28 About the Feathered Folk. 



he reappeared, carrying the Eagle in 

 his arms, as one might carry a 

 baby ; and he set the creature down 

 on an upturned washing-tub that 

 his old mother had left near by, 

 and passed a caressing hand 

 proudly over the splendid bronze- 

 and-purple sheen of its feathers. 



The bird shook out its mighty 

 wings, and moved its graceful neck, 

 but it never offered to fly. Its eyes 

 followed Campbell wherever he 

 went with a devotion curious and 

 pretty to see. 



" It loves me," the man said. 

 "Belike it knows that but for the 

 meeting in the ferns it would be 

 dead by now, and it's grateful. 

 Puir beastie ! Ye'll never be hungry 

 mair ; that I'll promise ye ! " 



And it never has been. For it 

 was sold for five bright sovereigns 

 to a fishmonger in Glasgow, and 

 there in the shop it lives in a 

 handsome wooden cage, greatly 



