ATTACKED BY A HAWK. 83 



a sudden onslaught upon him, and the female struck him so 

 savagely, that she tore a big gash in his cheek. He was so 

 startled at this unexpected and hostile measure that he lost 

 his hold and fell. When Dick and Jimmy saw their leader 

 crashing through the branches, and turning over and over as he 

 fell, they could not repress a shriek, and closed their eyes to 

 shut out the horrible accident that must happen. They waited 

 in fearful suspense for the expected thud, but not hearing it, 

 they ventured to look up again, and saw Frank lying on a 

 thickly spreading branch not far below the nest. He was lying 

 quite still, but clutching hold of the boughs with his hands. 

 Both Dick and Jimmy flew to the tree, and commenced to 

 climb it. With a speed that seemed wonderful to them after- 

 wards they reached Frank. 



" Are you hurt, old man ? " 



" Not at all, only all the wind is knocked out of me. I shall 

 be all right in a minute. I say, if my mater saw that tumble, 

 she would not let me go out alone any more, would she ? That 

 hawk was a plucky bird. I am going up to the nest again." 



" What for ? I should think you have had enough of hawks' 

 nests for a long time." 



" Yes, but I want to take two of the young ones. Two of 

 them are much larger than the others, so they must be females. 

 Now I'll tell you what struck me before the bird knocked me 

 off my perch. Suppose we take these young hawks, and train 

 them up in the way they should go that is, let us use them for 

 hawking." 



" It is a good idea and np mistake but can we do that ? " 



" Easily," answered Frank, gathering himself together, and 

 resuming his ascent. 



" What a cool fellow he is," said Dick to Jimmy. " He does 

 not seem to know what danger is." 



" He does not choose to show it, if he does. But let us go 

 up and help him with the hawks. 3 ' 



The young hawks were fully fledged and nearly ready to fly. 

 They were fierce enough now, but Frank said he would under- 

 take to tame them, and fit them for hawking before the winter, 

 if the other boys would help him. The idea of reviving that 

 famous old sport was a very fascinating one, and they deter- 

 mined to do their best to carry it out, with what result will 

 afterwards be seen. In the meantime it was a difficult matter 



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