THE EAGLE'S NEST.
From the mountain path sounds the yodeling, merry and strong, telling
of good spirits and dauntless courage; it is Rudy--he is going to see
his friend Vesinaud.
"You will help me! we will take Ragli with us. I must capture the
eaglet up the face of the mountain!"
"Won't you take the spots of the moon first; that is as easy!" said
Vesinaud. "You are in good spirits!"
"Yes, for I am thinking of getting married! But now, to be in earnest,
I will tell you what I am intending!"
And soon Vesinaud and Ragli knew what Rudy wished.
"You are a daring lad!" said they. "You will not get there! You will
break your neck!"
"A man does not fall down when he does not think of it!" said Rudy.
At midnight they set off with poles, ladders, and ropes; the way was
through thickets and bushes, and over rolling stones, always up, up in
the gloomy night. The water rushed below; the water murmured above,
heavy clouds drove through the air. When the hunters reached the
precipitous face of the mountain it was still darker, the rocky walls
were almost met, and the sky could only be seen high up in a small
cleft. Close by, under them, was the deep abyss with its rushing
waters. All three sat quite still, waiting for daybreak, when the
eagle would fly out; for they must first shoot it before they could
think of taking the young one. Rudy sat down, as still as if he were a
piece of the stone he sat on. He had his gun in his hand ready to
shoot; his eyes were fixed on the topmost cleft, where, under a
projecting ledge, the eagle's nest was concealed.
After waiting long, the hunters heard high above them a cracking,
rushing sound; and suddenly they saw a great, hovering object. Two
gun-barrels were pointed as the great black figure of the eagle flew
out of its nest. One shot was heard; for a moment the bird moved its
outstretched wings, and then slowly fell, as if with its greatness and
the extension of its wings it would fill the whole of the chasm, and
carry the hunters with it in its fall. The eagle sank into the depths;
and brushing against the branches of trees and bushes, broke them as
it fell.
And now the hunters began work. They tied three of the longest ladders
together, setting them up from the last secure foothold at the side of
the precipice. But the ladders did not quite reach; the nest was
higher up, hidden safe below the projecting rock, where it was as
smooth as a wall. After some deliberation they decided to tie two
ladders together, and lower them into the cleft from above, and join
them to the three which had been set up from below. With great trouble
they drew up the two ladders and secured the rope; they were then
suspended over the projecting rock, and hung swinging over the abyss,
and Rudy took his place on the lowest rung. It was an ice-cold
morning, and vapors rose from the black chasm. Rudy sat out there as a
fly sits on a waving straw which some bird has taken to the top of
some high factory-chimney; but the fly can fly away if the straw gets
loose, while Rudy can only break his neck. The wind whispered about
him, and below, in the abyss, rushed the hurrying water from the
melting glacier, the Ice-Maiden's palace.
When Rudy began to climb, the ladders trembled and swung like a
spider's web; but when he reached the fourth ladder he found it
secure, for the lashing had been well done. The topmost ladder was
flattened against the rock, yet it swung ominously with Rudy's weight.
And now came the most dangerous part of the climb. But Rudy knew this,
for the cat had taught him; he did not think about Giddiness, which
hovered in the air behind him, and stretched its octopus-like arms
towards him. Now he stood on the highest rung of the ladder, and found
that after all it did not reach high enough for him to see into the
nest; he could only reach up to it with his hands. He tested the
firmness of the thick plaited boughs that supported the lower part of
the nest, and when he found a thick and firm bough, he pulled himself
up by it till he got his head and chest over the nest. But there
poured upon him an overpowering smell of carrion; putrefying lambs,
chamois, and birds lay here torn to pieces. Giddiness, which was not
able to reach him, puffed the poisonous exhalation into his face, to
confuse him, and below, in the black gaping depth, over the hurrying
water, sat the Ice-Maiden herself, with her long greenish hair,
staring with deathly eyes like two gun-barrels, and saying to herself,
"Now I shall capture you!"
[Illustration: It was captured alive.]
In a corner of the nest he saw a large and powerful eaglet, which
could not yet fly. Rudy fastened his eyes on it, held himself with
all the force of one hand, and cast, with the other hand, a noose over
the young bird. Thus, with its legs entangled in the line, it was
captured alive. Rudy threw the noose with the bird in it over his
shoulder, so that it hung a good way below him, and by the help of a
rope he made himself fast till his toes reached the highest rung of
the ladder.
"Hold fast! don't believe you will fall, and you won't fall!" this was
his old lesson, and he stuck to it; he held fast, he scrambled, he was
certain he should not fall, and he did not fall.
And now was heard a yodel, so vigorous and joyful. Rudy stood on the
firm rock with his eaglet.