whole
height of the mountain, unbroken and daunting, stretched skyward above
him.

But to Horner the solemn sight was not daunting in the least.

"Gee!" he exclaimed, grinning with satisfaction. "I _hev_ circumvented
that there cervice, sure's death!"

Of the world below he had now a view that was almost overpoweringly
unrestricted; but of the mountain, and his scene of operations, he
could see only the stretch directly above him. A little calculation
convinced him, however, that all he had to do was to keep straight on
up for perhaps a hundred and fifty feet, then, as soon as the slope
would permit, work around to his left, and descend upon the nest from
above. Incidentally, he made up his mind that his return journey
should be made by another face of the mountain--any other, rather than
that by which he had rashly elected to come.

It seemed to Horner like a mile, that last hundred and fifty feet; but
at last he calculated that he had gained enough in height. At the same
time he felt the slope grow easier. Making his way towards the left,
he came upon a narrow ledge, along which he could move easily
side-wise, by clinging to the rock. Presently it widened to a path by
which he could walk almost at ease, with the wide, wild solitude, dark
green laced with silver watercourses, spread like a stupendous
amphitheatre far below him. It was the wilderness which he knew so
well in detail, yet had never before seen as a whole; and the sight,
for a few moments, held him in a kind of awed surprise. When, at last,
he tore his gaze free from the majestic spectacle, there, some ten or
twelve yards below his feet, he saw the object of his quest.

It was nothing much to boast of in the way of architecture, this nest
of the Kings of the Air--a mere cart-load of sticks and bark and
coarse grass, apparently tumbled at haphazard upon the narrow ledge.
But in fact its foundations were so skilfully wedged into the crevices
of the rock, its structure was so cunningly interwoven, that the
fiercest winds which scourged that lofty seat were powerless against
it. It was a secure throne, no matter what tempests might rage around
it.

Sitting half erect on the nest were two eaglets, almost full grown,
and so nearly full feathered that Horner wondered why they did not
take wing at his approach. He did not know that the period of
helplessness with these younglings of royal birth lasted even after
they looked as big and well able to take car