326 AUDUBON 



and snakes. All that fell in his way was welcome and 

 savory. Yet he became daily more emaciated, until at 

 length he could scarcely crawl. Forty days had elapsed, 

 by his own reckoning, when he at last reached the banks 

 of the river. His clothes in tatters, his once bright axe 

 dimmed with rust, his face begrimed with beard, his 

 hair matted, and his feeble frame little better than a 

 skeleton covered with parchment, there he laid himself 

 down to die. Amid the perturbed dreams of his fevered 

 fancy, he thought he heard the noise of oars far away on 

 the silent river. He listened, but the sounds died away 

 on his ear. It was, indeed, a dream, the last glimmer of 

 expiring hope, and now the light of life was about to be 

 quenched forever. But again the sound of oars woke him 

 from his lethargy. He listened so eagerly that the hum 

 of a fly could not have escaped his ear. They were, in- 

 deed, the measured beats of oars. And now, joy to the 

 forlorn soul ! the sound of human voices thrilled to his 

 heart, and awoke the tumultuous pulses of returning hojDe. 

 On his knees did the eye of God see that poor man by the 

 broad, still stream that glittered in the sunbeams, and 

 human eyes soon saw him too, for round that headland 

 covered with tangled brushwood, boldly advances the lit- 

 tle boat, propelled by its lusty rowers. The Lost One 

 raises his feeble voice on high; it was a loud, shrill 

 scream of joy and fear. The rowers pause, and look 

 around. Another, but feebler scream, and they observe 

 him. It comes, his heart flutters, his sight is dimmed, 

 his brain reels, he gasps for breath. It comes — it has 

 run upon the beach, and the Lost One is found. 



This is no tale of fiction, but the relation of an actual 

 occurrence, which might be embellished, no doubt, but 

 which is better in the plain garb of truth. The notes by 

 which I recorded it were written in the cabin of the once 

 lost live-oaker, about four years after the painful incident 

 occurred. His amiable wife, and loving children, were 



