18 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



trees were near, and the grand diable himself could not burn 

 one of them. Our minds were soon made up to do — what? 

 Why, to roll ourselves in our cloaks, and lay down, the best way 

 we could, at the bottom of our light and beautiful barque. 

 Good God, what a night ! To sleep was impossible ; the cold in- 

 creased with the breeze, and every moment seemed an hour, 

 from the time we stretched ourselves down until the first glimpse 

 of the morn ; but the morn came, clear as ever morn was, and 

 the north-easter as cold as ever wind blew in this latitude. All 

 hands half dead, and masters as nearly exhausted as the hands 

 — stiffened with cold, light-clothed, and but slight hope of our 

 nearing any shore ; our only resort was, to leap into the mire, 

 waste-deep, and to push the barque to a point, some five hun- 

 dred or six hundred yards, where a few scrubby trees seem to 

 have grown to save our lives on this occasion. "Push, boys, 

 push ! Push for your lives !", cry the generous Bulow, and the 

 poor Audubon. — "All hands push !" Aye and well might we 

 push : the mire was up to our breasts, our limbs becoming 

 stiffened at every step we took. Our progress was slowly per- 

 formed as if we had been clogged with heavy chains. It took 

 us two and a half hours to reach the point, where the few 

 trees of which I have spoken were; but, thank God, we did get 

 there. 



We landed . . . and well it was that we did ; for on reach- 

 ing the margin of the marsh, two of the negroes fell down in 

 the marsh, as senseless as torpidity ever rendered an alligator, 

 or a snake; and had we, the white men, not been there, they 

 certainly would have died. We had carried them into the little 

 grove, to which, I believe, all of us owe our lives. I struck a 

 fire in a crack; and, in five minutes, I saw, with indescribable 

 pleasure, the bright, warming blaze in a log pile in the center 

 of our shivering party. We wrapped the negroes in their blan- 

 kets — boiled some water, and soon had some tea — made them 

 swallow it, and with care revived them into animation. May 

 God preserve you from being ever in the condition of our 

 party at this juncture; scarcely a man able to stand, and the 

 cold wind blowing as keenly as ever. Our men, however, gradu- 



