Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1900-04-27

| uoSt III LILO lIoo-tOp, huu luAWouA0toiJ
the peculiar whistling cries of thu
young were heard.
! "Oh, I hear 'em squeam!" cried
little Lois. ''Don't they squeam high?'
It was large fish, and perhaps life
was not wholly extinct in it; when
torn by the young beaks and talons,
it may have given a spasmodic flop
This was probably the reason that one
of the small birds was dislodged from
its place in the nest and fell. An in
slant later. it caught by its talons on q
small, low limb of the tree and hung
there, swinging and screaming. ~
some of 'em has tumbled out!'
cried Hale, and boylike, he ran for
ward, followed by little Lois, both
much excited; for the young bird was
not more than twenty feet from the
ground. Unable to fly as yet, it clurg
to the limb with it's feet, Topping
clumsily. Meantime, the parent
eagle, after pee-ing down from the
nest, swooped past it, then rose. An
other smaller eagle, too, the male
, bird, probably, appeared on the scene,
and sailed around the tree.
The eaglet's screams excited the
children greatly, and they approached
nearer, to get better view. Several
times the parent bird swooped close
beside the suspended eaglet, and rose
as if to bear it aloft again; but the
youngster chung obstinately and
screamed continuously, while little
Lois cried aloud, from sympathy or
excitement. The noise seemed to
rouse the ire of the old bird, and it
swooped close to the heads of the
children, swapping wrathful, yellow
beak, and uttering short, hoarse
screams.
1t came very close, Tapping it's
great wings, and its savage eyes were
so terrifying that Lois turned, crying,
and ran back to where they had set
down the bushel basket; but Hale
caught up stone and flung it high at
the bird, shouting, "Keep off, old
snapper-bill!"
Immediately the eagle swooped
again, SO near that its talons clutched
the straw hat on the boys head, and
one pinion brushed his face. There
upon he seized dry hemlock bough,
and facing the bird, which rose no
more than thirty or forty feet in the
air, struck at it as it swooped a third
time. But the eagle descended with
such force that Hale was knocked
over; and this time one of its talons
tore the brush from his hands, LAGER
ating his right wrist.
Screaming fercely, the bird rose,
carrying tho dry bough high in the
air, while the boy, alarmed and hurt,
ran backyard to where little Lois
stood. The other eagle swooped
toward the children, but not close
enough to strike with its claws.
Lois was now crying loudly and
looking for some place to hide herself,
but on the burnt land there is little
cover.
While the female eagle was hover
ing above them, still holding the dry
bough, the lad remembered the corn
cutter which was in the bushel basket
along with the school books aud lunch
basket. He fourished it defantly,
shouting, "I'll cut your head off, old
eagle!" and the morning sun may
have cast CLINT upward from the
blade; for the female eagle, dropping
the bough, swooped again more saw
agely than before. -
This tipe one claw clutched the
boys head, tearing two deep scratches
in his forehead, and pulling out
great deal of his hair. He was knocked
down and cried out from the pain, but
struggled bravoly to his feet and faced
the fierce bird, which was now hover
ing almost directly over his head,
SC, canning and swapping with it's beak.
The other bird also stopped again, as
it seconding the attack of its more for
midable mate. The shrieks of the
little girl only increased their exasper-
alton. 3
If the boy had wavered, it would
probably have proved fatal to one or
both of the children. But Hale cried,
"Stop that crying, Lo, and put the
bushel basket over your head!" Bare
headed and bleeding himself, he gall
lantly faced the lowering bird and
brandished the corn-cutter. Down it
swooped on him again; but the little
fellow, learning from experience,
lodged aside and struck as the eagle
shot past. He hit it with the point
Of the blade, and felt the sudden Joy
Of striking home for the first time.
Enraged, the bird turned short in
The air, screaming wildly, and dashed
at him again. This time it fixed &
talon in his back. knocked him off his
feet, and dragged him till his clothing
gave way. HE fell hard upon some
small loose stones, and for an instant
lay prostrate-so frightening little