V.

DOWN BAYOU PLAQUEMINE--THE FIGHT WITH WILD NATURE.


Plaquemine was composed of a church, two stores, as many drinking-shops,
and about fifty cabins, one of which was the court-house. Here lived a
multitude of Catalans, Acadians, negroes, and Indians. When Suzanne and
Maggie, accompanied by my father and John Gordon, went ashore, I declined
to follow, preferring to stay aboard with Joseph and Alix. It was at
Plaquemine that we bade adieu to the old Mississippi. Here our flatboat
made a détour and entered Bayou Plaquemine.[12]

Hardly had we started when our men saw and were frightened by the force of
the current. The enormous flatboat, that Suzanne had likened to a giant
tortoise, darted now like an arrow, dragged by the current. The people of
Plaquemine had forewarned our men and recommended the greatest prudence.
"Do everything possible to hold back your boat, for if you strike any of
those tree-trunks of which the bayou is full it would easily sink you."
Think how reassuring all this was, and the more when they informed us that
this was the first time a flatboat had ventured into the bayou!

Mario, swearing in all the known languages, sought to reassure us, and,
aided by his two associates, changed the manoeuvring, and with watchful
eye found ways to avoid the great uprooted trees in which the lakes and
bayous of Attakapas abound. But how clouded was Carpentier's brow! And my
father? Ah! he repented enough. Then he realized that gold is not always
the vanquisher of every obstacle. At last, thanks to Heaven, our flatboat
came off victor over the snags, and after some hours we arrived at the
Indian village of which you have heard me tell.