FLORIDA AS IT WAS 121 



easiest for ourselves and the least painful to him. Accord- 

 ingly, the bird was removed in his prison to a very small 

 room and closely covered with blankets, a pan of lighted 

 charcoal was introduced, the windows and doors fastened, 

 and the blankets tucked in beneath the cage. I waited, ex- 

 pecting every moment to hear him fall down from his 

 perch; but, after listening for hours, I opened the door, 

 raised the blankets, and peeped under them amid a mass 

 of suffocating fumes. 



" There stood the eagle on his perch, with his bright, 

 unflinching eye turned toward me, and as lively and vig- 

 orous as ever! Instantly reclosing every aperture, I re- 

 sumed my station at the door, and toward midnight, not 

 having heard the least noise, I again took a peep at my 

 victim. He was still uninjured, although the air of the 

 closet was insupportable to my son and myself, and that 

 of the adjoining apartment began to feel unpleasant. 



" I persevered, however, or ten hours in all, when, 

 finding that the charcoal fumes would not produce the 

 desired effect, I retired to rest, wearied and disappointed. 

 Early next morning I tried the charcoal anew, adding to 

 it a quantity of sulphur, but we were nearly driven from 

 our house in a few hours by the stifling vapors, while the 

 noble bird continued to stand erect and look defiance at us 

 whenever we approached his post of martyrdom. His fierce 

 demeanor precluded all external application, and at last I 

 was compelled to resort to a method, always used as a last 



