he sleeve. By a singular piece
of luck, upon which he had not counted at all, it opened as he threw
it, and settled right over the bird's neck and disabled wing, blinding
and baffling it completely. With a muffled squawk it bounced into the
air, both talons outspread and clawing madly; but in a second Horner
had it by the other wing, pulling it down, and rolling himself over
upon it so as to smother those dangerous claws. He felt them sink
once into his injured leg, but that was already anguishing so
vehemently that a little more or less did not matter. In a few moments
he had his captive bundled up with helplessness, and was dragging it
to a sturdy bush near the middle of the terrace. Here, without much
further trouble, he wrapped one of its legs with the strip of flannel
from his shirt, twisted on a hand-length of wire, and then tethered it
safely with a couple of yards of his doubled and twisted cord.

Just as he had accomplished this to his satisfaction, and was about to
undo the imprisoning shirt, it flashed across his mind that it was
lucky the old eagles had not been on hand to interfere. He glanced
upward--and saw the dark form dropping like a thunderbolt out of the
blue. He had just time to fling himself over on his back, lifting his
arm to shield his face, and his foot to receive the attack, when the
hiss of that lightning descent filled his ears. Involuntarily he half
closed his eyes. But no shock came, except a great buffet of air on
his face. Not quite daring to grapple with that ready defence, the
eagle had opened its wings when within a few feet of the ledge, and
swerved upward again, where it hung hovering and screaming. Horner saw
that it was the female, and shook his fist at her in defiance. Had it
been his old acquaintance and challenger, the male, he felt sure that
he would not have got off so easily.

Puzzled and alarmed, the mother now perched herself beside the other
eaglet, on the edge of the nest. Then, keeping a careful eye upon her,
lest she should return to the attack, Horner dexterously unrolled the
shirt, and drew back just in time to avoid a vicious slash from the
talons of his indignant prisoner. The latter, after some violent
tugging and flopping at his tether and fierce biting at the wire,
suddenly seemed to conclude that such futile efforts were undignified.
He settled himself like a rock and stared unwinkingly at his captor.

It was perhaps an hour after this, when the sun had grown