26 IX PERIL OF HIS LIFE. 



penguin while she brooded over her eggs without putting 

 her to flight ; and where I should have declared war, he 

 made peace. 



One morning, the third day after iny arrival at Jessie's 

 hut, wishing to profit by a glorious sun, and to make a 

 prolonged exploration of the coast, I asked Jessie where 

 her brother was. She went in quest of him, called him, 

 him and his three brothers. None of them were on the 

 island. I swept the shores with my telescope, but could 

 see nothing of them. 



Resolved, however, not to waste the day in-doors, I 

 took my gun, and whistled for my dog ; but I had not 

 gone twenty paces before I became conscious how much I 

 missed my young companion in my solitary walk. Never- 

 theless I continued my journey, traversing uncultivated 

 heaths and marshy deserts; sometimes bringing down a 

 wild duck, and sometimes a snipe ; and directing my steps 

 towards a group of fantastically-fashioned rocks, which 

 rose perpendicularly along the ocean-strand. With great 

 difficulty I forced a passage towards the summit of these 

 rocks, attracted, as it were, by the irresistible influence 

 of some magic loadstone. 



Suddenly a lamentable cry, repeated by a hundred 

 echoes, broke on rny ear. It was followed by a kind 

 of sharp, yet, at the same time, plaintive howl. Rapidly 

 doubling an angular projection, I remained, as it were, 

 struck with stupor in presence of the alarming spectacle 

 offered to my gaze. 



At the extremity of a cable twisted round the withered 

 trunk of an old oak, and suspended above the abyss of 

 water, oscillated little Ben, wavering to and fro like a 

 reed, while a formidable eagle, with open talons and 



