104 Company and Solitude 



yearly by the plough. While I tarried, I 

 was hailed by a hearty man who lives close 

 to nature. 



"Have you heard the eagles scream to- 

 day ?" he asked. 



" No," I replied : " are there any about ?" 



" Do you think I would ask you what I 

 did, if it was an impossible thing ?" he re- 

 plied, with a trace of anger in his voice. 



I was deservedly snubbed. Here was a 

 man who knew every nook and corner of the 

 land, every tree, bush, flowering plant, beast, 

 and bird; and to think that I should have 

 expressed a doubt of his sincerity ! That 

 trifling " company" had been too much for 

 me. I looked my regrets, and the old man 

 read my eyes. 



" Yes," he said, in his usual earnest man- 

 ner, " there was a grand pair of eagles here 

 at sunrise, and they screamed until the hill- 

 side trembled with their rage. They soared 

 until out of sight, and then came swooping 

 down until the tree-tops were moved by 

 their wings, and all the time one or the other 

 screamed till you would have thought their 

 throats would crack. Not another bird along 

 the hill-side opened its bill. It was as still 



