9 the eagles’ nest
the children picked their way over the big, overgrown courtyard. it was an absolute wildernessnow, though with a little imagination they could picture what it must have been like in the olddays – a vast stone-paved place, hewn out of the hillside itself, with craggy pieces towering up atthe far ends.
‘it’s in one of those craggy places that i think the eagles have got their nest,’ said jack, as theypicked their way across the hot courtyard. ‘tassie, take kiki for me, will you, and hang on to her. idon’t want her interfering just now.’
tassie proudly took kiki, and stood still whilst the others went towards a towering piece ofrock, clothed here and there with heather, that rose up at one end of the courtyard. lucy-anndidn’t particularly want to go too near to the eagles, but she wanted to be with jack.
‘you girls stay down at the bottom of this crag,’ said jack. ‘i’m going to climb up with philip. idon’t think the eagles will attack us, philip, in fact i’m pretty sure they won’t; but look out, incase.’
the boys were just beginning to climb when a loud, yelping scream made them stop and clutchat one another in fright. the girls jumped violently. button ran into the nearest rabbit-hole andstayed there. only kiki did not seem to be frightened.
into tassie’s mind jumped the thought that the scream must be from one of the wicked man’spoor prisoners! perhaps he wasn’t dead, perhaps he was still there somewhere. the other childrenwere not so foolish as to think things like this, but the scream certainly made their blood run cold!
‘what was it, jack?’ whispered lucy-ann. ‘come back. don’t go up there. the scream camefrom there.’
it came again, more loudly – a curious, almost yelping noise. kiki cleared her throat to imitateit. what a fine noise to copy!
she gave a remarkably good imitation of the scream and made everyone jump again. tassiealmost fell over, for kiki was on her shoulder.
‘bad bird! naughty bird!’ said jack fiercely, in a low voice. kiki looked at him. from her throatcame the scream again – and almost at the same moment a great eagle, which must have beensomewhere on the rocky crag, rose up in the air on enormous wings, and soared over the littlecompany, looking down in amazement to see who had made such a noise.
and then, from the eagle’s own throat, there came again the yelping scream the children hadheard!
‘gosh – it was the eagle screaming, that’s all!’ said jack, in relief. ‘why didn’t i think of that?
i’ve never heard one before. that shows their nest must be somewhere up here. come on, philip.’
the eagle did not swoop down to the children, but glided above them, looking down. its interestwas centred on kiki, who feeling rather thrilled at having found such a good new noise, yelpedagain.
the eagle answered and flew lower. kiki went up to meet it, looking very small compared withthe big eagle. the children could plainly see the long yellowish feathers on the nape of its neck,shining in the sunlight.
‘it is a golden eagle,’ said lucy-ann. ‘jack was right. look at those golden feathers! oh dear –i hope it doesn’t come any lower.’
all the five children watched kiki and the eagle. usually birds were either puzzled and afraid ofkiki, or angry. but the eagle was neither. it seemed intensely interested, as if wondering how itwas that this queer-looking little bird, so unlike an eagle, could make eagle noises!
kiki was enjoying herself. she flew about the eagle, yelping to it, and then suddenly changedher mind and told it to blow its nose.
at the sound of an apparently human voice the eagle sheered off a little, still gazing in interestat kiki. finally, taking no notice at all of the children, it flew upwards to a high rock on the crag,and perched there, looking down in a very royal fashion.
‘isn’t it a magnificent bird?’ said jack in the utmost delight. ‘fancy us seeing an eagle at closequarters like this! look at its frowning brows, and its piercing eyes! i don’t wonder it’s called theking of the birds!’
the eagle was a truly splendid sight, as it sat there like a king. it was feathered in dark brown,except for the golden streaks on the nape of its neck. its legs were covered in feathers almost to theclaws. it watched kiki unblinkingly.
‘there’s the second eagle, look!’ said lucy-ann suddenly, in a low voice. the children saw theother eagle rising up into the air from the crag, evidently curious to see what was happening. itsoared upwards, spreading out its strong pinions like fingers, the wing-tips curving up as it went.
then, quite suddenly, the first eagle tired of kiki, flapped its enormous wings, and joined its mate.
‘the first eagle is the male, the second one is the female,’ said jack excitedly.
‘how do you know?’ asked dinah disbelievingly. she couldn’t see any difference at all.
‘the second one is bigger than the first,’ said jack. ‘the female golden eagle is always thebigger of the two; bigger wing-span too. golly, i do feel thrilled.’
‘you ought to have snapped that eagle sitting on the crag,’ said philip. jack gave anexclamation of annoyance.
