A NOBLE WIFE 97 



How had he again lost his property? He had sur- 

 rendered one estate to his sister, and had failed in business. 



Audubon's father died. He had left him an estate of 

 some seventeen thousand dollars, but his agent lost the 

 property. He was penniless again. 



Empty-handed, he wandered the wilderness again, paint- 

 ing birds in a way that would never be superseded. 



" You should see him studying a worthless bird in the 

 woods among the rocks with his son," said the stage-coach 

 driver. " Why, can you think it ? He stuffed a dead sheep 

 with hay, and he and his boy watched it to see a buzzard 

 come down and get fooled! Think of that fooling a car- 

 rion bird, and his property all gone, and his poor wife keep- 

 ing school! They say that he has fooled his wife and boys." 



" What does he want to fool the buzzard for? " asked 

 a waiting passenger, who had heard this strange story. 



" To see if the buzzard could smell." 



The waiting passenger laughed, and the old stage man 

 added: 



" Who in the world cares whether a buzzard can smell 

 or not?" 



But before Audubon could write his description of the 

 buzzard in his Ornithological Biographies, lie must know 

 whether it was acute sight or acuteness of the sense of 

 smell that brought the buzzard down to this rotting food 

 like a speck from the sky. 



So passed years with the family. They read from time 



7 



