Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1892-12-07

rOQnQ ike 1udu, Uu1 Cou1uu esCdpe.
Long bout sundown some soldiers come
and tuck US out'n the trap. They tuck
us and put us inter the upper story Of
blockhouse bout fifty feet high. Thar
they left us in the dark.
"Waal, we soon seed that eff we had
rope we could git away. So then we be-
gan pickin ourselves-pulling out the
long har that covered our bodies-to
make rope. It wur an awful sore job.
After all Of us had been clean picked
we tried the rope and found it bout ten
feet too short. Then told my two pards
that they might take har enough out'n
the top of my head to finish the rope.
They tuck the har, and in. less'n ten
minutes we wur all at liberty.
Snow, gents" said Buck, "as some Of
yez may think I'm lyin bout this busi-
ness, I'll jist show yez whar my mates
got the har to splice out that rope"
Then taking off his sombrero Buck
showed that the whole top of his head
was as smooth as peeled onion.
"Waal," continued Buck, latter we
got out'n that thar blockhouse we cut
and run for bout five hours acrost q
stretch of country we knowed nothin
about, for we wur lost when we struck
inter fields and fenced ground; besides,
we thought all the houses we seed wur
blockhouses. !.aS
"Bein now naked we had to keep
movin to keep warm, so we travelled as
fast as we could all that night. When
the sun got up we sot on a bluff bank
above the blessed old Mississippi, that
seemed a mother to US. Thar we enjoyed
the sun like so many turtles on log.
Gas we sot on the bluff we looked
down upon the river and thar on the
side next to US we seed goodish sized
catfish laying a-sunnin itself near to
shore. The cat wur bout twenty-five
feet long-too big fur to snare-so we
looked about fur some other way Of
ketchii him.
"a few hundred yard above we saw
big rope stretched across the river. 1t
wur ferry rope, but then in our wild
state we didn't know as it belonged to
anybody. We went up thar and tuck
the rope, no one bein bout thar. One Of
us had to swim the river to cast the rope
loose from tree on the opposite side.
We'd got'r have the rope because it had
on it at one end big iron hook.
"Next we wanted some kind of good
live bait. While lookin bout for bait
long comes o little niger boy drivin a
cow. We ketched him, and lashin him on
to the hook foated him down, swimmin
like frog, to whar the big catfish wur.
The cat snapped the little mig up like
flash and swallered him down.
"All hands Of US tuck the rope over
our shoulders, and maxim dash inland
hauled the big cat high and dry. We cut
the fish open at once and tuck out the
little niger all alive and kickin. When
we unlashed and turned him loose he
went off as timber as an eel, an the fust
thing he did was to hunt up his ole cow
and drive her along jist as gentle as If
we hadn't had the loan Of him and used
him for few minutes. He had but one
little tooth mark on his back"
"Was that the biggest catfish you ever
caughtg' asked one of our party.
Buck eyed the man for a moment,
and then asked where he was from.
} "From Tennessee, just across the
river and little below where you got
your big fish," said our man.
"Waal, as for catfish" said Buck, "you
can ketch 'em in the Mississippi of any
size you want. 1t depends altogether
on the size Of the hook and the bait.
With full grown nigger-but, stranger,
1t wouldn't look we'll for me to take up
all the time with my own explites, so
I'll fust let you tell Of any catfish you
ketched on your side Of the river"
$50 that was not your biggest cat
fsh?"
"Im not sayin beauty afore age, young
man."
It being evident that Buck was deter
mined to have the closing speech, the
boss Of the commissary department was
instructed to bring out the redeye for
another round. The fishing rods were
then stuck into the bank and left to
catch or not, as luck went, while all
hands stretched out upon the blankets
spread in front of the tent to hear.