these birds--those
already introduced--were seen mounting into the air. They did not fly
up vertically, as the swan had done, but in spiral curves, wheeling and
crossing each other as they ascended. They were making for a point that
would intersect the flight of the swan should he keep on in his
horizontal course. This, however, he did not do. With an eye as quick
as theirs, he saw that he was "headed;" and, stretching his long neck
upward, he again pursued an almost vertical line. But he had to carry
thirty pounds of flesh and bones, while the largest of the eagles--the
female bird--with a still broader spread of wing, was a "light weight"
of only seven. The result of this difference was soon apparent. Before
the trumpeter had got two hundred yards higher, the female of the eagles
was seen wheeling around him on the same level. The swan was now
observed to double, fly downward, and then upward again, while his
mournful note echoed back to the earth. But his efforts were in vain.
After a series of contortions and manoeuvres, the eagle darted forward,
with a quick toss threw herself back downward, and, striking upward,
planted her talons in the under part of the wing of her victim. The
lacerated shaft fell uselessly down; and the great white bird, no longer
capable of flight, came whistling through the air. But it was not
allowed to drop directly to the earth; it would have fallen on the bosom
of the broad river, and that the eagles did not wish, as it would have
given them some trouble to get the heavy carcass ashore. As soon as the
male--who was lower in the air--saw that his partner had struck the
bird, he discontinued his upward flight, and, poising himself on his
spread tail, waited its descent. A single instant was sufficient. The
white object passed him still fluttering; but the moment it was below
his level he shot after it like an arrow, and, clutching it in his
talons, with an outward stroke sent it whizzing in a diagonal direction.
The next moment a crashing was heard among the twigs, and a dull sound
announced that the swan had fallen upon the earth.

The eagles were now seen sailing downward, and soon disappeared among
the tops of the trees.

The canoe soon reached the bank; and Francois, accompanied by Basil and
Marengo, leaped ashore, and went in search of the birds. They found the
swan quite dead and lying upon its back as the eagles had turned it.
Its breast was torn open, and the crimson