eal's view, from below the surface, of the
world above is about a twelve-foot circle of white-gold light, that is
all; and the skua, floating limp and floppy, had been, by chance, till
then always carried hither and yon by the waves just outside that
circle. But that chance could not last.

Then came the other seal. Came she easily and gracefully, as a seal
should in her element, effortlessly gliding along, her head from time
to time up like a dog's--some gentle dog's, say a mild-eyed
spaniel's--looking about. She was just a female seal. She knew
nothing of the bird or her companion, who were at sea-level, and more
often than not hidden in the trough, till she came sliding down the
slope of a round-barreled swell, practically on top of them. Then it
was too late to avoid mutual recognition.

Quick as sound she had seen, had realized, had spun on her apology for
a tail, and had gone, leaving a little trail of foam behind her to
prove her speed and her coyness. But, quick as light, the magnificent
male seal had sunk from sight, leaving a little chain of bursting
bubbles behind to mark his speed. And the last that was seen of that
lady seal was a speck far on the horizon, going like a masterless
torpedo, alternately leaping forward through the air and shooting along
on, or just under, the surface--switchbacking, they call it; and that,
I dare to fancy, if it proves anything, proves that the coyness was
only make-believe, and that she had allowed the daring admirer to catch
her up and force her to act as if she were already vanquished and using
the last arts of swift swimming she knew.

It left the skua, however; left him still floating, floating, floating
up one long breaker's side, and sliding down its other side to its
fellow behind, towards the shore--always towards the shore. It is true
that the tide was falling offshore, but that made no difference to the
currents of those parts, which were independent currents and of a great
force. They were shouldering the skua steadily to land, and if you had
dropped a line overboard there, with an ordinary lead on, you would
have felt them pulling at it, and taking the lead along like a live
thing. And the currents were Fate, so far as that bird was concerned.

There was a little inlet, and a little bay in the inlet no larger than
a good-sized dining-table, and seaweed, green and red, upon the
rock-bowlders that encircled it, and old-gold patches of sand between
the