, covered with bones and fish scales, the relics 

 of many a savage feast. Below me, almost 

 Cloufl-tifinds within reach, was the nest, with two dark, 

 "^^tAe scraggly young birds resting on twigs and 

 " " grass, with fish, flesh, and fowl in a gory, 

 skinny, scaly ring about them — the most 

 savage-looking household into which I ever 

 looked unbidden. 



But even as I looked and wondered, and 

 tried to make out what other game had been 

 furnished the young savages I had helped to 

 feed, a strange thing happened, which touched 

 me as few things ever have among the wild 

 creatures. The eagles had followed me close 

 along the last edge of rock, hoping, no doubt, 

 in their wild hearts that I would slip, and 

 end their troubles, and give my body as food 

 to the young. Now, as I sat on the ledge, 

 peering eagerly into the nest, the great 

 mother bird left me and hovered over her 

 eaglets, as if to shield them with her wings 

 from even the sight of my eyes. But Old 

 Whitehead still circled over me. Lower he 

 came, and lower, till with a supreme effort 

 of daring he folded his wings and dropped 



