34 LIFE OF AUDUP.ON. 



CHAPTEE VIIT. 



Audubon finds St. GeneviJivb Unsuitable — Retuen Jotjenet to Hendek- 



SONVILLE — 1'eRRIBLE AdVENTUEB ON THE PrAIRIB — NARROW ESCAPE 



FROM Assassination — Regulator Law in the West — The Shootikg 

 OP Mason — Lynching a Eogub — Earthquakes in Kentucky — A Ter- 

 rified Horse — A Marriage Party in a Plight — A Frantic Doctor. 



Audubon soon discovered that St. Grenevieve was no pleasant 

 place to live in. Its population were mostly low-bred French 

 Canadians, for whose company, notwithstanding certain national 

 sympathies, he had no liking. He wearied to be back at 

 Hendersonville beside his young wife. Eosier got married at St. 

 Genevieve, and to him Audubon sold his interest in the business. 

 The naturalist purchased a horse, bade adieu to his partner, 

 to the society of St. Genevieve, and started homeward across the 

 country. During this journey Audubon met with a terrible ad- 

 venture, and made a miraculous escape from impending death. 

 This episode in Audubon's life is related by him in the following 

 words : — 



" On my return from the upper Mississippi, I found myself 

 obliged to cross one of the wide prairies, which, in that portion 

 of the United States, vary the appearance of the country. The 

 weather was fine, all around me was as fresh and blooming as if 

 it had just issued from the bosom of nature. My knapsack, my 

 gun, and my dog, were all I had for baggage and company. 

 But, although well moccasined, I moved slowly along, attracted 

 by the brilliancy of the flowers, and the gambols of the fawns 

 around their dams, to all appearance as thoughtless of danger 

 as I felt myself. 



