of the competitors got ready, and the
girls stood in eager expectation of the result. The eagle had made a wide
circuit after his low swoop, and fanning his way upward, once more hovered
nearly over the hut, at a distance even greater than before. Chingachgook gazed
at him, and then expressed his opinion of the impossibility of striking a bird
at that great height, and while he was so nearly perpendicular, as to the range.
But a low murmur from Hist, produced a sudden impulse and he fired. The result
showed how well he had calculated, the eagle not even varying his flight,
sailing round and round in his airy circle, and looking down, as if in contempt,
at his foes.
    »Now, Judith,« cried Deerslayer, laughing, with glistening and delighted
eyes, »we'll see if Killdeer is n't Killeagle, too! Give me room Sarpent, and
watch the reason of the aim, for by reason any thing may be l'arned.«
    A careful sight followed, and was repeated again and again, the bird
continuing to rise higher and higher. Then followed the flash and the report.
The swift messenger sped upward, and, at the next instant, the bird turned on
its side, and came swooping down, now struggling with one wing and then with the
other, sometimes whirling in a circuit, next fanning desperately as if conscious
of its injury, until, having described several complete circles around the spot,
it fell heavily into the end of the Ark. On examining the body, it was found
that the bullet had pierced it about half way between one of its wings and the
breast-bone.
 

                                  Chapter XXVI

 »Upon two stony tables, spread before her,
 She lean'd her bosom, more than stony hard,
 There slept th' impartial judge, and strict restorer
 Of wrong, or right, with pain or with reward;
 There hung the score of all our debts, the card
 Where good, and bad, and life, and death, were painted;
 Was never heart of mortal so untainted,
 But when the roll was read, with thousand terrors fainted.«
                               Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victory in Heaven, I.xv.
 
»We've done an unthoughtful thing, Sarpent - yes, Judith, we've done an
unthoughtful thing in taking life with an object no better than vanity!«
exclaimed Deerslayer, when the Delaware held up the enormous bird, by its wings,
and exhibited the dying eyes riveted on its enemies with the gaze that the
helpless ever