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208
Animal Heroes
·
Ernest Thompson Seton
61
What
fiend
was
it
tempted
a
gunner
in
June
to
lurk
on
that
hill
by
the
margin?
what
devil
directed
his
gaze
to
the
twinkling
of
white
that
came
from
the
blue
to
the
northward?
Oh,
Arnaux,
Arnaux,
skimming
low,
forget
not
the
gunner
of
old!
Too
low,
too
low
you
are
clearing
that
hill.
Too
low--too
late!
Flash--bang!
and
the
death-hail
has
reached
him;
reached,
maimed,
but
not
downed
him.
Out
of
the
flashing
pinions
broken
feathers
printed
with
records
went
fluttering
earthward.
The
"naught"
of
his
sea
record
was
gone.
Not
two
hundred
and
ten,
but
twenty-one
miles
it
now
read.
Oh,
shameful
pillage!
A
dark
stain
appeared
on
his
bosom,
but
Arnaux
kept
on.
Home,
home,
homeward
bound.
The
danger
was
past
in
an
instant.
Home,
homeward
he
steered
straight
as
before,
but
the
wonderful
speed
was
diminished;
not
a
mile
a
minute
now;
and
the
wind
made
undue
sounds
in
his
tattered
pinions.
The
stain
in
his
breast
told
of
broken
force;
but
on,
straight
on,
he
flew.
Home,
home
was
in
sight,
and
the
pain
in
his
breast
was
forgotten.
The
tall
towers
of
the
city
were
in
clear
view
of
his
far-seeing
eye
as
he
skimmed
by
the
high
cliffs
of
Jersey.
On,
on--the
pinion
might
flag,
the
eye
might
darken,
but
the
home-love
was
stronger
and
stronger.
Under
the
tall
Palisades,
to
be
screened
from
the
wind,
he
passed,
over
the
sparkling
water,
over
the
trees,
under
the
Peregrines'
eyrie,
under
the
pirates'
castle
where
the
great
grim
Peregrines
sat;
peering
like
black-masked
highwaymen
they
marked
the
on-coming
Pigeon.
Arnaux
knew
them
of
old.
Many
a
message
was
lying
undelivered
in
that
nest,
many
a
record-bearing
plume
had
fluttered
away
from
its
fastness.
But
Arnaux
had
faced
them
before,
and
now
he
came
as
before--on,
onward,
swift,
but
not
as
he
had
been;
the
deadly
gun
had
sapped
his
force,
had
lowered
his
speed.
On,
on;
and
the
Peregrines,
biding
their
time,
went
forth
like
two
bow-bolts;
strong
and
lightning-swift
they
went
against
one
weak
and
wearied.
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