THE RIVALS FIGHT 115 



fought in the shallows churned with their in- 

 cessant movements. As they struggled they got 

 into deeper water, where, locked together, they 

 sank beneath the surface, and so long did they 

 remain immersed that it seemed as though both 

 must be drowned. But the eddies by some 

 decaying lilies told that the fight was still going 

 on, and at last the beasts came up, it might be a 

 yard apart. Quick as lightning they closed again 

 and, rolling over and over, passed from sight a 

 second time in the convulsed water. Then they 

 half rose, and lashing the water with their power- 

 ful tails, kept snapping at each other with a 

 viciousness that nothing could exceed, their 

 savage snarls mingling with the clash of their 

 teeth when they failed to get home. For over 

 an hour the conflict raged, now above, now below 

 the surface, till in the end, the old otter, unable 

 to continue the battle, dived to escape further 

 mauling from his victorious foe. But the wild 

 creature's jealousy is never appeased unless its 

 rival is utterly worsted ; and a relentless pursuit 

 followed. The bitch otter, now all ears as she 

 had been all eyes, heard the landing, first of the 

 fugitive, then of his enraged pursuer, and soon 

 the crashing of the stems that told of further 

 conflict. At length, in the silence that succeeded 



15—2 



