SAVED BY HIS WIG ! 17 



sence of mind, and drawing his hunting-knife from its 

 sheath, prepared to defend himself. He drove the blade 

 into the eagle's side ; but the wound was not mortal, and 

 the bird rose anew in the air to hurl himself again on 

 the imprudent hunter. 



I dared not fire for fear of wounding my comrade ; but 

 I held my gun ready to succour him at the proper time 

 and place. What I most feared was that the eagle might 

 stun Whitehead, and the latter, losing his hold, might 

 fall into Eagle Lake. This apprehension was partly rea- 

 lized ; for at the moment I was about to pull my trigger, 

 the "bird of Jove," hoping to crush the skull of his 

 enemy with one blow from his formidable beak, struck 

 violently, and plucked away, not a piece of bleeding flesh, 

 but well the defensive wig of my companion. 



The latter must have lost his footing, and infallibly fallen 

 into the lake, from an elevation of six hundred and fifty 

 foot, if his leg had not caught in a massive branch, to 

 which he clung stoutly, and which became his plank of 

 safety. 



At the same time I had shouldered my carbine, taken 

 aim at the eagle, and shot him in his right wing, so that, 

 wheeling round and round, it dropped into the middle of 

 the lake. Whitehead, recovering from his emotion, let 

 himself down as quickly as possible from his oak, carry- 

 ing a young eaglet, which he had choked during his 

 struggle with the parent bird. 



Very great caution was necessary in lowering himself 

 into the Eagle Lake, where the bird, after a painful con- 

 vulsive effort, had yielded up its last sigh. I sprang into 

 the water, and swimming lustily for some twenty fathoms, 

 touched the extreme feather of the eagle's wing, and bore 



(414) 2 



