The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-08-29

which shall never forget-reproach
| pleading. accusing, condemning. flair
ly shivered and turned away my eyes
1t was n look to haunt man his liz
long. Iut when turned again the eyei
had glazed, and the magnificent white
eagle was stretched out in the motion
less beauty of death.
WHEN l took my prize home. ny
host said. sadly. and more than hall
seriously: I am sorry you killed the
bird. lie will haunt you to the day OF
your death l laughed carelessly, yet
somehow my heart misgave me, and il
was weeks before could get over a Ger
tain apprehensivc uneasiness that pur'
sued me even IN my dreams.
II spent the ensuing winter and spring
in Stockholm; but with the return OF
another summer my friend in the coun-
try invited me most cordially to repeat
my visit at his fine old estate, and as
knew he really wanted me to come, i
had neither heart nor reason to decline.
1.-THE weather during July was ex-
ceedingly warm, and during our fire.
quent fishing trips to Lake Fryksdal
my friends and / often refreshed our
selves by taking dip in the clear wa
tiers. One afternoon, as we were fish
ing off shore near the place where l
had shot my eagle, l said to my host
with bantering triumph: We'll. year
has passed, and I haven seen the ghost
of that sacred eagle yeti Z
"'Never mind was the reply. you
will see it yet. Mark my words. II
will come 10 you some time when you
least expect it,
81 laughed and proposed that we take
a swim, as the sun was getting up very
warm, and the fish were not biting at
all. My friends assented, so we I'M
dressed and plunged into the lake. /
dove straight down, and, catching hold
of the jagged end of large rock, opened
my eyes to look about me for q mo-
ment.
"Never, il live to be n hundred, will
the sight that met my eyes at that in
slant be effaced from memory. Coming
toward me, silently, and yet with in
credible swiftness, was the bleached
md snowy skeleton of a gigantic bird,
with wings outstretched! 1t made no
ripple, no pulsation of the water. 1t
seemed to have no means of propulsion,
for the ghostly wings were rigid and
Yet on it came, swift and
still; and, to my Mortified imagination,
in the whited sockets of the skull
cleaned those same reproachful, con-
iemning eyes which the dying eagle
lad turned upon me year ago.
"To say that was fairly paralyzed
with fear but inadequately describes
my condition. Though beginning to
suffer for lack of air, could not to
save me have let go my grasp of the
rock. l was fascinated, unclaimed.
Every muscle in my body was rigid and
beyond control of the brain. And still
hat horrible, mysterious specter was
coming toward me, and could neither
avoid it or ward it off.
How long / chung there. suffocating
and helpless, know not. only know
that, just as the water-ghost was about
to strike me in the face, 1.-the. white
form flashed in between, strong hand
seized my arm and was dragged forci-
bly, up to the surface of the water.
Then l lost consciousness. and the next
thing l remember was being rolled over
and over on the back and punched in the
ibis, and then opening my eyes on the
pale, anxious face of my friend, who had
lived down and saved me.
when, an hour or two later. told |
him the story of my deep-water APP
triton, he smiled incredulously. even
Is he said: Did not tell you you would |
Zee it some time?'
but the mystery was solved few
lays later, when, picking up Stock
,olm paper. l read the following para
rraph:
"a CHASTITY TROPHY.
"a recent writer tells what may he
ruly regarded as one of the most curious
Incidents of natural history. In some Of
he Swedish lakes. he says, large birds |
Il prey are I'm the habit Of swoopng down
IN the pike basking at the surface of tho |
water. In these cases. IL the pike be more |
'owerful than the bird. the latter unable |
o extricate his talons, Is borne to the bot |
ON and drowned. Incredible as the story
GEMS, Eckstrom, Rev. Mr.. Moller, nd |
ther writer's. state that the flesh of the |
like heals with the talons of the bird I'm |
ts back. while the bird becomes converted |
nto a skeleton. which is carried about by |
he pike. One skeleton, which had long |
,cen exhibited by a pike in Lake Wetter, |
lad acquired greenish tinge and was
egarded by the fishermen as a harbirger |
Il misfortune"
Detroit Free Press. |