ry of
disappointment the eagle mounted back into the air, and commenced
wheeling in circles over the spot. It was now joined by its mate, and
both kept round and round watching for the reappearance of their
intended victim.

Again the swan came to the surface, but before either of the eagles
could swoop upon him he had for the third time disappeared. The swan is
but an indifferent diver; but under such circumstances he was likely to
do his best at it. But what could it avail him? He must soon rise to
the surface to take breath--each time at shorter intervals. He would
soon become fatigued and unable to dive with sufficient celerity, and
then his cruel enemies would be down upon him with their terrible
talons. Such is the usual result, unless the swan takes to the air,
which he sometimes does. In the present case he had built his hopes
upon a different means of escape. He contemplated being able to conceal
himself in a heavy sedge of bulrushes (_Scirpus lacustris_) that grew
along the edge of the river, and towards these he was evidently
directing his course under the water. At each emersion he appeared some
yards nearer them, until at length he rose within a few feet of their
margin, and diving again was seen no more! He had crept in among the
sedge, and no doubt was lying with only his head, or part of it, above
the water, his body concealed by the broad leaves of the _nymphae_,
while the head itself could not be distinguished among the white flowers
that lay thickly along the surface. The eagles now wheeled over the
sedge, flapping the tops of the bulrushes with their broad wings, and
screaming with disappointed rage. Keen as were their eyes they could
not discover the hiding-place of their victim. No doubt they would have
searched for it a long while, but the canoe--which they now appeared to
notice for the first time--had floated near; and, becoming aware of
their own danger, both mounted into the air again, and with a farewell
scream flew off, and alighted at some distance down the river.

"A swan for supper!" shouted Francois, as he poised his gun for the
expected shot.

The canoe was headed for the bulrushes near the point where the
trumpeter had been last seen; and a few strokes of the paddles brought
the little craft with a whizzing sound among the sedge. But the culms
of the rushes were so tall, and grew so closely together, that the
canoemen, after entering, found to their chagrin they could