58 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



But the lesson she had come to give the cubs 

 in the sea itself was not a whit less important, 

 she thought, as she watched their wonderment 

 on beholding the vast liquid plain that stretched 

 out to no shore their piercing gaze could discern. 

 Streamlet, pool, river, creek, estuary — all in turn 

 had been cause for astonishment, but on the ocean 

 they looked with awe. And it was theirs to fish 

 in. In the recognition of this spacious hunting- 

 ground the timid creatures quite forgot the 

 terrors of the quay, which had but momentarily 

 passed from their minds in the presence of the 

 porpoises, and the next minute they were follow- 

 ing in the wake of their mother as she swam 

 towards the Gull Rock in the midst of the cliff- 

 skirted bay. Bravely the cubs faced the waves, 

 and bravely they battled with the surf through 

 which they landed ; then they looked to their 

 mother to direct them how to fish in the deep 

 water by which they were surrounded. 



They had not long to wait. After a glance at 

 the birds on the ledges above her head, she dived ; 

 both cubs instantly dived, too, and putting forth 

 all the strength of their hind-legs, they succeeded 

 in keeping her in sight along the spiral course by 

 which she made her way down and down to the 

 bottom, full six fathoms below. To their sur- 



