But even had he dared to do this he could not have passed the enraged bird who stood guard within a yard or two of his little victim.

When the weight of the bird's great body bent the branch down, Hervey, close in toward the trunk just below, saw his chance.

He did not see the danger.
Scrambling out upon that slender branch, he moved cautiously but with beating heart, out to a point where the bending branch above was within his reach.

If the eagle had left the branch above, that branch would have swung out of Hervey's reach and he would have gone crashing to the ground when his own branch broke.

He knew that branch must break under him.