"I next went in search o' my ole mar. She wan't hard to find; for if ever a critter made a noise, she did. She wur tied to a tree close by the shanty, an' the way she wur a-squealin' wur a caution to cats. I found her up to the belly in water, pitchin' an' flounderin' all round the tree. She hed nothin' on but the rope that she wur hitched by. Both saddle an' bridle hed been washed away: so I made the rope into a sort o' halter, an' mounted her bare-backed. "Jest then I begun to think whur I wur agoin'. The hul country appeared to be under water: an' the nearest neighbour I hed lived acrosst the parairy ten miles off. I knew that his shanty sot on high ground, but how wur I to get thur? It wur night; I mout lose my way, an' ride chuck into the river. "When I thort o' ibis, I concluded it mout be better to stay by my own shanty till mornin'. I could hitch the mar inside to keep her from bein' floated away; an' for meself, I could climb on the roof. "While I wur thinkin' on this, I noticed that the water wur a-deepenin', an' it jest kim into my head, that it ud soon be deep enough to drownd my ole mar. For meself I wan't frightened. I mout a clomb a tree, an' stayed thur till the flood fell; but I shed a lost the mar, an' that critter wur too valleyble to think o' such a sacryfize; so I made up my mind to chance crossin' the parairy. Thur wan't no time to be wasted-- ne'er a minnit; so I gin the mar a kick or two in the ribs an' started. "I found the path out to the edge of the parairy easy enough. I hed blazed it when I fust come to the place; an', as the night wur not a very dark one, I could see the blazes as I passed atween the trees. My mar knew the track as well as meself, an' swaltered through at a sharp rate, for she knew too thur wan't no time to be wasted. In five minnites we kim out on the edge o' the pairairy, an' jest as I expected, the hul thing wur kivered with water, an' lookin' like a big pond, I could see it shinin' clur acrosst to the other side o' the openin'. "As luck ud hev it, I could jest git a glimp o' the trees on the fur side o' the parairy. Thur wur a big clump o' cypress, that I could see plain enough; I knew this wur clost to my neighbour's shanty; so I gin my critter the switch, an' struck right for it. "As I left the timmer, the mar wur up to her hips. Of coorse, I expected a good grist o' heavy wadin'; but I hed no idee that the water wur a-gwine to git much higher; thur's whur I made my mistake. "I hedn't got more'n a kupple o' miles out when I diskivered that the thing wur a-risin' rapidly, for I seed the mar wur a-gettin' deeper an' deeper.