ctly of its appearance), shot perpendicularly from the sea
twenty feet into the air, and fell with a tremendous concussion,
directly upon the whale's back. It must have been several tons in
weight, and the blow inflicted was crushing. For a moment the whale
seemed paralysed by the shock, and its vast frame quivered with agony;
but recovering quickly, it rushed with open jaws upon its strange
assailant which immediately dived, and both vanished. Very soon, the
whale came to the surface again; and now we became the witnesses of one
of those singular and tremendous spectacles, of which the vast solitudes
of the tropical seas are doubtless often the theatre, but which human
eyes have rarely beheld.

The cachelot seemed to be attacked by two powerful confederates, acting
in concert. The one assailed it from below, and continually drove it to
the surface, while the other--the dark bulky object--repeated its
singular attacks in precisely the same manner as at first, whenever any
part of the gigantic frame of the whale was exposed, never once missing
its mark, and inflicting blows, which one would think, singly sufficient
to destroy any living creature. At times the conflict was carried on so
near us, as to endanger our safety; and we could see all of the
combatants with the utmost distinctness, though not at the same time.
The first glimpse which we caught of the second antagonist of the whale,
as it rose through the water to the attack, enabled us at once to
identify it as that most fierce and formidable creature--the Pacific
Sword-fish.

The other, as I now had an opportunity to observe, was a fish of full
one third the length of the whale itself, and of enormous bulk in
proportion; it was covered with a dark rough skin, in appearance not
unlike that of an alligator. The cachelot rushed upon its foes
alternately, and the one thus singled out invariably fled, until the
other had an opportunity to come to its assistance; the sword-fish
swimming around in a wide circle at the top of the water, when pursued,
and the other diving when chased in its turn. If the whale followed the
sword-fish to the surface, it was sure to receive a stunning blow from
its leaping enemy; if it pursued the latter below, the sword-fish there
attacked it fearlessly, and, as it appeared, successfully, forcing it
quickly back to the top of the water.

Presently the battle began to recede from us, the whale evidently making
towards the school, w