Show AN EAGLE FOOLED carried a decoy far up into tho air before scaine als mistake my reputation for veracity among my fellow sportsmen has been seriously impaired if not entirely destroyed by my insisting upon the truth cf tho fol lowing experience that befell mo one thanksgiving day my boy of 15 and myself indulging iu a few days outing at a little clubhouse on the potomac a short distance below old ann ston hall tho weather was fine in fact too fine for conr purposes as wo after ducks early in tho morning we put out off tho old historic hallowing point dear to many duck hunters about 40 new wooden decoys as handsome as I 1 ever saw and then took our positions in tho blind full of those feelings of exhilaration and expectancy which all arco sportsmen are bound to feel in some degree even when all fa conditions for sport aro dead against them after a few hours waiting in camo a bird which my boy knocked down prettily and with much enthusiasm retrieved tri eved but which proved to his disgust to bo nothing but an old merganser or saw bill known in these parts as a fisherman a bird I 1 need hardly add of largo size and of beautiful plumage but absolutely unfit for the table tho incident over wo waited and waited with no results until finally leaving tho decoys in position wo went back to the clubhouse prepared and ato a luncheon and chan took a stroll back into the woods and fields on a tour of inspection when finding our heavy clothes rather oppressive under the suns rays we concluded to return to the blind where wo sure to find it more comfortable because of tho light breeze that was coming over the water on arriving at the blind we noticed that one of the decoys was positioned borne 25 or 80 yards from the others my first thought was that it was adrift and I 1 was about putting out in the skiff to recover it when I 1 noticed that it did not change its position although the tido was running quite briskly could it have floated off and become again caught could it have dragged ita anchor that long distance while tho others remained undisturbed cheso and other theories being discussed by us when suddenly over our heads from behind thero passed a dark shadow which on our looking up proved to be made by a largo eacle and as we gazed upon him ho sailed out over the straggler do coy about which wo had been solicitous poised himself for an instant and then bottled down suddenly and with outstretched talons grasped the poor helpless wooden thing and rose with it un til tho leaded anchor showed at tho surface of thu water when for some reason perhaps because of the discovery of his mistake or of the sudden and unexpected increase in the weight of his burden this king of birdi dropped his quarry into tho water with a splash aud scuttled across the river as though to keep a suddenly remembered appointment washington letter in forest and stream |