It might have passed for the echo of the first, but its tones were wilder and louder.

All eyes were turned to the direction whence it came.

The boys knew very well what sort of a creature had uttered it, for they had heard such notes before.

They knew it was the _white-headed eagle_.
They caught sight of him the moment they turned.

It was not difficult to see him soaring upward--his great tail and broad wings expanded, seven feet in extent, against the light blue sky.
When first seen his flight was nearly in a straight line, slanting up in the direction of the kite--for that was the object that had started him.
He was evidently bent upon robbing the latter of his late-gotten booty.
The kite had heard the cry that echoed his own; and, knowing its import, at once plied all the power of his wings to rise higher into the air.
He seemed resolved to hold on to his hard-earned plunder; or, at all events, not to yield it, without giving the more powerful robber the trouble of a chase.