342 AUDUBON 



flowed from the deep gashes in his shoulders and side. I 

 expressed my regret that I had no food about me, but 

 when I spoke of eating he sullenly waved his head, 



" My situation was one of the most extraordinary that I 

 have ever been placed in. I naturally turned my talk 

 towards religious subjects, but, alas, the dying man hardly 

 believed in the existence of a God. * Friend,' said he, 

 ' for friend you seem to be, I have never studied the ways 

 of Him of whom you talk. I am an outlaw, perhaps you 

 will say a wretch — I have been for many years a pirate. 

 The instructions of my parents were of no avail to me, 

 for I have always believed that I was born to be a most 

 cruel man. I now lie here, about to die in the weeds, 

 because I long ago refused to listen to their many admo- 

 nitions. Do not shudder when I tell you — these now 

 useless hands murdered the mother whom they had em- 

 braced. I feel that I have deserved the pangs of the 

 wretched death that hovers over me; and I am thankful 

 that one of my kind will alone witness my last gaspings. ' 



" A fond but feeble hope that I might save his life, and 

 perhaps assist in procuring his pardon, induced me to 

 speak to him on the subject. ' It is all in vain, friend 

 — I have no objection to die — I am glad that the villains 

 who wounded me were not my conquerors — I want no 

 pardon from any one. Give me some water, and let me 

 die alone. ' With the hope that I might learn from his 

 conversation something that might lead to the capture of 

 his guilty associates, I returned from the creek with an- 

 other capful of water, nearly the whole of which I man- 

 aged to introduce into his parched mouth, and begged 

 him, for the sake of his future peace, to disclose his his- 

 tory to me. ' It is impossible,' said he; 'there will not 

 be time, the beatings of my heart tell me so. Long be- 

 fore day these sinewy limbs will be motionless. Nay, 

 there will hardly be a drop of blood in my body; and that 

 blood will only serve to make the grass grow. My 



