24 Autobiography of a Sperm Whale 



me of its strength, and the long feasting in the Red Sea 

 came to its predestined and proper effect. The waters 

 around me cooled and brought hunger — ^fierce, gnawing 

 hunger. Yet there was little or nothing to eat. Our 

 speed increased ; without faltering or straggling we 

 held steadily on, until one day, following our chief, 

 we settled down, down, down. Deeper than ever I 

 had dreamed of we went until, skirting the black bases 

 of a mighty mountain range, we found our prey. 

 Hundreds upon hundreds of enormous cuttle-fish, 

 helplessly, slimily crawling about on the rocky floor 

 or clinging with their myriad tentacles to the pillars 

 of the earth, as with their huge eyes they saw us ap- 

 proaching. There was no escape for them. Alone 

 among the inhabitants of the deep seas, we were their 

 masters and they our legitimate prey. 



We fell upon them in a body, and tore them limb 

 from limb, feeling exquisite satisfaction as the quivering 

 succulent morsels glided down into our craving 

 stomachs. I had devoured one huge fellow whose head 

 had been bitten off by a big bull close to me, and was 

 almost satisfied. Not quite, though ; and with fresh 

 ardour I flung myself into the fray, seizing a vast cuttle 

 by the middle. He writhed round and enwrapped me 

 with his far-reaching arms so that I could not get my 

 mouth open. But my tail was free, and exerting all 

 my strength I rose through the murky water dragging 

 him with me. Fortunately, he had not had time to 

 anchor himself to one of the rock bases. We reached 

 the surface in a welter of foam, and there by my side 

 was the chief, who, ranging up closely, seized some 

 outlying tentacles of my prize, causing him to unclasp 

 those that bound my jaw, and next moment the strong 

 salt air of the sky was sending thrills of renewed life 

 through my body. 



