One day I was in the forest. All day I was hunting, but got nothing. In the evening I came to the Mississippi River. I said to myself, “It’s late, I should go home.” But then I thought, “My wife is hungry and we have no money. I’ll stay here till morning. Maybe I can catch something.”
I saw a big tree and stopped under it. I was very tired. I lay down and fell asleep in two minutes. At four o’clock in the morning, a terrible noise woke me up. I looked up and saw a big nest high in the tree. There were two young eagles inside. I remembered an English gentleman in New Orleans who wanted a pair of young eagles for the London Zoo. He said he would pay good money. I thought, “I’ll climb up and get those eagles.”
In two minutes, I was up the tree, but it was very hard to reach the nest. When I finally got there, I saw the two young eagles and some food — meat and fish. The old birds were gone.
When I tried to take the young eagles, I suddenly felt a terrible pain in the back of my head. I looked around and saw the mother eagle attacking me again. You can’t imagine how strong these birds are!
“I’d better get down,” I thought, and climbed to a lower branch. I sat there to rest and maybe fell asleep. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise below me. I looked down and saw water everywhere. Trees were falling into the river one after another. My tree was shaking, but it didn’t fall. Then I understood — it was a flood on the Mississippi.
I couldn’t swim, so I could only sit there and wait for help. I stayed on my branch all night. In the morning, I saw a boat and cried, “Help! Help!” But the people didn’t hear me. Other boats passed too, but no one saw me. That was my first day on the tree. In the evening I was very hungry.
I remembered the food in the eagles’ nest and climbed up again. The birds attacked me, but I was ready this time. After a short fight I got some fish and ate it. I wasn’t hungry anymore, but I wanted to drink. That was terrible. The water was so near, but I couldn’t reach it. Then I had an idea. I took off my shirt, tied it to a string, let it fall into the water, and when I pulled it up, it was wet. I drank from it.
I stayed on that tree for six long days. Every day I climbed to the nest for food. There was always water under the tree. When there’s a great flood on the Mississippi, the water stays for months afterwards.
But I couldn’t live on that tree forever. I made a plan to get away. I wasn’t afraid of the eagles anymore. We became friends — they saw I wouldn’t harm their young. Sometimes they even sat near me on the same branch. I knew eagles had strong wings. Maybe they could help me cross the water if I helped them by moving my arms and legs.
So I caught the two big eagles — it took some time, but I did it. I tied their legs together with a string and then tied myself to the same string. Then I jumped into the water.
My plan worked! The eagles flew down through the branches and began to beat the water with their wings. I moved my arms and legs to help them. Soon we reached the other side of the river. I was on dry land again.
“And what did you do with the eagles?” I asked Zeb. “Did you let them go?”
“Of course not,” said Zeb. “I sold them to the Englishman and got good money for them.”
