nking of most anythin' else.

"As the time passed, hows'ever, an' the tree still kep' its
purpendic'lar, I begun to b'lieve that the bank warn't agoin' to move
any more. I ked see the water down below through the branches o' the
cyprus, an' tho' it war clost by, thar 'peared to be a clamjamfery o'
big roots stickin' out from the bank, as war like to keep the dirt firm
agin the underminin' o' the current,--leastwise for a good while.

"Soon as I bekum satersfied o' the firmness o' the cyprus, I tuk to
thinkin' again how I war to git down. Thinkin' warn't o' no use. Thar
war no way but to jump it; an' I mout as well ha' thort o' jumpin' from
the top o' a 'Piscopy church steeple 'ithout breakin' my ole
thigh-bones, tough as they be.

"By this time it hed got to be night; an' as thar wa'n't no use o' me
makin' things wuss then they war, I groped about the cyprus to see ef
thar war ary limb softer than the others, whar I ked lay myself for a
snooze. I foun' a place in one o' the forks, large enough to 'a' lodged
a bar; an' thar I squatted. I slep' putty well, considerin'; but the
scratch the eagle hed gin me hed got to be sorish, an' war wuss torst
the mornin'. At peep o' day I war wide awake, an' feelin' hungry enuf to
eat anything.

"While I war thinkin' o' climbin' up to the neest an' wringin' one o'
the eagles' necks, I chanced to look out over the river. All at oncet I
see one o' them big water-hawks--osprey, they call 'em--plunge down, an'
rise up agin wi' a catfish in his claws. He hadn't got twenty feet above
the surface when one o' the old baldies went shootin' torst him like a
streak o' lightnin'. Afore ye kud 'a' counted six, I seed the she-baldy
comin' for the tree wi' the catfish in _her_ claws.

"'Good,' sez I to myself; 'ef I must make my breakfast on raw stuff, I'd
rayther it shed be fish than squab eagle.'

"I started for the neest. This time I tuk the purcaution to unsheathe my
bowie an' carry it in my hand ready for a fight; an' it warn't no idle
purcaution, as it proved; for sca'ce hed I got my head above the edge o'
the neest when both the old birds attackted me jest as afore. The fight
war now more even atween us, an' the cunnin' critters appeared to know
it; for they kep' well out o' reach o' the bowie, though floppin' an'
clawin' at me whenever they seed a chance. I guv the ole hen a prod that
cooled her courage consid'able; an' as for the cock, he warn't a
sarcumstance to her; for, as yer know,