the report of a gun in among
the scattered trees directly below them; and both young aviators
distinctly heard the peculiar "whine" of the bullet, as it passed close
by their ears, actually making a little hole through the cloth of both
planes!

CHAPTER VII

SEEN FROM THE EAGLES' EYRIE

They were already spinning along at a lively clip, and rising too, at
the moment that shot sounded, and the leaden missile whizzed past so
close to them. Almost through sheer instinct Frank instantly shifted
his lever, and started the biplane upward on a slant that was the
limit, and approaching the danger line.

The two Bird boys turned and stared at each other. Wonder and
indignation seemed struggling for the mastery in their faces.

"Frank, he fired that shot at us!" exclaimed Andy.

"Seemed like it," returned the other. "At any rate, it came much too
close to suit my ideas of comfort. Made me think of those warm times
we had down in Columbia, when the revolutionists were after us."

"What a wicked shame!" went on the other fiercely. "And I guess the
silly fool thought he was doing something smart! That's a new danger
aviators will have to face--being shot at by every loon that carries a
gun, just like they might be some strange bird."

"Well, we're Birds, all right, but hardly strange ones," Frank
continued, with a frown on his face. "And we've been knocking around
this section of the country in our jolly little monoplane so long, that
I supposed every farmer's boy knew us and felt an interest in our work.
That makes me believe it could hardly have been done in a spirit of
what some people would call a joke."

"Good gracious! Frank, do you mean that the fellow really wanted to
hit us? Oh! that seems too terrible to believe!" cried Andy, aghast.

"Stop and think," Frank continued, steadily. "In the first place, what
would any one be doing, hunting in the middle of summer. Why, outside
of a short spell given over to woodcock, there isn't a thing the law
allows a sportsman to shoot up to Fall. And Andy, did you ever hear of
anybody shooting woodcock with a rifle?"

"Oh! Frank!"

"Well, am I right about that? It sounded like the report of a rifle to
me; and it was sure a bullet that whistled past us!" Frank pursued, in
his customary positive way.

"Yes, you're right about that. But who could be so horribly mean as to
want to injure us?" said Andy. "Why, even if that bullet had struck
our biplane in