I Take my Place 347 



screamed, the waves of the sea were all torn and boOing 

 with the myriads of hmigry fish who were seeking 

 their share of the feast, and in the midst of it all 

 lay solemnly still, majestic in death, the body of 

 the feast. Heedless of ptassing blows, only Imiging 

 back at the givers, I fought my way into the middle 

 of the tumult and found food, fat ; dehcious, satis^Tng 

 food. I ate and fought and shrieked with the rest, 

 all the time feeling sensible that I was now a free 

 citizen of the ocean, henceforward aWe to hold my 

 own among my kind. 



My hunger satisfied, I drifted away from the tre- 

 mendous clamouring crowd, and quietly rocking upon 

 the mighty billows which swept up frmn the South 

 Pole like walls of water, I slept as peacefully as I 

 had ever done beneath my mother's sheltering wii^. 

 I was not in the least disturbed by the incessant 

 coming and going of multitudes of birds, any more 

 than I was by the uproar of the storm or the hisang 

 of the spindrift about me ; I was in my own rightful 

 realm, and fuUy conscious that it was so. No necessity 

 was laid upon me to rise from my rolling couch, so 

 that the mass of food I had eaten was fully digested, 

 and when I at last became conscious that it was time 

 to seek more food I felt splendidly grown and fit for 

 action. I rose on the wing and returned to where, 

 very greatly reduced but stiU encwmous, the body of 

 the whale floated surrounded by vociferous birds as 

 thickly as ever. The sight invigorated me, and with 

 a long scream of triumph and defiance I again took 

 my place at the great meal. 



Another feast, another rest, and I began my long 

 roaming. I followed one ship for many days, easily 

 keeping up with her at her utmost speed, in fact my 

 motion was so easy though so svdft that I was bardy 



