THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA. 213 



that had been soaring up and down the stream, saw a good- 

 sized fish lying near the surface of the water, and, folding his 

 wings close to his body, darted down upon it with the velocity 

 of an arrow, caught it and carried it up into the top of a low 

 pine-tree, where he prepared to make a meal off it. A great 

 bald eagle, who had been sitting secreted in the top of one of 

 the tallest pines in the neighborhood, awaiting this opportu- 

 nity, pitched from his lofty perch, reefed his pinions, shot 

 through the air like a bolt of lightning and struck the fish- 

 hawk with such force as to send it whirling through the 

 branches of the tree. The fish fell to the ground. The 

 eagle followed, picked it up and carried it away. The fish- 

 hawk, after having recovered from the effects of the shock it had 

 received, flew into a neighboring tree and sat there for a long 

 time, silent and sullen, brooding over the burning insult he 

 had received, but which, owing to his inferior size and 

 strength, he was powerless to resent. I left the poor bird 

 there and went my way, unwilling to add to his wrongs by 

 sending a ball after him. 



As I turned to go toward home I entered the tract of land 

 that had recently been burned over, where the night before 

 Will had killed the buck while we were fire-hunting. I 

 examined the ground and saw plenty of fresh signs. I called 

 Rover in and kept him close. As I ascended a slight ridge 

 he caught wind of game and looked anxiously to the left. I 

 moved cautiously in that direction a few steps, when a fine 

 two-year-old doe, who had been lying under a bunch of scrub 

 oak about thirty yards ahead, arose and bounded away to the 

 right. After making a few jumps she stopped to look and 

 listen, as if not quite certain where the noise that had startled 

 her came from. Here was my golden opportunity. I stood 

 behind a scrub palmetto that almost entirely concealed me 

 from her searching gaze. She was not over fifty yards away 



