Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-04-26
continuously, while little Lois eri.d

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 a
wrathful, yellow beak, and uttering
short, hoarse screams.
It 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 a stone and flung it high
at the bird, shouting: "Keep off, old
snapper-bill!" IT. qs~.e
Immediately the eagle swooped
again, so near that it's talons clutched
the straw hat on the boys head and
one pinion brushed his face. There
upon he seized dry hemlock bougn
and, facing the bird, which rose no
more than 80 or 40 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 it's talons
tore the brush from his hands, lacerat-
ing his right wrist.
Screaming fercely, the bird rose,
carrying the dry bough high il che
air, while the boy, alarmed and hurt,
ran backward. to where little Lois
stood. The other eagle swooped to-
ward the children, but not close enough
to strike with it's claws.
Lois was now crying loudly and look
ing 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 an6: lunch
basket. He hourished it de5iantly,
shouting: It'll cut your head off, old
eagle!" and the morning sun may
have cast a CLINT upward from the
blade; for the female eagle, dropping
the bough, swooped again more saw
agely than before.
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 gal
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 a
talon in his back, knocking him off
his feet, and dragging him till his
clothing gave way. He fell hard upon
some small loose stones, and for an in
slant lay prostrate-so frightening
little Lois that she ran toward him,
partly raising the basket off her head.
One of the eagles swooped at the same
moment, struck its claws into the
basket, tearing it away, and wounding
| the child's face. ...
Her shrek of pain brought the
dazed boy to his feet; but before he
| could strike, the eagle swooped again
with great force. One claw buried it.
self in his appraised arm, and again he
was dragged violently from his feet.
The eagle, holding fast, with an angry
scream, beat him hard with it's wings,
then sunk it's hooked beak in his cheek.
Boy and bird fell and rolled over on
the ground; but the boy grasped the
birds neck, and with his wounded arm
dealt such blows as he could, and tore
out handfuls of feathers until the
eagle, struggling free from bis grasp,
rose a few feet. The relief was only
for an instant, for the bird bounced
down on him again, and yet again. The
lad was thrown on his back, but kept
on fighting, striking and kicking up
ward with both feet. The eagle; clutch
ing his foot with its talons, dragged
him for a number of yards, beating him
terribly with it's wings.
The blood was pouring down Hale's
face and he could hardly see; but when
ever he discerned the shadow of the
bird and felt the wind of it's swoop,
he kicked upward and struck out with
the bush-hook. Cuts on the eagles
legs and head show that some of these
| desperate, random blows were effective.
Again and again the eagle fell upon him.
Had the male bird proved itself as
fierce as it's mate, neither of the chill
Gren could have escaped.
At length the eagle alighted on the
ground near by. It was much hurt and
could no longer keep the air: but it still
strutted unsteady forward to renew
the attack, screaming vindictively.
Weak from loss of blood, Hale could
with difficulty get to his feet; but he
used the corn-cutter as often as the
| bird approached within reach. After
this manner they fought for half. an
hour, when the eagle beat retreat, it,
self hardly able to walk, much less
fly away. The other bird had flown
back to the nest. rs,
Calling Lois to him and taking her
loo 10 To- o4k