THE TRAVELER AND THE POLE-CAT. 245 



and retraced our step until we found our horses, which 

 had not strayed far from the place where we had left 

 them. These we soon saddled, and jogging along, in a 

 direct course, guided by the sun, congratulating each 

 other on the destruction of so formidable a neighbor as 

 the Panther had been, we soon arrived at my host's cabin. 

 The five neighbors partook of such refreshment as the 

 house could afford, and dispersing, returned to their homes, 

 leaving me to follow my favorite pursuits. 



THE TRAVELER AND THE POLE-CAT. 



ON a journey from Louisville to Henderson, in Ken- 

 tucky, says Mr. Audubon,* performed during very 

 severe winter weather, in company with a foreigner, the 

 initials of whose name are D. T., my companion spying 

 a beautiful animal, marked with black and pale yellow, 

 and having a long and bushy tail, exclaimed, "Mr. Au- 

 dubon, is not that a beautiful squirrel?" "Yes," I an- 

 swered, " and of a kind that will suffer you to approach it, 

 and lay hold of it, if you are well gloved." Mr. D. T. dis- 

 mounting, took up a dry stick, and advanced toward the 

 pretty animal, with his large cloak floating in the breeze. I 

 think I see him approach, and laying the stick gently 

 across the body of the animal, try to secure it; and I 

 can yet laugh almost as heartily as I then did, when I 

 plainly saw the discomfiture of the traveler. The Pole- 



* Ornithological Biography. 



