a
famous supper, he dashed at it again most savagely. But once more it
jumped away from him, as now the Indian kept pulling it in like a mouse
running away. Seeing this the owl lost all caution, and was soon within
range of Sam's gun, which speedily rang out its sharp report, and the
great ghostly bird fell suddenly on the ice not more than forty or fifty
feet away.

"Look out for his claws," said the Indian to Sam, who had at once rushed
out to secure his game. But the warning came too late. Sam, seeing
only the beautiful mass of white feathers and the great staring eyes,
had reached out his naked hand, from which had dropped his mitten, to
seize hold of the owl. But the savage bird lying there on its back was
only wounded, and so when Sam's hand was reached out to seize it the
very opposite happened, for the owl, with one of its terrible talons,
closed on Sam's hand with such a grip that the poor boy fairly howled
from the pain. The sharp claws had pierced him to the very bone, with a
grip he could not break. The Indian, however, quickly came to his
rescue, and pulling out his keen hunting knife he skillfully encircled
the owl's leg with its sharp edge. This severed every sinew and tendon,
and caused the claws to be so powerless that they could be easily pulled
out of Sam's mangled hand.

The owl was speedily killed, the wounded hand carefully wrapped up, and
the return to Sagasta-weekee was made as quickly as possible. For weeks
Sam suffered from his wounds ere they healed, and always after, although
he shot a number of owls in this and other ways, he took good care never
to let a naked hand come in contact with an owl's claws.

Poor little Roderick, who had gone out that evening in great expectancy
of a good time, had had his sympathies so aroused by Sam's howlings that
he began crying in sympathy, and kept it up until home was reached.

Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R. Young

CHAPTER SEVEN.

WOUNDS FROM CLAWS VERSUS TEETH DISCUSSED--MR. ROSS'S STORY OF THE BATTLE
WITH THE EAGLES--THEIR MOUNTAIN AERIE--THEIR HUNTING SKILL--THEIR
VORACITY--THE EAGLETS--THE CONFLICT--THE RESULT--THE PAINFUL WOUNDS.

The next day, as Sam was having his hand dressed, quite a discussion
arose in reference to which wounds were the more painful, those received
from the teeth of wild animals or those from the claws. Sam's present
opinion, very decidedly expressed, was that those from the claws were
the w