ughed. "Eternal vigilance is the bull
seal's motto, all right!"

"But how can they stand it without food and without sleep?" Colin asked.
"That's over three months of fasting. And it isn't like an animal
that's asleep all winter. It seems to be their busiest time, fighting
and watching and all that sort of thing!"

"They live on their blubber," the agent explained. "In the spring they
haul up heavy and fat. Can hardly move around they're so fleshy. It's
the end of June now. You see! Many bulls are loaded with fat still. By
the end of next month, though, they'll be getting thin. Some of 'em are
like skeletons when they leave the rookeries in August. They'll fight to
the end, though."

"But if they leave each other's harems alone," Colin objected, "I don't
see any cause for a fight."

"The cows don't all come at the same time. Perhaps for six weeks there
are cows coming all the time. Those beachmasters who have harems nearest
the water want their family first and there's fighting all along the
water's edge, then. Other cows have to make their way inshore; any of
the sea-catches may grab them. Wait a minute and watch. You'll see the
scramble going on somewhere. There are two bulls fighting there," he
added, pointing to a combat in progress some distance off, "and there's
another--and another."

"Is that one of the new cows just coming in from the water?" asked
Colin, pointing to the shore, where a female seal, quietly and without
attracting attention, had landed near one of the large harems.

"Yes," the agent said. "Just watch her a while. You'll see how the
fighting begins."

Moving quietly and slowly and making just as little disturbance as
possible, the incoming seal made her way through and over the recumbent
seals, keeping as far as she could from the beachmasters. Those huge
monarchs of the waterside eyed her closely, but the harems were full to
the last inch of ground and they let her pass, the cow seal remaining
quiet as long as the beachmaster was watching, then creeping on a yard
or two.

"She'll get caught by the next one," said Colin. "See, there's just
about room enough in his harem for one more."

But the cow managed to make her way past, the old bull being engrossed
in watching a neighboring sea-catch whom he suspected of designs upon
his home. She had only succeeded in reaching a point about six harems
inland, however, when a bull with a small group of only about twelve
cows, suddenly reached ou