'48 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



its violence menaced tlie very spot on which he 

 stood. With consternation he was compelled 

 to watch its awful progress, and grateful to the 

 Divine Disposer, he beheld at length nature as- 

 sume her wonted aspect, and found himself un- 

 injured. Having business of an urgent nature, 

 instead of returning to the adjacent town, he 

 boldly followed the pathway of the storm, so 

 tangled as to cause him innumerable difficulties ; 

 nevertheless he pursued his way, now aiding 

 his horse to leap the mangled remains of trees, 

 now scrambling himself through the shattered 

 branches by which he was hemmed in. For 

 hundreds of miles the traces of the hurricane 

 were visible; its ravages perceptible even on 

 the mountain summits adjoining the great Penn- 

 sylvanian Pine Forest. 



Audubon's wanderings, thus prolific of extra- 

 ordinary events, were not less so of amusing 

 incidents, necessarily connected with the many 

 remarkable characters who met his observation. 

 One of the striking among them was that of the 

 renowned and dauntless leader of the emigrant 

 bands into Kentucky, Daniel, or as he was 

 courteously termed in the state. Colonel Boone. 

 It was Audubon's fortune to remain under the 

 same roof with this extraordinary man, whose 

 appearance and gigantic stature well befitted a 

 hunter of the woods. His chest was broad, and 



