Read Online The Audubon Reader by John James Audubon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: John James Audubon
Ads: Link
we followed them until at an opening I saw the wished-for Mississippi. But many shoe tracks were visible and I began to get alarmed. My friend still kept up his spirits until at length we arrived at—our own encampment! The boatmen laughed, and the Indians joined in the chorus. We ate a raccoon supper and were soon after refreshed by sleep. This was a raw expedition, yet nothing was more natural than that it should happen to those not perfectly acquainted with the woods. They start, form a circle, and return to the point where they left at first. I cannot account for this, but the same thing has often occurred to me in my early hunting excursions …
My friend and I were not to be … defeated; we moved off as soon as day broke without mentioning our intentions, taking our guns and my dog, in search of the opposite side of the bend. This time, luckily, we pushed straight across; neither the innumerable flocks of turkeys nor the herds of deer stopped us until we sawCape Girardeau, about an hour before sunset. On reaching the river we called in vain for a boat; the ice was running swiftly down the stream, and none dared put out. A small abandoned hut stood close to us, and we made it our home for the night; and our evening meal was principally composed of a pumpkin that had withstood the frost. With a gun and a little powder we soon kindled a fire and lighted some broken branches. We fed the flames with the boards of the abandoned house, and went to sleep very comfortably. What a different life from the one I lead now! And yet that very evening I wrote the day’s occurrences in my journal before going to sleep, just as I do now; and I well remember that I gained more information that evening about the roosting of theprairie hen than I had ever done before.
Daylight returned, fair and frosty. The trees, covered with snow and icicles, became so brilliant when the sun rose that the wild turkeys, quite dazzled, preferred walking under them to flying amongst their glittering branches. After hailing the opposite shore for some time, we perceived a canoe picking its way towards us through the floating ice. It arrived and we soon told the boatmenour wishes to procure some bread or flour. They returned, after having been absent nearly the whole day, bringing us a barrel of flour, several large loaves and a bag ofIndian cornmeal. The flour was rolled high on the bank; we thrust our gun barrels through the loaves; and having hung the bag of Indian cornmeal on a tree to preserve it from the wild hogs, we marched for our camp, which we reached about midnight. Four of our men were sent with axes who formed a small sledge, on which they placed the precious cargo and hauled it safely to the camp over the snow.
The river having risen slowly and regularly, as the Mississippi always does, now began to subside; the ice, falling with the water, prepared fresh trouble for us; and in order to keep the boat afloat, it was thought prudent to unload the cargo. It took us two days, with the assistance of the Indian women, to pile our goods safely on the shore and to protect them from the weather. For the security of the boat, we cut down some strong trees with which we framed a kind of jetty a little higher up the stream to ward off the ice, which was rapidly accumulating.
Being now fairly settled in our winter quarters, we spent our time very merrily, and so many deer, bears and wild turkeys suffered in our hunting parties that the trees around our camp looked like butchers’ stalls, being hung round with fat venison &c. Moreover we soon found that the lakes contained abundance of excellent fish, and many of us would walk over the ice with axes, and whenever a trout, pike or catfish rose immediately beneath it, a severe blow on the ice killed the fish, which the hunter secured by opening a large hole in the ice, several feet in diameter. The fish, in search of air, resorted to it from different quarters and were shot as they appeared on the
My friend and I were not to be … defeated; we moved off as soon as day broke without mentioning our intentions, taking our guns and my dog, in search of the opposite side of the bend. This time, luckily, we pushed straight across; neither the innumerable flocks of turkeys nor the herds of deer stopped us until we sawCape Girardeau, about an hour before sunset. On reaching the river we called in vain for a boat; the ice was running swiftly down the stream, and none dared put out. A small abandoned hut stood close to us, and we made it our home for the night; and our evening meal was principally composed of a pumpkin that had withstood the frost. With a gun and a little powder we soon kindled a fire and lighted some broken branches. We fed the flames with the boards of the abandoned house, and went to sleep very comfortably. What a different life from the one I lead now! And yet that very evening I wrote the day’s occurrences in my journal before going to sleep, just as I do now; and I well remember that I gained more information that evening about the roosting of theprairie hen than I had ever done before.
Daylight returned, fair and frosty. The trees, covered with snow and icicles, became so brilliant when the sun rose that the wild turkeys, quite dazzled, preferred walking under them to flying amongst their glittering branches. After hailing the opposite shore for some time, we perceived a canoe picking its way towards us through the floating ice. It arrived and we soon told the boatmenour wishes to procure some bread or flour. They returned, after having been absent nearly the whole day, bringing us a barrel of flour, several large loaves and a bag ofIndian cornmeal. The flour was rolled high on the bank; we thrust our gun barrels through the loaves; and having hung the bag of Indian cornmeal on a tree to preserve it from the wild hogs, we marched for our camp, which we reached about midnight. Four of our men were sent with axes who formed a small sledge, on which they placed the precious cargo and hauled it safely to the camp over the snow.
The river having risen slowly and regularly, as the Mississippi always does, now began to subside; the ice, falling with the water, prepared fresh trouble for us; and in order to keep the boat afloat, it was thought prudent to unload the cargo. It took us two days, with the assistance of the Indian women, to pile our goods safely on the shore and to protect them from the weather. For the security of the boat, we cut down some strong trees with which we framed a kind of jetty a little higher up the stream to ward off the ice, which was rapidly accumulating.
Being now fairly settled in our winter quarters, we spent our time very merrily, and so many deer, bears and wild turkeys suffered in our hunting parties that the trees around our camp looked like butchers’ stalls, being hung round with fat venison &c. Moreover we soon found that the lakes contained abundance of excellent fish, and many of us would walk over the ice with axes, and whenever a trout, pike or catfish rose immediately beneath it, a severe blow on the ice killed the fish, which the hunter secured by opening a large hole in the ice, several feet in diameter. The fish, in search of air, resorted to it from different quarters and were shot as they appeared on the
Similar Books
