The Duel 



blubber of a whale, which sprang into the air, drag- 

 ging its tormentor, which swung loose, to circle and 

 ram the leviathan again and again, until weary of so 

 fruitless a prey it turned, dodged the mighty blows of 

 the whale's tail and swam away. 



The swordfish now traveled over water a mile deep, 

 filled with mystic shapes, crystals of the sea, shaped in 

 radiant models, richly tinted in lavender, pink, brown, 

 blue and amber. Some were in chains, as Salpae, ten, 

 twenty, thirty or more feet in length undulating ser- 

 pents on the surface of the sea. At night the sword- 

 fish traveled through a region of vivid lights red, 

 blue, yellow, green, silver and gold which gleamed, 

 scintillated and blazed on every hand. Its long rapier 

 was a blaze of light and the entire outline of the 

 swordfish was framed in lines of vivid fire the votive 

 offerings of the lamps of the sea, while during the day 

 countless forms of minute animals filled the waters 

 with marvelous gleams, as though myriads of gems of 

 all kinds had been scattered over the sea, by some 

 Midas hand; gems whose light was iridescent, not 

 phosphorescent. So, slowly traveling, hunting for 

 schools of sardines or mackerel, the swordsman fell in 

 with several of its kind and together they cruised off 

 shore. One day as it swam along another whale ap- 

 peared, but lighter, like a sulphur bottom. The sword- 

 fish saw it indistinctly, and standing not on the order 

 of going, scorning the huge leviathan, shot ahead like 

 a bullet from a gun, struck the dim object a blow that 



243 



