Their visit to Natchez furnished Audubon with materials for at least two of his "Episodes."[281] This incident of his generosity may be taken as characteristic; finding that one of his companions was down at the heel and as short of ready money as himself, he sought out a shoemaker and offered to do a portrait of the man and his wife for two pairs of boots; the proposal was accepted forthwith, and he set to work; the sketches were finished in the course of two hours, and Audubon and his companion, having selected their boots, went on their way rejoicing. Audubon left Natchez on December 31, 1820, on a keel boat belonging to his brother-in-law, Nicholas A. Berthoud, who accompanied him, and at one o'clock the steamer _Columbus_ hauled off from the landing and took them in tow. Towards evening, when they were looking up their personal belongings, the naturalist found to his dismay that a portfolio containing all of the drawings that he had made on the voyage down the river was missing. Letters were despatched to Natchez friends, but it was not until the 16th of March that his anxiety was relieved; the missing portfolio had been found and left at the office of _The Mississippi Republican_, whence it was forwarded on his order, and reached his hand on the 5th of April. "So very generous had been the finder of it," he said, "that when I carefully examined the drawings in succession, I found them all present and uninjured, save one, which had probably been kept by way of commission." On New Year's Day, 1821, they came to at Bayou Sara, at the mouth of the inlet of that name, which later saw much of Audubon and his family. On the following day he made a likeness of the master of their craft, Mr. Dickenson, for which he was paid in gold; he also outlined two warblers by candle-light in order to have time to finish them on the morrow. The captain of their steamer in his anxiety to make haste had set them adrift at this point, and they were obliged to make their way as best they could, by aid of the current and oars, to the port of New Orleans, which was finally entered on Sunday, January 7, 1821. Audubon landed at New Orleans without enough money to pay for a night's lodging, for someone had relieved him of the little he possessed, and he was obliged to pass several nights on the boat while looking for work. Undismayed by his financial straits, his first visit at daybreak on Monday was to the famous markets of the southern city, where he found dead birds exposed for sale in great numbers—mallard, teal, American widgeon, Canada and snow geese, mergansers, tell-tale god-wits, and even robins, bluebirds and red-wing blackbirds; he added that the prices were very dear.