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- 



