01x03 - An Adventure with Audubon

[bunniefuu]

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a bold adventuring man ♪

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ Battle for right with a powerful hand ♪

♪ His blade was tempered and so was he ♪

♪ Indestructible steel was he

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a fighter

♪ A fearless and mighty adventuring man ♪

[chorus humming soulfully]

[g*nsh*t]

- [Man] No, no!

[g*nsh*t]

I have you in my sights, Mister.

I give you just five seconds to stand up

and explain yourself.

- Would you by any chance be John James Audubon?

Painter of wild birds?

- Jim Bowie!

[Jim laughs]

- Hello, John, how are you?

- But Jim, you're aging so rapidly.

You're growing so old.

- Huh, I am?

Am I getting old?

- Oh, not your face, your arm.

You have just shot a turkey that has been dead

for three days.

- Dead for three days?

Why, it looks so life-like sitting up there.

- I propped it up with sticks and wire

so I could paint it.

You are a woodsman.

Tell me what you think of my birds.

- John, I'm no judge of art

or even an expert on birds.

But when I look at one of your pictures

it's as if,

I mean it's just as if I was I was seeing that bird

for the very first time.

Even though I may have seen it 100 times before.

- Precisely.

That's what I want to show.

The bird and the environment all must be true.

- There's nothing I can do that anyone

will ever remember me for.

- But Jim, you have a marvelous talent.

For living fully and with style.

You know, young as you are already you have made

your presence felt.

Me?

All they will ever remember of me are my birds.

[g*nsh*t]

Someone hunting.

[man moans]

[man mumbles]

[wounded man yells]

What goes there?

[man speaks French]

[man groans]

- He's hurt bad.

You stay with him.

I'll see if I can catch 'em.

- Careful, Jim, they're armed.

[chorus humming]

[g*nsh*t]

- They rode off.

I'll saddle my horse.

- Please do but not to pursue the robbers.

He needs a doctor more than he needs revenge.

[men speak French]

Monsieur Bowie.

[men converse in French]

[groans]

- What'd he say?

- It was very strange.

He knew my full name.

He called me sire.

He said my life was in danger.

- Why would your life be in danger?

- I wouldn't know.

You better ride to Baton Rouge for Dr. Menard.

This one is in much more danger than I.

Oh, and stop first at the plantation

and have them send a wagon.

Then bring the doctor there!

- [Narrator] The plantation to which Audubon

brought the wounded Frenchman

and Jim the doctor from Baton Rouge

was owned by the Perry family

of Feliciana Parish.

Here Audubon and his wife Lucy

lived with their two boys,

Lucy helping to pay their way by teaching school,

Audubon by giving music and dancing lessons.

Poor though they were their quiet charm

and artistic sensibility made them warmly welcome

in the leisurely way of plantation life.

- Where are the boys, Mrs. Audubon?

I miss 'em.

- Oh, they're staying with friends

for a few days over in Latore Parish.

- Oh.

Growing up fast, are they?

- You should see them.

Very handsome young gentlemen they are too.

- Still unconscious.

- So you didn't find out any more.

- Doctor doesn't give him much hope.

- To think such a thing could happen

in our very own woods.

[bell jingles]

Oh dear.

More visitors.

I have a feeling this is going to be one of

those hectic days.

- You know, Jim, it didn't strike me as

an ordinary robbery.

There was something vindictive about it

as though the men were personal enemies.

- At times, dear, you have such a romantic imagination.

[John chuckles]

- The Marquis de Longenet.

My word, a marquis!

Well, don't just stand there, Toby, show him up here.

- Will you please pardon the intrusion, Madam, Monsieur?

- It is a real honor to receive a marquis.

- You are, I presume, the lady of the house?

- Your pardon, Marquis.

I am Mrs. Perry.

You are most welcome to this house.

If there's anything you wish.

- Information only, Madam.

I'm seeking a certain gentleman,

and when I have found him and given him my message

my business will be finished.

Now tell me, do you have one living here

named Jean Jacques Audubon?

- I'm Audubon, sir.

May I have the pleasure of introduce--

- As your servant and most humble subject,

I thank heaven you are safe and in good health,

your majesty.

