St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-23

rectly through the arms of the chair il
which the passenger was seated. Whcl
the boat passed from under, the chair
with the man still in it, was left dang
ling from the dead limb.
lie was SO overcome by fright that
| when he was beng extricated he was
unable to afford the least cooperation,
and had to be handled like dead man.
The water of the Wachita is unfit for
drinking, and good water is scarce all
along its course. To make up for this
deficiency boats trading up that stream
usually carry numerous casks Of cheap
kind of claret wine, which is free to the
passengers in moderation. The deck
hands and roustabouts, who are not
included in the claret ring, banker
after 1t, only, perhaps, because they
are excluded from it. and would
probably grumble if compelled to drink
it. But they were determined to have
II, and "wherc there is will there is a
way" is an old saying, and they hit on
q most ingenious device for tapping the
claret casks. These were stored in
little room on the upper deck near the
pantry, Immediately over some Of the
hunks OF the deckhands, and the device
was small, thin gun-barrel with the
brcech-p;n taken out and the muzzle
filed into saw-teeth, like surgeon 8
trephlne. In the still hours of the
night they bored in the flooring under
one of the casks, the @un-barrcl was in
serted and the cask trepanned, the wine
running through the gun-barrel into q
bucket held beneath. Two casks had
been empticd in this way before the
trick was discovered, and Captain d.
was so much amused at the ingenuity of
it that he forbore making any inquiries
after the perpetrators.
After ascending the Wachita some
distance, very singular feature of the
river is reached, it doubling back and
forth on itself six or seven times. form
ing what is known as the Thirteen
Points" The turns of the bends are so
sudden that no boat beyond Il certain
length, and that a short one, can pass
through. Captain DIS boat touched
the shore at both stern and bow all the
way around at every turn. The dis
lance around these points must be about
forty or fifty miles, and after the last
one the river makes final double until
it comes within quarter of a mile,
overland, of the first one Midway be-
tween those two points was house of
where passengers usually
got off and spent the time playing bill
lizards and nine-pins until the boat
made its tedious trip around. which is a
of hours. Enclosed in these
coils of the river were many fine planta-
tons, each of which had its landing,
and that is said to have been the reason
for not cutting canal across the mar
row isthmus, and thus shortening the
passage.
just below the Thirteen points was a
that would be noted any
where as thing of beauty. 1t was de- |
signed by the late Judge BLY,, and was
he favorite residence of himself and
'arnily for many years. Every thing
hat could charm the eye in architect
Ire and horticulture seemed to be there,
md it was the nearest approach to an
earthly paradise of any place ever be-
leld. either in this country or Europe.
t appeared almost like a dissertation
or such an Eden to be inhabited by
human beings. Whyit should
rave been located in such an out-of-the-
way place, and amid such surroundings,
S one of the mysteries past divining.
there was no life or activity anywhere
ear it, and except the passengers of an
occasional boat, no one outside the
amily and friends to see it. There were
title villages occasionally along the
'anks, if collections of half dozen or
0 small houses could be called such.
hey were all much after the same
ashton. We had some freight to de-
ver at one of them, but found no one
to receive it. One man was
cen standing listlessly on the landing,
nd he said every one else had gone on
bear hunt. From conversation with
i'm it appeared that this was no unusual
ling: that the stores were all left open,
nd if a customer wanted any thing he
elped himself and entered it on slate
1T upon the counter for that purpose.
4 answer to question he said that
left was Of very rare occurrence, and
hen any fellow was caught at such
eviltry, quick work was made with
i'm; the citizens held meeting and
,ok it out of his hide with hickories. I
ad often heard of Arcadian simplicity,
ut this little town furnished the only
.stance of it that ever fell under my
office.
Arkadelphia is situated about seventy
lilies above Camden, which is the usual j
cad of navigat on on the Wichita. 1t
IN be reached by boats semi-occasion-
Ily; that is to say, when there are con- (
derable freshets. 1t was one of these
,casions now, and Captain D. took his ,
Dat up there to get lot of cotton that
as awaiting cheap transportation. The I