an unlucky shift of the vino
}, tore the sail clean away, and the boat
;, falling off at once, was swept helplessly
q toward the formidable cliffs beyond.
"Not much chance for us now,
o said Jack, shaking his head. "Pierre
e my boy, I'm sorry I've brought YOU
n into this mess; it's all my fault.
II "Not bit, old fellow. l ought Z,
y have warned You of what I'd heard my
v father say. However, if the wors