42. Life of Audubon, 



have an idea of what a good fire is who has never seen a 

 camp-fire in the woods of America. Imagine four or five 

 ash-trees, three feet in diameter and sixty feet long, cut 

 and piled up, with all their limbs and branches, ten feet 

 high, and then a fire kindled on the top with brush and 

 dry leaves ; and then under the smoke the party lies 

 down and goes to sleep. 



" Here our bread gave out ; and after using the breast 

 of wild turkeys for bread, and bear's grease for butter, 

 and eating opossum and bear's meat until our stomachs 

 revolted, it was decided that a Kentuckian named Pope, 

 our clerk, and a good woodsman, should go with me to 

 the nearest settlement and try and bring some Indian 

 meal. On the way we saw a herd of deer, and turned 

 aside to shoot one ; and having done so, and marked the 

 place, we continued our journey. We walked until dusk, 

 and no river appeared. Just then I noticed an Indian 

 trail, which we supposed led to the river ; and after fol- 

 lowing it a short distance, entered the camp we had left 

 in the morning. My partner, finding that we had no 

 wheaten loaves in our hands, and no bags of meal on our 

 backs, said we were boobies ; the boatmen laughed, the 

 Indians joined the chorus, and we ate some cold racoon, 

 and stumbled into our bufialo robes, and were soon enjoy- 

 ing our sleep. 



" The next day we tried it again, going directly across 

 the bend, suffering neither the flocks of turkeys nor the 

 droves of deer we saw to turn us aside until we had Cape 

 Girardeau in full sight an hour before the setting of the 

 sun. The ice was running swiftly in the river, and we 

 hailed in vain, for no small boat dare put out. An old 

 abandoned log-house stood on cur bank, and we took 

 lodgings there for the night ; we made a little fire, ate a 

 little dried bear's meat we had brought, and slept comfort- 

 ably. 



