CAPTURED BY THE INDIANS.

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prominent muscular power displayed itself in every limb, while the expression of his countenance, which was bold and ingenuous, indicated courage, enterprise, and strength. Audubon, who occupied the same sleeping apartment with him, was indefatigable in his questionings, in order to elicit some account of his companion's exploits. The Colonel, after merely laying aside his hunting shirt, and arranging a few folds of a blanket on the floor, remarked that he would rather lie there than on the softest bed.” He then assented to Audubon's request, by relating an occurrence which befell him while on an expedition to the Green river in Kentucky, where none but sons of the soil were looked upon as lawful proprietors of that State.

He had extinguished one night the fire of his camp, and lain down to rest in security, as he imagined, when seized by an indistinguishable number of hands, he was immediately pinioned, as if about to be led to execution. To have resisted, when in the power of the crafty Redskins would have been dangerous as useless. By suffering himself to be quietly removed, the Indians were convinced of his fearlessness. Meanwhile, his mental ingenuity was incessantly exercised for some stratagem of escape.

On his arrival at the camp, great rejoicings were shown, and he was warned by unequivocal gestures, that

before another dawn, one mortal enemy of the Redskins should have ceased to live. The squaws, who amused themselves with ransacking his hunting shirt for booty, now succeeded so well in their search as to find a large flask of Monongahela (strong whisky), while a barbarous grin on their ferocious faces told their delight at the discovery. A silently disguised satisfaction filled the Colonel's heart at the prospect of their intoxication. Wishing the bottle ten times as large, or filled with aquafortis, etc., he beheld it pass from mouth to mouth, midst songs and outcries of wild revelry. He observed also, however, with a depression which made his hopes sink, that the women, his least formidable antagonists, drank far more freely than the warriors. At the report of a gun in the distance the men suddenly jumped to their feet, and singing and dancing were for a while discontinued, for a consultation between the warriors and their wives, of which the Colonel plainly perceived he was the cause. In a few minutes the men departed, leaving the squaws alone, as he hoped, to guard him. In five minutes more the flask was drained, and very soon he beheld, with inexpressible delight, unmistakeable signs of intoxication manifested by the tumbling snoring company. The Colonel following the example of the assembly, from a very different motive,

AN ECCENTRIC GENIUS.

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rolled over and over towards the fire, and thus succeeded in burning the cords by which he was fettered. Springing to his feet and snatching up his rifle, he thus effected his escape; for once, sparing the life of an Indian and mindful of his

A cut of the Colonel's tomahawk in the stem of an ash, was made to commemorate his adventure there, and if the innovations of time, and the inroads of an equally ruthless civilization permit, the curious or interested may prove the authenticity of this anecdote.

As Audubon rambled one day beside his favourite river, he observed a man landing from a boat, with what appeared a bundle of dried clover on his back. No sooner had the exclamation “What an odd-looking fellow! an original, surely !” crossed his mind, than he perceived the stranger approach him in haste, and with astonishment, heard him inquire for the house of Mr. Audubon. With the cordial hospitality which characterized him, Audubon instantly replied, “Why, I am the man, and will gladly lead you to my dwelling.”

The traveller thus happily relieved from all perplexity as to his entrée, actually clapped his hands with delight. He then took from his pocket a letter of introduction, which he presented. Its contents were

My dear Audubon, "I send you an odd fish, which may prove to be undescribed. If so, I hope you will let me have an account in your next letter.

Believe me always your friend, B.

With an amusing simplicity worthy this Cincinnatus of science, Audubon unhesitatingly asked the bearer where the odd fish was?"

Perplexity was now his, when, with perfect good humour and self-possession, Monsieur de Thouville, in whose presence he was, replied, "I am that odd fish, I presume, Mr. Audubon." To their mutual relief, the house of his host was soon reached. Audubon, desirous to put his friend at ease, was on the point of ordering a servant to the boat for Monsieur de Thouville's luggage, who prevented him, however, with the remark, that he had none but what he brought on his back; at the same time loosening the pack of weeds which had first attracted Audubon's attention.

The stranger naturalist then, while engaged in pulling his stockings, not up but down, to cover the holes about his heels, indulged his loquacity in the gayest manner imaginable. After relating the distance he had walked, and his passage on board the ark, he expressed also his regret that his apparel should have suffered ;

THE STRANGER NATURALIST.

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but at the same time, he eagerly denied the offer of any clean clothes; and it was with evident reluctance he accepted an invitation for ablution. It is not difficult to conceive the interest and astonishment excited among the inmates of Audubon's habitation, by the singular appearance of this scientific professor. A long loose coat of yellow nankeen-on which the inroads of time were plainly visible, stained as it was with the juice of many a plant-hung about him like a sack. A waistcoat of the same, with enormous · pockets and buttoned up to the chin, reached below, over a pair of tight pantaloons, the lower parts of which were buttoned down to the ancles. The dignity he acquired from the broad and prominent brow which ornamented his countenance, was somewhat diminished by the forlorn appearance of his long beard, and the mass of lank black hair which fell from his shoulders. His striking resemblance to that equally eccentric savant, Dick Roberts, must certainly have crossed the mind of Audubon, if, as is not improbable, that extraordinary man had ever met his observation, whilst enjoying the hospitality of Allerton. The surprise of the ladies was involuntarily manifested in the exchange of sundry critical glances which, to a tenacious egotist, would have spoken volumes. Soon, however, their astonishment was converted into admiration