Part 29 (1/2)

”Fallen into its hole! Dead, I suppose,” was the remark with which the sportsman sought to comfort himself. A bullet-mark on a rock, however, two feet to the left of the hole, and about a foot too high, shook his faith a little in this view.

It was impossible, however, that a man should expend so much ammunition in a region swarming with his particular prey without experiencing something in the shape of a fluke. He did, after a time, get one shot which was effectual. A young rabbit sat on the top of a mound looking at him with an air of impudence which is sometimes a.s.sociated with extreme youth. A fat old kinsman--or woman--was seated in a hollow some distance farther on. MacRummle fired at the young one, missed it, and shot the kinsman through the heart. The disappointment of the old man when he failed to find the young one, and his joy on discovering the kinsman, we leave to the reader's imagination.

Thus he went on, occasionally securing something for the pot, continually alarming the whole rabbit fraternity, and disgusting the eagle, which watched him from a safe distance in the ambient atmosphere above.

By degrees he worked his way along till he came to the neighbourhood of the place where poor John Barret sat in meditative dejection. Although near, however, the two friends could neither see nor get at each other, being separated by an impa.s.sable gulf--the one being in a crevice, as we have said, not far from the foot of the cliff, the other hidden among the crags near the summit. Thus it came to pa.s.s that although Barret knew of MacRummle's position by his noise, the latter was quite ignorant of the presence of the former.

”This is horrible!” muttered the youth in his crevice below.

”Now I call this charming!” exclaimed the old man on his perch above.

Such is life--viewed from different standpoints! Ay, and correctly estimated, too, according to these different standpoints; for the old man saw only the sunny surrounding of the Present, while the young one gazed into the gloomy wreck of the Future.

Being somewhat fatigued, MacRummle betook himself to a sequestered ledge among the cliffs, and sat down under a shrub to rest. It chanced to be a well concealed spot. He remained quietly there for a considerable time, discussing with himself the relative advantages of fis.h.i.+ng and shooting. It is probable that his sudden disappearance and his prolonged absence induced the eagle to imagine that he had gone away, for that watchful bird, after several circlings on outstretched and apparently motionless wings, made a magnificent swoop downwards, and again resumed its floating action in the lower strata of its atmospheric world. There it devoted its exclusive attention to the young man, whose position was clearly exposed to its view.

As he sat there in gloomy thought, Barret chanced to raise his eyes, and observed the bird high above him--far out of gunshot.

”Fortunate creature!” he said aloud; ”whatever may be the troubles of your lot, you are at least safe from exasperating _rencontres_ with your future mother-in-law!”

We need not point out to the intelligent reader that Barret, being quite ignorant of the eagle's domestic relations, indulged in mere a.s.sumptions in the bitterness of his soul.

He raised his fowling-piece as he spoke, and took a long, deliberate aim at the bird.

”Far beyond range,” he said, lowering the gun again; ”but even if you were only four yards from the muzzle, I would not fire, poor bird! Did not Milly say you were n.o.ble, and that it would be worse than murder to kill you? No, you are safe from me, at all events, even if you were not so wary as to keep yourself safe from everybody. And yet, methinks, if MacRummle were still up there, he would have the chance of giving you a severe fright, though he has not the skill to bring you down.”

Now it is well-known to trappers and backwoodsmen generally that the most wary of foxes, which cannot by any means be caught by one trap, may sometimes be circ.u.mvented by two traps. It is the same with decoys, whether these be placed intentionally, or place themselves accidentally.

On this occasion Barret acted the part of a decoy, all unwittingly to that eagle or to MacRummle.

In its extreme interest in the youth's proceedings the great bird soared straight over his head, and slowly approached the old man's position.

MacRummle was not on the alert. He never was on the alert! but his eyes chanced to be gazing in the right direction, and his gla.s.ses happened to be on. He saw it coming--something big and black! He grasped his repeater and knocked his gla.s.ses off.

”A raven, I think! I'll try it. I should like it as a trophy--a sort of memorial of--”

Bang!

The man who was half blind, who had scarcely used gun or rifle all his life, achieved that which dead shots and ardent sportsmen had tried in vain for years--he shot the eagle right through the heart, and that, too, with a single bullet!

Straight down it fell with a tremendous flutter, and disappeared over the edge of its native cliff.

MacRummle went on his knees, and, craning his neck, replaced his gla.s.ses; but nothing whatever could be seen, save the misty void below.

Shrinking back from the giddy position, he rose and pulled out his watch.

”Let me see,” he muttered, ”it will take me a full hour to go round so as to reach the bottom. No; too late. I'll go home, and send the keeper for it in the morning. The eagle may have picked its bones by that time, to be sure; but after all, a raven is not much of a trophy.”

While he was thus debating, a very different scene was taking place below.

Barret had been gazing up at the eagle when the shot was fired. He saw the spout of smoke. He heard the cras.h.i.+ng shot and echoes, and beheld the eagle descending like a thunder-bolt. After that he saw and heard no more, for, in reaching forward to see round a projecting rock that interfered with his vision, his foot slipped, and he fell headlong from the cliff. He had not far to fall, indeed, and a whin bush broke the force of the shock when he did strike; but he was rendered insensible, and rolled down the remainder of the slope to the bottom. There he lay bruised, bleeding, and motionless on the gra.s.s, close to the road, with his bent and broken gun beneath him, and the dead eagle not more than a dozen yards from his side!