The Opelousas courier., 1897-12-11

ally enduring; indeed, they tried to
speak a cheer they did not feel by as
susing him that succor would come on
the morrow.
The dawn of the second day found
them in the boat. All were famished
and broken down with fatigue.
The waters were higher than the
day before, and still the cruel rain
poured steadily down:
The wind howled and the waves
Dashed about them, threatening every
moment to swamp the boat.
Mr.. Gordon saw by the pinched
faces and changed color of his wife
and daughters that they could not
stand another day of this suffering,
yet, what could he do to help them?
II his own death could save them he
would gladly have yielded his life. but
neither his did nor sacrifice would
avail.
The afternoon was wearing on, and
the night fast approaching, whena sud-
den, terrific gust of wind upset the
boat.
Floating 1fbris was all about them,
and Floren4 and Jennie managed to
grasp part u the roof of q shanty that
S swirling by them and struggled
upon it-ho.ing on with that desper-
alton which lent them strength.
Mr.. Gordon and his wife chung to
the upturned boat and were borne away
by the rushing food.
Darkness now lent horror to the sit
uation. The poor girls were about to
resign themselves to the fate that
seemed inevitable, when, from out Of
the deep gloom they heard a faint
halloo. They answered with all their
might.
After waiting few minutes and
straining their eyes in the direction
from which the sound came, they caught
the gleam of a torch, and the next in
slant a boat shot up to them, and in
it were Judge Riel and his two stall
Wart sons; Paul and Leon.
The brave girls assured them that they
were in no immediate danger, and i'm
plored the judge and his sonsto search
for their parents-tel'ing them that
they were clinging to the boat after il
had been capsized and had been
swept away, but the girls still hoped
that the boat might have become en-
tangled in the flooded forest and that
their father and mother might yet be
saved. But the judge insisted upon
Florence and Jennie getting into his
boat. The stout boat was then driven
forward in the direction pointed out
by the girls as that in which they had
last seen their parents. At Intervals
the young men united in shouting and
waving their torch, but the bowling of
the wind for a time drowned their
voices.
During a slight lull a faint cry was
heard, which was answered by the
united shouts of all in the judges
boat. Soon they were enabled to dis
tingulsh from whence the cry pro-
ceeded, and a few strokes of the oars
brought them to a clump of submerged
forest trees, and there. clinging to the
branches, they found Mr.. Gordon and
his brave wife. Their rescue was but
the work Of a moment, and soon they
were safely seated in their ''enemy's'
boat.
"Mr. Gordon" said Judge Riel,
your hands are all safe at our place,
and we have been searching all day
you. Our plantation is still above
water, there is a fire on the hearth and
a welcome awaiting you"
Thus was the last vestige of animos-
between the two men swept away.
At Judge Riel's the fire and the
welcome were found, and Mr.. Gordon's
were welcomed as il there had
never been aught but the warmest
friendship between him and the Judge.
The old men oon learned that it was
q misunderstanding that parted them
in youth, and that during all these
silent years each had retained the
greatest respect for the other.
The floods have shrunk into their
beds along the Bayou Rouge; the
are rebuilt; the cabins are up
once more, and the old home is stand
ing. But Florence Gordon is a per-
nanent resident at Judge Riel's, she
having recently married Leon, and
gossips say hat Paul Riel will
AXE up his home in the fall with Mr..
Gordon as the husband of Jennie.
The old men are never happy apart,
md Mr.. Gordon often whispers to his
wife:
Eyes, my dear, we lost q great deal
~ the flood, but I sometimes think it
vas a blessing in Disguise"
And Mrs. Gordon agrees with him.