THE SUBMARINE CAVE 111 



His head was scarcely through the weeds that 

 half screened the entrance when he sighted his 

 enemy, who on the instant retreated to its 

 stronghold in the wall of the cave. There, 

 quicker than it takes to tell, each fastened on the 

 other. Matched in weight and strength as they 

 were, it is doubtful whether the otter would have 

 got the mastery even in the open : in the conger's 

 own retreat the attempt was hopeless. But the 

 otter did not realize that, and made frantic efforts 

 to drag the fish from its den. Despite them all he 

 failed to move it a single inch, and the only result 

 of his struggles was to free himself from the 

 conger's jaws. When his breath was all but 

 exhausted he relinquished his hold and turned to 

 go. Thereupon the conger, taking the offensive, 

 made a grab at him ; it tried to seize him again 

 near the mouth of the cave to which it pursued 

 him, but in both cases it failed to get a grip of 

 the slippery skin, and the next minute the otter 

 was at the surface. 



He had not done with his antagonist. As 

 soon as his lungs were refilled, he dived again, 

 and in a trice was back in the cave, face to face 

 with his enemy, this time with tactics sobered by 

 experience. Instead of laying hold of the fish, he 

 kept making feints at it and retreating, with the 



