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WHIPPED BY EAGLES 41 



Their wild cries thrilled me, and their 

 'wngs, wheeling so close around me, seemed to 

 me iii their majestic sweep and almost to carry 

 [in swift, swinging circles through the empty ar.; 

 ;'An ecstasy of excitement overcame me. I felt no 

 -body, no weight of anything. I lost my head com- 

 ' pletely, and, seizing the eggs, rose to my feet and 

 ^stood upright in the nest. 



The eagles swept nearer. I could feel the wind, 

 -from their wings. I could see the rolling of their 

 leaming eyes, and the glint of the sun on their 

 >now-white necks. And as they dipped and turned 

 ind careened over me, I came perilously near trying/ 

 to fly myself. 



What a scene lay under me and rolled wide and 

 tree to the very edge of the world ! The level marsh, 

 the blue, hazy bay, the far-off, un blurred horizon' 

 )eyond the bending hill of the sea ! The wild, fi 

 rind from the bay blew in upon my face, the old< 

 ^tree trembled and rocked beneath me, the screaming 

 eagles wove a mazy spell of double circles about me, 

 ,'till I screamed back at them in wild delight. 



The sound of my voice seemed to infuriate the' 

 birds. The male turned suddenly in his round and 

 j swooped directly at me. The movement was instantly 

 understood by his mate, who, thus emboldened, cut, j " 

 under him and hurled herself downward, passing P^\ 

 with a vicious grab at my face. I dodged, or she,/ 8 



would have hit me. 



V- ~ < 



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