The Brookhaven leader., 1885-01-01


just let my little boat drift with tn,
current. j knew that / was west oI
the YaZoo river, and cast of the
Mississippi, ana by taking a south
course j would come into one ot
these streams and by floating down
it | would get to Vicksburg, and
the cannOnading told me well where
that city was, SO let my boat DRIFT
with The slow tide of the overflow
until night set her seal in the sky.
then padded to the east, and soon
reached the Yazoo river near
Haynes Bluff, and turning down it
| was soon in full view of the
CAMP FlREs OF THE sEDEEALs,
at the old Notifications of our SOL
diers. doated slowly down the
tulbid tide, and as l passed the
frowning heights a grand ball was
in progress; hundreds of red, white
and blue lanterns cleaned upon the
waters, and the music of the bands
and the laughter of the men and the
dusky damsels lent a magic TO the
scene, and at the same time render
ed my position very dangerous.
Boats were passing from the water
batteries on the west side of the riv-
er, laden with human freight going
20 join the revels on the Bluff on the
east side, anu | had to float between
these places. / laid down, and as
the river is quite narrow here, the
currenG was swift and was soon
through and out of the danger. AS
soon as | was far enough down the
river to be safe raised up, and dip
ping my PADDLE into the water l
urged my little beat forward at a
rapid rate. But l soon came to
another and more serious danger.
AS l approached the mouth of
Chickasaw Bayou | could see an
immense fleet OF steamboats,, trans
ports and large flaL boats, all moor
ed on both sides of the narrow
stream, through which l had to
pass. B.lght lights CLEANED from
each side, and the face OF the river
was as light as dsy. A la. ge cable
was stretched across the liver, and
men were at work at a capstan pull
ing a |a:ee boat from one side of
the river te the other. / could see
and fully appreciate the danger
But / could not turn back nor GO
around, so lying down l again let
my little boat take its way, guided
alone by Hin who rules our desti
nies. l passed safely by, and was
watching backwaI Cs, when all of a
sudden the chimneys of a steamer
'oomed Cp in front of me, and l was
about TO be run over by it. l rails
ed up and began padding witch all
my might, and some ore leaning
over the guards of the boat sang
out,
"WH :RE ALE YOU GOING 2
Quike as thought 1 replied, "To
look at my lines" "Do you catch
many fish nowadays ?" "Yes, lots
of them" "Pring me some up to
the Hastings in the morning." "All
right; I'll bring you plenty OF
them,' and feeling much relieved,
padded rapidly down the stream,
and ] soon reached Old River, and
not being acquainted with the to-
pography OF The country, l turned
mp in the direction of Vicksburg, or
rather took the wrong end of Old
River, as l thought it was the Mis-
sissippi, and the firing at Vicksburg
was my guide. Daylight found me
at its head. The old raft that had
once been placed by our soldiers
across the river below our batteries S
at Snvder's Buff had been cut loose
by the Federals, and had drifted into
this old cM de sec, and was lodged
partly on the bank and in the water.
Seeing that had made a mistake l
ran my boat in under this raft, close
to The bank, and hid under it. /
had hardly taken refuge before a
terrific cannonade began at Vicks-
burg, and
MANY SHELLS EXPLODED CLOSE BIZ NE.
About 10 o'clock a. In. 1 heard
voices close by; some fishermen and
Federal soldiers came upon the raft
and from their conversation
learned tnat we had sunk the
Federal gunboat Cincinnati, and
got some valuable information. Also,
my position was anything but
pleasant. While listening to them
| turned my eyes up and back ward,
and large snake was only about a
foot from my head, and his eyes had
deadly gleamsin them, and his
forked tongue seemed almost to
touch my face. l could not stir
without disturbing him, and l lived
ages in few moments. Iknew
that to stir would reveal my hiding
place and cause my capture and
possibly make the snake bite. / had
been in many close and dangerous
places, but ] felt that
THIS WAS THE ACNE.
did not look at the reptile LONG
but nerved myself Tor the worst
The pangs of hunger began to as,
sert themselves and during the day
suffered a great deal, and felt
that this day was the longest in my
life. 1t seemed that night would