Outing . Abovehim, poised on vast flapping wings,which contrary to the custom of allwings, made no sound, was a bird, andit must have been twenty-six inchesfrom head to tail if it was an inch. Itwas white as the snow, that bird, cruelas the snow, silent as the snow, and itwas literally muffled from big roundhead to tiger-taloned claws with layersupon layers of feathers. Then it fell, fell with the suddennessand force of a bolt, and the polecatwent down under it with a yell. Whathappened under that white heap, amidthe terrible grappling claws, no oneknows, for the heap choked suddenlyand collap
Outing . Abovehim, poised on vast flapping wings,which contrary to the custom of allwings, made no sound, was a bird, andit must have been twenty-six inchesfrom head to tail if it was an inch. Itwas white as the snow, that bird, cruelas the snow, silent as the snow, and itwas literally muffled from big roundhead to tiger-taloned claws with layersupon layers of feathers. Then it fell, fell with the suddennessand force of a bolt, and the polecatwent down under it with a yell. Whathappened under that white heap, amidthe terrible grappling claws, no oneknows, for the heap choked suddenlyand collapsed in coughing, white whirl-wind. It was a snowy owl from Russia,said the keeper to me. I found it lyingdead on top of a dead polecat. Thepolecats jaws were locked tight in theowls throat, in a blind, accidentaldeath-grip, and two other polecats ranaway as I approached. Which lucid statement, you will al-low, explained everything about themystery, that in the wild had becomeknown as The White A LOST PARADISE BY CHARLES ASKINS N the fall of a time about sixty-years ago, Captain Asians, of Lex-ington, Ky., was riding throughnorthern Mississippi on a horsebacktour from his home to New his right was a big brick build-ing, colonial style, which with a littlepretension might have been called a man-sion. Red oak, pine, and chestnut min-gled over the broad lawn that extendeddown to the big road, where a heavyiron gate, with posts of stone and a greatarch above it, stood invitingly of boxwood, neatly trimmed,bordered the drive and the walks, whilevarious semi-tropical trees grew aboutthe yard. Behind the house was a vineyard ofnative grapes and a fine orchard ofpeaches, apples, and pears. Some dis-tance below a rambling barn squattedover the ground, with a thoroughbredsorrel colt or two looking longingly overthe fence. The doors of a huge cottonshed were open, displaying bale on baleof cotton, and near by the rough-hewn,skeleton arm of a horse-power c
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectsports, booksubjecttravel
