52 Life of Audubon, 



unsuspected, turned after him and dogged his steps. 

 Mason retired to a quiet dell, hobbled his hdVse to pre- 

 v^ent it escaping, and crept into a hollow tree. The 

 Regulator went off for assistance to the nearest place, 

 and returning with armed men, the plunderer was shot 

 down, and his severed head was stuck on a pole hard by, 

 to deter others from following the same life. The punish- 

 ment adjudged b}' these Regulators was mercifully 

 apportioned to the crimes of the evil-doers ; but Audubon 

 relates a rather severe sentence passed upon one who was 

 neither thief nor murderer. 



" The culprit," says Audubon, " was taken to a place 

 where nettles were known to grow in great abundance, 

 completely stripped, and so lashed with them^ that 

 although not materially hurt, he took it as a hint not to 

 be neglected, left the country, and was never again heard 

 of by any of the party concerned." 



In November, 1812, soon after his father's return to 

 Ilendersonville, Audubon's second son, John Woodhouse, 

 was born. John Woodhouse and his only brother, Victor, 

 were destined to become companions of their father in 

 his hunting expeditions, and were afterwards able to 

 assist materially in collecting and drawing birds for the 

 great work. 



A few weeks after Audubon's return to Hen- 

 dersonville, the western section of the state of Ken- 

 tucky and the banks of the Mississippi suffered from a 

 very severe shock of earthquake. In the month of 

 November, the Naturalist was riding along on horseback, 

 when he heard what he imagined to be the distant 

 rumbling of a violent tornado. " On which," says he, " I 

 spurred my steed, with a wish to gallop as fast as possible 

 to the place of shelter. But it would not do ; the animal 

 knew better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of 

 going faster, so nearly stopped, that I remarked he placed 



