St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-03-08

uet Tue Scb& anu StoSPON WIG
with my hands
"He was laughing softly to himself,
evidently enjoying the situation. and II
times rolling out the most horrible
curses. / knew I was pOwerless, and in
his cunning he knew it too. He played
with me a q cat iplays with q mouse.
T or fully ten minutes he lowered about
me, all b time keeping his eyes upon
mine-thOse horrible eyes, which
seemed to burn red holes into my very
soul. My God, sir, / was going mad
myself. He saw how l suffered, and
cunningly chose to p%rolong my suffer
ing with his deviltry rather han finish
me at nee.
"While his hands were just about to
clutch my throat and his hot blood
burned my cheek he changed his mind,
evidently thinking there would be more
amusement in seeing me drown than
in numbering me in cold blood. His
game was to stand upon the thwarts and
capsize the boat, and it kept me pretty
busy for a half-hour jumping from side
to side when he did to counterfeit his
efforts. This seemed to please him. for
he kept me at it until I was nearly dead
from exhaustion. We shipped a good
deal of water, at which the dog howled.
and then the lunatic left me once more
to chastise the dog. He caught it by
the tail and nearly twisted it off, banged
it against the boat. and treated it so in
humanity that l was forced to interfere
again, ~whereupon he shouted:
"'Dry up or you'll get it yourself!
"His violence increased, and as the
sun was very hot l was in hopes that he
would become exhausted. but such was
not the case. His deviltry for awhile
was more annoying than dangerous,
such as brandishing an oar about
my head and trying to catch me
of my guard so that he might tip the
boat over. At last he quit laughing at
me and gazed stOlidly at me for fully
five minutes. then threw the anchor
overheard. lie picked up an oar, which,
by the way. he guarded very cautiously.
Is if he knew if l possessed myself of
n l would use it as a weapon Of de-
Tense. He whirled the oar in the air
and then made . jab at me with all the
accuracy of . Zulu striking with an as
segai. The blade few by my head,
almost grazing my ear, and to this l
laughed and said:
That's . good one; you nearly
winged me that time
But he was not in the mood for con-
versation. His cat and mouse tactics
were changed, and instead l saw sullen,
morose, cruel. crafty murder. He seemed
to enjoy it and at each jab he would
emit . kissing sound through hisclinch-
ed teeth.
'At last he dropped the oar and
sprang upon me. ! wouldn't have given
half-pence for my life. His face now
was As white ~ marble, and his eyes,
sunken deep into his head. burned like
live Goals. l threw up my hands and he
grasped my wrists, and no wise wei had
a harder grip han he. His breath came
in short gasps and he rolled his tongue
about like an English bulldo. ready to
be unleashed-
Quicker than I a say it he lifted
me up, drew my face close to his, and
with those most horrible curses he con-
signed me to the lowest depths of the
bottOmless pits.
"'YOu shall die- he shrieked. and
then I happened to think that insane
persons sometimes had their minds di-
verted by q sudden suggestion entirely
foreign to the subject in hand.
81 can't tell you what thought Of in
those few seconds while he held me
there as a child in the grasp Of . giant,
but with . sudden and peremptory voice
said:
".IIl bet you . box Of cigats or . new
hat that you can't outswim the dog
IL can't eh?' he said. I'll take both
HE dropped my hands and began to
1isrobe, and then for the first time in
two hours l drew a long breath. l felt
that if I could get him in the water l
could row away from him and at least
keep out of his way. Finally, he stood
nude before me. l picked up a piece OF
wood, threw it far out in the water and
hen threw the dog in.
Splash went my crazy friend, and
hen l went for the anchor, but his eyes
we're on me and hack to the boat he
anne. He grasped the side and essayed
% tip it over, and then for ten minutes
went through the same maneuvers
hat l did before. He would hang on to
he side and I would sit on the opposite
'ide. Then he would let 60 and l would
AVE to jump for the middle of the boat.
Then the dog came up. and I pushed him
vvo tivvnn and n~~s~ ,,>A - cc ~ 1
o fight . mad dog and . mad man.
"Some people would blame me for not
aking Al oar and either killing the
unatic or else knocking him into in
.ensibility, but he was my friend, and I
would not do that even to save my own
life. After he had been in the water
lalf an hOur no climbed into the boat
nd insisted that l 60 in swimming, too.
then l called upon his better feelings
nd it worked like a charm. I told him
didn't dare to 60 into the water unless
was ~ shore, where / could take .
risk walk afterward. and then I got
i'm to 60 in again, under the pretense
{ getting the dog, which was swimming
bout the boat. /,
He chased the dog, all the time ours
ng it and threatening all sorts Of dire &,
Kings both to the dog and ma. lie
aught the poor little brute and tried to /:
rown it. At which I shouted to him.
lie had been in the water about IN hour
nd was beginning to get tired. When
9 heard my shout he dropped the dog :
nd swan to the boat, shouting: I'll q
i'll you" I'll kill you" When he g
sme near I said: I'll tell you what ,
II do. Let's 60 on shore and then I'll ,
vim you q race ,