- I can appreciate a joke as well as the next one,

Monsieur.

But don't carry it too far.

- Certain papers have come to light which prove

conclusively that you are the second son

of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette his queen.

That you are Louis-Charles XVII,

rightful heir to the throne of France.

- The Dauphin?

- [mumbles] your majesty.

- John.

- Now look here, sir.

If you think I am the long lost Dauphin,

why it's utter nonsense.

I want it stopped.

- What you call it, your majesty, cannot alter the facts.

France is in a state of turmoil.

She needs you.

A strong cartel of aristocrats have pledged

their lives if you will but claim your heritage.

A ship awaits you now in New Orleans Harbor.

To take you back to France.

- What if it is true, John?

It could be, couldn't it?

- You're ridiculous.

I was born April 26, 1785 in Les Cayes

on the island of Saint-Domingue.

- Can you prove your date and place of birth,

your majesty?

- I take the word of my good father, the captain,

rest his soul.

And stop calling me "your majesty"!

- A thousand pardons, sire,

but you precisely made my point.

You cannot prove your statement,

but we can prove ours.

- It is possible, darling.

The least you could do is let the gentleman

show you the proof.

- Unfortunately, Madam, I do not have this proof

on my person.

Those valuable documents rest with certain

well chosen compatriots

who even now await his majesty in Baton Rouge.

- It's, it's not because I love you so much, darling,

but I really have thought you were superior

to other men, and in so many ways.

- I am an American by choice.

A plain, simple, happy man,

made so by good fortune and little talent.

And a loving wife.

If I should go with you to France, sir,

what happens to my wife?

- Since she's not of noble birth,

I assume an annulment could be arranged.

She could accompany you, of course.

- Accompany me?

[chuckles]

There is your answer, sir.

Now if you will excuse us.

- I beg to state to your majesty that--

- You heard what he said, Monsieur.

You could at least respect their privacy.

- I respect your privacy, sire, and I respect you.

But this is more than that.

Your life is in danger.

- That's the second time today I've heard that warning.

Why is my life in danger?

- You said the second time, sire.

You were previously warned?

- This morning, also by a Frenchman.

He lies wounded upstairs.

- This man warned you?

- Same as you did.

We're still a little curious to know why.

- He didn't tell you?

- No, he warned me, he's been unconscious ever since.

- I shudder to think who this man might be.

May I have permission to see him, sire?

- Well, I don't see why not.

The sooner we get to the bottom of all this the better.

- We'll take you up.

This is very important, Doctor.

May we see him?

- He's still unconscious.

- This is not our friend, sire.

This is our enemy.

One of the Secret Society of the [speaks French]

Dedicated to the complete annihilation

of the royal Bourbon line.

He's here in America to k*ll you.

- He doesn't seem so fierce.

It's incredible.

- His presence here proves only one thing, sire.

Your enemies have found you before we did.

Your majesty must not remain here

isolated and unprotected.

- If there are fanatics about they won't stop with me.

I'm worried about Lucy and my boys.

- Yes.

And where are your sons, sire?

- With the--

- They're visiting friends, Monsieur.

- Monsieur is suspicious of me.

- Well, I just think we ought to wait and hear

this man's side of the story, that's all.

- Quite right.

You're quite right to be suspicious.

Therefore I suggest that you, sire,

go immediately with your wife to Baton Rouge.

And place yourselves under the full protection

of the civil authorities.

- He's right about protection, John.

I think you ought to go.

- Are you coming, Jim?

- No.

No, I'll wait here.

If any more Frenchman turn up to warn you

your life's in danger I'll take the message.

[chorus humming]

- [Narrator] With the Marquis de Longenet

riding as escort, Audubon and his wife

left the plantation shortly before nightfall.

Inside the carriage both were remembering

the tales they had heard of the lost Dauphin,

of a little 10-year-old boy,

the son of the king and queen doomed to die

under the guillotine.

They remembered the plots against the boy's life

and of his being given into the custody of a shoemaker,

only to fall ill and allegedly die.

But there was no certificate of death,

nor any witnesses.

