uld die of _ennui_ and idleness. Remember!
there are "sermons in stones, and books in running brooks." He was not
a closet naturalist either. Like the great Audubon he was fond of the
outside world. He was fond of drawing his lessons from Nature herself.
He combined a passion for the chase with his more delicate taste for
scientific pursuits; and where could he have better placed himself to
indulge in these than in the great region of the Mississippi valley,
teeming with objects of interest both to the hunter and the naturalist?
In my opinion, he made good choice of his home.

Well, between hunting, and fishing, and stuffing his birds, and
preserving the skins of rare quadrupeds, and planting and pruning his
trees, and teaching his boys, and training his dogs and horses, Landi
was far from being idle. His boys, of course, assisted him in these
occupations, as far as they were able. But he had another assistant--
Hugot.

Who was Hugot? I shall describe Hugot for your benefit.

Hugot was a Frenchman--a very small Frenchman, indeed--not over five
feet four inches in height. He was dapper and tidy--had a large
aquiline nose, and, notwithstanding his limited stature, a pair of
tremendous moustachios, that curved over his mouth so as almost to hide
it. These gave him a somewhat fierce aspect, which, combined with his
upright carriage, and brisk mechanical-like movements, told you at once
what Hugot had been--a French soldier. He was, in fact, a _ci-devant_
corporal of chasseurs. Landi had been his colonel. The rest you will
easily guess. He had followed his old leader to America, and was now
his man for everything. It was not often that you could see the
naturalist without also seeing Hugot's great moustachios close by his
elbow. It would have killed Hugot to have been separated for any length
of time from his old colonel.

Of course Hugot accompanied his master in all his hunting expeditions.
So, too, did the boys, as soon as they were able to sit upon a horse.
On these occasions the house would be shut up, for there was no
housekeeper nor any other domestic about the establishment. It would
remain thus for days, sometimes for weeks together--for the naturalist
with his party often made distant excursions into the surrounding
forests. They would return laden with spoils--skins of birds and
beasts, plants, and rare geological specimens. Then whole days would be
spent in the arrangement of these new acqui