SHOCK OF AN EARTHQUAKE. 39 



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 punishment adjudged 

 by these Eegulators was mercifully apportioned to the crimes of 

 the evildoers; 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 Hender- 

 son ville, 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 Hendersonville, the 

 western section of the state of Kentucky 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 one foot after 

 another on the ground with as much precaution as if walking 

 on a smooth sheet of ice. I thought he had suddenly foundered, 

 and, speaking to him, was on the ' point of dismounting and 

 leading him, when he all of a sudden fell a groaning piteously, 

 hung his head, spread out his four legs, as if to save himself 

 from falling, and stood stock still, continuing to groan. I 

 thought my horse was about to die, and would have* sprung from 

 his back had a minute more elapsed ; but at that instant all the 

 shrubs and trees began to move from their very roots, the 

 ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffled wa,ters 

 of a lake, and I became bewildered iu my ideas, as I too plainly 



