s was my own fault, though. That poor devil
I just sent to its doom was merely acting in self-defence. But the
survival of the fittest is the law of the wilderness just as in the
ways of so-called civilization. That bird had what I needed; and that
settles it."

This turned his mind upon the nest, which he suspected was somewhere
near. In another minute he had found it, a mass of sticks, in the
midst of which was a hollow lined with wild grass, and lying there were
three white eggs. Eagerly he seized one, and held it in his hand. Was
it fresh? he wondered, or was it ready to be hatched?

Drawing forth his pocket-knife, he perforated each end of the egg, and
smelled the contents. It was fresh, having been recently laid. In
another instant it was at his parched lips, and never did he remember
having tasted anything half as refreshing. Then he looked longingly at
the other two.

"No, I must not eat them now," he told himself. "I shall need them for
supper and breakfast. The Lord only knows when I shall get anything
more."

The mention of the Lord brought back to him the picture of The Good
Shepherd rescuing the lost sheep. "Strange, very strange," he mused,
as he picked up the eggs and continued his climb. "Can it be possible
that the Lord had anything to do with that eagle coming here just when
I was about all in, and ready to drop from hunger and thirst? I am not
ashamed, anyway, to confess my gratitude, even though I disliked the
idea of praying."

A few minutes later he stood on the top of the hill, a bleak, desolate
spot, rocky, and devoid of the least sign of vegetation. But this
mattered nothing to him now, for his eyes rested almost immediately
upon a silver gleam away to the left. It was water, and a river at
that! An exclamation of joy leaped from his lips, as from that lonely
peak he viewed the river of his salvation. Where it led, he did not
know, but surely along that stream he would find human beings, able and
willing to succor him.

Forgotten now was his weariness, and a new hope possessed his soul. He
could not expect to reach the river that afternoon, for several valleys
and small hills intervened. But he could go part of the way and on the
morrow complete the journey. Carefully guarding his two precious eggs,
he hurried down the opposite side of the hill as fast as it was
possible, and night found him by the side of a small wood-enshrouded
lake. Here he stopped, drank of the