Lucy couldn't help wondering.

- Listen closely, he has little time left.

- Yes.

- Monsieur Audubon?

- No.

No, I'm his friend, Jim Bowie.

What is your concern for Mr. Audubon?

- I have come to warn him.

His life is in danger.

- The Marquis has already told us that.

- The Marquis?

- The Marquis de Longenet.

- But that cannot be, Monsieur.

I am the Marquis de Longenet.

- Don't lie, don't lie to me.

- I am not lying.

- Easy, Monsieur, your wound is very grave.

- I know.

I am dying.

The other is the one who lies.

He will k*ll the Dauphin.

- He has said all he'll ever say.

- Is he dead?

You think he was lying, Doctor?

- Who knows?

- If he wasn't lying then the other one was,

and he's taking the Audubons to Baton Rouge.

- I've got to go to Baton Rouge to make arrangements.

I'll go with you.

- I haven't time to wait for you.

[chorus humming]

- Anything wrong, Marquis?

- Do not use that revolting title from now on, Monsieur.

It is with pride that I tell you

I am a man of the republic.

- What?

- You're my prisoner, Monsieur.

You will be tried tonight in Baton Rouge

before the Sons of the French Revolution.

If you cannot prove that you are not the Dauphin,

you will die.

- Oh no.

- Back in the carriage, Monsieur.

- [man speaks French]

- Viva the republic!

[Lucy cries]

- Please don't worry, my dear.

This is America.

No Frenchman dare try me here.

- Mr. Bowie, Mr. Bowie, please!

- Stop that man.

sh**t him!

[g*nsh*t]

[g*nsh*t]

[horse hooves clopping]

[horses approaching]

- Who's that in there?

- It's Mose, Doctor.

Miss Perry's driver.

- What was all the sh**ting about?

- They done k*lled Mr. Jim over there in the woods.

- [Narrator] Jim's shoulder wound,

after attention by the doctor,

proved to me not so serious

that he couldn't continue his pursuit

of the Audubons and their abductors.

He and the good doctor spurred their horses

toward Baton Rouge.

By the time Jim and Dr. Menard

reached Baton Rouge they had decided that Doc

would alert the police while Jim inquired at the inn

for information about a Frenchman

answering the description of the false Marquis.

Jim learned from the innkeeper

that the Marquis de Longenet has ordered his baggage

sent to the steamboat warehouse near the landing.

The man who gave such orders

must obviously be the false Marquis.

- [Man] Who is it?

- The porter from the Red Line Inn, sir.

- All right, Porter.

Bring the luggage inside.

- Yes, sir.

- Put them over there, porter, with these things.

- Yes.

- And be quick about it.

[mumbles] porter, hurry.

- Yes, sir.

- All right, all right, all right.

Here, this is for you.

- Thank you, sir.

[man mumbles]

Make one sound and it'll be your last.

Are the Audubons still alive?

Are they?

- Oui, Monsieur.

- Where are they?

- Over there.

- You take me to them.

And don't think you can run faster or dodge quicker

than this knife.

- Oui, Monsieur.

- Go on, move.

[man mumbles]

Frenchman, the release of the Audubons or this one dies.

[Lucy screams]

[man mumbles]

[g*nsh*t]

[Jim mumbles]

- [mumbles] John.

- Are you all right, Jim?

- Yes I am, Doc.

I'm glad you got here.

[chorus hums inspirationally]

[chorus hums softly]

Just came to say goodbye before I shot on home.

- You will excuse me, friend.

There is only so much good light in a day.

- Oh.

John, there's, there's one thing I'd like to know,

and you have my word for it won't go any further.

- Yes, Jim.

- Are you really the Dauphin?

- It might very well be that I am.

I happen to think not.

But even if it were,

I would not exchange this,

and this for all the kingdoms in the world.

Now you get along and let me work.

- Yes, your majesty.

- Ah!

[chorus humming]

- [Narrator] Audubon never mentioned

the adventure in his famous journals.

Yet there are those who still believe

he was the lost Dauphin.

Who knows?

It remains one of the great historical mysteries

of all time.

♪ Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie

♪ He was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventuring man ♪