The record-union., 1893-11-11

vertical night of about 800 feet. The
bowling, Screeching or ululation of that
coyote at that hight sounded like the
chimerical shrilling of a lost soul in
hades. 1t howled SO much that, when it
| touched terra firma again, it was incapa-
| bic OF vocaliZing anything except an oc-
caslonal abortive yelp. Unhappily for
| the poor brute, before / could get the
three eagles down, they, enraged and
mortified by their failure to escape, sud-
denly and fearfully resented the coyotes
| involuntary interference in their affairs
| by falling upon ii, like so many thunder
bolts, time and again, until, eyeless ana
almost br ainless, it had To succulnD.
After that l trained a squad OF the
eagles every day, using for weight
wooisack partly filled with earth, and in
! craasing the number in a squad at each
successive trial, until L was able to con-
troll the entire team of twenty.
l found plenty of time to devote to these
preliminary affairs, owing TO the fact that
| Turkey Tom and the two dogs had be-
come so familiar with their daily routine,
that, beyond potwalloping a suificiency
OF beans and bacon or mutton to benumb
the cravings of two full-grown appetites,
| | had little or nothing to do.
The Fourth of July, 1881, daWned aus
picous for the aerial ascension with
which [ purposed to celebrate the day.
Turkey Tom took the liberty not to turn
the sheep out of the corral very early
that morning, and | took him along to
| bear a hand with me in getting start.
| Now the very name OF eagle" was an
ague to Turkey Tom, for such is the keen,
| vigorous and penetrating nature of the
| eagles lofty, harsh, relentless glance, that
no ordinary nerve will refuse to quake
| pusillanimous fear under its baletul in
| fiuence. Deep down behind the comely
features Of man the searching CLEAN of
| the eagles sharp eyes discerns the craven
| heart, and there are few, indeed, who
would not tremble under it's naughty,
anthropophagous glare, at short range.
/ But whenever one of the vicious Great
ureS ventured to dart a malehcent, men
! acing look at me, l shortly and clearly
retorted its insolence by giving it a dex-
trous stunning crack on the head with
convenient stick. Thus [ had "brow
| beaten" them to such an extent that they
never dared to attack me while l was
training them, and seldom even glow
cred defiantly at me second time.
Hence it was with tranquil intrepidity
| that l ventured among the eagles in their
apartments of the cid hotel. If l desired
to hitch up a squad of them [ caught
them one at time by the legs with
dividing bar. or pair Of long wooden pin
GERS, by means of which l transferred
them to another dividing bar, or species
of stocks, which had apertures for the
legs OF as many as l wished TO carry out
to my training ground. This training
ground was an alkali moor which formed
a glade among the pines of a flat mount
ain top, not tar from the log hotel, and
thither 1 repaired with the squad in the
stocks. Then l connected the eagles in
line by a stout cord, which [ fastened Sc
curely to the legs of each, leaving about
| ten feet of cord between every successive
| two, and hitched them all to woolsack
partly filled with earth, by means of
twenty long cords, which | attached sew
orally to the legs of each eagle. When
everything was ready for the ascension L
softly released the ends of the dividing
bar. in which the eagles were confined,
| gave an ear-spIittlng whoop, which put
| them all to flight, and regulated their as
! cent by two cords which connected the
| leaders, one on each end of the team,
/ with my hands.
My experience in training the eagles
had taught me how to control them from
the ground; but for the first time, on the
morning of the Fourth OF July above
| alluded to, L was about to undertake the
perilous adventure of controlling them
while being swung to and fro at dizzy
hight in a woolsack.
L will pass rapidly over the elaborate
preparations which | made for this un-
naturally reckless exploit. such as trip
ling the strength of my cords, using a
double woolsack, providing myself with
q revolver and a few pounds of prOyiS-
ions, etc., and still more rapidly wind up
this, to me, laborious narrative of catas-
trophe which, to say nothing of fifty
dollars bounty on the twenty eagles
| that escaped from me, almost cost me my
life.
In order, as far as possible to guard
against any unforeseen calamity, | in
tended to ascend as high as the eagles
| would bear me, and maneuver about for
some time before severing the 500-foot
| cord which connected me with the earth,
| but Turkey Tom, with awe deeply inn
l'pressed upon his half open intellect at
| my foolhardiness in risking nv life be-
hind a team like that, forgot everything
except the strange sight in the air above
him, got one of his legs entwined in my
! anchor line, and, upon being jerked off
his feet, in great panic, cut me loose in
order to eXtricate himself.
/ / had reached a hight of about 800 feet
| when this incident occurred, and [
| promptly requieted his friendly interest
in my welfare by getting out my revol-
! yer and firing six shots at him, thereby
increasing his pace as well as his panic.
By the time had fired the last shot at
the retreating figure of celerity persona
fed, alias Turkey Tom, L became sensi-
| BILE Of the alarming fact that l was being
DOlA away lONdIA bu6 SOubu, IuIly OUU
| feet above the mountain tops, at the rate
of about forty miles an hour. Beneath
me was unroiled panorama, beautiful
beyond all description and all imagina-
ton. In an ecstasy of admiration for the
shifting scenes, became oblivious to my
perilous situation. A long line of snow
sheds informed me that had passed over
the Central Pacific Railroad. A frightful
gorge told me that the thread of silver,
perhaps 1000 feet below. was the South
| Fork of the Yuba. Here the eagles
veered a few points to the west, and fol-
| lowed down the river over the very mid
die Of the tremendous abyss. Suddenly
l started as if reused from sleep. | had
heard an eagle scream. l looked around
and beheld two strange, untettered
sinewy monarchs of cerulean realms,
bearing down upon me with portentious
rapidity. | reached for my revolver and
crouched low in the woolsack, but before
l could recharge 1t, one of the eagles
struck my rigging just above the top of
the sack in which ! rode, and becoming
entangled therein, either cut with its
| beak or tore off with its talons, no less
than seven OF the cords which connected
me with my team. This astounding
assault would not have resulted in so
lamentable catastrophe, had not the other
| strange eagle made savage onslaught
about the same time, upon my team,
thus creating wild hubbub amongst
them, and finally releasing no less than
six OF the seven eagles which had just
been cut loose from the woolsack.
a feeling of chilly, sepulchral horror
now crept over me, as became conscious
of the fact that the remaining eagles.
already weary, could no longer support
me at that altitude, and that, struggle as
they might, was rapidly sinking into
| the jaws of an all but bottomless abyss.
After tormenting the treacherous air
for short time, in a vain but herculean
effort to regain control of their burden.