256 NETHER LOCHABER. 



bulldogs. For several minutes this wild combat continued ; Greek 

 had met Greek ; the belligerents hugging each other, bear-like, 

 with their anterior flippers, and tearing at each other's heads and 

 throats with their terrible fangs, for the canine teeth of seals are 

 exceedingly formidable, and their strength of jaw enormous. All 

 this time they wrestled and rolled over and over each other in 

 deadly and desperate encounter, the sea for yards around them one 

 sheet of boiling, hissing foam, here and there streaked with blood, 

 as we could plainly discern by the aid of the glass, for we had, in 

 the meantime, advanced to the very margin of the sea, and were 

 standing within some thirty yards of them. In the wild hurly- 

 burly of the conflict, it was impossible to see or say whether 

 " N"elson " or " ViUeneuve " was winning — for by the latter name 

 had our son, who was along with us, already dubbed the stranger 

 seal, as, with true boy-like interest and eagerness, he watched the 

 fight. Had there been any betting on the event, we, knowing 

 " Nelson," and believing in his prowess — for it was impossible to 

 be impartial in such a case — would probably have laid two to one 

 freely on our favourite ; remembering, too, the pithy Gaelic adage, 

 ",'5 laidir cu air a dhiman fein:" Strong is the dog that has his 

 own home knoU for a battle-field ! As it was, the battle was 

 fought out and finished under water, so that we were not privileged 

 to see the last of it. After a final fierce worry, in which the com- 

 batants reared their bodies more than half-way out of the water, 

 and much surface splashing and somersaulting, the belligerents, 

 as if by common consent, disappeared, still fighting, however, as 

 the hundreds of bursting bubbles that for a time kept coming to 

 the surface clearly testified. In about a couple of minutes the 

 stranger seal came to the surface, swimming rapidly seawards ; 

 lie had evidently had enough of it ; and shortly afterwards, 

 " Nelson," known at once by the grey patch on his cheek, reappeared 

 in the centre of the bay, quietly floating about, as if thoroughly 



