"EPISODES" OF WESTERN LIFE 283 



favorable report of his observations. Then laying some 

 deer skins on the floor in a corner and calling his faith- 

 ful dog to his side, he lay down and to all appearances 

 was soon asleep. Presently sounds of approaching 

 voices were heard, and at length two sturdy youths, 

 who were evidently the woman's sons, appeared bear- 

 ing a dead stag, which they had slung to a pole; they 

 asked at once about the stranger, and called loudly for 

 w T hisky. Audubon tapped his dog, who showed by eye 

 and tail that he was already alert. Observing that the 

 w r hisky bottle was paying frequent visits to the mouths 

 of the trio, he hoped that they would soon be reduced 

 to a state of helplessness, but the woman was seen to 

 take in her hands a large carving knife and go delib- 

 erately outside to whet its edge on a grindstone; then, 

 calling to her drunken sons, she asked them to settle 

 the stranger and bade them do their bloody work with- 

 out delay. Audubon cocked both barrels of his gun, 

 touched his dog again, and was resolved to shoot at the 

 first suspicious move. At this dramatic moment the 

 door suddenly opened and two burly travelers with 

 rifles on their shoulders entered the cabin. Audubon 

 sprang to his feet, and welcoming the strangers with 

 open arms, lost no time in making known to them his 

 desperate position. No parley was necessary, for, said 

 he, they were regulators, who then and there took the 

 law into their own hands. The woman and her sons 

 were promptly secured, bound, and left until morning to 

 sober off; they were then led into the woods and shot. 

 "We marched them into the woods off the road," said 

 Audubon, "and having used them as Regulators were 

 wont to use such delinquents, we set fire to the cabin, 

 gave all the skins and implements to the young Indian, 

 and proceeded, well pleased, towards the settlements." 



