140 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



you of it." His throat filled with blood, Lis 

 voice failed, the cold hand of death was on his 

 brow, feebly and hurriedly he muttered, " I am 

 a dying man, farewell !" 



Alas! it is painful to me, death in any 

 shape ; in this it was horrible, for there was no 

 hope. The rattling of his throat announced the 

 moment of his dissolution, and already did the 

 body fall on my arms with a weight which was 

 insupportable. I laid him on the ground. A 

 mass of dark blood poured from his mouth, then 

 came a frightful groan, the last breathing of that 

 foul spirit, and all that now lay at my feet, in 

 that wild desert, was a mangled mass of clay ! 



The remainder of that night was passed in no 

 enviable mood, but my feelings cannot be de- 

 scribed. At dawn I dug a hole with the paddle 

 of my canoe, rolled the body into it, and covered 

 it. On reaching the boat, I found several buz- 

 zards feeding on the bodies, which I in vain 

 attempted to drag to the shore. I therefore 

 covered them with mud and reeds, and launch- 

 ing my canoe, paddled from the cove, with a 

 secret joy at my escape, shadowed with the 

 gloom of a mingled dread and abhorrence 



