III. AUDUBON'S NIGHT OF PERIL.
"On my return from the upper Mississippi," said John J. Audubon, the celebrated ornithologist, "I found myself obliged to cross one of the wide prairies which, in that portion of the United States, vary the appearance of the country. The weather was fine; all around me was as fresh and blooming as if it had just issued from the bosom of Nature. My knapsack, my gun and my dog were all I had for baggage and company. The track that I followed was an old Indian trail, and as darkness overshadowed the prairie, I felt some desire to reach at least a copse in which I might lie down to rest. The night-hawks were skimming over and around me, attracted by the buzzing wings of the beetles, which form their food, and the distant howlings of wolves gave me some hope that I should soon arrive at the skirts of some woodland.
"I did so; and almost at the same instant a fire-light attracted my attention. I moved toward it, full of confidence that it proceeded from the camp of some wandering Indians. I was mistaken. I discovered by its glare that it was from the open door of a small log cabin, and that a tall figure passed and repassed between it and me, as if busily engaged in house-hold affairs.
"I reached the place, and presenting myself at the door, asked the tall figure, which proved to be a woman, if I might take shelter under her roof for the night. Her voice was gruff and her attire negligently thrown about her. She answered in the affirmative. I walked in, took a stool and quietly seated myself by the fire.
"The next object that attracted my attention was a finely formed young Indian resting his head between his hands, with his elbows on his knees. A long bow rested against a log wall near him, while a quantity of arrows and two or three raccoon skins lay at his feet. He moved not—he apparently breathed not.
"Accustomed to the habits of the Indians, and knowing that they pay little attention to the approach of civilized strangers (a circumstance which in some countries is considered to evince the apathy of their character), I addressed him in French, a language not unfrequently partially known to the people in that neighborhood.
"He raised his head, pointed to one of his eyes with his finger, and gave me a significant look with the other. His face was covered with blood. The fact was that about an hour or so before this, as he was in the act of discharging an arrow at a raccoon in the top of a tree, the arrow had split upon the cord and sprung back with such violence into his right eye as to destroy it forever.
"Feeling hungry, I inquired what sort of fare I might expect. Such a thing as a bed was not to be seen, but many large untanned bear and buffalo hides lay piled up in a corner. I drew a fine timepiece from my breast and told the woman that it was late and that I was fatigued. She had espied my watch, the richness and beauty of which seemed to operate upon her feelings with electrical quickness. She told me that there was plenty of venison and jerked buffalo meat, and that on removing the ashes I should find a cake. But my watch had struck her fancy, and her curiosity had to be gratified by an immediate sight of it. I took off the gold chain that secured it from around my neck and handed it to her. She was all ecstasy, spoke of its beauty, asked me its value and put my chain around her brawny neck, saying how happy the possession of such a watch would make her.
"Thoughtless, and, as I fancied myself in so retired a spot secure, I paid little attention to her talk or her movements. I helped my dog to a good supper of venison, and was not long in satisfying the demands of my own appetite.
"The Indian rose from his seat as if in extreme suffering. He passed and repassed me several times, and once pinched me on the arm so violently that the pain nearly brought forth an exclamation of anger. I looked at him; his eye met mine, but his look was so forbidding that it struck a chill into the more nervous part of my system. He again seated himself, drew his butcher's knife from its greasy scabbard, examined its edge as I would do that of a razor suspected dull, replaced it, and again taking his tomahawk from his belt, filled the pipe of it with tobacco, and sent me expressive glances whenever our hostess chanced to have her back toward us.