the pluckiest o' eagles is allers
the hen bird.

"The fish war lyin' in the bottom o' the neest, whar they had dropped
it. It hedn't been touched, 'ceptin' by the claws thet hed carried it,
an' the young 'uns war too much skeart durin' the skurmidge to think o'
beginnin' breakfast. I spiked it on the blade o' my bowie, an', drawin'
it torst me, I slid back down the tree to the fork whar I hed passed the
night. Thar I ate it."

"You don't mean to say you ate it raw?"

"Jest as it come from the river! I mout 'a' gin it a sort o' a cookin',
ef I'd liked; for I hed my punk pouch on me, an' I ked 'a' got firin'
from the dead bark o' the cyprus. But I war too hungry to wait, an' I
ate it raw. The fish war a couple o' pound weight; an' I left nothin' o'
it but the bones, fins, an' tail.

"As ye may guess, I wa'n't hungry any longer; but jest then come upon me
a spell o' the driest thirst I ever 'sperienced in all my life. The fish
meat made it wuss; for, arter I hed swallered it, I feeled as ef I war
afire. The sun war shinin' full upon the river, an' the glitterin' water
made things wuss; for it made me hanker arter it all the more. Oncet or
twice I got out o' the fork, thinkin' I ked creep along a limb an' drop
into the river. I shed 'a' done so, hed it been near enough, tho' I
knowed I ked niver 'a' swum ashore. But the water war too fur off.

"'T war no use chawin' the leaves o' the cyprus. They war full o' rosin,
an' 'ud only make the chokin' wuss. Thar war some green leaves on the
fox-grape-vine, an' I chawed all o' them that I ked git my paws on. Thet
dud some good; but my suffering war still unbarable.

"How war I to git at the water o' that river, that flowed so tauntin'ly
jest out o' reach? I 'most jumped off o' the tree when at last I bethort
me o' a way to manage it.

"I had a piece o' cord I allers carries about me. 'T war long enough to
reach the river bank an' let down into the water. I ked empty my
powder-horn an' let it down. It would fill, an' I ked then draw it up
agin. Hooray!

"I cried that hooray only oncet. On lookin' for the horn, I diskivered
that I hed left it whar I hed tuk it off afore goin' to sleep, under the
cyprus.

"I warn't agoin' to be beat in that way. Ef I hed no vessel thet wud
draw water, I hed my ole doe-skin shirt. I ked let that down, soak it,
an' pull it up agin. No sooner said than done. The shirt war peeled off,
gathered up into a clew, tied to the eend o' the string, an