AUDUBON AND BOONE. 153 



Admitted by Nature to her most tender confidences, the 

 Hunter-Naturalist seems also to have been chosen as the 

 favored intim'ate of her convulsed and most terrible moods. 

 We have seen him here ride unharmed amidst the hurricane 

 of the Tropics, let us now turn to him standing secure " a 

 looker-on," beside its fearful track in the West. He thus 

 describes the scene : 



I had left the village of Shawney, situated on the banks of 

 the Ohio, on my return from Henderson, which is also situated 

 on the banks of the same beautiful stream. The weather 

 was pleasant, and I thought not warmer than usual at that 

 season. My horse was jogging quietly along, and my thoughts 

 were, for once at least in the course of my life, entirely en- 

 gaged in commercial speculations. I had forded Highland 

 Creek, and was on the eve of entering a tract of bottom land 

 or valley that lay between it and Canoe Creek, when on a 

 sudden I remarked a great difference in the aspect of the 

 heavens. A hazy thickness had overspread the country, and I 

 for some time expected an earthquake, but my horse exhibited 

 no propensity to stop and prepare for such an occurrence. 

 I had nearly arrived at the verge of the valley, when I 

 thought fit to stop near a brook, and dismounted to quench 

 the thirst which had come upon me. 



I was leaning on my knees, with my lips about to touch 

 the water, when, from my proximity to the earth, I heard a 

 distant murmuring sound of an extraordinary nature. I 

 drank, however, and as I rose on my feet, looked towards 

 the south-west, where I observed a yellowish oval spot, the 

 appearance of which was quite new to me. Little time was 

 left me for consideration, as the next moment a smart breeze 

 began to agitate the taller trees. It increased to an unex- 

 pected height, and already the smaller branches and twigs were 

 seen falling in a slanting direction towards the ground. Two 

 minutes had scarcely elapsed, when the whole forest before 

 me was in fearful motion. Here and there, where one tree 



