From high out of the cloudy sky swooped a large golden eagle, wings outspread as it glided on the swift air currents always astir above the Rocky Mountains. Over jagged peaks and lofty cliffs it soared, seeking prey, its exceptionally keen eyes constantly roving over the rugged landscape below. Forested slopes unfolded underneath, the mighty pines appearing as mere bushes from the great predator’s vantage point. Banking to the left, the eagle arced into a graceful dive that carried it to within a few hundred feet of the earth.
Now the golden eagle could distinguish objects the size of mice. It eagerly probed the high grass as it sailed across a meadow. Suddenly a flash of movement alerted it to a bounding rabbit which darted into the cover of a dense thicket. The eagle circled the thicket twice, saw there was no way it could penetrate to where the rabbit sat trembling in fright, and continued on its hungry way.
A steep mountain caused the scourge of the clouds to veer sharply higher, up and over a snow-tipped crown. Beyond lay a pristine valley. Thin columns of smoke spiraled heavenward from near a stream at the center. On spying them, the eagle tilted its wings to reduce its speed. Here was something new, something unexpected, and curiosity urged it lower. Caution, however, prompted the exact opposite a moment later when the wary bird detected a bustle of activity taking place among the strange nests made of buffalo hides from which the smoke wafted.
The eagle had seen such dwellings before. It had learned to associate them with the bizarre two-legged creatures who occasionally visited its domain. Once, when the eagle had been but a short while on its own, it had ventured close to a gathering of such creatures to better study them, and a small one had shot a slender wooden shaft that had clipped the eagle’s wing and nearly brought it crashing down. Ever since the eagle knew to stay out of range.
Now the eagle observed dozens upon dozens of big and small creatures moving about and heard playful shouts and chanting. It noted the many horses and loud dogs. Bothered by the smoke and the noise, the eagle banked to the west to follow the stream out of the valley, and in doing so it discovered a second group of two-legged creatures in the trees bordering the strange nests.
This new group, the eagle noticed, was quite numerous. And they were moving quietly from pine to pine, making hardly any noise at all, so unlike the others. A little farther on, the eagle came to where many more horses were clustered together in a gully.
Changing direction yet again, the eagle was about to wing northward when its sharp ears heard a piercing shriek followed by harsh yells and a few popping retorts.
Puzzled as to the cause, it flew in a tight loop, back over the stream, and beheld a scene of sheer chaos.
The creatures who had been moving through the trees were swarming into the open and wreaking havoc among the nest dwellers. Figures grappled on the ground. Others fought upright. Thin shafts streaked every which way. Now and then one of the creatures would point a long branch at another and there would be a blast like thunder and a puff of smoke. There was much screaming and shouting.
Baffled by the bedlam, the eagle made a circuit of the site. Bodies littered the area. Some creatures were thrashing in torment or convulsing in the pangs of death. Pools of blood were everywhere, seeping into the earth.
The eagle witnessed countless brutal fights in which creatures were slain or maimed. It saw big ones ripped open by whooping foes and small ones who had their heads caved in. It had never beheld such outright carnage, such bloodthirsty slaughter, so it lingered, absorbing every detail. Its kind learned by studying other wildlife, by learning the rhythms of the woodland. It knew of the ferocity of grizzlies and the savagery of mountain lions, but it had never seen any sight to quite match this.
Since to the eagle all the two-legged creatures were more or less alike, it had no means to tell if the ones from the trees or the ones who lived in the conical nests were prevailing. It did see a shift in the conflict when dozens of creatures on horseback appeared over a hill and charged into the midst of the fray. Soon some of the creatures were fleeing into the trees. They raced to the horses hidden in the gully, climbed up, and swiftly departed. Many laughed and waved strips of hair.
The eagle made one final sweep. All the fighting had ceased, but some of the creatures were going around striking others sprawled on the ground if the latter showed the slightest hint of movement. Presently wailing and bawling arose, forming a mournful din that so upset the eagle it sailed off, heading deeper into the virgin wilderness where it could enjoy life undisturbed by the two-legged terrors.