I tried it at last, crept up and out twenty feet, and back ten, and
dropped with a great breath of relief to a broad ledge covered with
bones and fish scales, the relics of many a savage feast. Below me,
almost within reach, was the nest, with two dark, scraggly young birds
resting on twigs and grass, with fish, flesh and fowl in a gory,
skinny, scaly ring about them--the most savage-looking household into
which I ever looked unbidden.
But even as I looked and wondered, and tried to make out what other
game had been furnished the young savages I had helped to feed, a
strange thing happened, which touched me as few things ever have among
the wild creatures. The eagles had followed me close along the last
edge of rock, hoping no doubt in their wild hearts that I would slip,
and end their troubles, and give my body as food to the young. Now, as
I sat on the ledge, peering eagerly into the nest, the great
mother-bird left me and hovered over her eaglets, as if to shield them
with her wings from even the sight of my eyes.
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