ced to keep 'em from bitin' me, an'
thar claws cut clur off wi' my bowie. I then strengthened my cord by
doublin' it half a dozen times, until it war stout enough to carry my
weight. One eend o' it I looped around the legs o' the eagles, gatherin'
all four into a bunch, while the other eend I made fast around myself
just under the arm-pits. I hed done all this upon the lowest limb o' the
cyprus, whar I hed fetched down the eagles. When all war ready, I drew
my bowie from its sheath, an' with its sharp point pricked both the
baldies at the same time, so as to set 'em a floppin'. As soon as I seed
thar four wings in full play, I slid off the branch, directin' myself
torst the groun' underneath. I ain't very clur as to what followed; I
only recollex bein' dragged through the branches o' the cyprus, an' the
minit arter plumpin' _cochuck_ into the waters o' the Massissippi.

[Illustration]

"I shed most sartinly a been drownded ef that ere cord had broken, or
the eagles had got loose. As it war, the birds kep' beatin' the water
wi' thar big wings; an' in that way hindered me from goin' under. I've
heerd o' a woman, they called Veenis, bein' drawed through the sea by a
couple o' swans; but I don't b'lieve they ked a drawed her at 'a'
quicker pace than I war carried over the Massissippi. In less 'n five
minits from the time I had dropped out o' the tree, I war in the middle
o' the river, an' still scufflin' on. The baldies were boun' for the
Arkansaw shore, an' knowin' that my life depended on thar reachin' it, I
offered no opposition to thar efforts, but lay still and let 'em go it.

"As good luck wud hev it, they hed strength enough left to complete the
crossin'; an' thar war another bit o' good luck in the Arkansaw bank
bein' on a level wi' the surface o' the water; so that in five minits
more I found myself among the bushes, the baldies still flutterin' about
me, as if determined to carry me on over the great peraries. I feeled
that it war time to stop the steam; so, clutchin' holt o' a branch, I
brought up to an anchor. I tuk good care not to let the birds go,--tho'
sartin I owed them that much for the sarvice they hed done me. But jest
then I bethunk me o' the Englishman at Grand Gulf,--ah! it war you, ye
say?"

"Certainly! And those are the eagles I purchased from Mrs. Stump?"

"Them same birds! Yer shed 'a' hed the young 'uns, but thar warn't no
chance ever agin to climb that cyprus, an' what bekim o' the poor
cri