Hervey Willetts would do this thing or crash his brains out, one or the other, and no one could help or hinder him.
Amid the crackling sound of breaking limbs and a shower of leaves and smaller twigs, the mighty bird of prey, extricating himself from every obstacle, tore his way into the leafy recess where his little victim waited, trembling.

Every branch seemed agitated by his ruthless, irresistible advance, and the hanging nest swayed upon its slender branch, as the cruel talons of the intruder fixed themselves in the yielding bark.

The weight of the monster bird upon the very branch which his little victim had chosen for a home caused it to bend almost to the breaking point, and the hanging nest, agitated by the shock, swung low near the end of the curving bough.
[Illustration: HERVEY SAVES THE LITTLE BIRD FROM THE EAGLE.
_Tom Slade on Mystery Trail.

Page_ 42] That was bad strategy on the part of the invader.

As the end of the bough descended under his weight, there was the appalling sound of a splitting branch, which made Tom Slade's blood run cold, and he held his breath in frightful suspense, expecting to see the form of his young friend come crashing to earth.
But the boy who had ventured out so far upon that straining branch had swung free of it just in time, and was swinging from the branch above.
The great bird had played into the hands of his dexterous enemy when he had placed his weight upon the branch above, from which the nest hung.
Hervey could not have trusted his own weight upon that upper branch, and he knew it.