The Opelousas courier., 1897-12-11
IN THE FLOOD.
BY MAJOR ALFRED r. CALHOUN,

vi Viz S1lllhllou. Us ulu tu6 CITES =. LpG
frightened %cattle:N J..
Nearer aud nearer carpe the fooo,
they could hear it DAZZLING against the
house and feel it sptashing tiercely on
then faces.
The meddened waters reached the
bpat and shook it,.
Then the frail craft began to rise
with its precious freight and to tug at
the rope which held it to a !ive-oak
tree near the house.
Day came at length and revealed
such a change as the jewellers 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 q 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 a hundred,
and up to their sides the waves were
rising, and about them the tierco Wa
ters reared.
cit looks as 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 60
miles that is not under water" said
Mr.. Gordon in reply to his wife's 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:
II do not hate Judge Riel, and I
would help him were he in the same
situation, but I cannot go to him now
Of all times. No, we must get the
boat loose, and, trusting in heaven,
go on with the current"
Mr.. Gordon unloosened the rope,
took the oars, and the boat drifted
slowly away from it's moorings till it
was caught by the white waters of the
current, aud then it shot away with a
speed that was startling.
Like all men raised in this land,
Mr.. Gordon was a good boatman, but
for once he found himself in a 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 go
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 o 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 he safe from
the trees" s,
It 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
channels, and the bayou had ex-
banded into al angry sea. By care
aad 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
lnextricable 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
|ess. By reaching forward in the bow,
Gordon succeeded in keeping the
boat from plunging against the trunks
trees and SO being dashed to pieces,
out no man could long keep up this
work.
After long hours they reached an
open space, an expansion of the bayou,
where the waters were comparatively
and here Mr.. Gordon succeeded
n making the boat fast to the branch
# a tree.
"Let us wait" he said, desperately,
till succor or the end comes"
During the rest Of the day they
the dead bodies of cattle and the
wreck OF once happy homes drifting
'ast, and now and then caught sight
+ a boat floating by with the bottom
p.
The n~ever-ceasing rain added, to
heir discomfort and kept one of them
bailing out the water.
They abandoned their first attemnt
. keep dry, and all were now as wet
$ if they had been plunged into the
eething, yellow food.
Shortly before dark they ate the
of the cooked food Mrs, Cor !
on had put in the boat.
Night came-a more horrible nioht
Ian any words can describe. Sleen
as out of the question. All felt hat
lere was but n labor before them.
T., to keep the boat aaoat by con,
a atly using the tin dipper that served ,
o bailer. !
Now and then Mr.. Gordon mnttered {
sainst his hard fate, but not a word