‘blow! i never even thought of my camera! i was so absorbed in watching the birds. whatmarvellous pictures i could take!’
the two birds were now only specks in the sky, for they had soared up to an immense height. ‘itwould be a jolly good chance to explore this crag for their nest whilst they are safely up there,’
said jack. ‘it’s funny they don’t seem scared of us, isn’t it? i suppose they know hardly anythingof man, always living up here on this hilltop.’
‘i can’t imagine what’s happened to button,’ said philip anxiously. ‘he went down that holeand he’s not back yet.’
‘probably scaring a family of rabbits out of their senses!’ said jack. ‘he’ll come back all right.
i’m not surprised he went down a rabbit-hole when he heard that scream. i’d have gone down onemyself if i could! it was an awful noise.’
the boys began to climb up again. it was fairly stiff going for the little crag was steep androcky. its top was almost as high as the nearby tower.
on the western side, well hidden in a little hollow, jack found what he wanted – the eagles’
nest!
‘look!’ he said, ‘look! did you ever see such an enormous thing, philip! it must be six feetwide at the bottom!’
the boys looked at the great nest on the broad ledge of rock. it was about two feet high, madeof twigs and small boughs, with heather tucked in between. the cup of the nest was almost a footand a half across, and very well lined with moss, grass and bits of heather.
‘there’s a young one in the nest!’ said jack, in delight. ‘quite a big bird too – must be morethan three months old, and ready to fly.’
the young bird crouched down in the nest when it heard jack’s voice. it was already so big thatphilip would hardly have known it was a nestling. but jack’s sure eye had noticed the white basesof the feathers, telling him that this was a young eagle, and not an old one.
kiki flew inquisitively to the nest. she gave a yelp like the eagle had made. the young birdlooked up enquiringly, recognised the sound but not the maker of it.
‘your camera, quick!’ whispered philip, and jack began to adjust his camera with quick, eagerfingers.
‘quick, the old eagles are coming back,’ whispered philip, and jack gave a glance upwards. theeagles had remembered their young one, and seeing the boys so near the nest were coming downto see what was happening.
jack snapped the camera just in time, for kiki flew off almost immediately to meet the eagles,screaming a welcome.
‘better get down now,’ said philip, thinking that the two old eagles looked pretty fierce. ‘myword, i wish we could take pictures of that young one learning to fly. it looks as if it will take offfrom the nest any day now.’
with the two eagles gliding not far above them the boys climbed down as hastily as they could.
‘did you get a snap?’ asked lucy-ann eagerly, and jack nodded. he looked excited.
‘i shall have to come back again,’ he said. ‘do you know, i might get finer close-up pictures ofeagles than anyone has ever got before? think of that! i’d make a lot of money out of them, idaresay, and i’d have them in all kind of nature magazines.’
‘oh, jack – do take some more pictures then,’ said lucy-ann, her eyes shining.
‘i’d have to almost live up here, to take good ones,’ said jack. ‘it’s no good just coming up onthe off-chance. if only i could spend a few days here!’
‘well – i suppose you could, if you wanted to,’ said philip. ‘i expect mother would let you, ifyou told her about the eagles. it would be quite safe up here, and we could bring you food.’
‘can’t we all come and stay up here for a few days?’ said lucy-ann, who didn’t want herbrother to be away from them. ‘why can’t we?’
‘well – you know we can’t leave my mother all alone down there,’ said philip. ‘she’d think itwas jolly mean.’
‘oh yes – of course,’ said lucy-ann, going rather red. ‘i never thought of that. how awful ofme!’
‘all the same, i don’t see why i shouldn’t come up here for a few days,’ said jack, finding theidea more and more exciting as he thought about it. ‘i could make a hide, you know – and . . .’
‘what’s a hide?’ asked tassie, speaking for almost the first time that morning.
‘a hide? oh, it’s a place i should rig up to hide myself and my camera in,’ said jack. ‘then,when the eagles had got used to it, i could take as many pictures of them as i wanted to, withoutshowing myself or putting them on their guard. i should make my hide somewhere on this crag,within good view of that nest. golly, i might take a whole set of pictures showing the young eaglelearning to fly!’
‘well, ask mother if you can come up, then,’ said philip. ‘i’d come up and be with you, only ithink one of us boys ought to be down at the cottage to help bring the wood in for the fire andthings like that.’
‘i could do that,’ said dinah, eager to get rid of the toad for a few days. she wouldn’t go nearphilip as long as he had the toad about him.
‘well, you can’t,’ said philip. ‘jack will have kiki for company and we’ll come up and see himevery day. come on, now – let’s explore the lower parts of the castle a bit more.’
so they made their way back across the yard into the lower parts of the great building, expectingto see the same vast empty rooms there as they had seen above. but what a surprise they got!
