St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-23

chickens and ducks, and dey gets all de
money dey needs dat way During
this performance, every one had no.
ticed the absence of Mr.. Kelly, and it
was supposed he had retired to his
stateroom; but soon after its conclusion
he reappeared and his numerous friends
condoled with him on his not having
witnessed it, He replied that he did
not regret it at all, as he had seen SO much
of that sort of thing that it wearied
him. The fact was that the performer
was Kelly himself, who was sailing I'M
der pseudonym to conceal the fact
that he was the noted burnt-cork min
strel, Luke West.
Next day the weather was as beauti-
full as the most fastdious could desire,
and it continued so during the remain
der of the trip. The delight of breath
ing the balmy air, freshened by passing
over the water, and of sitting on the
guards or promenading on the hurricane
deck, viewing the beautiful scenery on
each side of the river, is something to
be remembered. Four or five days thus
dritted pleasantly away, with but few
incidents to disturb the even tenor of
the way. Of course the mischieviOuS
| boy was on board, and like all of his
kind was always doing something dam
| gerOus to himself or others. Having
| observed the deckhands drawing water
from the river in a bucket attached to a
| rope, he watched chance to try his
| hand at the feat. Not understanding
the trick, he was very suddenly jerkcd
| overheard as soon as the bucket caught
n tho Fha,, tho.
TODD. The steamer was stopped and q
nowhere to be found. After the search
was abandoned, the boatmen saw the
bucket drifting some distance off and
thought they might as well save that
anyhow, and on attempting to pull it in,
very much to their surprise, found the
boy clinging to the bail. The bucket
had caught some air in turning over,
making it sufficiently bouyant to keep
the boys nose above water. He APP
peared to be less disturbed by the ad-
venture than any of the passengers,
and when he was drawn out, the first
words he uttered were "Didn't [ hold |
on like a good fellow?" There seems
to be a special providence watching over
the mischievious boy, and he is certainly |
the favorite of fortune, for when he |
comes to be man, nearly all the big |
Kings of the world are done by him.
At Baton Rouge a singular incident
occurred. The boat was tied up to the
bank for some purpose just above the
city, and some article was accidentally |
dropped overheard, which the mate
thought he could recover with rope
and hook. Whilst he was fishing for it
his hook got entangled in something at
the bottom, and, being unable to pull
it loose himself, he called several deck
hands to his assistance. AS they gave
"a long pull, strong pull and pull
altogether something broke loose and
they all tumbled over backwards in a
heap.
When the rope was hauled in there
was found caught in the hook piece of
heavy gold chain about five feet long.
1t was about the size of an ordinary dog
chain. and was very roughly and clum-
silly made, as if by an ordinary black
smith. The fragment weighed over
three pounds, and what its use was no
one could tell. 1t was suggested as
probable that large gold cross was at ,
tached to the end left in the river, but
as the boat remained only few minutes
at the landing, there was no time to |
make Investigations. II
| had always heard that the river at
New Orleans was higher than the city,
and as we neared that famous Southern :
port [ looked with some interest to see t
such curious sight, and was quite dis
appointed at being unable to discern 8
Of the kind. afterwards ds- s
covered that it was only when looking 8
towards it from the city that the river a
is readily seen to be the higher. Il
After discharging his passengers and t
cargo at New Orleans, Captain D. con- a
,luded to make a trip up the Wachita
liver, for the navigation of which his |
boat was peculiarly fitted, and as | was |
pound for no place in particular, con- t
GUIDED to go along. The Wachita v
'mpties into Red river few miles above d
he confluence of the latter with the b
and its source is in the t
northern part of Arkansas. It is one of b
he most remarkable of rivers, and on u b
irst view it seems strange that it should il
,e called river at all. It has much 1
more the appearance of an artificial
'anal. The country it runs through is Il
or the greater part almost on dead b
evel, and the stream is so narrow that C
It almost any part of it one might jump a
shore from either guard of the boat. s
t is always ''bank full. /" and the grass 0
N the margin hangs over into the b
Vater. There are but occasional points v
where boats can pass each other. Sig l.
lals are always given there with the n
whistle, and if responded to the boat s
rugs the shore closely and waits for the t
ther boat topass. The water moves so a