146 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



to the period when they had made choice of it, and I 

 arrived there nearly two hours before sunset. Few 

 pigeons were then to be seen, but a great number of 

 persons, with horses and wagons, guns and ammu- 

 nition, had already established themselves on the 

 borders. Two farmers from the vicinity of Russels- 

 ville, distant more than a hundred miles, had driven 

 upwards of three hundred hogs to be fattened on the 

 pigeons which were to be slaughtered. Here and 

 there the people employed in plucking and salting 

 what had already been procured, were seen sitting in 

 the midst of large piles of these birds. The dung lay 

 several inches deep, covering the whole extent of the 

 roosting-place, like a bed of snow. Many trees two 

 feet in diameter, I observed, were broken off at no 

 great distance from the ground, and the branches of 

 many of the largest and tallest had given way, as if 

 the forest had been swept by a tornado. Everything 

 proved to me that the number of birds resorting to 

 this part of the forest must be immense beyond con- 

 ception. As the period of their arrival approached, 

 their foes anxiously prepared to receive them. 

 Some were furnished with iron pots containing sul- 

 phur, others with torches of pine knots, many with 

 poles, and the rest with guns. The sun was lost to 

 our view, yet not a pigeon had arrived. Everything 

 was ready, and all eyes were gazing on the clear sky, 

 which appeared in glimpses amidst the tall trees. 

 Suddenly there burst forth a general cry of "Here 

 they come!" The noise which they made, though 

 yet distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea, pass- 



