Beadle's Dime Novels No. 127: Bald Eagle — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

$4 : BALD EAGLE. It was the early spring. A few blossoms began to dapple the green earth. The bluebird and robin were jubilant amid the tasselated foliage of the trees ; the lizard peered from amid the brown mosses; the pale ferns curled upwards from the earth, and a thousand mountain rills filled the valley with their melody. Dora had seated herself upon a shelf of — granite, overlooking a small cascade, which, falling a few feet — above her head, descended into a basin, worn smooth as pol- ished stone at her feet. She had unbraided her hair, which the wind seizing in its breath spread abroad like a vail of sossamer, and she might have been mistaken for some lovely Undine, engaged in adjusting her snowy mantle. __ As is not unfrequently the case with persons in whom the healthful poise of the mind has been destroyed, she had an intolerance of confinement of any kind, and passed nearly all her time climbing mountains or in roaming the forest, She knew no fatigue, felt no cold, and every aspect of nature brought to her its own peculiar charms. The denizens of the wood grew familiar with her face, and even affiliated with her in gentle Companionship. It would seem as if a certain power had grown upon her in this respect, that, just in pro- portion as she had lost that clearness of mind, which would have rendered her the Companion of her kind, she had grown nearer to the unreasoning, instinctive representatives of crea- tion, amongst whom she had established a familiar inter- course. Dora sat this balmy day in one of her favorite haunts, her — violet eyes detecting, with eager delight, the smallest insect no less than the flitting bird, her lips chanting wild incohe- rent melodies, which blent with waterfall, and wind, and bird, and insect-voice in perfect harmony. The warm sun glinted through the foliage, there wag soft rustle of the dead leaves, and a huge black snake glided to the basin, slaking its thirst. Dora eyed the reptile with a pleased rather than terrified look, and when he lifted his head, fixed her bright violet eye upon him in a manner that arrested his flight. Slowly he raised himself fold above fold, till his glittering eye was level with her own, and the girl still fixed his gaze, waving her small, pale hand from side to side, he all the time vibrating his head in unigop. Suddenly, conmiclbooks.conn