Bonny Jean, and A Severe Threat — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BONNY JEAN. oo farewell, and rode away in the direction of the river, which they were obliged to cross. There were no bridges over the Tangi- pahoa, Usually a peaceful, pretty, winding stream, it was crossed by means of a primitive-looking flat-boat. With great difficulty they persuaded the negro ferryman to attempt the passage; but the promise of a dollar from Mrs. Conway, and the earnest pleading of Jean, were not without effect ; so old Uncle Ned consented at last. They dismounted, and led their horses to the flat by the bridles, and the darkey pushed out from the shore. It was impossible to use the oars in that boiling, seething flood, which eddied and swirled around them; so Uncle Ned concluded to ‘‘ pole” them across—a tedious operation at best, but, under the circumstances, almost superhuman efforts were required. Jean and her mother stood watching the scene around them with dismay, when suddenly Uncle Ned lost his balance and fell into the water. In his fright and demoralization, the pole dropped from his hands. The old fellow could not swim a stroke, but at length he suc- ceeded in scrambling back upon the flat, to find with horror that the pole lay floating in the water some twenty feet away, and the flat was turning round and round in dizzy eddies, bob- bing up and down like a cork from the force of the current. They must depend on the oars, then. Uncle Ned seized them in wild desperation, and went to work with such zeal, that one of the frail things suddenly snapped in twain. With a lowcry of horror the two women stood, their faces pale as death, while the flat, at the mercy of wind and waves, floated swiftly down stream. | Gomichooks (eo) =)