CHAPTER I
THE GUANIONIEN, OR GIANT EAGLE
A guanionien, as he soared between the great forest and the sun, said to himself: “I am the lord of the air; I am the largest and most powerful of all the eagles of the land. I am called the leopard of the air. I feed on monkeys.”
Then he chuckled, the way the guanioniens do, and rose higher and higher in the sky at each circle that he made. It seemed as if he were going directly toward the sun. At last he flew so high that no eyes from the forest could see him.
After a while he reappeared; he was coming down again in a series of circles to the forest. At times his huge wings spread their full length and then stood still. He seemed to hang motionless in the air. When he had come down near enough, he scanned the great sea of trees all over, to see if their branches were moving, for this would show that there were monkeys upon them feeding upon their fruit, nuts, or berries. But all was still; not a branch stirred, and there was no wind. His eyes looked down perpendicularly and could see any object right under him. There was no monkey in sight.
He said to himself: “Why have the monkeys been so shy of late, and kept themselves in the middle of the trees, never coming to their tops? Surely other guanioniens must have been here before me and scared all the monkeys: they are afraid and keep out of sight; they know that we cannot pounce upon them. How cunning they are!”
He saw a giant tree about four hundred feet high, rising twice as high as the other trees of the forest, and meditated: “The creatures of the forest know the favorite trees upon which I perch and eat my prey, only by the skulls and bones of the monkeys I have torn to pieces and devoured lying at their feet on the ground.—But,” he added, “it is not every day that I get a meal.”
He laughed: “No harm can ever befall me, for no enemy can frighten me; no bird is strong enough to fight against me; the spears and arrows of human beings can never reach me and hurt me, for I fly and perch so high; men cannot even see the tops of my trees on account of the thick foliage which shuts off from them even the sun and the sky.”
After he had rested, he flew away and soared over the dark green forest, which was so large that it seemed to have no beginning nor end, and once more he watched for monkeys. But his piercing, far-sighted eyes saw nothing,—not a branch of a tree was moving. Then he thought it was time to seek his mate, for they had agreed when they parted in the morning to meet on a certain tree upon which they were accustomed to rest during the day after their noon search for prey, and tell each other what had happened.
Before long he saw the tree he sought. It was easily recognizable by the peculiar shape of its branches. Soon he was soaring over it, uttering peculiar sounds belonging to the language of the guanioniens, and meaning, “Are you there, dear? I am coming;” and his mate, already at the rendezvous, replied, “Here I am, dear, waiting for you.”
Soon after, the big guanionien had alighted upon a branch close to hers, and the two looked at each other with affection, for they had not seen each other since they had parted a little after daylight.
They uttered sounds which seemed strange, for these were words belonging to the guanionien language, which meant, “How glad, dear, I am to see you! How are you?” or, “How have you been since this morning?”
After their greeting there was a short silence, then the big guanionien said to his mate, “Dear, what is the news? Have you been lucky to-day? Have you had a meal?”
“No,” she replied. “Not a monkey came in sight to-day. They were afraid to come to the tops of the trees to feed, though I heard many of them talking among themselves several times. I am starving. Surely guanioniens have been in the region before us, and that is the reason why the monkeys keep away.”
In her turn she inquired, “Have you good news to tell me? Have you discovered a place where monkeys are plentiful? Have you had a good meal?”
“Only bad news have I to tell,” he replied. “I have seen no troops of monkeys. Bad luck continues to follow us. I am starving, too. For three days we have soared over this great forest and have seen and caught nothing.” And with a sigh, “How hard we have to work for our living!” said both at the same time. “Oh, how fortunate it is that we guanioniens are so constituted that we can starve for days without dying! This great gift has been given to us to suit our mode of life. Hunger is our enemy; but old age is our greatest one.”
They left their tree and agreed to come back in the evening to sleep upon it, as had been their custom for some little time. They flew a long way off, in a bee-line at first, keeping in sight of each other for a while, then parted.
Toward sunset they were once more perched on the tree, and each inquired for the afternoon’s news.
The big guanionien said: “Several times I saw branches moving, with monkeys upon them. At this sight my appetite grew more voracious than before, and I thought that I was going to have a good meal. I soared over the trees, but the monkeys never came to the tops so that I could swoop down upon them. They seemed to dread danger, although I was so high in the air that they could not see me. But experience has taught them that it is not safe for them to be on the tops of the trees; ugly, suspicious monkeys, we have to be very cunning to capture them.”
After he had finished, he asked his mate what she had to tell. She replied: “During my flight I came to a place where I saw the tops of several trees covered with big red fruit. Surely, I thought, monkeys will be tempted when they see this, and will come out to eat. I soared over them until it was time to leave to meet you, for sunset was fast coming on. At the dawn of the day we must fly to that place, for I believe that some wandering troops of monkeys will surely come there to feed.”
“If I capture a monkey, he will never drop from my claws,” said her mate.
“Neither will one from mine,” she replied. “Oh, dear, how hard it is to work for nothing!”
The sun had set, and darkness came over the land, and the two guanioniens fell asleep. They felt safe, for the tree was large, and its first branch was so high above the forest that nothing but winged creatures could get to them.
At daybreak the two guanioniens left, travelling in the direction of the fruit trees as fast as they could. They remained in sight of each other, but did not talk or hail each other, as was their wont, for fear the monkeys might hear them and become more wary than ever.
At last, to their great satisfaction, after travelling about one hundred miles, they saw in the distance the bright red tops of the fruit trees they sought. At the sight the two guanioniens came together and whispered: “Surely some troops of monkeys will come and feed upon these trees. Let us soar above them all day, if necessary. Patience is often rewarded. Sometimes the prey comes when we are ready to give up.”
Then they flew very high and soared above the fruit-bearing trees. They soared a long time, looking down in that peculiar manner which belongs to the eagle, their eyeballs moving so that they can see directly under them. Suddenly they heard monkeys chattering among themselves. The reason of this loud talk was that two troops of different species of monkeys were quarrelling, daring each other and ready to fight. One troop was trying to drive the other away.
The two guanioniens, by peculiar motions of their wings and other silent ways of communication only known to their species, told each other the news about the monkeys.
Great indeed was the joy of the guanioniens at the prospect of a good hearty meal. They bided their time and watched for their opportunity. They were not going to be rash and run the chance of missing their prey.
[Illustration: [Birds]]
It happened that two or three days before, troops of monkeys had come to those same trees and had eaten up all the fruit that was on their lower and middle branches, thus leaving that on the top. The monkeys looked up, and when they saw the bright red, juicy fruit, they forgot all about guanioniens, and soon were all over the tops of several trees eating away to their hearts’ content, unaware of the presence of their enemies soaring above them and waiting for the opportune moment to pounce upon them.
Suddenly, like a flash, the two guanioniens swooped down perpendicularly from their height, and before the monkeys were aware of their presence, they had seized the two largest in their talons, clutched firmly by the neck and back, and rose in the air with them.