St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-04-14
A NARROW ESCAPE.
MY Thrilling Adventure with
Dangerous Maniac.

1t was not moonlight but some Of
the effects of light and shadow upon
the river were very like those which
may be seen when the moon is full and
low in the heavens. The Ohio was
the color of dull steel for the most
part. and the little specks OF darker
gray upon its breast were slabs OF
ice slowly sailing with the current.
Ihe shadow of the low hills fringed
with trees. between whose trunks and
laced boughs the last faint flood OF
daylight streamed from the west, fell
hard and black upon the farther shore
of the river. Only the reflections OF
the trees upon the hill-tops made the
nearest limit of the shadow little
blurred.
Up the river you could see the
orange glow of the gas fambeaux and
the ruddier blaze of the FORCES begin
ming to paint the sky. Down the
river great mist sad -colored, like a
Quaker's coat, swallowed up the river
and made its margins faint and
wavv. There was hardly dash of
cheerfulness in the whole landscape.
The few houses in sight had their eyes
shut; through their windows came no
welcome streams of yellow light.
1t was all sad and gray. and very
still. The crunching of small ice foes
with their stationary fellows caught in
the shadows and held tight by the
shore ice was the only sound.
AS I stood watching the evening
wrap the valley and blot out all that
was good TO look at in the view over
land and water, and after / had made
about seven hundred and seventy
seven comparative calculations on the
time of day and the time according to
the Fort Wayne railroads edict, and
being tolerably nervous and irritable
as / was. ] was surprised to hear a
voice of unusual depth and hollowness
exclaim, almost in my ear: "Why. the
mans crazy!'
Quite an astonishing occurrence, if
You will be pleased to remember that
] was standing on decidedly lonely
way station between this city and
Sewiekley.
turned around and found myself
face to face with a thick, sturdy fell
low, whose scrubby, black beard at
once impressed me as the most re-
markable part Of his make up. He had
a pair Of bright, restless eyes and
wore his hat SO far tilted back on his
head that could make out he had
square forehead and plenty of dark.
curly hair.
Were You speaking to mea" said /.
Yes he answered, look at that
boat out there; if he's aiming at cut
ting new channel for himself he's
all right; but that man'll be aground
in couple of shakes of a lambs tail. y
And then noticed for the first time
that tow-boat had just rounded the
bend. the outline Of which was now
nearly lost in the darkness, and was
coming down closely hugging che
south shore. She had tow evidently,
for the red and green lights fiickered
far ahead OF her bows; nay, looking
more steadily you could see mans
form picked boldly out in silhouette
against the boats furnace. He was
standing. it appeared. in the air one
hundred feet ahead OF the boat; but
of course he really stood upon the gun
vale of one of the barges. Still the
black profile of the boatman was un-I
pleasantly spectral
/ observed that it was getting very
dark. Before, had merely hoped in
q mild sort of way that the train
which was to take me to town would not
be abnormally late. Now I suddenly
made up my mind that I had to be at
the office as quickly as possibly. As
said before. the darkness was getting
palpable, the landscape spectral, and
the strange man with the short scrub
by beard and the bright. ever moving
eyer was talking on at prodigious
rats about the greatness OF the pilot on
that tow.
To put it mildly, ! was slightly
scared.
] moved away from the sturdy
stranger, not quickly but by degrees.
He was still talking, and T m sorry TO
say that his language was not choice.
It was forcible and fiery, and if that
pilot In his little castle on the hurri-
cane deck. which looked SO warm and
laxurious, could have heard what this
odd creature was saying about his
family and his war of bringing up he