THIRD DAY. 39 
glided through the bending reeds. I had got my gun ready 
to shoot, for Ferencz whispered that the eagle was on its 
nest ; but I was in such a fever of excitement that I scarcely 
dared to breathe or to look at the tree, for it is an anxious 
moment for any sportsman when he nears for the first time 
that great structure, the pirate stronghold of a mighty eagle. 
Ferencz most skilfully guided the craft under the tree to 
a spot where I could get a good open shot. There he stopped, 
and begged me to be prepared to fire, as he was going to 
frighten the eagle off the nest by clapping his hands. How- 
ever, thank goodness, nothing moved, for the eagle was not at 
home, and it was only the head of the rather large young 
one which he had seen and mistaken for the old bird. 
I was glad that the eagle was not there, for shooting out 
of a shaky “ esikel ” is always a very uncertain business, and 
I could really hardly see for excitement. 
We now had to land quickly and to wait for the eagle at 
its dwelling, the depth of the water allowing us to come 
quite close to the dry land, so that we only had to wade a few 
steps. 
Hodek ordered the two men to conceal themselves with 
the “ esikeln ”’ at different points, in case of having to follow 
upa hard-hit eagle, and when both crafts had quietly vanished 
into the thick reeds, he and I hid ourselves as well as we 
could. 
The tree with the nest was on a longish strip of land, 
nowhere more than twenty yards wide, and though not 
now under water, the muddiness of the ground showed that 
the floods had but recently left this more elevated spot. Here 
stood huge ancient oaks with their thick foliage and dead 
twisted upper branches, and there were also a few gigantic 
silver poplars, but the only black poplar was the one on which 
the nest was placed, and its peculiar form made it conspicuous 
among all the other trees. 
