For months grim-faced Cajun shrimpers practiced on the bayous, in their tricky, pencil-shaped boats. The Cajuns of Louisiana's lower marshlands take their yearly pirogue race as seriously as Kentucky takes its Derby. This week on sultry Bayou Barataria, the 29 strongest paddlers lined up for the start.
The swamp people had picked a favorite: muscular, moon-faced Herb Creppel, 24, who won the last big race just before he went off to be a paratrooper, three years ago. Now he was defending his championship with a shrapnel wound in his right leg. It didn't seem to hamper his long, powerful stroke. Uncle Emile...
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