El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-29
To the Rescue!
By F. St Mars.

q OAIETHING was coming in to-
wards the shore over the dull
- gray waves Of the North sea
something which flew away slowly and
very heavily in the teeth Of the west
erIy gale. It was undoubtedly Of a
browny FANNY color, and equally IN
doub+edIv it was bird big bird.
Seeing, however, that the sun was
high in the heavens, one was scarcely
prepared for the surprise tnat cdILle
with closer inspection It was an oWl,
an owl who flew in the broad dayllE-I
and did not appear TO be dlsconcet ~Su
al the strong glare at all
He had odd little tufts on MS nedd'
ike ears, but they were curly Ieal- n
ers and not ears really. ShOrt-eare 60
owl was his name. In over the tumo-
ling, boiling surf he came, and dropped
on the sand. You could see his slQes
and breast heaving with the gasPlng
breaths, and he was evidently too tlreo
to fold his beautiful, great, sort, IluIIy
wings, so that they dropped half open
all around him like a cloak
"Kraari Kraarl"
too, and the owl jerled his head clean
round in that uncanny fashion Owls
have of seeming to be able to twist
their heads round and round IKE
sDfndles. Far out to sea, following al
most exactly the same route as he nad
arrived by, came a second something,
but this one was not taWn- II was
black an evil apparitiOn that bo0ed
IN from the first It was a crow, a
earrion crow, and the same are the
worst hOoligans Of the wild.
Heavily he Tapped in, and nearly
pitched on his head as he came down
within six yards Of the owl. That
showed how tired he was, for your
crow is a very strong flyer as q rule
He sat all of a heap and painted with
his beak open, and the owl watched
him with a superior, stony stare. He
knew all about crows, did that OWL
1t was just merely a question OF which
could recover breath enough to fight
first, and he knew that, too
Then suddeny the crow called
shouted would be a better wOrd-his
harsh war cry across the tumbIlng
waves, and the owl, following MS gaze,
drew in his wings like man button
ing his coat. The crow was not alone.
He had two friends at his heels
7 Ten minutes later that owl was awk-
wardly fixed. Whichever way ne looked
q crow was standing back just out OF
reach Of his beak, and whichever way
he did not look there was a crow S
pickaXe of a beak lunging at him. He
was surrounded, and, by the same to-
ken, he knew he was fighting for his
life. What was more, he knew ne had
no chance Of winning, for whenever
he threw himself at a crow and got
In his fine work with those terrible
razor-like talOns of his, the other two
crows threw themselves upon him, and
things got mixed.
It was precisely at the moment OF
what he knew must be the last scuf-
fle. that the young naturalist with the
rifle, a hundred yards away. fired. He
had been watching the owl since he
landed, and thought he would look
very nice. set up in a glass case. which
he undoubtedly would have done. Only
as I have said, there was a miX-up
and one of the crows shot straight W
in the air and fell on his back almost
at the same instant as the sharp re-
port broke on their ears.
Next moment there was no fight
there were no crows. and there was nc
0wl-au had melted into the distance
as II by magic Only the crow who
lay on his back did not go. He lay Oh
his back still. with a 80 caHber bullet
through his heart