DACOSTA AND THE MINE 123 
troubled with an inflammation of the lungs; and one ought not 
to be ill in a foreign country, where he does not receive the care 
that he enjoys in his own home. You ask me to bring you 
money. . . . You know better than anyone else what was my 
[financial] position when I sold to you; by that alone you must 
know how difficult this would be for me. It is necessary to man- 
age so that our object suffices us [or so that the mine pays its 
way], and if we cannot work on a grand scale, we must needs 
do the best with our affairs on a lower plane; for that I de- 
pend on you. I salute you. 
P. S. When you shall have my papers from Mr. Miers Fisher, 
you will find a promissory note of Mr. Samuel Plaisance of 
Richmond, for the business of the widow Ross. If there 
were justice there this sum would be paid to me with the 
costs. 
The foregoing letters show that Dacosta had been 
asked to oppose the proposed marriage of the younger 
Audubon to Lucy Bakewell until consent should be 
given; that he was calling for more money to exploit the 
lead mine and was urging Lieutenant Audubon to come 
to America; and that their relations were becoming 
strained, Dacosta, to prove his title to a one-half inter- 
est in the mine and farm, having threatened to take 
his case to the courts. 
This mining experiment was spread over many years. 
Before turning to the sequel (see Chapter XI), let us 
glance at the picture which the naturalist has left of his 
unsympathetic tutor. “Dacosta,” he said, “was intend- 
ed to teach me mineralogy and mining engineering, but 
in fact” he “knew nothing of either; besides which he 
was a covetous wretch, who did all he could to ruin 
my father, and indeed swindled us both to a large 
amount. I had to go to France to expose him to my 
