184 The Booted Eagle and the Snake Eagle 
their food from my view. I resumed my seat, and from time 
to time one would gradually relax its plumage and tear savagely 
at its food but the slightest movement on my part caused it to 
resolve itself once again into an animated bell-tent of spreading 
feathers and remain motionless. I remember that at this critical 
period of the Eagles’ training, according to Hamley, “ Soult was 
at Gera,” but for the life of me I have no recollection now of 
what happened to him after, although I can recall distinctly every 
movement of the Eagles. 
Slowly but surely I obtained the mastery over them and 
at last they would not only feed in my presence but come to 
me for food and fly on to my gloved hand, holding a temptingly 
garnished falconer’s “lure.” Finally I was so confident of them 
that I ventured to release two on the Europa Flats and fly them 
to the lure. This I did with complete success and although it was 
anxious work, having regard to the peculiar locality, I feel con- 
vinced from their behaviour that I could have entered them to 
fly at rabbits without further trouble. 
On my homeward voyage to England in the P. & O. ss. 
‘Lombardy ” in the following November I lost one of these birds 
in the most tragic manner. I had tethered it on deck under the 
lee of a skylight one afternoon and in my temporary absence 
a meddlesome passenger, endeavouring to clear the leash, which 
had become caught up, let it go! Even then the Eagle only 
moved a few feet across the deck. Just at this moment I returned 
and was about to take up the bird when another unspeakable 
passenger ran at it. Of course it rose and flew overboard. 
We were off Cape Finisterre at the time, and were steaming 
about eleven knots, with the wind two points on our starboard 
bow. The poor bird, after flying to leeward for a couple of 
hundred yards, swung round and made for the ship. But unused 
to flying, and being weighted by the long leather leash and 
