The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-07-11
A BABY-STEALING YARN.
AN ADVENTURE WITH ALLIoA-
TORS ON THE SABINE.
rhsy swarmsd About . Raft ~ Midnight
Eager For Taste OF . Most DELI
csts Morssl. Nut Were
Finally Outwittsd. tM

and as am very fond OF hunting and
fishing It was but natural that should
fall In on him on one Of my solitary
excursions. He Is something OF a
hermit and divides his time between
camping In the cypress swamps. cut
ting the huge timber. and floating
down the river on a raft OF the logs
which he has. with infinite labor and
patience brought together and bound
into proper shape. His only companion
in all this toll Is half-grown and very
sleepy boy. to whom he seldom speaks,
and could scarcely credit my senses
when he invited me to take perch"
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
a fresh supply Of cartridges as well as
some fishing tackle, l announced that
/ was ready.
We had a great time all the way
down. but am going to record only
one incident. On the second day,
when We were many miles. rs we sup
posed, from any human habitation.
in particularly wild and desolated
portion of the river, we heard the
faint cry OF a child on the Texas bank.
and directly we saw the CLEAN of its
white clothes. We waited awhile
but it kept crying so persistently that
We couldn't stand it, / stepped into
the skiff we were towing after u.s.
and, having rowed ashore. found the
child. little thing about four months
old and as pretty as a picture. 1t had
evidently been deserted, and. of course,
we couldn't leave it to be dcvoured by
wild beasts so l just took 1t up77it
was lying on an old quilt, by the way
and carried it to the raft Old Morri-
son and felt as though we had
captured white elephant, but we
made it a bed in the tent and fed it on
condensed milk, and got along pretty
well with it,
As dusk came on we anchored our
huge craft, as we did every night.
and while we were preparing our sup
per the baby began crying. We did
everything we could to quiet it, but
Charlie, the boy, finally stilled it by
bring it out and walking about with
it. Morrison. who had been looking
about little uneasily. remarked sem
tentiously:
Them critters is a-goin' to give us
trouble"
What creatures?" I asked in sur
prise. for saw nothing.
Them allegaters, he replied,
pointing here and there; and now l
could see them, stationed all about the
raft like sentinels, their great, round
eye-balls and long, curved spines being
all that was visible above the water.
Morrison threw stick of wood at the
nearest one. remarking with energy:
BLAST the critters! They're after that
baby, and they amt a-goin' to rest
satisfied till they git it."
This sanguinary prediction so horri-
| fed me that when bed time came /
wrapped myself in my blanket and lay
down across the doorway OF the tent
with my gun at my side. knew how
hard it was to shoot an alligator ef-
fectively, but II got one at very close
quarters perhaps might kill him. At
any rate would see that he didn't
nave i've DaDy IOr supper
We had our first fright to begin with
for Morrison found an alligator creep
ing across the raft, and sprang up in
time to give it a terrible blow with an
ak. The creature roared horribly and
went off the raft with plunge. He
must have been badly wounded. We
thought this would scare them Off for
the night. but we were mistaken.
meant to keep awake. but fell asleep
again in spite Of myself. While was
sleeping soundest felt something cold
touch my face and dreamed that Nor
rison was splashing water on me. The
second touch was little rougher, and
awoke. There was huge alligator
at least twelve feet long, with his nose
against my face!
My, but didn't jump! My flesh
creeps now when think OF it. had
the gun in my hand in a moment. and
got shot at such close range that l
could see the hole it tore in the crea-
turer'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 river. / knew in a
moment that it would come after me,
for wounded alligator always fights.
It was between me and the raft so
there was no hope from that quarter,
and I struck out swimming as had
never done before, and in half a min
ute struck snag that rose few
feet out of the water. and climbed out
to tho end and sat roosting thcro like
pome huge ungainly bird shouted
for Morrison to bring tho boat, but the
old fellow just sat down on that raft
anJ laughed till he was exhausted. He
came and rescued me after awhile but
he grinned and chuckled to himself all
the way down to Beaumont. / didn't
see anything funny about it myself.
And what do you think we had gone
and donee Stolen that baby! Its par
ents were fishing not hundred yards
up the river, and had left 1t asleep.
The trouble we had getting 1t back to
them almost turned both OF MS gray,
but we got 1t home in spite OF the alli-