34 AUDUBON 



thoud and Benjamin Page of Pittsburg. Matters, however, grew 

 worse every day ; the times were what men called " bad," but I 

 am fully persuaded the great fault was ours, and the building 

 of that accursed steam-mill was, of all the follies of man, one of 

 the greatest, and to your uncle and me the worst of all our pe- 

 cuniary misfortunes. How I labored at that infernal mill ! from 

 dawn to dark, nay, at times all night. But it is over now ; I am 

 old, and try to forget as fast as possible all the different trials of 

 those sad days. We also took it into our heads to have a steam- 

 boat, in partnership with the engineer who had come from 

 Philadelphia to fix the engine of that mill. This also proved an 

 entire failure, and misfortune after misfortune came down upon 

 us like so many avalanches, both fearful and destructive. 



About this time I went to New Orleans, at the suggestion of 



your uncle, to arrest T B , who had purchased a steamer 



from us, but whose bills were worthless, and who owed us for the 

 whole amount. I travelled down to New Orleans in an open 

 skiff, accompanied by two negroes of mine ; I reached New 



Orleans one day too late ; Mr. B had been compelled to 



surrender the steamer to a prior claimant. I returned to Hender- 

 son, travelling part way on the steamer " Paragon," walked from 

 the mouth of the Ohio to Shawnee, and rode the rest of the 

 distance. On my arrival old Mr. Berthoud told me that Mr. 



B had arrived before me, and had sworn to kill me. My 



affrighted Lucy forced me to wear a dagger. Mr. B walked 



about the streets and before my house as if watching for me, and 

 the continued reports of our neighbors prepared me for an en- 

 counter with this man, whose violent and ungovernable temper 

 was only too well known. As I was walking toward the steam- 

 mill one morning, I heard myself hailed from behind ; on turning, 



I obsen^ed Mr. B marching toward me with a heavy club in 



his hand. I stood still, and he soon reached me. He com- 

 plained of my conduct to him at New Orleans, and suddenly 

 raising his bludgeon laid it about me. Though white with 

 wrath, I spoke nor moved not till he had given me twelve severe 

 blows, then, drawing my dagger with my left hand (unfortunately 

 my right was disabled and in a sling, having been caught and 



