magnificent catch. " Bravo ! " I should have 

 shouted— rather I should n't ; but here she was 

 right over me, and the instinct of the boy, of the 

 savage, had me before I knew, and leaping out, 

 I whirled my cap and yelled to wake the marsh. 

 The startled hawk jerked, keeled, lifted with a 

 violent struggle, and let go her hold. Down fell 

 the writhing, twisting fish at my feet. It was a 

 splendid striped bass, weighing at least four 

 pounds, and still live enough to flop. 



I felt mean as I picked up the useless thing 

 and looked far away to the great nest with its 

 hungry young. I was no better than the bald 

 eagle, the lazy robber-baron, who had stolen the 

 dinner of these same young hawks the day before. 



Their mother had been fishing up the river 

 and had caught a tremendous eel. An eel can 

 hold out to wriggle a very long time. He has 

 no vitals. Even with talon-tipped claws he is 

 slippery and more than a clawful ; so the old 

 hawk took a short cut home across the railroad- 

 track and the corner of the woods where stands 

 the eagle tree. 



She could barely clear the tree-tops, and, with 

 the squirming of the eel about her legs, had 

 [63] 



