JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 37 

 kill yon stranger and secure the watch. 

 He was just on the point of springing up 

 to shoot his would-be murderers, when 

 the door burst open, and two travellers, 

 each with a long knife, appeared. 

 Audubon jumped up and told them his 

 situation. The drunken sons and the 

 woman were bound, and in the morning 

 they were taken out into the woods and 

 were treated as the Eegulators treated 

 delinquents in those days. They were 

 shot. Whether Audubon did any of the 

 shooting or not, he does not say. But he 

 aided and abetted, and his Spanish 

 blood must have tingled in his veins. 

 Then the cabin was set on fire, and the 

 travellers proceeded on their way. 



It must be confessed that this story 

 sounds a good deal like an episode in a 

 dime novel, and may well be taken with 

 a grain of allowance. Did remote prairie 

 cabins in those days have grindstones 

 and carving knives? And why should 

 the would-be murderers use a knife when 

 they had guns ? 



