44 Life of Audubon. 



and startling catastrophe threatened us without warning 

 The ice began to break, and our boat was in instant dan 

 ger of being cut to pieces by the ice-floes, or swamped 

 by tlieir pressure. Roused from our sleep, we rushed 

 down pell-mell to the bank, as if attacked by savages, 

 and discovered the ice was breaking up rapidly. It sjDlit 

 with reports like those of heavy artillery ; and as the 

 water had suddenly risen from an overflow of the Ohio, 

 the two streams seemed to rush against each other with 

 violence, in consequence of which the congealed mass was 

 broken into large fragments, some of which rose nearly 

 erect here and there, and again fell with thundering 

 crash, as the wounded whale, when in the agonies of 

 death, springs up with furious force, and again plunges 

 into the foaming waters. To our surprise, the weather, 

 which in the evening had been calm and frosty, had 

 become wet and blowy. The water gushed from the 

 fissures formed in the ice, and the prospect was ex- 

 tremely dismal. When day dawned, a spectacle strange 

 and fearful presented itself : the whole mass of water was 

 violently agitated ; its covering was broken into small 

 fragments, and although not a foot of space was without 

 ice, not a step could the most daring have ventured to 

 make upon it. Our boat was in imminent danger, for the 

 trees which had been placed to guard it from the ice were 

 cut or broken into pieces, and were thrust against her. 

 It was impossible to move her ; but our pilot ordered 

 every man to bring down great bunches of cane, which 

 were lashed along her sides ; and before these were 

 destroyed by the ice, she was afloat, and riding above it. 

 While we were gazing on the scene, a tremendous crash 

 was heard, which seemed to have taken place about a 

 mile below, when suddenly the great dam of ice gave 

 way. The current of the Mississippi had forced its way 

 against that of the Ohio ; and in less than four hours we 

 witnessed the complete breaking up of the ice. 



