JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 15 

 drowning. He was leading the party 

 down the river in the dusk of the even- 

 ing, with a white handkerchief tied to 

 a stick, when he came suddenly upon a 

 large air hole into which, in spite of 

 himself, his impetus carried him. Had 

 there not chanced to be another air hole 

 a few yards below, our hero's career 

 would have ended then and there. The 

 current quickly carried him beneath the 

 ice to this other opening where he man- 

 aged to seize hold of the ice and to 

 crawl out. 



His friendship with the Bakewell fam- 

 ily deepened. Lucy taught Audubon 

 English, he taught her drawing, and 

 their friendship very naturally ripened 

 into love, which seems to have run its 

 course smoothly. 



Audubon was happy. He had ample 

 means, and his time was filled with 

 congenial pursuits. He writes in his 

 journal : "I had no vices, but was 

 thoughtless, pensive, loving, fond of 



