48 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



takings, and which he hoped would not fail on this occasion, as 

 he felt proud to show me his skill. The gun was wiped, the 

 powder measured, the ball patched with six-hundred-thread 

 linen, and the charge sent home with a hickory rod. We moved 

 not a step from the place, for the squirrels were so numerous 

 that it was unnecessary to go after them. Boon pointed to one 

 of these animals which had observed us, and was crouched on a 

 branch about fifty paces distant, and bade me mark well the 

 spot where the ball should hit. He raised his piece gradually, 

 until the bead (that being the name given by the Kentuckians 

 to the sight) of the barrel was brought to a line with the spot 

 which he intended to hit, and fired. 



" I was astounded to find that the ball had hit the piece of the 

 bark immediately beneath the squirrel, and shivered it into 

 splinters; the concussion produced by which had killed the 

 animal, and sent it whirling through the air, as if it had been 

 blown up. 



" The snuffing of a candle with a ball I first had an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing near the banks of Green Eiver, not far from a 

 large pigeon roost, to which I had previously made a visit. I 

 heard many reports of guns during the early part of a dark 

 night, and knowing them to be those of rifles, I went towards 

 the spot to ascertain the cause. On reaching the place, I was 

 welcomed by a dozen of tall stout men, who told me they were 

 exercising for the purpose of enabling them to shoot under 

 night at the reflected light from the eye of a deer or wolf by 

 torchlight. 



" At a distance of fifty paces stood a lighted candle, barely 

 distinguishable in the darkness. One man was placed within 

 a few yards of it, to watch the effects of the shots, as well as to 

 light the candle, should it chance to go out, or to repair it, 

 should the shot cut it across. Each marksman shot in his turn. 

 Some never hit either the snuff or the candle. ■ One of them, 

 who was particularly expert, was very fortunate, and snuffed 

 the candle three times out of seven, whilst all the other shots 

 either put out the candle, or cut it immediately under the 

 light." 



