The girl, lying there with the golden water swirling around her
knees and her golden head on the moss, looked up through the foliage
in silence.
The eagle was soaring lower over the forest now. After a little
while she reached out and let her fingers touch McKay's hand where
it rested on the moss:
"Kay?"
"Yes, Yellow-hair."
"It isn't possible, of course.... But are there any eagles in Europe
that have white heads and tails?"
"No."
"I know.... I wish you'd look up at that eagle. He is not very
high."
McKay lifted his head. After a moment he rose to his feet, still
looking intently skyward. The eagle was sailing very low now.
"THAT'S AN AMERICAN EAGLE!"
The words shot out of McKay's lips. The girl sat upright,
electrified.
And now the sun struck full across the great bird as he sheered the
tree-tops above. HEAD AND TAIL WERE A DAZZLING WHITE.
"Could--could it be that dead man's eagle?" said the girl. "Oh,
could it be Manitou? COULD it, Kay?"
McKay looked at her, and his eye fell on the gold whistle hanging
from her wrist on its jewelled chain.
"If it is," he said, "he might notice that whistle. Try it!"
She nodded excitedly, set the whistle to her lips and blew a clear,
silvery, penetrating blast upward.
"Kay! Look!" she gasped.
For the response had been instant. Down through the tree-tops
sheered the huge bird, the air shrilling through his pinions, and
struck the solid ground and set his yellow claws in it, grasping the
soil of the Old World with mighty talons. Then he turned his superb
head and looked fearlessly upon his two compatriots.
"Manitou! Manitou!" whispered the girl. And crept toward him on her
knees, nearer, nearer, until her slim outstretched hand rested on
his silver crest.
"Good God!" said McKay in the low tones of reverence.
McKay had drawn a duplicate of his route-map on thin glazed paper.
Evelyn Erith had finished a duplicate copy of his notes and reports.
Of these and the trinkets of the late Sir W. Blint they made two
flat packets, leaving one of them unsealed to receive the brief
letter which McKay had begun:
"Dear Lady Blint--
It is not necessary to ask the wife of Sir W. Blint to have courage.
He died as he had lived--a fine and fearless British sportsman.
His death was painless. He lies in the forest of Les Errues. I
enclose a map for you.
I and my comrade, Evelyn Erith, dare believe that his eagle,
Manitou, has not forgotten the air-path to England and to you. With
God's guidance he will carry this letter to you. And with it certain
objects belonging to your husband. And also certain papers which I
beg you will have safely delivered to the American Ambassador.
If, madam, we come out of this business alive, my comrade and I will
do ourselves the honour of waiting on you if, as we suppose, you
would care to hear from us how we discovered the body of the late
Sir W. Blint.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account