The lake only expressed peace.

It was as it might have been in the dawn of time with the passings of no human beings to vex its surface.
Something stirred in the bushes near the hunter.

An eagle, with great spread of wing, rose from a nest and sailed far out over the silvery waters.

Willet surmised that the nearness of the three had disturbed it, and he was sorry.

He had a kindly feeling toward birds and beasts just then, and he did not wish to drive even an eagle from his home.
He hoped that it would come back, and, after a while, it did so, settling upon its nest, which could not have been more than fifty yards away, where its mate had remained unmoving while the other went abroad to hunt.
There was no further sign of life from the people of the wilderness, and Willet sat silent a long time.