St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-01-06

~, ana Marrln' BOAT nad Deen cauSnL
and crushed in the ice. Martin had
been drowned, but his wife, with her
child in her arms, had clung to the
wreck OF the skiff, and had been carried
by the current to little low-lying
island just in front of the town.
What had happened was Of less i'm
portance, however, than what people
saw must happen. The poor woman
and baby out there on the island,
drenched as they had been in the icy
water, must soon die with cold, and,
moreover. the island was now nearly
under water, while the great stream was
Using rapidly. It was evident that
| within an hour or two the water would
weep over the whole surface OF the
.Jsiand, and the great fields of ice would
of course carry the woman and child to
a terrible death.
Many wild suggestions were made for
| their rescue, but none that gave the
least hope of success. 1t was simply
| impossible to launch boat. The vast
fields of ice, TWO or three feet in thick
ness, and from twenty feetto hundred
yards in breadth, were crushing and
| grinding down the river at the rate OF
four or five miles an hour, turning and
twisting about, sometimes tanning
their edges together with SO great a
force that one would lap over another,
and sometimes drifting apart and leav-
ing wide open spaces between for
moment or two. One might as vel go
| upon such river in an egg shell as IN
| the stoutest row-boat ever built.
| The poor woman with her babe could
be seen from the shore, standing the e
| alone On the rapidly narrowing strip OF
! island. Her voice could not reach the
| people on the bank. but when she held
| her poor little baby toward them in
mute appeal for help, the mothers there
understood her agony.
There was nothing to be done, how
ever. Human sympathy was given
freely, but human help was out of the
question. Everybody on the river-shore
was agreed in that opinion. Every
body, that is to say, except Joe Lam
bert. He had been so long in the habit
of finding ways to help himself under
difficulties that he did not easily make
up his mind to think any case hopeless.
Nosooner did Joe clearly understand
how matters stood than he ran away
from the crowd. nobody paying any at
tention to what he did. Half an hour
later, somebody cried out: Look
there! Who s that, and what's he go
ing to dop' pointing up the stream.
Looking in that direction, the people
saw some one three quarters of mile
away standing on a floating field OF
ice in the river. He had large farm
basket strapped upon his shoulders,
while in his hands he held a plank.
As the ice field upon which he stood
neared another, the youth ran forward,
threw his plank down. making a bridge
of it, and crossed to the farther field.
Then picking up his plank. he waited
for chance TO repeat the process.
As he thus drifted down the river,
every eye was strained in his direction.
Presently some one cried out: 1t $
Joe Lambert; and he's trying TO cross
4 to the islandn'
There was a shout as the people un-
derstood the nature of Joe's heroic at
/ tempt, and then hush as its extreme
/, danger became apparent.
Joe had laid his plaEs wisely and well,
but it seemed impossible that he should
succeed. His purpose was, with the aid
of the plank to cross from one ice-feld
to another until he should reach the
| island; but as that would require good
deal of time, and the ice was moving
down stream pretty rapidly, it was nee
essary to start at a point above the
town. Joe had gone about mile up
/ the river before going on the ice, and
when first seen from the town he had
| already reached the channel.
After that first shout whisper might
have been heard in the crowd on the
bank. The heroism OF the poor boy S
attempt awed the spectators, and the
momentary expectation that he would
disappear forever amid the crushing
4 ice-fields made them hold their breath
| in anxiety and terror.
Be His greatest danger was from the
smaller cakes of ice. When it became
necessary for him to step upon one of
these, his weight was sufficient to make
| it tilt, and his footing was very inse-
cure. After awhile as he was nearing
l the island. he came into large collec-
! ton of these smaller ice-cakes. For
awhile he waited. hoping that larger
/ field would drift near HIM; but after a
/ minute S delay he saw that he was rap
/ idly floating past the island, and that
he must either trust himself to the
4 treacherous broken ice, or fail in his at
! tempt to save the woman and child.
| Choosing the best of the foes. he laid
/ his plank and passed across successful
! ~. In the next passage, however, the
cake tilted up, and Joe Lambert went
down into the water! A shudder passed
/ through the crowd on shore.
1. Poor fellow!n exclaimed some ten
der-hearted spectator; it is all over
! with him now.
=. No; look, look!'' shouted another.
!" He's trying to climb upon the ice.
| l,c1 -, ia a ~ Wstb