BEARS FOR A CHANGE 237 



the big creature merely was enjoying a moon- 

 light frolic. It breached again. This time its 

 body crashed upon a strip of ice and flopped 

 and floundered for a moment before sliding back 

 into the water. Then it breached half a dozen 

 times more in rapid succession. I had never 

 seen a whale breach more than once at a time, 

 even when wounded. Mr. Landers became in- 

 terested. " I wonder what's the matter with 

 that whale," he said. 



To our surprise, two other black bodies began 

 to flash up into the moonlight about the whale. 

 Every time the whale breached, they breached, 

 too. They were of huge size, but nothing like 

 so large as the whale. 



"Killers!" cried Mr. Landers excitedly. 



Then we knew the whale was not playing, but 

 fighting for its life. It leaped above the sur- 

 face to a lesser and lesser height each time. 

 Plainly it was tiring fast. When it breached 

 the last time only its head and a small portion 

 of its body rose into the air and both killers 

 seemed to be hanging with a bulldog grip upon 

 its lower jaw. What the outcome of that des- 



