The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1897-07-28

"The crevassel The levee is gone y
They caught these words, and they
heard the roar of the waters coming
nearer and nearer.
Mrs. Gordon threw open the door TO
call to her husband to return, but at
that instant he burst in shouting:
Come, wife Florence-Jennie-
to the boat"
They ran out after him and got into
the boat. Mrs. Gordon extinguished
the only light in the house as she left,
and Mr.. Gordon's lamp had gone out.
The shouting of the black people
men, women and children-as they
made for the Afts, could be heard
above the bowling of the wind and the
roar of the oncoming torrent.
The darkness added to the horror
of the situation, rs did the cries of the
frightened cattle.
Nearer and nearer came the flood;
they could hear it dashing against the
house and feel it splashing fercely on
their faces.
The maddened waters reached the
boat and shook it.
Then the frail craft began to rise
with its precious freight and to tug at
the rope which held it to live-oak
tree near the house.
Day came Mt length and revealed
such change as the dwellers in the
ark must have seen when they looked
out after the waters had been pouring
down for weeks and the fountains of
the great deep were broken up.
Where fertile fields had been there
was now lake dotted with trees
that seemed yielding to the torrent.
The cattle were gone. The quarters
of the laborers and the laborers them
selves were gone. The sugar-house
and the dwelling house were the only
two buildings left out of hundred,
and up TO their sides the waves were
rising, and about them the fierce wa
ters roared.
'It looks "a if the world were being
washed away" said Florence.
"And that we were the only living
beings left on it," added Jennie.
Mrs. Gordon had thoughtfully placed
a basket of provisions in the boat, SO
that there was no danger of immediate
danger.
"There is only one place within co
miles that is not under water" said
Mr.. Gordon in reply to his wifes ques-
ton.
"Where is that?" she asked, after a
pause.
"Judge Riel's," he replied. "That
plantation is six feet higher than this,
and the levees are the best in the
state"
"Might it not be well," said Mrs.
Gordon, thoughtfully, ''for us to try
and reach them?"
The question seemed to startle Mr..
Gordon, for he looked at his wife for
some time without speaking. Finally
he said:
81 do not hate Judge Riel, and
would help him were he in the same
situation, but 1 cannot go to him now
of all times. No, we must get the
boat loose, and, trusting in heaven,
go on with the current"
took the oars, and the boat drifted
slowly away from its moorings till it
was caught by the white waters of the
current, and then it shot away with a
speed that was startling.
Like all men raised in this land,
Mr.. Gordon was good boatman, but
for once he found himself in posi-
ton where his great strength did not
avail and his great skill was useless.
There was no need to pull the oars
it would have been impossible to drive
against the current, so they had to 60
with it.
There was no trouble so long as the
boat was drifting over the cleared
fields, but this security could not last
long. Beyond the fields were the
woods, through which it would have
been difficult to pass under the most
favorable circumstances, but against
which it now seemed that the boat
must be dashed.
Mr.. Gordon realized this, for he
said, as if thinking aloud:
"We must try to get into the bayou
there, at least, we shall be safe from
the trees"
1t is doubtful if he could have kept
the boat in the course of the bayou
had he succeeded in reaching there,
for the currents were rushing through
new channels, and the bayou had ex
panded into an angry sea. By care
and the exercise of great strength, Mr.
Gordon succeeded in passing safely
the first line of timber, but it was
only getting deeper and deeper into
the inextricable tangle of dropping
branches and swinging vines.
They had not been long in this
maze when one of the oars was broken
and the other became practically use
less. By reaching forward in the bow
Mr.. Gordon succeeded in keeping thu
boat from plunging against the trunk,
of trees and SO being dashed to pieces
but no man could long keep up thil
work.
After long hours they reached al