28 Autobiography of a Sperm Whale 



burning pain of my wound, and without seeking further 

 revenge, sank down, down, into the cool depths where 

 I knew no enemy eould ever come. 



My fellows were all scattered far and wide ; all 

 cohesion or discipline seemed to have ended. What, 

 then, could this dreadful calamity mean ? Was there 

 an enemy before which even our splendid leader 

 trembled and fled ? And I felt full of fear and wonder 

 as the dread possibilities of a supremely powerful foe 

 having overtaken us surged through my brain. I 

 remained down to the full limit of my endurance, 

 seeing nothing of any of my companions during the 

 time. But when I reached the surface again, I felt 

 the rallying signal vibrating through my body, and 

 hurrying in the indicated direction soon rejoined the 

 school. Then I learned that the strange monster I 

 had destroyed was a boat with men in it, who were 

 armed with terrible weapons, compared to which our 

 jaws and flukes were but clumsy and almost useless. 

 They had wantonly attacked us for some reason of 

 their own, and had succeeded in slaying two of our 

 number, who, paralysed with alarm at the sudden 

 onslaught, had made but a poor defence, and had 

 fallen comparatively easy victims. Me the great 

 chief singled out for high honours. He told me that 

 I had begun well ; that having once realised my own 

 power, and been successful in repelling this savage 

 attack, I should be far more formidable to man than 

 any whale could be who had never been assailed. 

 For my wound was after all but a trifle, only a long 

 trailing thing behind it made it gall me. My chief, 

 however, advised me to take no heed of it. It would 

 soon cease to annoy me, for either the tooth imbedded 

 in my blubber would be dragged out by the trailing 

 weight behind, or the weight would drop off and leave 



