134 



THE ADIRONDACK. 



nest, she cast her piercing eye on every side, and then 

 detecting the danger, gathered her strong pinions and 

 soared away. Wheeling round and round the place 

 of her young, she finally stooped on the top of an 

 immense pine tree. Again and again she rose and 

 circled away, and then alighted where she could 

 overlook her offspring. She had discovered the In- 

 dian, but the love of her young was stronger than her 

 fear, and she would not leave them. At length the 

 sharp crack of a rifle rang though the woods, and the 

 noble bird, unscathed, rose and sailed over where I 

 stood. I lifted my rifle and again let it fall, saying to 

 myself, " This time, at least, you shall not fall a 

 victim to parental love." Mitchell soon joined me, 

 and I remarked, "Well, you missed her." "Yes, it 

 wants close squinting to pick one off from the top of 

 such a pine as that." 



Pushing off, we rowed over to an island where we 

 could have a fair view of the lake on every side, and 

 awaited the deer ; and here I felt some of the miseries 

 of a hunter's life. A cold east wind swept the bosom 

 of the lake, and I sat and shivered, thinking there 

 would be vastly more poetry in staying by the camp- 



