near where Ralph was crouching with his back protected by the sloping rock wall, seemed to put a new idea into the crafty bird’s brain.  Screaming with rage, he swooped down after Ralph, and alighted on the ground about two yards from the place where the lad crouched in his protecting niche.  Then, with wings bowed outward and downward like a belligerent hen, with beak snapping and talons spread wide, rending the air, he charged straight into Ralph’s face.

The plucky youth was ready for this, however, and he awaited the attack, knife in hand.  He was unwilling to use the knife if he could avoid doing so, for a bad cut might injure the skin and feathers of the coveted trophy.  But it seemed likely that such considerations would have to be banished in the face of this horrible danger.

After repeatedly beating back the infuriated eagle, Ralph saw that his best blows were glancing harmlessly from its shining armor of feathers, and that the vengeful creature was gaining courage with every charge.  Moreover, in his cramped position he was at a disadvantage, while the blood trickling down from the wound in his forehead made his sight uncertain.  In desperation he resolved to turn the knife edge uppermost and to strike with an upward motion as the bird rushed close.

His next blow showed the wisdom of this course.  Aided by the bird’s reckless attack, the keen blade found its mark under one of those great pounding pinions, and by the diminishing force of the next charge, and the next, Ralph knew that the eagle was weakening.

Another lucky thrust hurled the wounded bird to the ground, where it lay kicking feebly for a few moments; then, with a convulsive jerk, it flopped over and lay still at the edge of the stream.

Ralph slid out from his crevice, and bathed his face in the cold water.  Refreshed, he picked up the two splendid birds and gazed at them almost sadly, with no feeling of elation.  He was full of admiration for the brave fight they had made.

“I had to do it, I had to do it,” he muttered apologetically, as if seeking an excuse for an act which he found difficult to defend.  “Better do this than to borrow money and get into debt.”

Thus he argued; but, in spite of his gladness at having won the means wherewith his mother might undergo the operation, he felt a reaction after the excitement of the fight.  Weary and wounded, and moved to a pitying admiration of the prize within his grasp, it was nothing to the discredit of this simple, manly lad that he shed a few tears over his victory.  Have not seasoned hunters been known to weep over the death of a noble stag or a gentle doe?  And were these eagles no less noble in their sphere of the animal kingdom?

Almost sadly he tied them to his belt, carefully avoiding further injury to their plumage; and as he did so, the thought crossed his mind: 

“Wonder what those fellows and the Scout Master would say about this, if they knew?”