VICTOR, THE SON OF AUDUBON 69 



divide the bedding and arrange half on the floor, on which 

 we can sleep very well, and the gentlemen will have the 

 best we can spare them.' To this arrangement I immedi- 

 ately objected, and proposed lying on a blanket by the fire; 

 but neither Willy nor Eliza would listen. So they arranged 

 a part of their bedding on the floor, on which, after some 

 debate, we at length settled. The negroes were sent to 

 their own cabin, the young couple went to bed, and Mr. 

 Flint lulled us all asleep with a long story intended to show 

 us how passing strange it was that he should have lost 

 his way." 



Victor returned from such adventures exhausted, but it 

 gave him the hardy experience for other excursions. 



He followed his father with enthusiasm and his love 

 of the forest grew. The wood folk became his companions 

 — the mountaineers, the stage-coach men, the taverners, 

 and the little animal people in fur. 



He loved to lie under the sunset trees after a meal out 

 of their traveling pouch, and to hear his father relate 

 stories of his adventures when the latter had been wan- 

 dering alone. He delighted also in asking questions. In 

 this way he learned ornithology. 



" Did any one ever see a partridge drumming? " asked 

 Yictor of his father one day. 



America may be said to be Partridge Land. The whir 

 of the short wings of the partridge is heard everywhere 

 in the forest from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The bird is 



