to the ledge beside me, within ten feet, and 



turned and looked into my eyes. " See," 



he seemed to say, "we are within reach Cloud-lOinjgs 



again. You touched me once ; I don't know ^i^^o^'c 



how or why. Here I am now, to touch or 



to kill, as you will ; only spare the little 



ones." 



A moment later the mother bird dropped 

 to the edge of the nest. And there we sat, 

 we three, with the wonder upon us all, the 

 young eagles at our feet, the cliff above, and, 

 three hundred feet below, the spruce tops of 

 the wilderness reaching out and away to the 

 mountains beyond the big lake. 



I sat perfectly still, which is the only way 

 to reassure a wild creature; and soon I 

 thought Cheplahgan had lost his fear in his 

 anxiety for the little ones. But the moment 

 I rose to go he was in the air again, circling 

 restlessly above my head with his mate, the 

 same wild fierceness in his eyes as he looked 

 down. A half-hour later I had gained the 

 top of the cliff and started eastward towards 

 the lake, coming down by a much easier way 

 than that by which I went up. Later I 



