THE LAST OP THE THUNDERBIKDS 



this time she is torn to pieces and fed to the young 

 demons! " 



Not one word did the husband utter. Going 

 into his empty house he took down his bow and 

 his quiver of war arrows and started toward the 

 mountain. 



"Don't go! Don't go!" cried the villagers; 

 " of what use is it? She is dead and devoured ere 

 this. You will only add one more to their vic- 

 tims." 



Not a word did the hunter reply. He strode 

 on and on and they watched him climbing up and 

 up the mountainside till he was lost to view. At 

 last he gained the rim of the nest and looked in. 

 The old birds were away, but the fierce young 

 eagles greeted him with shrill cries and fiery, 

 flashing eyes. The hunter's heart was full of 

 anger and he quickly bent his bow, loosing the 

 war arrows one after another till the last one of 

 the hateful birds lay dead in the nest. 



With heart still burning for revenge, the 

 hunter hid himself beside a great rock near the 

 nest and waited for the parent birds. They came. 

 They saw their young lying dead and bloody in 

 the nest, and their cries of rage echoed from the 

 cliff's on the farther side of the great river. They 

 soared up into the air looking for the one who 



101 



