68 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



passed him as if in utter ignorance as to who he 

 was. Mason thus pursued his way at ease till, 

 reaching at dusk his accustomed resort, the low- 

 est part of a ravine, after hobbling his horse, he 

 esconced himself in a hollow log for the night. 

 He was observed all the while bj the Kegula- 

 tor, who, marking the place and hut with his 

 practised eye, galloped off for assistance, and 

 soon the criminal was surprised in his retreat. 

 In desperation, he defended himself with such 

 valour, that the armed band, finding it impossi- 

 ble to secure their victim otherwise, at length 

 struck him down with a rifle ball. His head, 

 stuck on the broken branch of a tree, remained 

 a monument of the affray. The followers of 

 Mason, thus admonished by the fate of their 

 leader, were not only intimidated from the com- 

 mission of equal crimes, but soon altogether dis- 

 persed. 



