JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 51 
of which J examined at my leisure. On 
a large easel before me stood an unfin- 
ished portrait, other pictures hung 
about, and in the room were two young 
pupils ; and at a glance I discovered 
that the eccentric stranger was, like my- 
self, a naturalist and an artist. The 
artist, as modest as he was odd, showed 
me how he laid on the paint on his 
pictures, asked after my own pursuits, 
and showed a friendly spirit which en- 
chanted me. With a ramrod for a rest, 
he prosecuted his work vigorously, and 
afterwards asked me to examine a per- 
cussion lock on his gun, a novelty to me 
at the time. He snapped some caps, 
and on my remarking that he would 
frighten his birds, he exclaimed, ‘ Devil 
take the birds, there are more of them 
in the market.’ He then loaded his 
gun, and wishing to show me that he 
was a marksman, fired at one of the pins 
on his easel. This he smashed to pieces, 
and afterward put a rifle bullet exactly 
