190 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



his ear. They were indeed the measured beats of oars ; and 

 now, joy to the forlorn soul ! the sound of human voices thrilled 

 to his heart, and awoke the tumultuous pulses of returning 

 hope. On his knees did the eye of God see that poor man, by 

 the broad, still stream, that glittered in the sunbeams, and 

 human eyes soon saw him too, for round that headland covered 

 with tangled brushwood boldly advances the little boat, pro- 

 pelled by its lusty rowers. The lost one raises his feeble voice 

 on high ; it was a loud shrill scream of joy and fear. The 

 rowers pause, and look around. Another, but feebler scream, 

 and they observe him. It comes — his heart flutters, his sight 

 is dimmed, his brain reels, he gasps for breath ! It comes — it 

 has run upon the beach, and the lost one is found. 



" This is no tale of fiction, but the relation of an actual occur- 

 rence, which might be embellished, no doubt, but which is better 

 in the plain garb of truth. The notes by which I recorded it 

 were written in the cabin of the once lost ' live oaker,' about 

 four years after the painful incident occurred. His amiable wife 

 and loving children were present at the recital, and never shall 

 I forget the tears that flowed from them as they listened to it, 

 albeit it had long been more familiar to them than a tale thrice 

 told. It only remains for me to say that the distance between 

 the cabin and the live oak hummock to which the woodsman was 

 bound scarcely exceeded eight miles, while the part of the river 

 at which he was found \ras thirty-eight miles from his house. 

 Calculating his daily wanderings at ten miles, we may believe 

 that they amounted in all to four hundred. He must there- 

 fore have rambled in a circuitous direction, which people gene- 

 rally do in such circumstances. Nothing but the great strength 

 of his constitution and the merciful aid of his Maker could have 

 supported him for so long a time." 



