The Litchfield County post., 1826-11-28

/ o.
ctouS residue OF his spoil. With feeling
OF certainty In his conjecture, and of conf.
1ehce IN ms success, which he would have
i"nnd 1t difficult to convey to the mind Of
another, he at once determined to brave
the Perils of the ascent (now rendered in
some degree familiar and the still more
formidable. possible resistance of thu faro-
cious depredator, whose tremendous
strength and colossal dimensions, (freouent-
ly exceeding nine feet, from wing to wing.
rendered an encounter with him on a dizzy
precIplce most hazardous. Franz, it must
be confessed, in addition to his generous
desire to befriend Clara and her lover. was
animated by that hereditary hatred which
every Swiss herdsman entertains towards
ihe most sanguinary enemy Of his hocks
ana under the irresistible influence of both
sentiments, he was half way up the cliff ere
he had the GOODNESS to reflect on Clara's
certain alarm, and possible helplessness.
Should false step cost the life Of her pro-
tector. @& 1el4. III
Poor Clara, whose own want of success
had made Ter watch with tenfold interest
the motions of Franz, had, on observing
him pick up something, eagerly returned
towards the spot with all tho animation of
hope her feelings, therefore, may be bet
ter conceived than described, when. instead
OF communicating to her the Joyful result
of his search, she perceived her guide, Her
sole dependence, the chosen companion of
her pious pilgrimage, apparently deserving
his helpless charge, and leaving her to per-
ish, perhaps mserably, in the spo, whence
hes unassisted escape could only be by a
miracle. es
Suspicion finds small harbor in the truly
generous mind; and thoughts Of treacl,cry
gave almost instantaneous place to appre-s
tensions little less cruel, and anxiety the
most intense for the result of an enternrise
the nature of which she soon guessed. from
the same indications that had prompted it.
Again she raised her eye towards the per-
psndicular rampant of primeval rock, to
whose perils she had boon far less sensible
while engrossed by the choice of her own
footsteps, and the difficulties of her own
path, than now, when standing in all tho
powerlessnes of her sex and situation. she
saw them again braved, and for her, by a
being, whose disinterested sacrifice of his
Lite might perhaps add remorse TO the
other horrors of her death in the wilder
ness! s~,a sac
Dnring Gna inf those terrible, hours ]
which exhaust the sensations and s0IIerngs
of years, she watched his adventurous, but
interrupted progress, till his
manly form, often hid,altogether from her
gaze by projections of rock, or tufts of
and juniper, at length re-
shrunk almost to pigmy dimen-
sions, yet standing, conspicuous and resol-
vod, on a narrow ledge oyerhanging the a.
byss beneath, and but few feet below the
ever-before-invaded throne of the noun
tain tyrant.
I. All the frightful tales she had heard from
her cradle Of the Hammer Geyer, (who in
the pastoral legends Of Switzerland, is in
vested with somewhat of the mysterious at !
tributes, and awful character, of the Roc,
or Simorgh, of Eastern felton, flashed up
on her mind ; and when she saw his hui
man antagonist level the rife, before slung
over his shoulder, and deliberately take
aim at the creature ,one fell swoop of whose
wing would suffice to dislodge him from his
perilous post, she wildly shrieked out those
entteaties to desist, which might, could
they have reached him, have shaken the
nerves of the intrepid marksman.
His piece was at his head-it was an aw-
full moment--to look up again was beyond
her power ;--she involuntarily closed her
ears but to escape tho report of shot,
magnifed by thousand mountain echoes,
to a peal of thunder, was impossible, and in
sort of stupor she awaited its results. A
few seconds only elapsed-the crash of
boughs indicated a falling body; but
whether that Of the MORALLY wounded bird,
or his mangled and bleeding invader, she
burst not turn to ascertain. The corse,
rebounding from shelf above her, fell at
her very side--a fow- drops of life-blood
stained her garmept--It was the eagles!
Tears fell like rain, and mingled with
it, whose fount, had the event been
otherwise, might have been dried by mad
ness r s r...
Gratitude for moment absorbed ankle
lty, but it soon awoke; for Franz had yet
to achieve the scaling of the nest, always
placed, by unerring instinct, in the most
inaccessible spot,) and should he even sue
coed, life might have beenperilled in vain;
the supposed robber might have been nn-
| Justly inundated. But Franz, INSPIRED with
tenfold energy by his success as a marks
man, few from rock to rock with the agil-
ity and recklessness Of ROU0uefin awaited