The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-05-21
WANTED THE SAG.f
An Adventure With AiIiSators on tn
Sab ne River.

/
SABINE River.
! ] have friend who makes his living
| by rafting legs down the Sabine River
and as | am very fond of hunting and
fishing it was but natural that | should
| fall IN on him on one Of my solitary ex-
| cursions. He is something Of hermit
| a4i divides his time between camping
Ill the cypress swamps, cutting the huge
timber, aud floating down the river on
Il h.ft of the logs which he has, with in
finite labor and patience, brought to-
gether and bound into proper shape
His only companion in all this toll is q
half-grown and very sleepy boy. to
whom he seldom speaks, and l could
scarcely credit my senses when he in
vited me to take berth" on his raft
and float down to Beaumont, where his
| logs were already engaged at one of the
great mills. The chance was too good
to be lost and hastily securing an extra
pair of blankets and fresh supply of
cartridges, as we'll as some fishing
tackle, ] announced that / was ready.
We had great time all the way down,
but | am going to record only one in
cident. On the second day, when we
were many miles, as we supposed, from
any human habitation, i'll Il particularly
| wild and desolated portion of the river,
We heard the faint cry Of n child on the
Texas bank, and directly we saw the
| CLEAN of its white clothes. We waited
n while, but it kept crying SO persis-
| tentiy we couldn't stand it. | stepped
into the skilt we We're towing after us,
and, having rowed ashore found the
child, little thing about four months
old and as pretty AS Il picture. 1t had
evidently been deserted, and, of course.
we couldn't leave it toj be devonred by
wild beasts. SO l Just took it up it was
| lying on an old quilt, by the way and
carried it to the raft Old Morrison and
| felt rs though We had captured a white
elephant, but We made it a bed in the
| tent and fed it on condensed milk, and
got along pretty we'll with it.
| As dusk came we anchored our huge
| craft, as we did every night, and while
We were preparing our supper the baby
began CRYING. We did everything We
could to Quiet it. but Charlie, the boy,
| finally stiIed it bv bringing it ont and
walking about with it. Mcrrioon, who
| had been looking about little nneasily,
| feliafkeu SellentltuslF.
| Them critters is a-goin' to give US
| trouble"
What creatures 2" Iasked in surprise.
| for | saw nothing.
Them aIligators." he replied, point
| ing here aud there and now | could see
| them, stationed all about the raft like
! sentinels, their great, round nye-balls
! and long. curved spiues being all that
/ was visible above the water. Morrison
| threw stick of wood at the nearest
| one, remarkiug with energy:
| Blast the critters! They re after that
| baby, an they ain't a-goin' to rest sat
i,tied till they get it. -
This sanguinary prediction so Mortified
| me that when bed time came wrapped
myself III my blanket and lay down
| across the doorway If the tent with my
| gun at my side i knew how hard it
was to shoot an alligator effectively, but
! il ! got one at VERY close quarters per-
haps I might kill him. At anv rate
| would see that he didn't have live bal,y
for supper.
We had our fright to begin with, for
| Morrison found an alligator creeping
| across the raft and sprang up in time to
| give it a terrible blow with an Az The
| creature roared horribly ard went off
| the raft with rlnnge. He must have
| been bad Y wounded. We thought this
would scare them Oft for the night, but
we were mistaken. l meant to keep
| awake, but I fell asleep again in spite
| of myself. While | was sleeping
soundest | felt something cold touch
| my face and dreamed that Morrison was
| splashing water on me. The second
touch was little rougher, and aNoke
There was huge alligator, at least
| twelve feet long, with his nose against
my face
Ny, but didn't Jump, Ny flesh
creeps now when | think of it. I had
| the gun IN my hand ill a moment, and
| got 4 shot at such close range that |
could see the hole it tore i'll the crea-
ture's side. just back of the foreleg.
Again came that awful roar and as the
monster whirled it struck right and left
with its huge TAIL almost tearing the
| tent down and knocking me fifteen feet
away into the rive. l knew in mo-
ment that it would come after me, for
a wounded alligator always fights. 1t
was between me and the raft, so there
was no hope from that quarter, and |
stuck ont swimming as | had never
done before, and in half q minute |
struck Il snag that rose n few feet out of
the wafer, and climbed out to the end
and sat roostng there like some huge,
ungainlv bird. shouted for Morrison
to bring the boat, but the old fellow
| just sat down ON that raft and laughed
till he was exhausted. lie came and
! rescued me after awhile, bnt he grinned
| and chuckled to himself all the way down
to Beaumont. | didn't see any thing
funny about it myself
And what do you think we had gone
and done? Stolen th>t baby. Its
parents were fishing not q hundred
yards up the river, and had left it
asleep. The trouble we had getting it
back to them almost turned both of us
gray, but we got it home in spite of the
alligators. - Nacogdoches, (TeIas.)
Cor. Globe Democrat.
Under the Earth.
The workmen in the decrest mines
of Europe swelter in almost intolerable
heat, and yet they have never penetra-
ted over one n-thousanlth part of
the distance from the surface to the CEN
ter of the earth. In the lower levels of
some of the Comstock mines the men
fought scalding water, and could labor
Al F. l..