so close a proximity that I distinctly heard the
whistling sound as it cleft the air. Supposing it to be a stone, I gave
it no further thought, and my attention was presently occupied by a
sharp gash which the young eagle at my belt managed to inflict on my
left thigh. It was not until I had stopped the haemorrhage by strewing
some grains of powder into the wound that I perceived with surprise that
I was still stationary, instead of ascending, as in due course I ought
to have been. The boulder of rock projecting a few feet over my head
prevented any view of the ledge, and my shouts inquiring the cause of
the delay received indistinct answers, the words "patience" and "wait"
being the only intelligible ones. These might have had a consoling
influence but for the fact that a thunderstorm--an occurrence of great
frequency in the beginning of summer in the High Alps--was fast
approaching, and my position was one that exposed me to its full fury
without any possibility of escape. Ere long it burst over my head,
drenching me to the skin in the first five minutes, while the lightning
played about me in every direction, and terrific claps of thunder
followed each other at intervals of scarcely a few seconds. What
heightened the danger as well as the absurdity of my situation was the
chance that one or both of the old eagles might return at any moment,
under circumstances that must render a struggle, if any ensued, a most
unequal one. Supposing my guards to be still at their post, the distance
of the ledge was such as to make a shot at a flying bird, large as it
might be, anything but a sure one; and the tactics of the golden eagle
when defending its home do not allow of any second attempt. A speck is
seen on the horizon, and the next moment the powerful bird is down with
one fell swoop: a flap with its strong wing and the unhappy victim is
stunned, and immediately ripped open from the chest to his hip, while
his skull is cleft or fractured by a single blow of the tremendous beak.
Instances are, however, known in which the cool and self-possessed
"pendant" has shot or cut down his foe at the very instant of the
encounter. Happily, my own powers were not put to so severe a test: the
old birds were that day far off, circling probably in majestic swoops
over some distant valley or gorge.

I was forced, however, to be constantly on the alert, and my impatience
and perplexity may be imagined as hours elapsed and there were still no